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)

Straight lines in the sand on a beach in the South Okanagan appeared to be caused by a tractor, and it seemed like someone had destroyed an endangered species of little yellow flowers, but authorities don’t think that’s the case.

The short-rayed alkali aster is an endangered species and Christie Memorial beach in Okanagan Falls is one of the few places in the country where it grows. Now the beach beach is covered in track marks. 

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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