FILE PHOTO - Short-rayed alkali aster is seen on the beach at Christie Memorial Park in Okanagan Falls, Aug. 8, 2020.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

It's looking like a scandal over the fate of an endangered species of plant on a South Okanagan beach might be nothing but a lot of speculation.

Someone found straight lines in the sand on Christie Memorial beach in Okanagan Falls that appeared to be caused by a tractor. That's not normally cause for concern but the beach is home to some controversial little yellow flowers called short-rayed alkali aster which are protected because of critically low numbers. Not everyone is a fan of the plant crowding people out of a prime beach location and want them gone — including the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen director for the area. 

So vandalism might have been a good guess and may be correct, but not likely.

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen tills the beach in the spring and fall to clear invasive species and simulate natural circumstances that the aster thrives in. Reports in the community and in the media allege that the marks in the sand were from vandals destroying the flowers.

Erick Thompson with the regional district said the straight lines in the sand are from regular maintenance that was done on April 23.

“The tractor marks were still visible, and I think that's where the confusion was set in with someone, because I don't think anybody's going to drive up and down the beach in that manner,” he said. 

Thompson said the plant usually flowers in late summer and isn’t visible until August so there isn't reason to suspect someone has gone in to destroy them.

“We don't have any reason to believe that there was any vandalism done,” he said. “A learning lesson here . . . it would be good for us to try and put out some information ahead of time.”

Lia McKinnon with the Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship said there are some folks who would rather get rid of the flowers since they don’t like how they look and they impact beach use, so a case of vandalism isn’t too far fetched.

READ MORE: Endangered plant keeping residents from South Okanagan beach is protected for a reason: Botanist

“There's definitely a segment of the community that doesn't appreciate the plant,” she said. “They have rewards out for if people could find more locations, but not because they wanted more protection for the plant. They were hoping to find enough locations that it would reduce the protection for the plant and they could get rid of it.”

UBC Okanagan associate professor of biology Dr. Sumer Seiki said the aster is a crucial species to protect.

She had also heard that the plants had been destroyed.

“Impacts to Okanagan biodiversity cause a chain reaction impacting other species in our ecosystem and rippling out to our own health and rippling around the world because the Okanagan is a biodiversity hotspot,” Seiki said in an email to iNFOnews.ca.

If someone were to rip up the aster on the beach they could be subject to a $50,000 fine and a year imprisonment, and a corporation could be fined up to $1 million.

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