CEGN has arranged three field trip options for you on Tuesday June 7th before joining us at the Welcome Reception.
(There will be a small fee for each participant to cover the transportation and food cost. Registration fee for field trip #2 will be for transportation only.)
Field Trip #1: Sustainable Food Systems on Vancouver Island
Date: Tuesday June 7th, 2016 (Full Day)
Start: Depart at 10 a.m. / Finish: Return at 5:00 p.m.
Location: Pick up and drop off from Tigh-Na-Mara Resort
Pack an appetite and a thirst for life’s finer pleasures when exploring Canada’s far west coast. Located in the heart of Vancouver Island, the Comox Valley is bountiful with fresh seafood, organic farms, superb wines and so much more. The field trip will capture the energy and enthusiasm driving the local food movement on Vancouver Island showcasing farmers, local food artisans, vintners, community gardens, and sustainable aquaculture. Sample tea at an Indigenous-run social enterprise, tour a world-renowned cheese factory, have a fresh-picked lunch at an organic farm co-op, visit a winery and distillery, and finish the day with a boat tour of oyster and scallop farms in Fanny Bay. Along the way meet leaders in the local food community, professionals from the food and farming industry and researchers at North Island College to learn about community-led projects that are working towards a just, sustainable, and local food system. Please contact Terra Kaethler to sign up for this field trip.
Field trip #2: Tide Pool and Ancient Forest Exploration Tour
Date: Tuesday June 7th, 2016 (Half Day)
Start: Depart Tigh-Na-Mara at 1 p.m. / Finish: Return to Tigh-Na-Mara at 5:00 p.m.
On this tour, you will get witness some very diverse tide pools in the resort area. There will be an exceptionally low tide at 2:00pm so we will be able to explore and enjoy the ocean life that is only occasionally exposed to the air. The park we will be exploring has large Arbutus and Douglas Fir trees and a rocky shore with fossils embedded in the rock. Through our spotting scope we will also get a close up look at the adult eagles in their nest busy feeding their chicks. At 3:00pm we will depart from the tide pools and travel to Cathedral Grove for a guided interpretive forest walk on easy trails in this lush botanical forest paradise. Your eco tour guides reveal the intricacy, complexity and ecological values of this magical ancient forest that has sustained humans for thousands of years, with trees up to 1000 years old. Full details about the trip will be available soon. Please contact Sandy Hoang to sign up for this field trip.
Field trip #3: Watershed and River Tour in Parksville
Date: Tuesday June 7th, 2016 (Half Day)
Time: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Pick up and drop off from Tigh-Na-Mara Resort
The Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society (MVIHES) will bring a group to visit the nearby Upper/lower watersheds, urban tributary, Shelley creek, fish habitat and channel restoration sites that all connect with Englishman River. The tour will start off with a special greeting from the Chief Brent Edwards of the First Snaw-Naw-As (Nanoose First Nation) involved in the watershed. A hydrogeologist (Dr. Gilles Wendling) will then be leading the tour to explain the MVIHES’ efforts in studying the groundwater in the Englishman River Watershed. MVHIVES has been working to enhance the Englishman River with support from several CEGN members and other funders including Real Estate Foundation of B.C., Pacific Salmon Foundation, Vancouver Foundation, Environment Canada’s EcoAction, Mountain Equipment Co-op and Parksville Qualicum Community Foundation. MVIHES has been able to enhance the Englishman River through assessment, restoration, awareness, groundwater study and a program of citizen involvement called Watershed Health and You. This will be a very informative and scenic tour guided by MVIHES staff and professional consultants. Please contact Sandy Hoang to sign up.