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Greater Victoria program hosts free habitat mapping workshop

Tools provided support landowners, land managers and others interested in mapping
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An online workshop on Feb. 10 will provide the tools to map habitats in the region like the one frequented by the rough-skinned newt. (Photo contributed by the Habitat Acquisition Trust)

Would you like to acquire the skills required to map Mother Nature’s habitats from the comfort of your home computer?

As part of its Good Neighbours program, the Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) is offering a free online workshop on Feb. 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for residents who want to learn about the natural features in the region.

Learning about nature starts at home, whether that’s in your backyard, a neighbourhood park, a school playground or a community garden, explained Sara Lax, HAT’s conservation technician.

The workshop will allow residents to use mapping to learn about the natural features, i.e. habitats that exist in their backyard or neighbourhood, she noted.

“I believe this mapping workshop will help people understand the impacts we have on wildlife as well as their habitats, and how we can make a real difference with habitat stewardship,” Lax said.

READ ALSO: CRD, Habitat Acquisition Trust to spend $3.4M on 20-hectare forest park in Saanich

The mapping tools and exercises presented in the workshop will support landowners, land managers and others interested in land use mapping to visualize land change in a virtual map and understand those changes over time by using the basic mapping tools in Google MyMaps and CRD Atlas. The workshop is a partnership effort involving HAT, the Capital Regional District, the BC Wildlife Federation and the Bilston Creek Watershed Society.

Participants will have the opportunity to gather and network online via Zoom and learn from regional mapping experts and watershed conservation groups, as well as discuss avenues for stewardship, conservation, and habitat enhancement of watersheds throughout the CRD.

The free workshop is made possible through the program’s funders, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, EcoAction Community Fund, the provincial government and the Metchosin Foundation, Lax said. Donations to HAT or the purchase of HAT products to support programs like these are always greatly appreciated, she added.

To register for the workshop, email sara@hat.bc.ca, or call HAT at 250-995-2428.

For more information, visit hat.bc.ca.

rick.stiebel@goldstreamgazette.com


 

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