June 23, 2023
Well hey there!
Stream restoration season is underway and we hit the ground running this week! Each morning and afternoon was devoted to stream restoration, which is likely to continue for the rest of the season. As we all know, hurricane Fiona did a number on our streams causing some major blockages within our watersheds. While the weather is right and the crew spots are filled, now is prime time to help mitigate this damage and restore stream habitat for local fauna.
The newbies on the chainsaws, Nicole and Keiran, are doing a fantastic job sawing the fallen debris for the rest of the group to collect and remove from the stream. Plunging your arms into the cool stream water during debris clearing does the body good on these hot and humid afternoons!
In addition to stream restoration, we did our 2023 bat surveys this week. Each year we survey local populations to keep track of population numbers and species abundance, submitting this data to an external group for analysis. These “bat boxes” have a high frequency microphone that picks up bat echolocation. The SD cards inside the bat boxes are retrieved after a minimum of 4 days and played back to identify the different species present in the area.
Get ready to make waves Victoria, because our annual Swim For The South Shore is coming up and August will be here before you know it! This year’s clean water campaign is focusing on plastic. More details and information will be coming soon, so watch out on our social media and the blog for more announcements.
Have a safe and fun weekend, folks!
Love, SSWA
