Last month I got an email from a neighbour telling me his old, unused well had dried up a month earlier than it did last year. I talked to another neighbour in Fanny Bay who said their well had gone dry for the first time in over thirty years. There …
The Beaufort Watershed Stewards (BWS) will once again be working with a student from the University of Victoria School of Earth & Ocean Sciences (SEOS) to learn more about one of the aquifers that provide all of our fresh water on the eastern slopes of the Beaufort Range. The student …
BWS is one of almost 30 environmental groups who form the Vancouver Island Private Managed Forest Action Alliance, lead by Jenn Holland. In this CBC video, released 17 July 2025, Claire Palmer interviews Dave Weaver and Jenn Holland to provide an introduction to the challenges inherent in the outdated Private …
This article and image were originally posted by CHEK News on 5 July 2025. The author is Dean Stoltz who lives in the Comox Valley and covers stories from Duncan to Tofino to Port Hardy. Residents living along the shores of Baynes Sound have been concerned and lobbying for action …
The report on Cumulative Effects for the Trent River Watershed is out! Many thanks to Dave Weaver, Dave Daust RPF, and Scott Scholefield RPF for their work on this report! To access the full report, click HERE. The executive summary follows: Background: The Trent River Watershed Cumulative Effects (CE) Assessment …
One might think that, as watershed stewards, our stock in trade would be water. But really, there’s not much we can do about water. We can’t make more of it. That’s the job of nature. We can’t manage it. That’s the job of the community, the Regional District, the Province, …
There’s something that’s been bugging us. We know quite a bit about our streams. We regularly measure their temperature, turbidity, specific conductance, pH, and oxygen content. When we’re sampling, we take note of frogs or salamanders that cross our path and birds that depend on the creeks for food (a …
This is a publication by the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) reporting on the state of local aquifers. The aquifers in the southern portion of the Beaufort Range fall withing the RDN jurisdiction. This 12-page document provides an excellent overview of groundwater processes, and threats due to climate change and …
Rubber boots, a signature yellow vest, two cases of gadgets and a common desire to understand the dynamics of our local freshwater resources links these six volunteers of the Bowser Pod, members of the Beaufort Watershed Stewards (BWS). Doesn’t everyone love a celebration? As of April, this team marked their …
At our April meeting we had the treat of listening to Mark Lake’s enthusiastic update on the BWS aquifer mapping project. Since 2021 Mark has been working with faculty and students from the University of Victoria and local BWS volunteers to start mapping aquifers along the eastern Beaufort Watersheds. The …
