nevilleinsectstudytalk-mar-2020

Metchosin Insect Study 2020 Season Kickoff Meeting

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The third season of the Metchosin Insect Biomass study, led by Dr. Neville Winchester of the University of Victoria and partially supported by the Metchosin Foundation, kicked off on Saturday, March 7th at the Municipal Hall.  Dr. Winchester delivered a presentation to Metchosin’s citizen scientist Malaise trap site hosts, summarizing the preliminary findings of 2018 and 2019, as well as the emerging global crisis of falling insect populations, related to the multitude of threats insects face from agricultural pesticides, climate change, and habitat destruction.  Metchosin is serving as an important component in the worldwide effort to understand this phenomenon, and this long-term study is the only one of its kind so far in Canada, and perhaps in North America.  In 2019, Metchosin Malaise traps (tent-like structures that catch and preserve a small sampling of flying insects for study) collected 114,782 individual specimens, which are still in the process of being sorted and identified (not a small task) and will be added to the collection at the Royal British Columbia Museum.  Most of the 19 private landowners who are generously providing trap sites and sample collection support for the study were in attendance, and the presentation was followed by a Q & A.  This year, the project will be expanded with the continued support of Metchosin Foundation volunteers and other expert volunteers to better document characteristics of the different trap sites.  This effort will include land classification from aerial imagery, vegetation surveys, and documenting other factors including elevation, human use, proximity to water features, etc.  This will help to gain a better understanding the factors driving the differences in insect abundance and diversity across the different trap sites.  Outcomes of this study will include identifying measures that can be taken locally within Metchosin, and beyond, to support insect population health.  Dr. Winchester will also be assisted by student researchers, including one funded by an Eco Canada scholarship that the Metchosin Foundation applied for.  We have an exciting field season ahead, including the possibility of being featured in the CBC’s “The Nature of Things with David Suzuki”!  The Metchosin Foundation would like to thank our community’s citizen scientist Malaise trap hosts for their continued support of this important project.

A copy of Dr. Winchester’s presentation from March 7th is attached here for download. Metchosin_Insect_Biomass_Study_update_2020_Neville_Winchester_(web)

Homage to Moralea Milne

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By Chris Pratt, President of Metchosin Foundation

Many years ago when Moralea and her husband John chose to make their home in Metchosin, attracted by the quiet lifestyle of the people and the rich endowment of forests, fields, and streams bordered by the sea, they saw that measures were needed to preserve that balance while living on the verges of a growing city.

They literally spent the rest of their lives bending to that task. John was first elected to Council while he was professionally engaged in providing internet service to First Nations communities throughout the Province including our neighbours at Scia’new (Beecher Bay).  In parallel, Moralea reached out through her friendship with Pakki Chipps to the young people of Scia’new.

Moralea seized upon the suggestion that some agency was needed to voice the value of preserving our way of living, and in particular our green spaces; and so the idea of a Foundation was born. Moralea, (and here Jo Mitchell too must be named, for they were “cut out of the same cloth”), recruited lawyer Dan MacIsaac to draw up a legal constitution for  the Metchosin Foundation, and then guide it through the labyrinth of legal verbiage to have it approved. That process took more than a couple of years; meanwhile a board was chosen and planning continued.

John died from cancer when he was far too young, and after a time it became Moralea’s turn to join Council, where she served as Treasurer, and Council adviser to the Environmental Committee.

And so, today stories have been pouring in about how Moralea helped someone with this problem or that, how she organized the monthly “Talk and Walk” series that have just now numbered a hundred! The BioBlitzes that have brought naturalists from near and far to recognize the flora and fauna that inhabit Metchosin, and her frequent articles in “The Muse” on natural history, to mention just some of her work. And to quote from just one such email, “Moralea had an indomitable spirit and an indefatigable commitment to making this community the best it could be.”

May she rest in Peace, while the Foundation takes up the Torch.

Remembering Moralea

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The Board of Directors of the Metchosin Foundation mourns the tragic loss of one of its founding members, Moralea Milne. She died suddenly in a car crash on July 28th in Surrey.

The guiding principles of the Metchosin Foundation, “Healthy Lands, Healthy Waters, and a Healthy Caring Community” were present in all that Moralea contributed to the work of the Foundation.  Her dedication to a sustainable and healthy environment was formidable. “The environment is the lens through which I view every decision” she once said.  She certainly lived by that commitment.

Moralea’s many years of support and involvement in Metchosin Foundation and other initiatives such as the Biodiversity Project, the BioBlitz, the MycoBlitz, and the Talk and Walk series, contributed greatly to Metchosin becoming a beacon in environmental stewardship.

She served on the Metchosin Council for 10 years and among other contributions, facilitated the building of warm relationships between Council and the Scia’new (Beecher Bay) First Nation.

She was an avid and exquisite photographer with a special interest in butterflies and moths. She had a conservation covenant placed on her Metchosin property to ensure that all life forms will be preserved in perpetuity.

In living a life congruent with her principles and conviction, Moralea also wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty; she actively volunteered to pull scotch broom and to remove other invasive species from local parks.

Moralea was a model leader who encouraged those around her, and she wasn’t afraid to stand strong by her convictions.  Moralea will be an enduring and deeply missed role model in the Metchosin Foundation and in the broader community.  Moralea was the embodiment of the principle that one person can make a difference.

A celebration of life is being planned by the family and community.

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2016 AGM

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Metchosin Foundation President Chris Pratt welcomed Canadian journalist, environmental activist and former host of CBC’s All Points West radio program JoAnn Roberts as the feature speaker at their eighth Annual General Meeting last May 29 at St. Mary’s Church. Her speech titled If Not Now, When? was backed by an excellent power point presentation and ranged from the need to act on global climate change issues to steps that can be taken Canadians and by local communities to address the need for change.

