Current Projects and Programs
SWI Data Collection Project
In this project, set up by Dan Tucker (2020 CSJ student), we have had four students hired through the CSJ program documenting the flora and fauna along the trails of Strathcona Provincial Park – Forbidden Plateau and Buttle Lake areas, with observations predominantly by Dan Tucker (current Director), Dr Randal Mindell (former Director) and Dr Loys Maingon (current Director). Use the link to the right to view species documented through iNaturalist.
Additionally, on iNaturalist are the two projects’ Bryophytes of Strathcona Provincial Park, and Lichens of Strathcona Provincial Park, initiated by Randal Mindell and Dan Tucker. The Bryophyte inventory begun in 2019 and resulted in the production of a small illustrated booklet, now in its second updated edition – Common Subalpine Bryophytes of Strathcona Provincial Park.
Gray Jay Project
If you see some of our ubiquitous gray jays sporting multi-coloured bracelets around Paradise Meadows, it is because Dan Strickland, retired Algonquin Park Naturalist, is initiating a study of the Pacific populations of Perisoreus canadensis in the park. Having worked extensively on the populations in Ontario and Quebec, he is turning his attention to the West, to determine if our populations exhibit different behavioural patterns. This Fall he banded and took samples from over 100 Jays in the Paradise Meadows, Battleship and Helen Mackenzie Lake areas. In the Spring he will return to observe nesting habits. The multi-coloured bands will give each jay an individual identity.
Dan has sent out a call for information on sightings over the Winter – if you are out on skis or snowshoes in the areas on the map in his poster (see below) you may well encounter birds with their unique combination of coloured plus conventional bands. If you take a digital photograph and record the location of your sighting, please send it to Dan at the following email address: dan@grayjaystudy.ca.
REPORT SIGHTINGS OF THE WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN
Female & Male White-tailed Ptarmigan
The Vancouver Island White-tailed Ptarmigan Conservation Project was developed in cooperation with Mountain Equipment Co-op, Canadian Nature Federation, and the University of British Columbia. The goal is to increase awareness, through public outreach and education, for the on-going work of the Centre of Alpine Studies and now the Conservation Biology Lab of prof. Kathy Martin at the University of British Columbia. Sightings are still being collected & the reports received will be used to evaluate the impact of climate change on alpine birds on Vancouver Island.
Data required:
Observer name and contact details:
Species (WIPT, WTPT, ROPT):
Location: Lat & Long
Precision of location: Ideally <3km
Date: even approximate
% Confidence in the identification (0-100% confident):
Photo available: yes/no
Contact: dscridel@gmail.com and/or kathy.martin@ubc.ca.