Community Living: ‘The gift that keeps on giving’.

I think I've already mentioned that I live on site in community with ten other interns. There are also three families and a couple who also live on various parts of the site. But community is much more than just living in close proximity to others: it can be challenging, a complete pain, a real blessing and a joy.

Enjoying each other's company!

One of the both nice and slightly terrifying things is that during the week we take it in turns to cook lunches and dinners for everyone on site that wants it. Because day to day life can be somewhat unpredictable, you can suddenly find yourself cooking for 30, or massively over-catering for the five people who aren't out doing field-work (thus preventing anyone from starving to death over the weekend!). However, it's a total joy to be able to go out into the gardens here, harvest some mud covered vegetables and serve them up a few hours later, and it's a wonderful chance to learn some new yummy recipes for the plants that are in season at any one time!

Harvesting Kale for Lunch!

Cooking for 30!

On Thursday we have an extended community lunch which includes announcements for the week, delicious desserts(!), a time of music based worship and every other week a bible study for the interns. I really enjoy being sat around the table with everyone laughing and talking and sharing their stories from the week so far and it's fascinating how much people can be brought together through the simple act of sharing a meal.  

Sharing a meal.

There are other things I'm sure we'd rather not share! Colds, sore throats and flu to name but a few. Once someone in the community catches a cold you can be pretty sure that you'll go down with it too sooner or later. The best that you can hope for is that you wont end up being reinfected later on by community members infected after you (literally the gift that keeps on giving)! I've made it sound like we're all plague ridden or something! It's really not bad: so far I've stayed much healthier out here than I ever managed during my degree. There's clearly a lot to be said for fresh vegetables, a sensible amount of sleep and a dearth of imminent exams.

Similarly sharing space with lots of other people can feel like a bit of a drag sometimes, particularly when you're naturally introverted like me. When you're working and living in close proximity to others it can be a challenge to find enough space and quiet for yourself. But it just takes discipline to tuck yourself away in a quiet corner with a book or some music, or head out into the nearby forests to walk the trails to get yourself some space when you need it. 

Alone with the trees...

Just me and a dog, perfect!

So now I need to firmly stress that the effort and downsides of community living are easily outstripped by the joys. It's wonderful that whenever you want to do something, like drive over to White Rock for the day, bake some cookies, watch a film or just chat there'll be somebody around and up for it.

Exploring White Rock

Out at t'pub...

 

A day at Vancouver Aquarium

 It's also a great chance to learn from others. For example I’ve been thrown into the somewhat bizarre and alien experience of being one of the most competent interns with a needle and thread. I've found myself sharing my denim patches and past experiences to fix trousers and have even managed to encourage and convince people to take away a needle and some thread from me so that I don’t have to do all the work! On the other hand I've learned how to make vinaigrette, broccoli salad and learned how the totally alien grid road system and street names work (like how to find 16th Ave near 197a St!). I've also gained confidence when it comes to baking. Not having had an oven at university I can fry and boil things with great competence and know many ways to misuse a George Foreman grill (for example making cookies) but I'm not particularly skilled on the baking front.

And everyone has strengths and weaknesses. I can catch a spider, or deal with a lady-bird (lady-bug if you insist) infestation, but I can’t seem to find a headtorch in a powercut or use a food processor without risking life and limb. I can come up with logical solutions to a problem with some scientific methodology but I can't avoid walking straight into a boulder whilst wading in the river for a survey.

Time to test that work experience I did at the vets...

The triumphant fixing of the poorly otter/slipper!

...a problem in need of solving perhaps?

Learning together, all smiles until...

But beyond these life skills and funny examples, personal learning experiences from life so far and the great distances that people have traveled to get here, both literal and metaphorical, can result in every individual, no matter how young or old, bringing something real, deep and truly enriching to the community. It's both exciting and humbling to share and learn from one another during the time we spend here before we take what we've learned here back out to the ends of the earth. 

