Category Archives: ER Warden Report

racerocks.com: Education and Research in Real Time

Posted on by

racerocks.com: Education and Research in Real Time
By Garry Fletcher

There are a few places on earth where a person who is naive in the principles of ecology can still have that feeling of “ah ha! Now I understand”. I understand why organisms are so intricately tied to their environment; how animals interact for purposes of food and mutual assistance; how many birds, plants, mammals and invertebrates are so closely tied together; how human intervention can be disruptive to natural things; and why it is essential to keep places like these preserved forever. The small Archipelago of islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the Southern tip of Vancouver Island – known as Race Rocks by those who live here now, but as Xwayen, the place of the swift flowing water, by previous generations of First Nations people – is such a place.

So it was no wonder that Race Rocks attracted our attention at Lester B. Pearson College as far back as the late 1970’s. In 1980, when the area was established as a Provincial Ecological Reserve, the College assumed a role of Stewardship and started a program of basic research and recording of the features of the area. It takes only a few hours in any kind of weather to realize the value of the place as an educational resource. Through the years, it has promoted protection of and education about the unique ecosystems Race Rocks.

Their size and location make it difficult to encourage many people to visit the islands. So, in order to expose their wonders to the outside world, we collaborated with the B.C. Parks, the Royal BC Museum, and volunteers with expertise in the telecommunications industry to produce a week-long series of live T.V. Programs,”Underwater SAFARI ” in 1992. After that experience, I knew we just had to find a way to make this resource available to the world – without attracting so many people that the very values we were so enthusiastic about were threatened. By 1999, webcasting in real time had become a possibility, and so, with seed money from the Millennium Partnership Fund of Canada, racerocks.com was born.

From the beginning of the project, we required racerocks.com to remain universally accessible for the purposes of Education and Research, and we limited commercial advertisement to a minimum, with recognition of sponsors and supporters included in a special designated part of the website.

My priority with the website has been to include the ecology of Race Rocks as a resource for the objectives of the Biology and Environmental Systems classes at Lester B. Pearson College. In addition, we have highlighted the resource material links for the Grade 11 Biology curriculum for the Province of British Columbia. For the past year, the educational branch of Apple, the Apple Learning Interchange, (ALI) has hosted our video and audio feeds on the Akamai network. We have also collaborated with ALI to develop more curriculum links and to make “units of practice” accessible to all schools. Recently, with their assistance, we have added a Conference Room – a chat site for our cameras, and a discussion forum.

Collaboration with outside researchers has added another valuable educational dimension to the website. Several pages are now available profiling the work of scientists in documenting the physical and biological processes of Race Rocks.

We have also been working with local First Nations to build the stories and explanations of the central role of intertidal ecosytems in the lives of First Nations people, past and present. The theme of the 13 moons of the Coast Salish people will soon be a focus of some of the educational materials available on the website for school children. Eventually, sharing in the management of the resources of the Marine Protected Area with First Nations will provide a great educational angle.

Pearson College students play a major role in the production of Race Rocks content for the internet, making racerocks.com an educational experience for those who create and maintain it as well as for those who visit it.. In the past year, students have worked at least one afternoon a week learning to use programs like Adobe Go-Live, Adobe Photoshop, Quick TimeVR, iMovie , and Sorenson Broadcaster . On six occasions students were involved in live webcasts for presentations I was making in California, Victoria, and New York. One student presented to a conference in Halifax while I was back at Race Rocks making an underwater presentation with the other students of the racerocks.com activity.

Two students, Damien Guihen from Ireland and Jean-Olivier Dalphond from Quebec stayed on at Race Rocks for two weeks after the end of the college this past summer, working with the computers producing Virtual reality 360 degree scenes and video for the archives while diving frequently to observe and gather data.

Damien, who is back as a student this fall, has already realized the valuable contribution he will be able to pass on to new students in the activity. He summarized his experience in June like this.

