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, shÃshálh, Tla'amin, Klahoose, and Homalco First Nations.
The region supports rich biodiversity anchored by Coastal Western Hemlock and Coastal Douglas fir forests, (more) old growth stands, wetlands, estuaries, and marine waters. Terrestrial habitats host black bears, cougars, elk, wolves, coyotes, black tailed deer, bald eagles, marbled murrelets, and many other species. Coastal and marine ecosystems include kelp forests, rare glass sponge reefs, salmon streams, and tide pools that are home to molluscs, sea anemones, and fish. Resident and Bigg's orcas, seals, sea lions, and migratory birds rely on these productive waters and shorelines.
Paired with its extraordinary biodiversity, the Sunshine Coast has an unusual number of formal and informal non-profit organizations whose mission is to conserve, enhance, and steward biodiversity.(more) These organizations are often involved in biomonitoring programs and in education about biodiversity on the coast.
The primary purpose of this document is to introduce those non-profit organizations that offer opportunities for community members to become involved in biomonitoring as volunteers or to take advantage of the educational opportunities they provide. (more) Here we focus on opportunities within the Sunshine Coast Regional District, extending from Langdale to Egmont. Following the introduction of opportunities for volunteering and education in biodiversity, the next section describes in more detail the sampling regimes used by each organization in their biomonitoring programs and the sites used for their data storage. The aims here 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.
All of the organizations highlighted here are engaged in much more than biomonitoring, community science, and education. Their activities range from beach clean ups to political advocacy for conservation, and building fish ladders to entire biodiversity dedicated facilities. There are many opportunities for community members to be involved in these activities. Go to their websites to see their remarkable and sustained community based work for nature.
Volunteer and Education Opportunities: Organizations
Data and Methods
Biomonitoring programs typically deposit data collected as part of the program in a data repository. (more)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.
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.
Additional Opportunities
There are also broader, regional and national platforms where community members can contribute to biomonitoring and community science:
- BC Nature (https://www.bcinat.com/): A provincial umbrella organization for naturalist clubs; members can participate in surveys, field trips, and species at risk monitoring across the Sunshine Coast.
- eBird – Sunshine Coast (https://ebird.org/region/CA-BC-SC): A global bird observation platform that allows users to submit bird sightings specific to the Sunshine Coast region, contributing to long term population and distribution data.
- iNaturalist – Sunshine Coast (https://www.inaturalist.org/places/sunshine-coast): A community science platform where users can upload photos of plants, animals, and fungi observed on the Sunshine Coast; observations help document local biodiversity and are often used by researchers and conservation groups.
- Birds Canada (https://www.birdscanada.org/you-can-help/citizen-science): Birds Canada offers diverse volunteer community science opportunities. These range from monitoring nest success and counting birds in winter to surveying nocturnal species and mapping breeding populations.