Welcome to the three websites which I administer as a volunteer, and to my own personal blog. All images included are copyright and may be used for non-commercial purposes only with permission.
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| Race Rocks | Metchosin Coastal |
Friends of Ecological Reserves |
G.Fletcher Blogg |
First an introduction and rationale for why these websites exists.
I taught in the International Baccalaureate Biology and Marine Science/ Environmental Systems Program at Lester B. Pearson College. while teaching there for many years, I was very fortunate to have Race Rocks available within a 15 minute boat ride from my classroom in Pedder Bay at the Southern tip of Vancouver Island. This allowed my classes of international students in biology, marine science and environmental systems to use the area as a valuable resource in field work. We also used the area extensively for SCUBA Diving and I was a PADI Instructor with the students in the Diving Activity at Pearson College. In 1980, the students and faculty of the college in marine science and diving, with the cooperation of BC Parks, made Race Rocks into a Provincial Ecological Reserve and since that time I have served as the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve warden for BC Parks, and the webmaster for the website. I first started publishing the Race Rocks website in 1996. I believed that the area provided such a valuable teaching and research resource that we just had to do all that was possible to enable others to use it as well. In the year 2000, with the help of a Millennium Partnership grant, and Pearson College staff and volunteers, we built a computer network on the island and started sending video and audio signals by microwave from the live cameras to the internet. In 2004, our work in Distance Education with the racerocks.com website resulted in an Award in Excellence in Distance Education from the Commonwealth of Learning. Since my retirement from teaching at Pearson College, I have continued to volunteer my time to keep developing and updating the website and trying to keep all parts of it operational. I also work with students, ecoguardians, staff, faculty and other volunteer contributors of videos and new reference materials to add to the archive of educational resources available on the website. I have also added a section for curricula on Strategies for a Sustainable Marine Future and Education Issues. Promotion of the Adopt an Ecosystem Approach for community Stewardship of ecologically significant areas based on the model of how Lester Pearson College became involved with the Race Rocks Ecological reserve has also been an interest. Another area I have been interested in is the historical section of Race Rocks, along with the 150th anniversary of the light station. Also a new index for the photographic record of the species list for the reserve, the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image Gallery continues to have new species added as they are observed on the island.
In February of 2007, I was appointed as a director to the Board of the Friends of Ecological Reserves. There was a need to assist ER Wardens involved in the other 153 ecological reserves in BC to create an internet presence for their reserves and to provide online access to the archives for research and education that have accumulated since their creation. So I have been adding resources on the other Ecological reserves in the province to this website for the Friends of Ecological Reserves. In the spring of 2014, I worked on a project with the Friends of Ecological Reserves and BC Parks to archive all references available in government files on ecological reserves in order to archive them on the website ecoreserves.bc.ca. In the spring of 2014 the Board of Friends of Ecological reserves was accepted as an Intervenor in the National Energy Board Hearings on the Kinder Morgan/Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion. I worked on a 2 year contract along with Mike Fenger, our Board Chair in representing the interests of the 19 Marine Ecological reserves in Southern Vancouver Island that will be under threat of oil spills from increased tanker traffic.
Again in 2017, we were involved as intervenors in the in the second round of Reconsideration Hearings for the NEB. Our goal was to get governments and the Trans Mountain Company to recognize the need for a thorough process for Baseline studies of the ecologically sensitive areas which are certain to be impcted in the event of a spill of toxic materials from the shipping of Diluted bitumen
From the the mid 1980’s to 2014, I served as a volunteer on the Metchosin Environmental Advisory Select Committee and through working with that committee have realized the importance of helping to promote the sustainability and restoration of our Coastline. I started the MetchosinCoastal website to present the diversity of geography and ecosystems and to emphasize the value in preserving the unique featured of our coastline. On this website I have also pointed out ways to mitigate our actions which may have been destructive to parts of the Coastline. I have attempted to present the references and resources for helping to educate the public about how we think about and value the coastal features of Metchosin. The views and opinions presented there are my own.
In 2013 I was invited to be on the Board of the SeaChange Conservation Society.
In January 2015, I started a personal blog website at https://www.gfletcher.ca. In it I have some observations of life on the farm in and around Metchosin and the Southern end of Vancouver Island. I also use it as a site for sharing information on my experience in raising mason bees for pollinators and marketing them and tubes from the marsh grass Phragmites sp. each spring. I live in the Metchosin Community near Pearson College and serve as a consultant in marine education. I welcome any feedback you may have.
Posts tagged with my warden’s reports on the ecoreserves website are located here: http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/category/97+wardenreports/
Posts on the Racerocks.ca site tagged as my warden’s reports here: http://www.racerocks.ca/wp/category/er-warden-report/
These reports have been provided by Garry Fletcher garryf(use the at sign)gmail dot com
In 2019, I helped a friend in starting up a coastal ecotourism project ( Ecosphere) that does not involve whalewatching . We hope to see this available to the public in the late spring of 2021 More news on this as it develops !
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