“This summer I spent nearly two weeks on Race Rocks working with digital video, 360 degree panoramic movies, sensor upkeep and diving. The results of some of my work are available for view at www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/vrindex.htm . From this page you can see a 360 degree view of the island from many points on the island and one from underwater. . . From my time spent on Race Rocks throughout the year I have learned many things about boats, video and, of course, diving. In the last two terms, I have developed a love for the ocean. As I live inland in Ireland, I have realized since I came home exactly how difficult it will be for me to live anywhere without a view of the ocean within five minutes walk. . . Diving at Race Rocks has presented me with some of the most beautiful and thrilling sights that I have seen in my life and provided me with a number of skills, many of which are as relevant in everyday life as they are underwater.

… Race Rocks is almost a second home for the students who get really involved with the project . . . and a magnificent case study for environmental systems and biology students as it possesses not only a dazzling biodiversity but also a variety of conditions such as the intertidal zones. Its fast, mineral rich currents and algae covering give it a fantastic scope for the study of ecosystems.

Students at Pearson College are not the only ones who benefit from this unique educational resource. Throughout the year we have conducted scheduled webcasts specifically for people in locations all over North America. From Victoria to New York, from Halifax to California and from Toronto to Texas, we have had audiences watching action on Race Rocks through the internet via our three constant live cameras and our mobile camera . . . This technology means that we can now reach classrooms anywhere with a speedy connection to the internet. . .”

Damien will share the skills he developed in computer graphics during his two-week stay on the island with other members of the racerocks.com activity this year.

A graduating student of Pearson College, Jean-Olivier has become an expert in the production of QuickTime movies for racerocks.com using iMovies . In the weeks at Race Rocks he was able to do another nine movies to add to our archives site.

“For the first two weeks of June, I have resided on Race Rocks with Damien Guihen from Ireland. We had a great time out there! Our main focus was to pursue the work done with the website, www.racerocks.com, throughout the school year. I’m now graduated from Pearson, and I wanted to spend some more time on the island before I left. I’m must say I’m really starting to like this place!

My ‘specialty’ this year was with underwater video and video editing. I have had the chance to not only dive in the unique waters of Race Rocks, but also to make use of my interest in images, to share their beauty with everyone via the Net.

Sometimes when I sit back and look at the window overlooking the ocean, I feel very lucky. Around me the inspiring scenery is one that I would hate seeing spoiled. The new Marine Protected Area designation of the surrounding waters of Race Rocks makes me feel safe. It really became a goal for me to try to show it to people who aren’t here, to try to capture of bit of the generosity of sight present here to show to people.

The sea water doesn’t show its fragility to the first look, but requires a close relationship with it, whether it is on land or underwater. The sensitive activities that take place are for me a natural order that need to be left to themselves to develop and evolve. Being around here this summer was great for that. A few people with real interest in the place came to visit. It was another opportunity to share my ideas. I have learned a lot here.”

The racerocks.com site has proven to be of great value for my own class instruction in biology and environmental systems. We use the opportunity of the mobile camera to do live webcast discussions in class and, as an added advantage, we can take a recorded one hour video and play it directly through the broadcaster. I have used this technique for several school visits this year. Four grade seven students with us on the island can serve as proxies for the rest of their class, allowing us to limit the number of people on the island while maintaining the personal connection with the classroom.

I have designed several labs using the materials on the web site, with new ones always in the planning stages. A lab on tidepools, with the detailed directions for measurement from digital images, helps students quantify bacterial growth from digital images of colonies. The transect files serve a valuable purpose in providing students with real data for detailing parameters of ecological niches of organisms.

Students make a lasting contribution by providing a digital legacy of their work on the internet, thus adding to the accumulated information on the unique ecosystems of the islands. Each year some students choose to do a biology or environmental systems extended essay or a research project on Race Rocks. Although these research papers are preliminary studies, they add greatly to the content of the site and demonstrate the wealth of data that can be obtained there.

Environmental factors at Race Rocks form the core of our next phase of work. Environmental Sensors are being installed in 5 different ecosystems here and real time readouts will be available on the website. By September, students will have access to a wealth of data and a database that will allow analysis and graphing of the data.

The technology of racerocks.com has enable our own and many other students to extend the boundaries of the classroom to experience a sensitive ecosystem while ensuring the ecological integrity of that ecosystem.

