Education Programs

EcoRowing and Paddling

Youth from our local schools paddle the peaceful waters of Tod Inlet (SṈIDȻEȽ, The Place of the Blue Grouse). We offer “EcoRowing “ in the fall and spring months to elementary and middle school students. While paddling on the calm waters of the inlet, youth learn about hunting and fishing from this special place from a Tsartlip First Nations member.

When paddlers disembark, they explore the world of native plants of the inlet and their uses for medicines, food and tools. During their marine science experience, they pour “pollution” on a three dimensional model of the Tod Creek Watershed and discover how land activities can affect water quality in the inlet. Afterwards they test water quality from the dock and gauge the health of the waters using scientific equipment.

Survey Training

SeaChange supports community driven conservation initiatives by offering volunteer training for eelgrass and shoreline inventories.

We believe community-led stewardship is the way forward to a healthier and just world. We provide communities with the tools to monitor the health of their ecosystems, enabling them to witness change over time and empowering them to take care of the coast they love. We facilitate the gathering of data on eelgrass and kelp extent and health over time. We train community members to mark GPS coordinates along transects in the intertidal zone on low tide days. From a boat we train others how to collect data from an underwater camera hovering over subtidal eelgrass. Recently, we’ve been training on the shorelines of Denman Island and Alert Bay.

International Programs

SeaChange works with the University of Victoria and Vancouver Island University to engage students from countries around the world in the cultural and ecological beauty of SṈIDȻEȽ.

Day-long programs include ethnobotanical tours, watershed models and an overview of the ongoing restoration work of a special place with thousands of years of history. We are passionate about exploring the common ground that we all share as citizens of the planet.