2021 Notices

We have two interesting volunteer opportunities to help in monitoring our Grandon and Beach Creek Watersheds. 

1. WETLAND MONITORING - Near Laburnum Road

The specific wetland to be monitored is near the school on Laburnum.  It will involve a training session tentatively set for Tuesday, July 6th followed by field work the week of July 19th, which will take about 3 hours.  This monitoring will continue 4 times a year, once for each season. So this isn’t a big time commitment, but it looks very interesting. 

More details from the VIU project co-ordinator, Jenica, are in her memo to David as follows: 

Hi David, 
Thank you for your interest in participating.

As Haley mentioned, we monitor these wetlands once each season with the next field visit in July. Prior to commencing the field work, I will host a short virtual orientation session for all new volunteers to go over safety protocols and provide more detailed information on what the field work will involve. I am trying to gauge a date and time that works best for all – Tuesday, July 6 at 10:00 am is currently the tentative date. If you could check with your members whether this will work that would be great (feel free to suggest another date and time that may work better if needed).

As for the field work, we are aiming to conduct the site visits within the week of July 19 – 23. Could you please also check with your members if there is a preferred date within this week? For the site that your group will be monitoring, volunteers should plan to spend approximately 3 hours in the field, with some light bush-whacking involved to access the site. This wetland is considered a ‘wet forest system’ as opposed to a classic open-water swamp or bog; however, waders are recommended if people have them as the area where our instrumentation is installed has some pretty deep mud. MABRRI has 3 extra sets of waders for anyone who may want to borrow but while we await some new field gear, sizes are limited to men’s boot size 8 and 9. MABRRI will provide all other equipment required for the field work. 

Jenica Ng-Cornish,  BScProject Coordinator
Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute
Vancouver Island University

2.  WATER-LEVEL LOGGER DOWNLOADING - Beach & Grandon Creeks

We have had a water-level logger in Grandon Creek for some time, and just had one installed in Beach Creek at Hemsworth and Village Way last year.  The BC Conservation Federation (BCCF) has been downloading the data, but would like to turn it over to local volunteers, which makes sense.  We have agreed to do this, and are looking for a couple of volunteers who are comfortable with laptops and data analysis.  Training is tentatively scheduled for June 23rd.

If you would like to volunteer for either of these very interesting activities, or to find out more, please respond to this e-mail, or send an e-mail to: info@qbstreamkeepers.ca