Collecting bear hair: more than a field season
The Bear Project, originally started in 2006 by William Housty and his team at QQS (Eyes) Projects Society, focuses on gaining a greater understanding of bears in Heiltsuk territory.
Next steps for Project TEACH
We must work together toward local solutions.
Introducing Project TEACH (Talking about Ecology and Aims for Conserving Habitat)
Every Thursday between May 12th and June 9th, our group of collaborators will be joined by a panel of three experts for a virtual educational session exploring the landscape-level impacts of human decision-making.
Vanishing goats? Not on the watch of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation
The first signs happened decades ago. KXN community members began to report a decline in sightings of goats once frequently seen from river valleys and the ocean. These patterns were alarming, given the immense cultural value of goats to the Kitasoo Xai’xais people.
Indigenous Knowledge, Western Science, and their interaction: rich opportunity but caution to avoid harm is required
As Ecologists, we are interested in learning about organisms and their interactions, and who is better to learn from than those who so often have historical and contemporary connections to the lands and their living organisms for millennia?
What do wildlife do when no one is watching?
Remote cameras are assisting researchers at the Raincoast Applied Conservation Science Lab to answer pressing conservation questions along the coast of British Columbia. These cameras, deployed and managed in collaboration with First Nations partners, create unique possibilities for non-invasive wildlife monitoring.
Research: Dietary differences among individuals with different genes and coat colours gives insight into the maintenance of the Spirit bears among black bear populations
The paper, “Intrapopulation foraging niche variation between phenotypes and genotypes of Spirit bear populations,” was published in the open-access journal Ecology and Evolution.
When evidence informs advocacy
When evidence informs advocacy, a potent approach to conservation becomes available. This philosophy underpins everything we do at Raincoast. One of the primary vehicles to support our unique delivery of what we call informed advocacy is the Raincoast Applied Conservation Science Lab at the University of Victoria. Partnered with a science-based non-profit and dedicated to…
Tracking Raincoast, past, present, and future
As this decade closes, it’s timely to celebrate what we have collectively achieved for BC’s coast. Raincoast’s past in the Kitlope takes us back three decades to 1990, when Brian Falconer first visited at the invitation of the Haisla and Xenaksiala. The Nations were working to save the Kitlope from clearcut logging, which they ultimately…
The future of applied conservation science is bright
This has been a time of remarkable accomplishment for the Raincoast Applied Conservation Science Lab at the University of Victoria. The research that the lab produces is a dynamic mix of population analyses, biogeography, marine-terrestrial interactions and much more, all rooted in a ‘wildlife welfare’ ethic. Collaboration with Indigenous communities forms the hallmark of much of this work, which is being directly applied…
Converging knowledges to inform and empower conservation
This past summer, I had the opportunity to travel aboard the Raincoast vessel Achiever with several other members of the ACS lab to participate in Koeye camp, a cultural revitalization and education program operated by the Heiltsuk First Nation’s QQS Projects Society. We were there to engage with the youth campers about the research conducted by…
A night to celebrate women in conservation
Join us at the Robert Bateman Centre to learn from, engage and celebrate female Indigenous partners, scientists, journalists, business owners, and philanthropists supporting conservation efforts to safeguard coastal carnivores of British Columbia…