Do you have an experience along Bowen’s shores that you want to share? Perhaps with a friendly seal? Or a beautiful sea star? Maybe a heron catching a fish? Or a school of silvery fish that swam by along the shore? Perhaps you saw a pod of orcas from the ferry.
But maybe to, you have questions. Like, why are people so excited about the discovery of glass sponge reefs in Howe Sound? Why did we have so many sea lions along Bowen shores last April? What is the black duck that winters along Bowen shores in flocks of hundreds? How did First Nations harvest from the sea? Have the salmon arrived at the Causeway yet?
Well, if you have stories or questions, we want to hear them. The Bowen Island Conservancy is hosting an open house for its Bowen/Nexwlélexm Marine Atlas Project on Saturday, October 26, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Rm2 at Bowen Island Community School. Everyone, small to tall, is invited.
The goal of the Marine Atlas project is to engage Bowen Islanders in a greater awareness, celebration and stewardship of its shores and nearby marine waters. The atlas is pulling together local and scientific knowledge to create resources that empower us to know, care, and better steward of our local marine realm. Why? Because, as an island, our marine world plays such an important role in our sense of who we are, whether we go to the shore to play, to connect with nature, to explore, to find joy. We want to celebrate all of that. And the marine world is so rich. After all, who would we be if there were no orcas, no salmon, no sea lions, no sea stars out there.
Central to the project is publication of an atlas with 20 chapters that draw together our local and scientific knowledge on everything from our beaches and estuaries to First Nation uses, salmon, seals and sea lions, plankton and glass sponge reefs. We have a first draft of the atlas and we need your input.
The two-hour open house will have seven different activity centers that you can explore. There will be: a “big map” where you can post a story you’ve had along our shores; explore the draft Marine Atlas chapters and test your knowledge with a special quiz; four focus tables, each hosted by “expert” islanders (i.e. birders, salmon people, intertidal life biologist; divers); as well as a movie about marine life along Bowen shores.
At the open house you can talk with some of Bowen’s best naturalists about our local marine life. Our birders team can answer your bird questions, and tell you best places to see our local marine birds. Bowen Island Fish and Wildlife Club members can tell you which are Bowen’s salmon streams, whether this year’s salmon run has started, how the salmon hatchery works and about the Salmon in Schools program. Well-known biologist Will Husby will have a microscope that projects to a monitor and will explore with you the tiny critters from our shores. Adam Taylor, Bowen’s favorite diver, will be there with stories, photos and maybe even movies of octopus, glass sponge reefs and other secrets of the deep. And I, as a local filmmaker, will be showing a new movie of Bowen’s marine wildlife. So, hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer for the movie that will be at the open house:
