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PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAMS
“The Lagoon Society Public Education • Wood Duck and Wilderness Festival
Program is an exemplary model • Writing Workshops
of the best of interactive science • shíshálh Nation Blessing Ceremony
education.”
Sunshine Coast BioBlitz
- Dr. Patricia Gallaugher, Senior This annual public program enables youth groups and families to assist with
Advisor and former Director, Centre monitoring activities. Part contest, part festival, part educational event, and
for Coastal Science and Management part scientific enterprise, the BioBlitz brings together scientists, naturalists
and community members to count as many species as they can in 24-hours.
Guided groups go to various parks, lakes, and coastal shorelines that surround
Pender Harbour, to encompass as many different ecosystems as we can. Irvines
Landing serves as the BioBlitz Base Camp, equipped with kayaks, boats, tents,
tables, tanks, microscopes, computers, and other scientific tools of the trade.
This is where species are recorded, discoveries are made, and a tally of species
compiled. Community members interact with scientists at Base Camp and join
experts out in the field as they undertake a variety of field sampling activities.
This year we held our first ever ‘Winter BioBlitz’ and shifted our focus to the
subtidal marine environment. Over two days in December, 14 volunteer scuba
divers surveyed both Francis Peninsula and Irvines Landing. After each dive,
Lagoon Society volunteers interviewed divers to identify and record species they
observed – the species list compiled was 6 pages long! While the event was
smaller than previous years due to the season, it enabled us to gather critical
data on often unseen local ecosystems.
Shoreline Restoration Program
Partnering with the Sunshine Coast Wildlife Project, we help organize
volunteers, including school students, who learn how to restore damaged
shorelines by planting native plants in riparian areas adjacent to creeks,
lakes, and marine shorelines. This year, students from Glenwood spent 2 days
removing various invasive species from lake shores and wetlands around the
Pender Harbour area, including purple loosestrife, English ivy, and yellow
flag iris.
Low Tide Beach Exploration
This annual family fun-filled event is attended by people from all over the
Sunshine Coast and beyond! This year we had ~150 participants in total. Children
flock to the low tide sandbar at Sargeant Bay Provincial Park to wade out into
the ocean with nets and buckets, returning with critters such as bay pipefish,
ghost shrimp, shore crabs, seastars, and more. Volunteer naturalists identify
and photograph specimens before they are returned to the water, and a species
list is compiled afterwards. This event is in honour of our friend, Joop Burgeron,
who helped establish the Sargeant Bay Provincial Park.
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