All blog posts tagged with ecological services
New Environmental Technicians in the Chetwynd region
(Instructor Michele Jones with students installing erosion and sediment control structures)
There are 19 newly trained environmental technicians wanting to enter the workforce out of Chetwynd. Representing 4 different First Nations from the region, these students are highly motivated. …
Coastal Invasive Species Committee update
The Coastal Invasive Species Committee (formerly the Coastal Invasive Plant Committee) has a new website and Facebook Page. Check it out at: http://www.coastalisc.com/ and https://www.facebook.com
Quadra Island Streamkeepers
The Quadra Island Salmon Enhancement Society hosted a Streamkeepers course in mid-February. The course was well attended by 16 new Streamkeepers. Participants learned stream surveying, water quality testing, and macroinvertebrate sampling. They hope to use all of their skills on the island's st…
Comox Valley Streamkeepers
Even though it was the Super Bowl weekend, there was a great turnout for the Courtenay Streamkeepers course. Working on two sections of Piercy Creek, new Streamkeepers measured, mapped, tested water quality, and sampled instream invertebrates in an area where new development is occuring. Fun was h…
Happy Holidays from Mimulus!
Wishing you and yours the best during the holiday season and in the New Year.
Stewardship efforts at Little White Lake
Residents from Tappen, BC and the surrounding area are concerned about maintaining quality turtle habitat. Starting with a Wetlandkeepers course in late September, provided by Michele Jones and sponsored by the BC Wildlife Federation, community members are now working on yellow-flag iris and int…
Re-routing for toads
Great community efforts to assist western toad migration occurred this summer in Duncan. Participants from the Wetlands Institute and local biologists spearheaded this great endeavor. Click here to see their work in progress.
Wetlands Institute in the Sea to Sky
The Wetlands Institute was a huge success this year. A total of seven new wetlands were constructed in Squamish and Whistler. Participants were instructed on how to build ground-water, surface, and lined wetlands. Additional wetland construction was planned in Squamish and Pemberton. Thanks to a…
Environmental Technician Certificate Program with the Boothroyd Band
We just had a really productive 3 weeks in Boston Bar, BC training 11 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 vegetati…
Cortes Island's newest Streamkeepers
There was great excitement in the streams of Cortes Island this weekend. Sponsored by the Klahoose First Nation, 17 community members participated in a Streamkeepers course instructed by Michele Jones. Stream insects were sampled, water was measured and the streams were assessed for their health a…
Mimulus on the Move!
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.
Midnight Madness on the Mudflats
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…
Hornby Island Stream Mapping
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 Ripari…
Sediment sampling in the mudflats
Volunteers from Project Watershed ventured forth into the dark tonight in order to gather mudflat sediments for a UBC research project. The low tides are currently at night, so Michele Jones led the group out into a lower intertidal area of the Courtenay River estuary. Sediments
were gathered usi…
New Wetland Restoration and Construction Guide
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 techn…
New Comox Valley Streamkeepers!
Fifteen new volunteers spent this past weekend learning stream measurement and monitoring techniques. The Streamkeepers training, sponsored by Comox Valley Project Watershed Society and instructed by Michele Jones, was conducted along Brooklyn Creek in Comox. Participants in the course came from…
Tansy Ragwort - nasty yellow flower
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.
Volunteer Eelgrass Mapping with Project Watershed
It was a perfect day to begin mapping eelgrass in the Courtenay River Estuary. Sponsored by Comox Valley Project Watershed Society, 8 stalwart volunteers began to ground-truth current beds of native eelgrass (Zostera marina). These beds had been previously identified by ortho-interpretation. Le…
