TLC has had a busy summer. Our volunteer covenant monitoring program has allowed us to visit conservation properties all over the lower Vancouver Island region. In cooperation with the CRD and CVRD, as well as Habitat Acquisition Trust and many community conservation groups, TLC holds covenants on several properties. Volunteers joined TLC staff for the monitoring of eight of these properties this summer. Covenant monitoring is essential for TLC to ensure that protected properties are being cared for and used appropriately. Monitoring also tracks landscape changes, such as trail braiding or widening on heavily used public properties like the Sooke Hills covenant. TLC’s volunteers were given the opportunity to learn and practice several methods of ecological monitoring including repeat photography. Repeat photography is an objective method of tracking landscape changes because images are taken every year at specific bounded points. Photos are taken along the cardinal points and of the tree canopy. When the images from consecutive years are compared, any change is clearly evident.

Aside from ecological monitoring, volunteers are also given the opportunity to learn about BC’s biodiversity and familiarize themselves with many species of plants and wildlife. Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) suggests that learning even five species that exist around where you live can renew and revitalize a connection with nature. This is significant because, as those in the conservation community are aware, when we are not connected to nature we are in no position to protect it. It is partially our emotional response to the natural world, such as the excitement we feel when we see a giant cedar, or the grief we feel when such an individual is destroyed, that motivates us to protect and conserve undeveloped land. TLC staffers were able to experience the renewed excitement of our volunteers, and their pride in being able to recognize a species at a glance. For students in the biological sciences, ecology, and environmental studies, this volunteer program provides an introduction to conservation fieldwork that may prove very valuable to their studies. That said, learning about nature has intrinsic value for everyone.

We were extremely fortunate to be accompanied by biologist Jim Roberts on several of our hikes. Jim was able to share information about how creek systems work, and amazingly, he gave us a glimpse of the spectacular underwater world through his photography. Because many of TLC’s covenant properties are part of water systems it is important for us to learn from experts, like Jim, who focus on aquatic systems. Although TLC is The LAND Conservancy, several of our properties are adjacent to salmon-bearing streams and other significant riparian systems. Activites on land have a direct impact on water quality and food security for humans and wildlife.

PC Rae Costain. Elkington Forest Covenant.

PC Rae Costain. Elkington Forest Covenant.

PC Rae Costain. DeMamiel Creek Covenant.