The Whimbrel: Issue 2.3

As I look out my window from the Field Station, the intensity of the sunshine pushing through the rain clouds imitates the exciting mood at the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation for the past two months. As you'll read below, research and education prevailed through early Spring's stormy weather with exciting new projects and the continuation of our existing programs and visiting researchers.

The last two months at the Gardens and the Field Station has been very gratifying. A grant from the Vancouver Foundation and a team of talented WWOOFers has brought new energy to our existing garden exhibits; oceanographic research teams from South Carolina, Georgia and Washington have been staying at the Field Station and using its wet lab to analyze samples; and a wonderful breadth of students on field trips have stayed at the Field Station while studying Clayoquot Sound.

The sun has just pushed away the dark clouds, which is an excellent sign for the University of Exeter's 27 students and professors from Devon, UK. This undergraduate geography class is our first intercontinental field trip and they are due to arrive at the Field Station this afternoon. I'm sure they will appreciate the enthusiastic mood at the Foundation and this lovely shift in the weather.

Membership Renewals

It's time to purchase an annual membership to the Tofino Botanical Gardens. Annual Memberships turn-over in April, so if you haven't purchased your membership for the season, please give us a call or stop by the Field Station. We can process your membership by phone or in person.

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.

Phosphorous Researchers at Field Station

Four research teams come together at the Clayoquot Field Station to change the way scientists view phosphorous in the ocean.

The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (University System of Georgia), Georgia Institute of Technology, University of South Carolina and the University of Washington converged at the Clayoquot Field Station in April to collaborate on oceanographic phosphorous research. The research team spent their days collecting samples in Clayoquot Sound aboard the National Science Foundation vessel MV Barnes and their evenings analyzing these samples in the Field Station's wet lab.

I was recently funded by NSF with Jay Brandes and Claudia Benitez-Nelson to explore the use of XANES spectroscopy to obtain compositional information at the microscale in natural materials. This research is a focused effort employing recently developed phosphorus (P) specific X-ray spectro-microscopic techniques along with traditional NMR and chemical methods to examine P compound-classes within sinking particles, sediments and porewaters from a range of oxic to anoxic environments. Our overall goal is to relate the composition of particulate and dissolved P to remineralization and sequestration processes in marine particulates and sediments. These x-ray techniques require the use of synchrotron radiation sources (There are only 2 synchrotron in the US capable of P XANES). This study will yield maps of P composition and concentrations within particulates at scales relevant to microbially-mediated storage and degradation mechanisms. To our knowledge, this is the first study to develop XANES for the study of phosphorus in marine systems. Additionally, this is the first study to target patterns of P speciation across a wide range of environments and within particles and porewaters. Results from this research will not only lead to a better understanding of cycling of the vital nutrient element P but also demonstrate the potential of XANES spectroscopy for the analysis of natural samples.

The staff at the Foundation were very pleased to have such a wonderful crew of researchers with us for a week and a half. The team is scheduled to return in July. We have asked the team's leader Dr. Jay Brandes to deliver a talk describing their research, the global significance of Clayoquot Sound's benthic diversity, and how their research may lead to re-writing chemistry textbooks. Stay posted for details about this upcoming presentation.

Researchers in Field Station's Wet Lab From left: George Patterson, ED of Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation; Julia Diaz (M.S.), Georgia Tech; Claudia Benitez-Nelson (PhD), University of South Carolina; Ellery Ingall (PhD), Georgia Tech; Gabrielle Lyons (M.S.), University of South Carolina

Missing from photo: Jay Brandes (PhD), Skidaway Institute of Oceanography; Rick Keil (PhD), University of Washington; Jon Nuwer (M.S.), University of Washington; Kelsey McDuffee (B.Sc.), University of Washington

University Field Studies with Boat Basin Foundation

The Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation is working with the Boat Basin Foundation to bring university field courses to Boat Basin's Temperate Rainforest Field Studies Centre and Cougar Annie's Garden.

Boat Basin, located at the head of Hesquiaht Harbour, is an ideal setting for temperate rainforest studies. The area is home to first growth rainforest revealing over 1000 years of natural and cultural succession. Surrounding the Centre students will find a variety of ecosystems, including peat-bog habitat, intertidal and estuarine systems, and succession zones between clearcuts and undisturbed forest habitat.

Located many miles from a connected road system, the facility can be reached only by air or water. Far from the distractions of modern living, the Centre offers unequalled access to this part of the coast.

The facilities consist of six cabins and a magnificent Central Hall for dining and meeting. All buildings are made from local cedar, milled on the property.

