EDUCATION
Community Outreach
Our volunteers are active in the Community, our local schools and with our partner group, BC Nature. We strive to develop and deliver a wide variety of quality educational outreach programs and materials and participate in local conservation initiatives including:
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Georgia Basin Habitat Atlas: Boundary Bay
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Interpretive Signage
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School programs (see below),
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Training programs and presentations (see below for Shorekeepers and Beach Hero)
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Habitat Restoration Projects - native plantings, cleanups and invasive removals.
School Programs
Thanks to support from our sponsors and a dedicated group of volunteers, we are pleased to offer quality educational programming by donation to schools in the White Rock, Delta, Surrey and Langley areas. Our School Programs are conservation-minded and provide a rich complement to classroom inquiry and study (particularly for grades two through seven) and are linked to BC Science curriculum.
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Birds in Focus
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Wetland / Pond Discovery
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Beach Hero Marine Discovery
To begin, a local area naturalist visits the school to introduce the students to the area of study with an engaging and interactive powerpoint presentation. This presentation is easily adjusted to meet the needs of students of varying ages and is full of high quality photos of local animal and plant life.
The in-class presentation includes some hands-on show and tell and includes stories and information appropriate to the age level of the audience. We then leave the classroom teacher with a resource kit that includes teacher resource materials, student reading materials, posters and field guides. In the case of the marine program, we also include some hands-on artifacts.
As a follow-up to the marine or birds presentation, the naturalist leads the class on a field experience appropriate to the topic: bird watching or a beach walk. This trip is usually booked three weeks after the presentation to allow adequate classroom time with the resource kit. For the pond program, instead of a field trip, we bring the pond to you (a small fish tank with bubbler). We facilitate some in-class pond peeking on the presentation date and leave it set up for up to two weeks! After that time, we come back to remove it and return the pond water to our collection site.
Please select the 'book a program' button at right for more information or to begin the booking. Please provide your name, school, grade level, number of students and preferred program and 'time period'.
Beach Hero Marine Discovery Program
Learn about the small –scale world that is right under your feet on the beach. Watch hermit and shore crabs scurry as their rock roof is carefully moved. Whole colonies of periwinkles, snails, and maybe a sea star, hide under there when the tide is out. Hear about how we can walk gently on our neighbors on the shore.
Beach Hero Marine Interpreters are available for impromptu and scheduled walks all summer long on both Crescent and White Rock Beaches. Check our calendar for times and locations of Beach Hero events or contact us to book a private group exploration; perfect for birthdays, family reunions, daycares, seniors groups, summer camps or just to change up your summer day!
Each summer, our interpreters are on the beach and at community events in their orange uniform shirts educating the public about intertidal life including conservation tips and fisheries regulations. Join them for walk or at one of the community events for some engaging and educational activities for 'children' of all ages!
The walk and events schedule is subject to updates and changes, please confirm details and email to register for a private or scheduled group walk (offered by donation). Donations go directly to supporting this valuable program!
Please note that FoSBS is a volunteer-based and not for profit organization. Our administration and coordination efforts are also fully volunteer - we truly do operate on 'a shoestring'! For our Beach Hero program, we try to hire dedicated young people (generally university students) in order to provide them with much-needed job experience in their field of interest or study. For this reason, the program is subject to change based on funding. We rely on grant funding and donations to continue this valuable program Please contact us for more information, to inquire about positions or to make a donation!
Training Workshops
Shorekeepers
Shorekeepers monitor and steward coastal marine habitats following a protocol developed by The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. This protocol has been adopted by Friends of Semiahmoo Bay at several beaches in Boundary Bay as a citizen science initiative. Data has been gathered for almost a decade on our local beaches by dedicated volunteers.
FoSBS organizes and sponsors Shorekeepers training free of charge in May each year. Various local site surveys occur annually in June and July.
Volunteers are welcome to contact us for further information or to join in the fun! Visit the Shorekeepers page for links and information about this valuable citizen science program.
Eelgrass Training
Seagrasses are indicators of nearshore health and they are phenomenal carbon sinks, storing carbon for thousands of years, but seagrass is disappearing. As a member of the Seagrass Conservation Working Group, Friends of Semiahmoo Bay Society contributes to the monitoring of eelgrass habitat and conservation initiatives of eelgrass in Boundary Bay.
Come join us to learn about the importance of eelgrass, and get FREE training on how to map Eelgrass!
Spartina Removal/Training
Spartina anglica (English cordgrass) is an introduced, aggressive, aquatic grass that invades mudflats, beaches, eelgrass meadows, algae beds and salt marshes.
The plant takes over to form monotypic “Spartina meadows” resulting in loss of important habitat for fish and wildlife. The large root masses of Spartina trap sediment, raising the elevation and thus changing the entire ecosystem. Friends of Semiahmoo Bay Society is an active member of the British Columbia Spartina Working Group (BCSWG).
