Throughout the summer while other young people were relaxing, The Nature Trust of BC Lower Mainland Conservation Youth Crew was hard at work.
The Nature Trust hires young people each summer to tackle a wide variety of conservation activities on properties across the province and learn valuable skills for future employment.
This summer the crew spent time in Boundary Bay.
The crews perform on-the-ground work as well as attend workshops from specialists in the field on topics such as bird counts, and forest and wetland ecology.
“I love working outdoors and working with my hands. I am also studying conservation and I love to be able to have a job where I can help out the environment,” says crew member Brittany Bonapace.
A crew hosted a cleanup event in Boundary Bay where at the end of the day it had a giant pile of garbage with items ranging from industrial piping to fishing traps. It also participated with the Delta Naturalists on two birding trips at Boundary Bay and Surrey Bend Regional Park.
“I learned about the importance of protecting areas that hold high ecological significance and how The Nature Trust of BC manages the properties by acquiring lands and restoring habitats on the properties,” says fellow crew member Terita Deare.
“My favourite activity was conducting eBird surveys on the properties because I am an avid birder, so I was able to see birds that I haven’t seen before ever, which is pretty exciting,” adds Deare.
Bonapace says the most difficult thing she had to do was to see how terribly people treat the environment such as dumping garbage and damaging plants.