Elephant seal Catastrophic Moult

Posted on by

 

Race Rocks is at the northern limit of distribution of the Elephant Seal. They often number from 2 to 3 large males and 4 or 5 females. Arriving in January, they usually stay through the summer on the middle island and then leave for several months in the winter. Elephant seals often undergo a juvenile moult on the local beaches of Victoria when several years old. This individual may be at the end of such a moult as it still has a few sore spots on it’s coat. They end up on beaches where they wallow in the sand to keep the flies off. Members of the public often report them to the “authorities” as being diseased in appearance as their skin is blistered and raw. There has even been an example in the past few years in the local Victoria area when an animal in such condition was reported to the authorities as sick and due to ignorance, the animal was shot by an animal control officer. Of course this outraged some of some local residents who had been observing it for weeks as it was going through the moult, but the mistake had been made. So humans — leave well enough alone. Misguided intervention is not helpful for this rather rare pinniped

Elephant Seal Moulting 2

Posted on by

Race Rocks is at the northern limit of distribution of the Elephant Seal. They often number from 2 to 3 large males and 4 or 5 females. Arriving in January, they usually stay through the summer on the middle island and then leave for several months in the winter. Elephant seals often undergo a juvenile moult on the local beaches of Victoria when several years old. This individual may be at the end of such a moult as it still has a few sore spots on it’s coat. They end up on beaches where they wallow in the sand to keep the flies off. Members of the public often report them to the “authorities” as being diseased in appearance as their skin is blistered and raw. There has even been an example in the past few years in the local Victoria area when an animal in such condition was reported to the authorities as sick and due to ignorance, the animal was shot by an animal control officer. Of course this outraged some of some local residents who had been observing it for weeks as it was going through the moult, but the mistake had been made. So humans — leave well enough alone. Misguided intervention is not helpful for this rather rare pinniped.

Sunset on Race Rocks Video

Posted on by

Race Rocks, with its location in the Strait Juan de Fuca, often gets illuminated in the evening by sunsets such as this one. It adds to the beauty of the site and reminds one of the importance of protecting such a place. In this video, the Pearson College Choir accompanies the video with the singing of the ‘Skidigate Love Song’. This video was made and edited by Jean-Olivier Dalphond (PC 26) in June 2001.

Apple Representatives visit Race Rocks

Posted on by
threeandtower

Keith Mitchell of the Apple Learning Interchange and Jeff , a rep from Apple visit Race Rocks

Keith Mitchell on the right in the picture above was instrumental in arranging for Akamai to carry our live streaming video for the first few years of the operation of racerocks.com. He had seen a presentation we did at an Apple Conference in New York where we had webcast live from underwater at Race Rocks.

We stayed overnight at Race Rocks  and did some 360 degree images the next day.

keithandjeff

Keith and Jeff viewing the wildlife  on the boat trip out.

gulls feeding

The guls were in a feeding frenzy near the island.

damionjandm

PC students Damien and Jean and Ecoguardian Mike Slater had met us on arrival.

 

islandeaglemed

On our way out, Keith took this picture of an eagle on North Rocks.

 

RACE ROCKS MPA FEATURED ON the CBC IDEAS PROGRAM

Posted on by

 

paulonOn Saturday May 26, 2001, we hosted at Race Rocks Paul Kennedy, the host of the CBC program “Ideas” (9:00 PM nightly Mon-Fri. ) .

Paul was on the West Coast that week preparing a special series on Canada’s oceans and marine issues. See Paul’s OCEAN JOURNAL entry for May 26 for an account of his trip to Race Rocks.

OCEANS EXPLORATIONS: LEARNING FROM OUR OCEANS is a project which will result in eight hours of programming on IDEAS in December 2001. Paul will spend much of the next seven months on each of Canada’s three ocean coasts. He’ll be on board fishing dorys, Haida canoes, off-shore oil rigs, and snowmobiles crossing Arctic ice. By talking with Canadians who live and work on the sea, he’ll begin to learn about many of the things that the oceans can teach us.threeandrr

Paul was accompanied by Garry Fletcher and Angus Matthews of Lester B. Pearson College, and Mark Pakenham, of Ocean’s and Fisheries It was a great day to be on Race Rocks as we were in there in the middle of the Swift Sure Sailboat Race, so the vessels kept making close passes through the islands of Race Rocks MPA . Photos by Angus Matthews.

