President’s Report–Roger Chayer
The year 2021 continued to be a difficult year as COVID-19 dominated the headlines. Undeterred, the Beaufort Watershed Stewards’ Board members and the numerous volunteers steadfastly continued the important work of collecting information and advocating for our watershed. My report is an outline of what was accomplished in the past year and each of the Directors will give reports of their respective activities. All the Core Activities achieved major milestones again this year.
The Data Gathering has expanded dramatically this year. For Surface Water, the stream monitoring program continues to include more streams to regularly monitor and supplying another year of data for the Government of BC Surface Water Monitoring database. The stream flow measurement program expanded to doing work in the streams. Added this year was a degradation assessment, with a report released recently. For Ground Water, the well water level monitoring program continues to improve on the monitors and working towards adding more wells to be monitored in the watershed. A major step was made towards the mapping of the aquifer with a BWS initiated project with the University of Victoria. This year Quality Assurance/Safety was added to ensure volunteers are properly trained and supported for their work in the field.
Advocacy is a tenet of the Beaufort Watershed Stewards. This year BWS is working with other interested parties towards protection of the Waterloo Old Growth Management Area.
Our Community Outreach remains a major focus in establishing valued partnerships with other groups in the stewardship community like the Comox Valley Conservation Partnership, Our Water BC,and the Fresh Water Alliance to name a few. In the time of COVID events are difficult to organize but with all the required protocols BWS, in a show of support for our local organizations in our community, participated in the Fanny Bay Market. On Earth Day, BWS sponsored a very informative and well attended Forest Walk. Community Outreach also means getting the word out there. The BWS website, Facebook and the Fanny Bay Flyer continue to be the mainstay delivery systems to deliver the fountain of information we have for the public.
No organization can be successful without taking care of the day-today affairs. BWS continues to be diligent on the Administrative side of things. This year BWS achieved several goals including charitable status. Fundraising this year reached new heights enabling the expenditure for new equipment and maintaining a healthy bottom line. We have engaged West Coast Environmental Law for their consulting and guidance expertise. We continue to grow our membership and track our volunteer hours; both have grown this year. In conclusion, this year the Beaufort Watershed has established itself as a respected organization and partner in the watershed stewardship community. This is the result of the commitment, perseverance, imagination, and camaraderie of this group of volunteers.