I'll leave you with a final funny one. We're a community of people who care deeply about biodiversity and are very concerned by the state of the world at the moment, both for it's human and other inhabitants. As scientists we want the work achieved here to be trusted and taken seriously and wish to promote a competent and well–informed image. The fact that we live in community here can cause some confusion with respect to our work. It can be hard to persuade people that we aren’t just a bunch of hippy tree-huggers or even worse a cult of some sort. Often we succeed. We produce valuable reports about the status of the species of the area and collaborate closely with other charitable and governmental conservation groups that trust and value our work and insights; or gain the confidence of a local landowner with our fence building or tree planting skills.  Sometimes we don't succeed. Imagine, if you will, the visitors to the site who witnessed an intern (who happened to be running short on clothes) wandering across the site to the washing machine dressed in their floaty floral pjs, long hair straggling down around their shoulders.

Ah well, you win some you lose some!

Hugging  trees...

Canada is Beautiful: The Further Adventures of Steph et al.

Last weekend was the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Everyone on site came together contributing various dishes for a big thanksgiving dinner party. Afterwards we played an entertaining game in the main house living room. It involved everyone writing the name of a famous person down, and then taking turns to guess which person had written each famous person. If you were guessed correctly you joined teams with the guesser in question. The winner was the person who ultimately amassed all the players without being guessed themselves. It resulted in great hilarity, numerous people being God, the names of every Disney/ Harry Potter character under the sun, a strange being called 'the Cat' and me being Gandalf, Jack Sparrow and the Phantom of the Opera in quick succession ( I wonder what that says about me!?).

Thanksgiving is a chance to spend good time with family and eat a lot of turkeys. But it is also a time to reflect on all that God has blessed us with. In light of this, I've decided that I wont bother to write much this week but just share some of the wonderful vistas I've had the pleasure of experiencing during my adventurous weekends.

The ferry from Galiano Island, where we went on a getting-to-know-each-other-better adventure.

A tantalising view through the fog on Bodega Ridge, Galiano Island

Sunshine and Rain

Sunset from White Rock

An evening view to the mountains from White Rock

Fish and chips! The view was free.

Sundown at White Rock

Far over the misty mountains...

The ferry to Bowen Island.

My excited-about-mountains face.

Drinking in the peace.

Adventure to the lighthouse, Bowen Island

On the edge.

Where to now?

More beautiful Bowen Island

Looking up...

Killarney Lake, Bowen Island

The thinker...

Killarney Lake.

Snow on the mountains just before sunset...

 Hope you enjoyed!

Restoration: Beach Clean-ups, Bullfrogs and Bird Walks

It's me again! Blogging and eating dinner at the same time is a little risky I know, but I might actually be sat in one place for long enough with enough energy to write something worth reading! So here goes.

I've been out in Canada for a month now and the time is flying by in a haze of fun and extreme busyness. I'm starting to feel like I'm finding my feet and that I'm a valued part of the conservation science team. Not everything we do here as conservation scientists is part of a new ground-breaking flower hunting project ( I mean research!). We also try to take on board current and relevant research and use it to actively protect, restore and conserve wildlife. After all what would be the good of gaining knowledge through research and then not doing anything with it?! A simple example is seen in marine littering and beach clean-ups:

Part of Semiahmoo Bay, BC

We've all seen the photos of cute turtles with plastic six-pack rings digging into their flippers, bedraggled sea-birds that have choked to death after attempting to eat plastic bags, or wide-eyed seal pups tangled in fishing nets or lines. You don't need to be an expert to see, even from such a small snapshot, that leaving litter on beaches can have very negative consequences for the plant and animal lives dependent upon them. In fact, ever-increasing amounts of research are concluding that marine and coastal litter is a serious environmental hazard causing damage to these ecosystems. Perhaps it is time to act upon that gained knowledge then? Fortunately many individuals and organisations are doing just that. For example the A Rocha conservation team often join forces with the Friends of Semiahmoo Bay Society for regular beach cleanups and the annual Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. It's really good fun and a great way for the local community and conservation groups to get involved with a very worthwhile, hands-on, restorative conservation project.

Happy seagull footprints on the nice clean sand!

A happy beach cleaner!

Happy litter-free plants!

Similarly a lot of research concerning invasive plant or animals species (species that have become established in areas they aren't native to) has shown that these species often have very negative effects on the ecosystems they invade. Again, acting upon this knowledge, A Rocha tries to manage, and where necessary remove, a range of invasive species in the local area.