Paul returned in the Fall of 2001 to do a webcast with the students.

gfpaul-1

California Sea lions hauled out at Race Rocks Docks

Posted on by

From August to November, a group of California Sea Lions hauls out on the shore to the East of the Docks with a few even staying on the docks. They get very used to the boats docking there and are often joined by a few large Northern sea lions as well. The constant barking sound comes from the California Sea lions, and the low growls are from the Northerns.”

Race Rocks Marine Protected Area Update May 6 2001

Posted on by

Racerocks.com continues to reach to the far corners of the world as more and more people become aware of this extraordinary ecosystem and the opportunity to discover it electronically.(over 100,000 visitors in the past year) Garry Fletcher, our Educational Director, has attended conferences in New York, California (twice) and in the near future plans to go to Halifax. In each case we have featured live webcasts from Race Rocks with video from both above and below the surface to the conference site. On March 17, 2001 we completed the first underwater webcast in which in addition to video one of our student divers spoke directly to the conference participants from underwater at Race Rocks. This was possible thanks to a fabulous, locally developed, wireless underwater communications system created by Divelink.

A wireless internet feed from Race Rocks is now possible for eco-tourism vessels in the MPA. Visitors to the MPA can now establish wireless internet access aboard their vessel from most locations within the MPA. This allows guides to download real time video streams showing activity in the MPA including underwater video from the display tanks on the island. In addition, visitors can have access to archived video of marine life, First Nation’s activities and more recent history stored on the Race Rocks server. If you are interested in more information about the equipment required and how you could subscribe to this service please contact Angus Matthews.

Eco-guardians Mike and Carol Slater continue to do an outstanding job for us all as our resident caretakers of the island and equipment. We are grateful to Mike and Carol for their dedication and commitment to Race Rocks and it’s many residents. It is also reassuring to know that their watchful eyes are always looking out for us.
Should you need to contact them they are usually monitoring VHF 16 or 68.

Site restoration has continued on the island over the winter. In late April the Coast Guard finished flying out the last of the concrete from the dykes that surrounded the old tank farm. This has returned another large portion of the island to a natural state. We are working with BC Parks to establish a plant life inventory of Great Race Island. We have modified the Coast Guard’s old lawn mowing compulsion to allow more of the natural grasses and vegetation to take over the island. A small perimeter is maintained around the buildings for fire safety and Mike and Carol of course maintain their traditional kitchen garden.

BC Parks has assumed ownership of the area of Great Race Island that was previously leased to the Coast Guard. A small area around the light tower and solar panels has been retained by the Coast Guard as they are still responsible for the automated navigational aids. All the remaining infrastructure on the island has been given over to BC Parks. Pearson College has entered into a 30 year park use permit agreement with BC Parks to continue to operate the facility as we have for the past four years.

Serious financial challenges lie ahead. Now that the federal Millennium Partnership funding that established racerocks.com has been exhausted we are receiving no financial support for the operation of the Race Rocks MPA from any government. We are hopeful that BC Parks and DFO which established the MPA will respond positively to our application for them to provide a contribution of $50,000 each towards operating costs. Pearson College has undertaken to raise the balance required to cover the $150,000 annual budget. We hope that the eco-tourism industry will consider assisting us in the future as a demonstration of the commitment you have to environmental protection and Canada’s first Marine Protected Area. See $ave Race Rock$

Please excuse our questionable flag etiquette! One of the pitfalls of joint federal/provincial jurisdiction is they both want their label on the product. At the request of our current MLA we are now flying both the BC and Canadian flag on the same mast on the island. Until the funding arrangements are worked out it is simply prudent to do so!

The special operational guidelines for Race Rocks established by the eco-tourism operators have been largely respected and we greatly appreciate the individual commitment vessel operators have made to following them. We are now working on better cooperation from other organisations such as the Navy and education of the general public. Our proceedure is to log all infractions and contact the operator or their owner directly to advise them of a difficulty. The level of cooperation and voluntary compliance from the eco-tourim sector has been outstanding and we appreciate it a great deal.

