Volunteers on the Go - Part II
Welcome to the second in a series of "Volunteers on the Go". Our volunteers are proving very resilient by continuing to do MVIHES work while following the recommendations of BC's health officers in fighting COVID-19 (i.e. still no hugging and kissing allowed). Here are some more things we are doing.
Stream Flow Monitoring
A big thanks to Shelley Goertzen (right hand photo) who is our Secretary, keeping us all organized and taking the minutes of our Board Meetings, sending out the MailChimp messages, and the most exciting job of all (as seen by the expression on her face), entering all the data from the smolt trap and other fish surveys into a spreadsheet for Department of Fisheries and Oceans (I think she's asleep). The rest of the time she is out doing field work like Stream Flow Monitoring.
MVIHES is conducting streamflow monitoring in the Englishman River this summer using a device called a Flowtracker, to help determine if there are sufficient flows for sustaining fish populations. As seen in the photo to the left, Shelley is operating the the Flowtracker controller and Dick Dobler (you may remember him in a previous article as "Catcher of the Fry") is using the "wading rod" which has the Flowtracker probe attached to the bottom. Chris Smith (you may know him as the Glaskrafter) is holding the clipboard, waiting for data. And taking the photo is Pete Law.
Flow monitoring sites include upstream and downstream of the new water intake for the Parksville water treatment plant, the old water intake, and downstream of the old water intake before the Englishman River Estuary. If you are interested in particpating in this or other projects, see below.
UPCOMING PROJECTS
1. YELLOW FISH LAWN SIGNS. 
A few years ago we had a Salmon Friendly Lawn program that promoted water conservation in the Oceanside area. Residents made a pledge to not water their lawns in the summer months and received a yellow fish lawn sign to signify their pledge and get their neighbours interested. We are reviving the program and are looking for some people who have skills and equipment for woodworking to produce the wooden fish. We will supply the wood and a fish template.
2. GROUNDWATER WELL MONITORING. Several private wells in the Englishman River watershed contain data loggers that collect information on water levels every four hours all year round. This information is used to help the RDN understand the state of the aquifers in our region. MVIHES downloads the data off the loggers and sends it to the RDN and GWS which is a hydrological engineering company that has created a computer model of our aquifers. We are planning our next round of downloads for September and are looking for people to help
If you are interested in particpating in any of these projects, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.