Pulling out invasive Lamium plants

Himalayan Balsam, another naughty invasive plant!

A juvenile bullfrog, an invasive amphibian.

On top of this short-term research and often ensuing hands on restoration projects, A Rocha also takes part in long-term monitoring studies. These studies are particularly valuable for building up a deep understanding of the ongoing health of a group of monitored plant or animal species and how this health can be affected. This ultimately helps a huge amount when it comes to deciding upon the best ways to protect a species or manage a particular ecosystem:

As part of this, early every Thursday morning the conservation team loses some sleep, instead taking time to walk around one of a number of designated sites on a glorified bird-watching trip. This is an entertaining experience: it's a lovely chance for me to get to grips with the names and calls of a lot of birds I'd never encounter in the UK and a wonderful way to enjoy the Canadian autumnal weather (so long as you're wrapped up warmly enough!). But it's also a useful way to work out which bird species are present where and in what numbers and track changes in this over time.

All in all there are lots of exciting projects going on here seeking to better understand and thus better conserve and restore wildlife. So I'll leave you with a selection of photos from the early morning bird walks:

Early morning dew on the spider webs of the Campbell Valley Regional Park.

The intrepid bird-watchers caught in a web...

A black-capped chickadee: very like a coal tit!

Another crisp morning near the A Rocha centre.

Is that sunshine coming through the trees!?

Down by the estuary of the Little Campbell River

Views like this make the early morning worth it!

Conservation and Community Outreach

I love animals, plants and remote 'wild' places with a deep intensity, which I suppose makes sense for someone working in conservation. But actually one of the things I love most about conservation work is the need to communicate with a whole range of people in order to achieve results. Some of this involves consulting with people who know a lot more about say mosses and lichens than I do (always an interesting and humbling experience).  But it also means that at A Rocha we organise a lot of community outreach events.

Some of the mushrooms and mosses I need help to identify.

A happy slug on the moss! He's quite irrelevant but also lovely.

 A few weeks ago we hosted the annual ‘Run for the River’. This was a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the watershed (the area in which all water that falls converges and ultimately forms the Little Campbell River) to the local community, as well as a chance for A Rocha to raise much needed funds for its conservation work and make contact with more members of the community. The atmosphere was great despite the torrential rain. Perhaps feeling quite so drenched got people feeling more at one with the river!?

Spreading the word...

A gloomy morning...

Practicing our running strategy!

The triumphant finishers!

 Last Saturday we hosted a harvest celebration event on site. It was a brilliant way of satisfying the curiosity of a lot of people who regularly drive past the centre and wonder what on earth we get up to in our weird little kind of hippy tree-hugger community. We also got the chance to share our love for wildlife and reconnect people with nature encouraging them to think more about the impact that their lives have upon the world around them and the practical steps they can take to reduce their impact. As a bonus the weather was beautiful and much hay-riding, apple-cidering fun was had by all.

Chopping apples for the cider...

Drop-dead gorgeous car parking team!

The harvested winter squash and pumpkins... that's a lot of soup!

Interns and guests sampling the soup... smiles all round!

Hay rides!

I found a wonderful seat!

On a more individual basis we spend a lot of time building up positive relationships with landowners whose land contains sections of the Little Campbell River and it's tributaries. It can be frustrating when they simply don't want to know. It can also be wonderfully rewarding, especially when land-owners simply hadn't realised how their actions could damage the health of the watershed. Many landowners are more than happy to let us help them remove invasive species, erect fences to keep their livestock out of the river, and plant native plants to restore the river ecosystem once they come to understand the reasons for these actions. I spent last Friday removing invasive blackberries, Himalayan balsam and thistles, planting native trees, and building a fence at a nearby stables. Once the landowner had overcome his suspicion he enjoyed bossing us around and learning more about A Rocha and why we were so concerned about the small creek at the edge of his land, and I even got a ride on his tractor (not a euphemism!!). We'll be returning to finish off our work within the next few weeks. I hope this newly established positive and cooperative relationship will endure for a long time.

Put simply, I love animals and I love sharing this enthusiasm with people... well isn't this just the perfect job!?

Doing battle with thistles!

Planting some native trees!

'Hey guys, aren't we missing those horizontal slats fences usually have?'