Pender Islands Big Tree Registry
The success of the Registry will depend on the participation of Pender Islanders who are invited to nominate the big trees in their lives.
Do you have a big tree in your back yard? If so, get ready to nominate it for the Pender Islands Big Tree Registry!
Pender Earth’s “Trees-to-Sea” interest group are gearing up to create the Pender Islands Big Tree Registry (“the Registry”), modelled after UBC’s provincial registry and Gabriola’s Island-specific registry. We will be collecting data on the species, location, and size of big trees across North and South Pender Islands and we need your help!
The success of the Registry will depend on the participation of Pender Islanders who are invited to nominate the big trees in their lives. The development of the Registry is being supported by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation as part of the Gulf Islands Forest Project that they launched in October 2019.
Shauna Doll heads this project and loves to share her knowledge with members of the Pender community. The aim of the Gulf Islands Forest Project is to better understand threats to forest health and to discover ways to protect the trees and forest ecosystems that make the Gulf Islands unique and remarkable. We are still working on developing a webpage and support guide to teach folks how to measure and nominate big trees and have plans to officially launch the Registry in the Fall.
In the meantime to prepare for this community-driven project, we encourage you to download the iNaturalist app, a convenient tool that allows you to upload and identify the images taken on your nature walks – including plants (trees!), amphibians, insects, and bird species. It also connects you with fellow naturalists who can help you ID species you are unsure about. Using iNaturalist is a great way to prepare for the Registry launch!
Watch for updates in the next issue of the Pender Post and/or email Shauna (shauna@raincoast.org) or Pender Earth (penderearth@gmail.com) for more information on how to get involved!
A version of this article was first published at The Pender Post.
