Introducing Beavers, Birds & Bannock

Huge thanks to everyone who came out for the first BBB tour!

Our first Beaver, Birds & Bannock tour was an evening of impactful learning and sharing. Our group met at the Smugglers Cove park entrance with adequate daylight to experience the coolness and semi-shade of the forest canopy, see and understand the transformation of forest to ponds though beaver activity and witness rich intertidal and marine ecosystems.

Three guides shared knowledge with the group, and we learned from each other as we always do. We spoke of plants, food and medicine as understood from oral tradition and the wisdom of the elders. We saw ducks, songbirds, seabirds, the stealthy hunters of the sky and learned about their unique behaviours and habits within each habitat.

On the hike out to the channel of Welcome Pass we swapped stories and considered how we might ask better questions about sustainability. We sat on the shoreline and shared bannock to the sound of gulls crying and sea currents lapping the rocks. We spoke of how formations grew from the crust of the earth and how the BC coastline had formed islands and inlets and the many vital pathways for canoe travel and trade.

A yew tree had its special story as did the two lilies: common camus and deathcamas. The cedar tree too, reminded us of its many important traditions and relationships in a vibrant Salish ethnoecology.

Anticipation grew as the light faded and we returned to the beaver ponds. A primer on the colonial fur trades did nothing to bring the beavers out, but silence and keen eyes saw the first movement in the canals radiating from the beaver lodges. We were completely enthralled to witness the parents grooming at one of their haulouts and the three kits watching from the water.

Barely a whisper was heard from guides or the group. We moved slowly, we marveled as these supreme engineers of rich ecological zones displayed their own version of a good evening out.