MIMULUS

We are moving our office in April to a new location.  Our new office will be located at 5105 Willis Way, Courtenay, BC  V9J 1L7.  We will still have the same phone number and email address. 

Students from UBC and volunteers from Project Watershed braved the dark mudflats of the Courtenay River estuary last night in order to gather sediment samples and eelgrass shoots for a UBC carbon sequestration research project.  The low tide was at 10:30 pm, so Michele Jones led the group out into the dark to a lower intertidal area. Sediments were gathered from two different depths using hand tools .  In addition, 500 eelgrass shoots were harvested. 

   It's a dirty job, but we got to do it!

Mimulus Biological Consultants has just completed the mapping of the Ford Creek watershed on Hornby Island.  This lovely watershed is located at the south end of the island, nestled in the Strachan Valley.  The purpose of the mapping was to locate all watercourses covered under the provincial Riparian Areas Regulation within the watershed.

Tom Biebighauser has just published Wetland Restoration and Construction-A Technical Guide.  The 186-page volume contains over 650 color photographs and drawings that are designed to help individuals build naturally appearing and functioning wetlands.  Practical, low cost, and highly effective techniques are described that are based on his experiences establishing over 1,400 wetlands in 18-States and two Canadian Provinces. 

The chapters clearly explain how to select suitable locations for building wetlands, the best techniques to use, what types of heavy equipment are needed, and how to oversee construction and planting.  Of special interest to natural resource managers are the pages showing how wetlands can be designed to benefit specific amphibians, reptiles, and birds.  Other sections describe how wetlands can be successfully built at schools, on mined areas, from old roads, and how failed wetlands can be repaired.

And it is only 15.50 US plus shipping!  Click here for more information. 

The chemicals in Tansy Ragwort taint honey produced by bees by making it too bitter and off colour to market. Rachelle McElroy from the Coastal Invasive Plant Committee and Sucheta Singh (Shaw) have the story on what residents are trying to do in order to get rid of this invasive species. 

A new RAR course through Vancouver Island University is scheduled for North Vancouver on October 12 to October 14, 2011.  Click here for registration information.

We just had a really terrific week in Chilliwack, BC training 18 new environmental technicians. 

This program was offered through Vancouver Island University.  Experienced professionals are some of the educators who teach in this program.  Mimulus instructed skills such as vegetation surveys, forest mensuration, wildlife surveys, soil sampling, and benthic macroinvertebrate identification.  Participants learn the basics in the classroom and practice their skills in the field.