The Sunshine Coast in British Columbia is an 180 km stretch of rugged maritime landscape along the mainland's southwest coast, nestled between Howe Sound and Desolation Sound. This region includes or overlaps with the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, shíshálh, Tla'amin, Klahoose, and Homalco First Nations. The region supports rich biodiversity anchored by Coastal Western Hemlock and Coastal Douglas-fir forests.
Our PurposePaired with its extraordinary biodiversity, the Sunshine Coast has an unusual number of non-profit organizations whose mission is to conserve, enhance, and steward biodiversity. These organizations are often involved in biomonitoring programs and in education about biodiversity on the coast. The primary purpose of this website is to introduce and celebrate those non-profit organizations that offer opportunities for community members to become involved in biomonitoring as volunteers, and to take advantage of their educational opportunities. The site serves as a hub to access these opportunities.
Here we focus on opportunities within the Sunshine Coast Regional District, extending from Langdale to Egmont. In each organization's page there are buttons linking to pages that describe in some detail the sampling regimes used by each organization in their biomonitoring programs and the sites where their data is deposited. The aims of these to sections are to allow different organizations to learn from one another about current practices across the Coast, and perhaps improve them with input from experts in the field, and to provide quick access by researchers and community members to the data collected.
Biomonitoring and Education Opportunities
More than Biomonitoring
All of these organizations are engaged in much more than biomonitoring, community (or citizen) science, and education. Their activities range from beach clean ups to political advocacy for biological conservation, and from building fish ladders to entire biodiversity dedicated facilities. There are many volunteer opportunities for community members to be involved. Go to their websites to see their remarkable and sustained community-based work for nature.
Additional Opportunities
In addition to engaging in these non-profits' programs, there are also broader, regional to international platforms where community members can contribute to biomonitoring and community science. See the Additional Opportunities page for details.
Data and Methods
For each organization, there is a "Data Repository" button that gives links to the sites where data are stored and curated for each of their biomonitoring programs. There is also a "BioMonitoring Methods" button where the data collection methods can be found. In addition, some major Biodiversity Data Repositories in BC can be found here.
Biomonitoring and Research
Biomonitoring programs typically deposit data collected as part of the program in a data repository. Data can then be used by researchers. Some examples of local research, and data from local biomonitoring programs fueling formal research are given here.
A data repository acts as a secure, curated and organized hub where researchers, or those otherwise engaged in biomonitoring, can store, manage, and share massive collections of data. Its primary goal is to ensure that valuable information isn't lost, but is kept "FAIR" (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) so it can be consulted by interested parties and accessed by future researchers. By providing a structured and citable home for information, data repositories transform isolated data sets into a permanent, searchable resource for long-term and collaborative research and monitoring.