One Map, Many Adventures!

Published on November 9, 2021November 9, 2021 by Rick Searle

Tomorrow night will be exciting! I’ll be attending the Ecostar Awards Gala as the coordinator of the Greater Victoria NatureHood. We’ve been nominated for an award for innovation. This award: ” Recognizes an organization that has demonstrated innovative sustainability practices, products, services, and/or technology in their industry.”

What got us nominated is our Greater Victoria NatureHood map and brochure.Therefore, it’s only fitting that I’ll be joined by my friend and colleague, Kathleen Burton. The map is almost entirely her creation.

We’re up against some serious competition in the two other nominees in this category. To tell the truth, I’ll be surprised if we win the award. But you never know, right. And that would be simply awesome!

The map has already attracted a lot of attention and accolades. In June we received a conservation partner award from Nature Canada for it, as well as for the tribute exhibit of Fenwick Lansdowne, an internationally acclaimed Canadian wildlife artiist. Because his subjects were almost always birds, his paintings were was often compared with those of John James Audubon.

The map was also finalist in this year’s Charity Village Awards. It will also be featured at this years International Cartographical Association’s conference next month in Florence, Italy.

On the ground, we’ve gone through print runs for a total of 15,000 copies in just a few months. The second run of 8000 copies was only made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor.

Our focus now is to take the map from being a static downloadable PDF on our website to being something much more innovative and interactive. We certainly don’t have the expertise to pull this off ourselves, so we’re about to enter into a partnership with an organization that can provide state-of-the art technology in this kind of project along with a large cadre of highly trained people who know what to do with it.

The Greater Victoria NatureHood is also embarking on two other exciting projects. We’ll be producing three short (1 – 1.5 min) videos about each of the region’s migratory bird sanctuaries. We’re also reaching out to some local indigenous educators to bring in their nation’s knowledge and practices to the Migratory Bird Activity Booklet we produced and released last spring.

Honestly, it would be very easy for me to carry on about all the great things the partners of the Greater Victoria NatureHood have done over the past four years, while I’ve been their coordinator. It truly is a great honour to be working with these organizations and to be able to contribute to the realization of our shared vision: “a deep and long-standing connection with the natural world of Greater Victoria” among residents and visitors alike.

Launching the Greater Victoria NatureHood Map: A Guide to Many Adventures!

Published on May 8, 2021May 8, 2021 by Rick Searle

Today, May 8th, is World Migratory Bird Day and the Greater Victoria NatureHood, a Nature Canada initiative, is thrilled to launch it’s Nature in the City: Guide to Many Adventures map!

The map’s design tells stories of urban habitats, captivating species and local parks to explore. Detailed environmental information is woven together with original artwork by Kristi Bridgeman and designed by a team of community partners led by Kathleen Burton as project manager and lead writer.

The team consisted of individuals from the District of Saanich, the Capital Regional District, Rocky Point Bird Observatory, and Victoria Natural History Society.

“Initially the map was developed with the aim to deepen a connection with nature, then a global pandemic hit amidst a climate emergency. This saw the map take on a greater purpose, to create a sense of belonging for those who use it,” says Kathleen.

Bob Peart, founder of the Greater Victoria NatureHood and advisor to creation of the map, adds “It invites you to observe, learn and protect nature where you live.”

The map committee was honoured to work with SENĆOŦEN Language Revitalist, ŚW,XELOSELWET Tiffany Joseph and Erich Kelch First Nations Relations, Community Engagement Coordinator, CRD. This collaboration sees place names and species names included where possible in both SENĆOŦEN and Lekwungen languages.

“We wanted to go one step further than simply acknowledging the territory of the SENĆOŦEN and Lekwungen speaking peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, work and play because it is with respect to those who were here before us and to their deep relationship to place continues to this day,” Peart points out. “Greater Victoria NatureHood looks forward to building a future map that includes more First Nations knowledge, language and history to provide a more complete illustration of our region’s indigenous history.”

Maps are 24″ x 18″ (61cm x 46cm) flat and 4″ x9″ (10cm x 23cm) folded. Folded maps will be available to the public effective May 8, 2021, in time to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day celebrations in Greater Victoria. A limited run of 7,000 maps is available free of charge with thanks to NatureHood community partners. Schools, nonprofits and educational organizations are encouraged to contact NatureHood to request maps.

NatureHood Maps can be picked up, May 8-16, 2021, at the following locations:

Bateman Gallery
Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary
Eagle Wing Tours
Hotel Grand Pacific
Delta Ocean Point
Oak Bay PharmaSave
District of Saanich

Users of the map are encouraged to share their explorations on social media using the hashtags #gvnaturehood #naturehood and #naturalintelligence

Spring Wildflowers of Greater Victoria

Published on April 24, 2021April 25, 2021 by Rick Searle

I love spring! I mean, I really, really love spring! It may have something to do with being born in spring. But more concretely, this is the time of year when the Greater Victoria NatureHood bursts forth with multitudes of blossoms. By this year’s 44th annual Victoria Flower Count, there were nearly 66 billion blossoms counted between March 4th and the 10th. But of course, many, many more were missed.

The most underrepresented must surely be the wildflowers. Although they’re native to the region, having evolved and adapted to the region’s unique climate and geography over hundreds of years, the delicate blooms of wildflowers are often overwhelmed by the more abundant and showy introduced species of flower plants.

To find these delicate beauties, all you need to do is visit one of the region’s parks or protected areas between mid-March and mid-June. You might be surprised to discover that one or more of these special places is right in your neighbourhood!

In the forest, under full or partial shade, at this time of year, you’ll likely come across these exquisite blooms.

Out in the meadows, among the Garry oaks or scattered over rocky bluffs, the following wildflowers run riot.

But the blossoms of wildflowers aren’t just found on the ground. Looking up at eye level in the shrubs, your eyes may alight on these gems!

Now, every wildflower I’ve shown you so far relies on chlorophyll to convert the sun’s energy along with carbon dioxide from the air and water to create sugar which the plants use, along with nutrients from the soil, to produce new growth, like leaves and blooms.

But what about these strange individuals? Not a chloroplast to be found anywhere in them. So how do they survive?

Striped and Spotted Coralroot are saprophytes. They draw the necessary nutrients from dead and decaying plant material.

Are these wildflowers also saprophytes? They don’t have chlorophyll either.

Paintbrush and Indian Pipe also lack chlorophyll; however, they’ve evolved to take nutrients from surrounding plants by tapping into the mycorrhizal fungi network. These plants are called parasites because they draw the energy needed for growth from other living plants.

If you’d like to learn more about the wildflowers and plants found within the Greater Victoria NatureHood, I strongly recommend getting a copy of the Revised Plants of Coastal British Columbia (including Washington, Oregon and Alaska” by Pojar and Mackinnon. Published by Lone Pine in 2004.

Have fun getting to know the wildflowers of the region! Remember to get down on your belly to be eye level so as to truly appreciate their exquisite beauty!