Help us design, build, and deploy our new mobile lab

Last month, many of our supporters voted for us in Land Rover’s Defender Series Award when we were trying to win a vehicle to use as a mobile lab. While we were unsuccessful in that contest, we are so grateful for the outpouring of this support! 

The idea to build a mobile lab wasn’t born from the Land Rover contest. Since the summer, we’ve been working behind the scenes to design, build, and deploy a mobile, community-oriented lab in support of healthy waters in BC. We are calling the mobile lab Tracker, and it will be the cornerstone of our Healthy Waters program.

Our mobile lab will fill a notable gap, as there currently exists no standardized, high quality water monitoring in BC; this severely limits our understanding of emerging pollution concerns in fish habitat and communities. Tracker will be available for regular onsite water quality assessments in select watersheds, deliver expert insight into detected pollutants, and provide advice in support of community water pollution solutions. The Tracker team will work alongside First Nations and other communities to build capacity and train watershed stewards. 

Did you know?

• Killer whales in British Columbia are the most contaminated marine mammals in the world
• Fraser salmon must migrate through thousands of pollutant releases containing chemicals, drugs, and cleaning agents
• 20% of BC homes have unsafe levels of the neurotoxic metal lead (Pb) in drinking water

Water is essential for life. Water creates and sustains healthy habitats for salmon and for killer whales, and people are intimately involved in the water cycle. Tracker will help monitor climate-associated changes in water quantity and quality, and inform community actions to protect and restore fish habitat and  watersheds. 

We need your help

• Contribute to the acquisition of a suitable vehicle
• Contribute to the design and modification of the vehicle
• Contribute to the acquisition of analytical equipment for the mobile lab
• Contribute to field and safety gear
• Contribute to our annual operating cost (insurance, fuel and maintenance)

For more information, please contact Dr. Peter Ross at 250-217-3755 or peter [at] raincoast [dot] org or Lauren Duboisset-Broust at marlie [at] raincoast [dot] org. 

You can help

Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.