RESEARCH & EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS
Rick Keil, PhD, University of Washinton’s School of Oceanography
The highlight of our summer was a presentation that Rick 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 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.
Louise Blight, Parks Canada Researcher
Louise and her team stayed at the CFS during their reconnaissance for pink sand verbena (Abronia umbellata ssp. breviflora) on the beaches of Clayoquot Sound. Pink sand verbena is a critically endangered plant that was declared extinct in BC and Washington State, but was recently rediscovered on a beach in Pacific Rim National Park.
Christopher Herbinger, PhD, Dalhousie University
Dr. Herbinger is a genetics researcher and professor at Dalhousie University. One of the projects that Dr. Herbinger is looking at is the genetics of invasive tunicates that populate both the East and West coasts of North America. He collected some Tunicate samples while he stayed at the Field Station and also took an interested in local salmon populations, as one of his academic interests is the genetics and conservation of endangered east coast salmon populations.
Ron Wall, Plant Pathologist
Ron and his wife, Rose very kindly donated some sections of his forestry library to our Natural History Library. Thanks to this generous gift, CFS now has a complete set of the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology.
Bill Burnyeat, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
Bill gave an excellent astronomy presentation, but unfortunately because of cloud cover we were unable to use the Space Centre’s powerful portable telescope to present a night view of the seasonal sky.
Andy MacKinnon, R.P.F.
Andy is the author of the most popular field guide for plants on this coast: Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska.
Global Lifestyles Field Trip
Global Lifestyles is an international field school that promotes social development through language study, practical experiences and community involvement. The group of students, ages 12-17 participated in an educational tour of the gardens and rainforest, stayed with us at CFS and enjoyed a surf lesson at Chesterman’s Beach.
Rick Kool, PhD, Royal Roads University’s
Rick spent 4 days in Clayoquot Sound investigating the possibility of using the area’s rich natural and cultural histories to deliver the Environmental Science program’s Land Use and Cultural Management course. Rick was kind enough to send us a paper about Nuu-chah-nulth whaling that he wrote and published in the Canadian Journal of Anthropology. You can the paper in our Natural History Library.
Linda J. Kunce, PhD, Illinois Wesleyan University
Linda’s class of 16 students will stay at the Field Station in May, 2007 to explore the topic of “Sustaining Self & Society”. The class will use environmental sustainability and ecological topics as a model for social and mental well being. The class will have daily meditations in the Gardens and on the mudflats and take yoga classes in the upstairs classroom.
Sarah E. Gergel, PhD, University of British Columbia
Department of Forest Sciences and Applied Conservation Research graduate seminar in sustainable management. Graduate students from UBC stay at CFS and use the facility to focus on the challenges faced by Iisaak Forest Resources. The “team-taught course” is delivered by two ecologists and two economists.
Michael Schmidt, P.Eng, Pacific Geoscience Centre
Michael and his team of geologists set up their Global Positioning equipment outside the Field Station to test the place as possible location for a long-term research station. We are hopeful that the Field Station will be able to participate in The Geological Survey of Canada's Geodynamics Program, which provides information on contemporary movements of the Earth's crust for studies of earthquake hazard and global change.
Roland Geyer, PhD, University of California Santa Barbara
Roland teaches Industrial Ecology and Supply Chain Management at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. He happened upon the Field Station during his vacation in Tofino and is very interested in getting UCSB involved in the ongoing research efforts in the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve.
Charles Convis, ESRI Conservation Program
Charles and his family stayed at the Field Station and the Botanical House during their reconnaissance of the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve. As the Director of the ESRI Conservation Program, Charles is very interested in ways that ESRI Conservation Grants can provide benefits to the West Coast GIS mapping and data collection community.
Charles very kindly arranged a donation of approximately 20 conservation geography and GIS books for our Natural History Library. Thank you Charles and ESRI for this wonderful donation.
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