Operator training for the 2001 season is now occurring in many eco-tourism organisations. Many of your operators have received special training about the MPA in the past. If the number of new operators warrants it, we have offered to host a training session ashore at Race Rocks in the near future. Please contact Dan Kukat if you think this is necessary.

Marine life at the Race features several elephant seals again this year and the sea lion/ harbour seal population looks fairly strong for the time of year. Already a number of harbour seal pups have been born, and this emphasizes the need for cautious navigation through the area as they are very vulnerable. Serious bird nesting activity is starting so our activity on the island and access is now being limited. Chick survival on the island was very poor last year largely due to what appeared to be starvation. Hopefully more of the usual food sources will return this year.

We look forward to another successful season of protection and education at the Race. Thank you for all you do to share this experience with an appreciative public.

Angus Matthews

Director of Administration and Special Projects, Lester Pearson College

Oil Tank Farm Restoration

Posted on by

Background:
newtank The automation and the de-staffing of the former Coast Guard-Operated Light Station on Great Race Rocks happened in 1997. This would normally have left the island without a generator, as all buildings and equipment were to be removed when the automated foghorn and the light were installed, there was theoretically no need for a generating station.

Lester Pearson College decided to hire the former keepers, Mike and Carol Slater, to stay on at the island as ecological reserve guardians. Since that time the Coastguard has cooperated to keep the equipment updated.
Two new double walled tanks that meet environmental standards were constructed next to the engine room on the island. Fortunately, the need for oil on the island will be reduced in the future when more Sustainable Energy Systems are developed.

Since the Coast Guard lease from the Provincial Environment and Lands Department was changed to reflect the decreasing envelope of use by the Coast Guard, the rest of the Island was then returned to the Province, and plans were made to include that as part of the Ecological Reserve. An agreement was made with Coast Guard and Provincial Environment officials as to what would constitute site remediation for the island.
tankThis image shows the 7 old fuel tanks used for energy. They were single walled tanks and they could have contributed to an oil spill in that sensitive environment. The concrete pool around the cradles was built to contain any leaks or spills

 

 

cradleIn the spring of 2000, they had planned to remove the concrete base for the oil drums as well, but it was considered that it may prove too much of an environmental impact given that the pigeon guillemots, sea gulls and black oystercatchers were establishing nesting territories .They agreed to put it off until a time in the year of minimal impact. It was decided that January and February would be ideal. By  May of 2001, the Canadian Coast Guard removed the set of 7 fuel old oil tanks from Great Race Rocks. These tanks had been installed in the 1970’s when the environmental regulations regarding such installations were not as stringent as they are today.

rubble
rubbleview
rubbleclose

rockviewOn January 16, 2001 the coast guard delivered by helicopter the equipment necessary for removal of the concrete tank farm retaining berm.
By mid- February, a large pile of concrete rubble was all that was left of the cradle.

. The concrete had been neatly pealed from the original rocks underneath and it was now ready for the next stage.. Removal by helicopter.

By the end of April 2001, the Coast Guard had completed the removal of all the concrete rubble by helicopter and the outcrop is restored to bare rock again.

outcrop
oldtank2
rubble

oldtank3We have attempted to keep out invasive plant species and have planted seeds from native grasses in the small crevices of the rock. The seagulls responded to this new extension of territory and within two years took it over as a nest site

These pictures were taken in February, 2005. From the tower, the area which contained the tank farm, is no longer distinguishable.
The rock outcrops have been recolonized by native plants.

We also watch for excessive growth of introduced invasive species, and selectively remove them by hand

coberlandtow

Link to the environmental restoration file

Airport: Wireless Technology at Race Rocks

Posted on by

In April 2001, The APPLE Learning Interchange supplied an AirPort wireless Base Station and three AirPort cards for the iMacs at Race Rocks. Now all cameras could run on Wireless computers at Race Rocks.
We started experimenting by using the AirPort base station for wireless web casting in June of 2000 . This link shows several pictures of the AirPort in use at that time

Ryan describing what the divers were videoing underwater during a presentation in the QuickTime Live Conference in California. The webcast was done wireless to the AirPort base station in the marine science centre