President Chris Pratt recapped the year’s achievements, highlighting the success of the April Biodiversity weekend that attracted over 100 people to the teaching shelter, walks and displays in Witty’s Lagoon. Now in the sixth year of its biodiversity work, Metchosin hosts the 2nd longest-running BioBlitz in BC. This annual combination of public celebration and scientific research by taxonomy experts has yielded a database of over 2300 species – second in BC only to Whistler. Targeted BioBlitzes this spring at Matheson Lake, the Albert Head DND property, and William Head Institution added about 120 new species, including one extremely rare find, Juncus kelloggii, known only (in Canada) from Uplands Park.


Welcome to The Metchosin Foundation!The Metchosin Foundation is a non-political charitable organization registered under the Canada Revenue Agency.  It has been created to:

  • Encourage and support the rural nature of Metchosin,
  • Support and maintain a harmonious community, and
  • Preserve and safeguard Metchosin’s unique ecosystems, flora, and fauna for the benefit of all Canadians.

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Photo by T.J. Watt

If you would like to support initiatives to protect and conserve the natural environment and rural character of Metchosin, consider becoming a member of The Metchosin Foundation, make a donation, and/or include the Metchosin Foundation in your Estate Planning.

2016 AGM

Metchosin Foundation President Chris Pratt welcomed Canadian journalist, environmental activist and former host of CBC’s All Points West radio program JoAnn Roberts as the feature speaker at their eighth Annual General Meeting last May 29 at St. Mary’s Church. Her speech titled If Not Now, When? was backed by an excellent power point presentation and ranged from the need to act on global climate change issues to steps that can be taken Canadians and by local communities to address the need for change.

President Chris Pratt recapped the year’s achievements, highlighting the success of the April Biodiversity weekend that attracted over 100 people to the teaching shelter, walks and displays in Witty’s Lagoon. Now in the sixth year of its biodiversity work, Metchosin hosts the 2nd longest-running BioBlitz in BC. This annual combination of public celebration and scientific research by taxonomy experts has yielded a database of over 2300 species – second in BC only to Whistler. Targeted BioBlitzes this spring at Matheson Lake, the Albert Head DND property, and William Head Institution added about 120 new species, including one extremely rare find, Juncus kelloggii, known only (in Canada) from Uplands Park.

Biodiversity Day Team with (l-r) new directors Mike Fischer and Jacqueline Clare, forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon, Vice-Chair Joel Ussery, CRD Parks employee, and Kem Luther, director.
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Pratt noted that combining community education and awareness with good science fits well within the Metchosin Foundation mandate of Healthy Lands, Healthy Waters and a Healthy, Caring Community.Preservation and stewardship of Metchosin ecology is also strengthened by the monthly Walk and Talk sessions featuring speakers on key ecological subjects.

The foundation and Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) continue to work together to establish nature covenants on lands that are ecologically intact and unique to this region. Lands that straddle the Metchosin-Langford border on Humpback Road are the focus of work currently, and it is hoped that good news on this project will be announced this fall.

It appears that potential may exist for a partnership between the Metchosin Foundation and HAT to establish voluntary covenants on environmentally sensitive shorelines. Via our website and through other means, the foundation is seeking interest from landowners who may wish to establish shoreline covenants.

Pratt also drew attention to the Valerie Cochrane Memorial Fund that was established in her honour by her husband Charles Priester to assist Pearson College students faced with family crises to fly home. It is modelled after a similar fund operating from McGill University in Montreal and is being managed by the Metchosin Foundation. Already two students have been able to address their family crises in person due to that fund’s existence. Typically, these loans are repaid generously when the student is able.

In March, foundation directors convened a meeting to review the formation, constitution, past and current activities of the Foundation to help plan projects and future directions.  Many great ideas came forward and will form the basis for the work of the incoming board.

Vice-president Joel Ussery thanked Chris Pratt and Dan MacIsaac who have generously served their eight-year terms with distinction and thus  were stepping down from the Board. In thanks for their service, each was presented with potted blue-eyed grass-like (Sisyrinchium idahoense), native to Metchosin, although not common here. Pratt was further surprised when a birthday cake with his name on it was wheeled out and the enthusiastic audience sang Happy Birthday.

The slate of new directors was at that point proposed and elected.  Incoming President Carol Carman, Treasurer Joel Ussery and Secretary Kem Luther are veterans of the Metchosin Foundation board.  Three brand new board members were unanimously elected and welcomed:

  • Jacqueline Clare, geographer with a background in ecology, cartography, GIS, and data management
  • Mike Fischer, engineer with expertise in energy systems, energy efficiency, and software development for climate change research, as well as small scale farmer
  • Beverly Hall, environmental scientist, instructor and photographer

The new board invites members of the public to come forward with ideas and suggestions for the future.  The annual membership fee for membership in the Society remains set at $10.00.

Charity BN/Registration # 81576 1556 RR0001

Saturday Halloween Dance on October 24th

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Come dance the night away on Saturday, October 24th at the Metchosin Community Hall.  Get into the spirit of Halloween early and support the Metchosin Foundation’s work on environmental protection and education in our community.  The local band Fine Spirits will get you rocking, rolling, and shaking off any stresses of the season.  There is a sixties theme to inspire your costume choice or you can come as whatever creepy character inspires you.  There will be a silent auction, refreshments, and midnight munchies for those who worked up an appetite on the dance floor.  Tickets are $20 and are available at the Metchosin Country Store, Broken Paddle Cafe or by contacting contact@metchosinfoundation.ca. The event runs from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. Bring your friends, have some fun, and support a local charitable organization.