The Temperate Rainforest Field Studies Centre welcomes university field study groups, and occasionally allows special interest groups to arrange reunions, study sessions, meetings or retreats. For more information about booking a university field trip or a special interest retreat, please phone the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation: (250) 725-1220 or email [email protected].

The Tofino Botanical Gardens is excited and grateful to be a part of this endeavour, which inspires university students about the ecological marvels in Clayoquot Sound. For more information about the Boat Basin Foundation and Cougar Annie's Garden, visit www.boatbasin.org.

Ethnobiology Congress Awarded to Tofino Botanical Gardens

The Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation has been selected to host the International Congress of Ethnobiology in 2010. The Congress takes place every two years as a way for the International Society of Ethnobiology to get together and share research, findings and new trends in ethnobiology. The overarching theme of the 2010 Congress is “Language, knowledge, and the biosphere: Cultivating biocultural health.”

The International Congress of Ethnobiology (ICE) has never been held on the west coast of North America in the traditional territories of northwestern First Nations. Our proposal was accepted on the strength of Clayoquot Sound's innovative approaches to research and education, and on the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation's leading role in this arena.

We want members of the International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE) to experience this part of the world and learn about and from the people who live here. Clayoquot Sound's five communities, organizations and businesses will benefit greatly from exchanges with ISE members. We look forward to local people learning from ISE members and ISE members learning from local people. Initiating these new relationships with the Society will help develop a strong research and education economic sector in the five Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve communities (Hot Springs/Hesquiaht, Ahousaht, Opitsaht, Tofino & Esowista).

In 2008 the Congress will be held in Cusco, Peru. We will be sending delegates to the Cusco Congress on a research mission and will being posting updates about this trip and the 2010 Clayoquot Sound Congress. Watch for news about this exciting event.

Gifts to the Foundation

Scholarship Fund: Inaugural Gift
The Scholarship Fund is on its way and growing. Thank you to Inez and Peter Platenius who initiated this fund with a generous inaugural gift. The Scholarship Fund subsidizes students and researchers staying and learning at the Clayoquot Field Station.

The Field Station exists to support research, education and conversations towards a sustainable future. By initiating this fund, the donors hope to encourage more research and education in Clayoquot Sound, particularly by groups and individuals who wouldn't be able to make the trip without financial assistance

The Fund is administered by the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation. We are grateful for any gifts to this fund. To donate through CanadaHelps online, click here (type "Scholarship Fund" in the message box), or give us a call and we can process your credit card over the phone.

Wet Lab Equipment Donated
We would like to extend a warm thank you to Jack McLachlan of Vancouver who donated his compound microscope and dissecting scope along with some outstanding accessories for this equipment. On the very day of his kind donation, three oceanographic research teams used the equipment to enhance their research. Thanks again, Jack.

Upgraded Garden Exhibits

With generous assistance from the Vancouver Foundation the Tofino Botanical Gardens is busy upgrading our existing exhibits. The renewal project highlights the environmental education themes of the Foundation with interpretive signs materials.

The new interpretive signs have been designed and are on their way to the printers. The signs will use the features of our existing exhibits to highlight conservation issues in coastal temperate rainforests around the world. One example is at The Evian exhibit where a new sign and interpretive materials will relay a brief history about salmon fishing on the Pacific coast and inform visitors about the plight of West Coast salmon populations, many of which are on the brink of extinction.

Thank you to the Environmental Advisory Committee at the Vancouver Foundation for its help with this project.

Vancouver Foundation administers a permanent endowment with assets of
approximately $500 million, representing the combined capital of over 800 funds created
through bequests, from living donors and through other gifts. Grants are made from the
income that is generated from investment of the pooled capital of these funds. Although
Vancouver Foundation is located in Vancouver, the Foundation provides grants to
registered, charitable organizations throughout British Columbia.

George Patterson , Executive Director at the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation , indicated that this is a significant grant to the project and he is delighted by the Vancouver Foundation's support. “This support will help the Garden's ongoing goal of using our 12-acre property to educate our visitors about global and local environmental concerns and solutions.”

The Garden Revitalization project is scheduled to be finished before the busy summer season begins.

Philosophers' Biosphere Conversation

“Understanding Nature, Changing the World”
Changing the argument between ecologists and economists, environmentalists and industry, protesters and workers into a productive conversation

Participating members were from Malaspina University-College, University of Victoria, Institute for Coastal Research, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, Tofino and Ucluelet.

