November 2023 - Network workshop - Tackling the Biodiversity Communications Gap
Thirty participants from the Howe Sound Conservation Network spent the day at the Pacific Science Enterprise Centre in West Vancouver on Wednesday, November 22nd. The Howe Sound Biosphere Region Initiative Society hosted a workshop and networking event with Diane Mitchell, a professional writer and interpretive planner. The outcome of the workshop, a framework of meaningful messages aimed at tackling the biodiversity communications gap, will be a useful tool for conservationists around the region.
We started off the event with a viewing of Bob Turner’s newest film My Adventures of a Wild Home, a wonderful example of storytelling and connecting people to nature.
Following the workshop, PSEC Community Outreach Coordinator Nikki, gave us a tour of the research centre that sits on the site of the old Great Northern Cannery and is in within the boundary of the Howe Sound Biosphere Region.
The outcomes of the workshop are intended to be a means to bridge the communications gap when it comes to biodiversity conservation.
On February 23rd, 2024, we hosted a virtual network meeting over Zoom where Diane Mitchell reported back on the outcomes from the workshop. All the content taken from the sticky note exercise was categorized into one overarching theme and four sub-themes. Examples were provided as to how these themes can be expressed through various communication channels. As part of our commitment to strengthening biodiversity conservation, we will be using these themes going forward.
We had two other presentations during the Zoom call. Mica Anguita shared another project funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The McNab Valley storymap is a pilot project for future maps that serves as a portal for all publicly available past and present changes to the land in this one watershed in Howe Sound. The purpose of the map is to compile the stories into this one location and reveal opportunities for continued restoration and stewardship of ecologically important areas and potential areas to be designated as OECMs or protected.
Murray Journeay with the Squamish Environment Society and Kate Andy reported back on the input provided by the participants at the March 2023 Howe Sound Conservation Network roundtable working session on focal species. Murray and Kate explained how this is being used as the foundation for a broader biodiversity conservation strategy and Wildlife Connectivity Project. To view the recording go to our YouTube channel here.
