Issue 1.1    |    December, 2006

Tofino Botanical Gardens Launches The Whimbrel

Welcome to our first newsletter!

The purpose of The Whimbrel is to inform our friends and visitors about current and future happenings at the Gardens and the Clayoquot Field Station. We hope that you’ll find this letter informative and fun to read. We plan on sending one out every quarter or so - if you’d prefer to not receive these, please write [email protected] with Newsletter Remove in the subject line.

Message from the Founder

The opening of the Clayoquot Field station last June has created an amazing range of opportunities for the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation. In March we are presenting a workshop on gardening with native plants. This will be a very practical, hands on, dirt under the fingernails course taught by Pat Johnson, a Victoria gardener with more than twenty-five years experience. A few weeks later we are co-hosting, with Malaspina University, a group of practicing philosophers who will spend two intensive days in a conversation about the role of ethics in the resolution of land use conflicts.

These two events might seem completely unrelated, but they are both focused on what I think is the central question of humankind: “How do we live in this place without diminishing it?” Whether this place is our own backyard, Clayoquot Sound or Planet Earth, we must think and act as if we really care about how our children and theirs will be able to live.

With The Whimbrel, we will do our best to keep you informed of programs and activities at the Gardens and the Field Station that are bringing people together to learn, to remember and to share information and ideas about what each and every one of us can and must do so that we can keep our world a livable place.

-George Patterson
Executive Director
December, 2006

Annual Membership Drive

As the new year rolls around, it's time to purchase an annual membership to the Tofino Botanical Gardens. These make a great Christmas gift and come with great member benefits.

Member Benefits:

• Year round Admission to the gardens
• 10% off retail items
• 10% off admission for all visitors that accompany you to the Gardens
• Free or reduced admission to many Garden events such as the Art in the Gardens Festival, walks and talks at the Clayoquot Field Station

Prices (including GST) :

• $20 / year for adults
• $12 / year for students and seniors
• FREE for children under 12 years

See our Membership Page for more information or...

It's only a phone call away! The Foundation takes Visa and MasterCard, and is in the office 7 days a week: (250) 725-1220.

Holiday Season: Guided Rainforest Garden Tours

In an effort to provide some "off-season" activities to Tofino's visitors and the guests of Tofino's residents, the Foundation is offering guided tours of the gardens and the rainforest during the holiday season. Come on down for a cup of coffee and have a look at the gardens when you can really see their structure.

Rain, shine or...

Includes:

• Guided tour of the gardens and rainforest
• Organic coffee before or after the tour
• Admission to the Gardens for 3 days

Price:

• $10 / person (including GST)

Dates:

• December 21 - 24
• December 26 - 31

Time:

• 1:00 PM

Meet:

• At the Clayoquot Field Station in the Tofino Botanical Gardens

We'll see you there!

Upcoming Events at the Field Station

Native Plant Gardening Workshop

March 23 - 25, 2007
A weekend workshop that will explore the joys and frustration of gardening with native plants.

• How to garden with native plants
• Identification of weeds and invasive plants: How to deal with them
• The benefits of using native plants in our gardens
• Guided tour of the Tofino Botanical Gardens
• Slideshow, including slides of different native plants and gardens
• Lawn replacement discussion and techniques
• Discussion and examples of thickets, meadows, woodland and rock gardens

The cost is $195, including two nights accommodation and two pancake breakfasts. We will have more information on our website soon, but please feel free to contact us to sign up today.

BIOSPHERE CONVERSATION SERIES

IS THERE A ROLE FOR PHILOSOPHERS & ETHICISTS IN RESOLVING LAND USE CONFLICTS?

April 13 - 14, 2007
This is the first weekend Conversation Series at the Field Station. The Biosphere Conversation Series brings together small groups (8-12 participants) for a day and two nights of  conversation on a range of topics related to the broad question of How do we live in a place?

Our first Conversation Series is focused on changing the argument between ecologists and economists, environmentalists and industry, protesters and workers into a productive conversation.

Sponsored by Malaspina University, Alejandro Malaspina Research Centre, Institute for Coastal Research and the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation

NATURALIST'S WEEKEND & SHOREBIRD FESTIVAL

April 27-29, 2007
Join expert naturalists during the 10th annual Shorebird Festival on a weekend adventure birding and exploring the Tofino Mudflats, and the exposed intertidal zone.

The Tofino Mudflats is an estuarine ecosystem just outside of Tofino It is an internationally significant migratory stopover for shorebirds and among the top ten most critical wetlands for wintering waterfowl on Canada's west coast. Watch for western sandpipers, short-billed and long-billed dowitchers, dunlin, least sandpipers, sanderling and black-bellied plovers during the fall migration.

The cost is $195, and includes three naturalist / birding walks, two nights accommodation, two breakfasts. For more info, but please feel free to contact us to sign up today.

Send-A-Kid to Sustainability Camp

Sustainability Camps for a Better Future
Over the next three years, the Foundation’s Sustainability Camp program will bring more than 200 youth and youth leaders to the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve to learn how to make their community and the world a more environmentally sustainable and just place to live. The students will participate in hands on activities, community service and classroom learning as they “learn by doing” the important steps to creating a better place to live.

The first Sustainability Camp begins in the spring of 2007. Grade six students will spend three days together at the Clayoquot Field Station, learning the science and practice behind the concept of sustainability. The camp’s high student to leader ratio will help each student understand how science, policy and individual action can be combined to slow down our patterns of over-consumption, pollution and waste.

Your Tax-Deductible Donation
Sending a student to Sustainability Camp has more than a feel-good benefit. Our three different donor levels give your business or organisation excellent promotion opportunities, and all donations  receive a tax-deductible receipt. For more information see www.sustainablekids.org/sponsors.php

Contact Us Today!
For more information about the benefits of individual or business sponsorships, please contact:

John Platenius
Phone: 250-725-1220 or Email: [email protected].

Sustainability Camp Receives Funding

Clayoquot Biosphere Trust Grant for Curriculum Development
Our new Youth and the Biosphere program received funding from the CBT to develop a curriculum for “Sustainability Camps” - overnight programs for youth in grades six and seven. For more information about these camps and the curriculum that CBT has partially funded, check out the Sustainability Camp Website: www.SustainableKids.org. Thank you CBT!
Shell and the Environment Fund Grants Scholarships for Sustainability Camps
We have just received news that the Shell and the Environment Fund will be providing enough money to fund about 30% of the total cost for 16 students to participate in our first Sustainability Camp this coming spring.

Clayoquot Field Station Visitor Profile

Rick Keil, Microbial Organic Geochemistry of Clayoquot Sound
The highlight of our summer was a presentation that Dr. Rick Keil (pictured at left here) gave to a packed audience in the classroom describing the ocean sediment research that his team has been doing in Clayoquot Sound. For the past 7 years, Rick’s team at the University of Washington's MOG Lab has been coring sediments from the bottom of Clayoquot Sound’s inlets. Without the existence of Clayoquot Sound’s unique topography, his team would have to travel from Vancouver Island to the equator to collect similar data.

Because of some connections that were made while they stayed at the Field Station, the University of Washington team plans to do more frequent research visits. These local connections also helped the team find ways to bring some of their costs down, which will allow them to do more research and while providing more support to the Clayoquot Sound economy.

We're excited to have Rick and his team back at the Field Station in January. The team will store some of their research equipment at the Field Station to help minimize the logistics of their trip from the University of Washington. We should have a progress report about their exciting research in the Research & Education section of our website soon. To read more about the University of Washington's MOG Lab, website click here. Please check back for details.