The first of the Biosphere Conversation Series at the Clayoquot Field Station brought together a range of people, representing traditional knowledge, philosophy, science, ecology, the arts and politics, in four free-ranging discussions of the ways in which environmental value is understood and interpreted. This exploration of the first principles governing widely-separated positions on the environment (from wilderness preservation to resource-extraction, and everything in between) resulted in a deeper understanding (if not total agreement) on the main springs of conflict besetting the political handling of environmental issues in British Columbia.

Preliminary to any attempt to settle such conflicts is the ability of stakeholders to speak a shared language, so that the ways in which they value the surroundings which provide them with both a dwelling and a living, whether they call these surroundings "Nature" or "natural resources," can be compared. Even among those who share ecological agendas, it soon became apparent that the grounds on which they base their political convictions are diverse, ranging from spiritual to scientific, from conservative to radical. A significant amount of attention was paid to ways of rendering these diverse formulations clear, and to exploring the overlaps between them.

Such general and abstract questions, even when answered, do not translate immediately into action-plans, but there were decisions made about the future direction of the series. The second session will take place in early Fall, and will look specifically at the levers of political action, locally and provincially, which might be accessed to bring greater mutual respect to debates about the environment, and to promote environmental concern in the complex context of contemporary life. An edited sound recording of the first set of discussions will be produced during the summer.

- Dr. John Black
Director
Alexandro Malaspina Research Centre

New Children's Garden Underway

A new Children's Pavilion will soon be available in the Gardens for kids to learn and play. We have also planted a series of kid-friendly beds adjacent to the Pavilion and have erected a gazebo nearby to create playful spaces for our smaller, curious visitors and adventuresome parents.

This is part of a larger initiative at the Foundation to provide outdoor spaces for children and parents to encourage learning about conservation, sustainability and horticulture. Our new Children's Garden will add to our popular Secret Garden and forest place space for kids.

Watch for more children's events, exhibits and additions to this new and exiting garden.

At left, WestIsle Construction breaks ground for the new Children's Pavilion.

First Sustainability Camp a Huge Success

The Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation is pleased to announce that its first Sustainability Camp was a success. The goal of Sustainability Camp is to increase youth knowledge and awareness about global and local environmental issues, with the hope that this increased awareness will help the next generation to develop solutions and inspire action for positive environmental and social change.

The Grade Six class from Tofino’s Wickaninnish Elementary School participated in the first Sustainability Camp. The camp was two nights, and a total of three full days. The camp was guided by the six-day Sustainability Camp curriculum developed by the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation. This is the first camp of its kind, with a complete curriculum for kids devoted to issues about how to create a sustainable future.

The Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation raised enough money to support the entire cost of this first camp for the students as well as donating over a week of staff time and resources. The Foundation is grateful to the Shell Environmental Fund and many community members and businesses for their support: The Wickaninnish Community School, Anahata Yoga, Fourth Street Natural Market, Tofino Coop Hardware, Tofino Parks and Recreation Department and the Raincoast Café.

Photo above right: Students preparing for a communication game in the Gardens. The camp began with games and lessons about the importance of communication, trust and community support in the sustainability dialogue.

Clayoquot Consortium Underway

The Clayoquot Consortium is a growing network of academic institutions that supports and participates in research and education in Clayoquot Sound. The Clayoquot Consortium emerged from local initiatives and aims to engage academic institutions from around the world in considering and responding to the challenges and opportunities presented by the UNESCO Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve.

The consortium is presently “housed” at the Clayoquot Field Station and administered by the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation. As membership expands it is anticipated that an independent society will be formed to further the goals of the consortium.

A core value of the Clayoquot Consortium is inclusivity. We welcome inquiries and participation from all institutions, non governmental organizations and governmental entities with an interest in initiating, enabling and encouraging research and educational activities on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Over the next five years, the Clayoquot Consortium will work towards building a membership of around 100 institutions and organizations, and will provide a variety of educational programs, research facilities, conferences, and associated services.

The governance and funding structure of the Clayoquot Consortium has been inspired by the Organization of Tropical Studies. Participating members support the Clayoquot Consortium through an annual membership fee structure:

Each member will be represented with a seat on the Board of Directors. Membership grants access to the services of professional logistical coordination and networking to resources and facilities within the Biosphere Reserve.

The Clayoquot Consortium is initiating contact and discussions with institutions and organizations from around the world. We are available to discuss any comments or questions you may have about the Consortium and opportunities for your institution. Please contact John Platenius [[email protected]] or George Patterson [[email protected]] at 250 725-1220.

Message from the Foundation