DEVELOPING A DURABLE ECONOMY IN TOFINO:
THE CLAYOQUOT FIELD STATION

Tofino is lucky to have a healthy and thoughtful mix of folks in its mayor and council, which inevitably leads to friendly disagreements about certain issues. This is why it was so encouraging to hear the mayor and each member of council agree on an important issue facing Tofino’s near future: the need to develop a research and education sector of the regional economy.

The mayor and council have unanimously endorsed a project by the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation that will jump-start Tofino’s research and education (R & E) economy: The Clayoquot Field Station at Tofino Botanical Gardens, opening on June 1st.

The Clayoquot Field Station is a dormitory-classroom facility that can accommodate up to 32 students. Its mission is to initiate, encourage and enable research, education and conversations that will help people to understand how to live in a place without diminishing it.

Tofino Botanical Gardens is situated on a 12 acre waterfront property next to an 80-acre forest preserve and looks onto the 5000-acre Tofino Mudflats Wildlife Management Area. The entire District of Tofino, including the gardens and the field station, is located within the 500,000-acre UNESCO Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve.

The Clayoquot Field Station will strengthen Tofino’s economy by starting the development of a prosperous R & E sector. An excellent example of how a region’s R & E sector might develop is the town of Woods Hole, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Woods Hole was once a resource-based town, and currently houses about the same population as Tofino. The town’s R & E economy is anchored by the world-renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The success of this institution encouraged several other educational facilities to open. Now Woods Hole has a wide range of businesses and institutions that depend on the thriving R & E sector. These businesses reinforce the town’s strong but seasonal tourism sector, creating a durable, year round economy.

Tofino’s R & E sector will provide added resilience to its existing tourism economy by creating what scientists refer to as a positive feedback loop. It works like this:

• Students and researchers arrive to participate in projects and programs at the Clayoquot Field Station and other educational facilities.
• The students and researchers feed the tourism sector during their stay: buying gifts, renting surf gear, kayaking, going whale watching, etc.
• As tourism and R & E grow together, existing and new businesses require many more services such as accounting and bookkeeping, engine repair, equipment outfitting, transportation, guiding and logistics, construction trades, food services, etc.
• The students and researchers fall in love with Tofino (of course!), plan many trips back and encourage their friends and family to visit.
• This cycle continues to repeat itself. Students turn into tourists – tourists become students. This positive feedback loop grows both sectors of the economy, providing more and more opportunities for local employment and economic diversification.

Our community of innovative thinkers and the continuing support of mayor and council are all the tools Tofino needs to build a vibrant, sustainable year-round economy. Why not create a Tofino Arts Institute? Why not build an ESL school, an oceanographic school with a research aquarium? Why not a trade school, a film institute? Why not have a degree-granting university program right here in Tofino? The Clayoquot Field Station is only the beginning.