BioBlitz 2019!

A FOREST FULL OF THANKS…
… to the great community turnout for BioBlitz 2019!!!

Yet again… close to 100 enthusiastic participants walked into Carrington Bay Park basecamp the first weekend in May to visit, observe or inventory with us the Children’s Forest.

Cortes youth stepped into the leadership roles this year and led participants in study groups focused on insects, plants, Buchia fossils, lichens, Vertigo snails, mosses, intertidal marine life and great blue herons!!! WOW!!!

Notable scientific observations included:
1. the location of an active great blue heron rookery, Ardea herodias fannini; this coastal subspecies is listed at risk in BC
2. possibly… the first documentation of the shrub, falsebox, Pachistima myrsinites on Cortes Island; keen, youthful eyes were on the ground!!
3. Vertigo snails were found in the heavy moss mats covering maple trees; this TINY arboreal (lives on trees) snail has species which are listed at risk; we have microscopic identification underway… that’s exciting!!!

This year we learned that when you cannot get the expert to travel to Cortes, you can travel to the expert with a small collection in hand!!! Trevor Goward is the Curator of Lichens at UBC and the province’s finest lichenologist. We made a small collection of lichens from three sensitive ecosystems in the Children’s Forest during BioBlitz 2019 and took them to Trevor at his home just outside Wells Gray Provincial Park. Trevor graciously took these into his lab and identified them for us, adding 30 species of lichen to our growing inventory for the Children’s Forest. Thank you Trevor!

Our new Short-legged Program created the opportunity for full participation of our youngest demographic of Cortes youth. Fifteen short-legged participants explored the wonders around Carrington Bay Park camp all weekend and added life and love with every giggle!

BioBlitz 2019 also provided the platform for a celebration of the Forest Tribe of youth that lie at the heart of our efforts to preserve and protect this forest in perpetuity!!! As our Forest Tribe of youth move into the world, they carry with them a strong sense of the forest and the values it has taught them.

BioBlitz! 2019 moves us ever closer to our goal of purchasing the Children’s Forest and gifting it in perpetuity to all children.

We invite all of you to join us, in – Imagining… a forest in trust to the children!!!

BioBlitz! 2019 was sponsored by the Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island Society (FTCCIS).