Discovery Week at Bella Bella Community School
In addition to our research questions, fieldwork provides many other opportunities for learning. Last week, our bear field crew had the inspiring experience of participating in Discovery Week at Bella Bella Community School. During this week, youth discover culture, science, health and the environment through hand-on activities as diverse as seaweed picking, crab fishing, cheese making, hiking, boat trips, rocket-launching and paddle board lessons.
Like the dedicated group of teachers, assistants and parents who organize and support Discovery Week every year, our Raincoast team feels strongly that hands-on learning is the best way to inspire young people about the environment and conservation. Raincoast has participated in the week’s events by making classroom visits and leading field trips for five years. This year, we teamed up with Let’s Talk Science—a nation-wide science outreach program—to deliver several workshops to students ranging from nursery to grade 12. From DNA to the way animals use their senses to wildlife research, the workshops were designed to be fun, hands on and educational.
After two packed days of facilitating workshops, we’d had a lot of fun but were completely exhausted. All of us were left with a feeling of appreciation for the job teachers do on a daily basis. We were also inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of the Heiltsuk youth we had met and the organizing committee that made Discovery Week possible. We will carry that energy with us back into the field as we start the next phase of our bear research.
To celebrate the end of the year, we are so happy to be able to offer matching campaigns on two of our most pressing fundraising initiatives.
All donations to both the Southern Great Bear Rainforest tenure acquisition and our KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest initiative, will be matched until the end of the year. This is a great opportunity for our supporters, like you, to make your impact go twice as far, while benefiting from tax deductions.
Help us secure KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest on S,DÁYES (Pender Island). Together with Pender Islands Conservancy, Raincoast is raising $2.18 million to purchase a 45 acre coastal property on the edge of the Salish Sea.
Safeguarding Coastal Carnivores in the Southern Great Bear Rainforest tenure. We are currently raising funds to stop commercial trophy hunting in more than a quarter of the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia.
