I don’t normally flagrantly self-promote on this site. But an incident a couple of weeks ago has prompted me to post something about what tour guides such as myself bring to the table for visitors. This article is aimed at some of the local people who may not appreciate this. And sadly, there seem to be many who don’t.  The incident involved a certain accommodation provider here in Port Alberni. But it could have been any other person such as a gas station attendant, a waiter or waitress, or someone else. In response wrote the email below.

“While I was talking to my guests yesterday, they mentioned that they were chatting to you about their trip with Rainbird Excursions. They mentioned that you had asked why they didn’t just run up there themselves and see the falls. I would like to let you know why people see value in what Rainbird Excursions offers.

First and foremost, I am a story-teller and nature interpreter. Most of my guests travel a long way to get here. Because of this, they have a sincere interest in in the area, its culture, social institutions, economy, government, and natural history. When people are travelling they usually never get an opportunity for lengthy contact with locals who have extensive knowledge in these areas. So it is a treat for them to spend some time with such a person and to be taken to spots where they get some in-depth information. Yes, perhaps they could get much of this by reading in a book or on the net. But you and I both know, it is easier and more interesting to have someone tell you about an area than to just read it.

What I do is called Experiential Tourism.  Here is one definition. “Experiential tourism is the opposite of mass tourism that traditionally focused on package tours and vacations with low levels of personal involvement. Experiential tourism shows rather than describes. It encourages visitors to actively participate in the experience andpromotes activities that draw people outdoors, and into cultures and communities. In this sense it is very personal and individual. Nature tourism, resource-based tourism, adventure tourism, eco-tourism, transformational travel, heritage tourism and other niche areas fit under the umbrella of experiential tourism. Essentially, experiential tourists seek memorable experience.”  The concept has been around quite a while. It has also gained a tremendous amount of popularity. Google “Experiential Tourism” and you will see what I mean.

People who visit from a long way away, don’t know their way around the area . Older visitors fear getting lost. This would take valuable time out of their expensive vacation. Often they rent cars or recreational vehicles. The rental agreement has a clause that prevents them from taking these vehicles on a gravel road. If they want to get off the beaten track to locations away from the rest of the crowd, and experience the true Canadian wilderness they have to find a tour operator who does this sort of thing. Another aspect of this is that people from big cities or from Europe are often afraid to be in the forest by themselves. They appreciate having someone who can tell them that there are no poisonous snakes, or plants on Vancouver island, how to behave should they encounter a bear or a cougar, and anything else that may raise their anxiety level.

Lastly, my guests often have a good deal of disposable income and are quite well educated. These guests worked for very large corporations. One was a marketer for a huge company that builds pumps, and the other works for the second largest accounting firm in the world. So I wouldn’t assume that being thrifty with their money is their first concern. These people are often well-travelled as well. They are looking to learn something from their visit, not just see the sites and have a party. Experiential tourism is a huge world-wide phenomenon. By embracing its concepts and principles, our little town’s tourism industry can only prosper. It is this demographic that we need to target to achieve more success.

I hope, through this note, that you can appreciate the perspective of visitors to Vancouver Island and the role of  tour operators in providing a valuable service to them.

Sincerely,

Sandy McRuer”

Here is a link to some other comments on a similar topic.

Private Tour Guides: Worth it?

]]> http://vancouverislandnaturetours.com/the-value-of-tour-operators-to-visitors.php/feed 0 http://vancouverislandnaturetours.com/the-largest-tree-in-canada.php http://vancouverislandnaturetours.com/the-largest-tree-in-canada.php#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:06:45 +0000 Sandy McRuer http://vancouverislandnaturetours.com/?p=917 There are taller trees. There are trees with larger circumferences. And there are trees whose crowns spread further. But there are no other trees in Canada that combine all three to be the most massive tree than the Cheewhat Giant. It is a Western Redcedar, Thuja plicata, near the shore of Cheewhat Lake on the west side of Vancouver Island between the villages of Bamfield and Port Renfrew.

The trip to the trailhead involves a two-hour drive along some rough logging roads, an adventure in itself!  You could take your car. It’s two-wheel drive all the way. But it’s rough ant there are lots of potholes. You might meet a couple of these behemoths on the way in. These off-highway logging trucks, like the old growth logs they carry, are a vanishing breed.

The trail in to the Cheewat Cedar is not marked. Just a pile of rocks beside the road and a couple of ribbons hanging on the brush. I used my GPS and a waymark I found on the net to find it. It takes about 30 minutes to get there.

The first part of the trail in is fairly well marked. After that you have to pay attention. The first time I went in on my own and followed it easily. But there are some blind side trails. I found one of them the second time when I led a bunch of hikers that had been camping in the Carmanah Valley in. We got turned around for a little while, until I figured it out.  You’ll go by a whole bunch of large cedar trees. But keep going until you see one of these signs. There are two of them.

It was kind of wet the first day I went in!

This is an enormous tree.

If you want to take a trip in to see it and don’t want to use your car, contact Rainbird Excursions.

I know, the first thing you’ll probably be thinking is what the heck is this? Really, it’s a mapping exercise, because that is the major finished product; a book of maps. When it’s complete, British Columbia will have a very good geographic understanding of where each bird species nests in British Columbia complete with a map showing relative abundance. Because of all the bird identification guides you can buy, you may think that the breeding range of each species is well known. Well, yes, in general, they do know. But there are two issues. First, tiny maps of North America with range maps marked on them don’t have good enough resolution for managing a species, if it is of concern. Second, the breeding ranges and abundance keep changing over time, so most of these maps are out of date.

This is not a new concept. It originated in Great Britain in 1976. The state of Vermont was the first area in North America to create one, followed by Ontario. Ontario and the Maritimes have been through this twice. And they have produced maps for each atlas. The data for the first one was collected between 1981 and 1985. The second edition was twenty years later. Both sets of maps are on line for each Atlas. What an astonishing between the two! Some species, like the Bald Eagle have increased in range and abundance. While others, like the Pintail, Killdeer, and the Eastern Towhee have declined. Other provinces are creating them too.

British Columbia is entering its fourth year of atlassing. After this year there will be just one more breeding season to finish the project. And there is still a ton of work to be done.

So why are you needed? Because it is almost all done with volunteers who have some skill in identifying birds both by sight and by sound. There are, however, many places around the province that are just too remote for volunteers to get to. Enter professionals. This year, for a change, there is money from the federal government and the province to pay highly skilled people to go to these remote areas and record how it’s done.

Of course there are protocols, methods and a manual. You can’t have volunteers just heading off willy-nilly.

The manual can be downloaded. But here is a quick overview of the system. The entire province has been divided into 41 Regions each with a coordinator. I’m the coordinator for Alberni/ Bamfield, Region 20. And each region is subdivided into 10×10 km squares. As it would be too difficult to survey all the squares, each coordinator is responsible for completing just a sample of squares in his/her region. To complete a square, atlassers have to spend at least 20 hours looking around throughout as many parts of the square as possible, covering many diferent habitats. There are three categories of breeding evidence: possible, probable and confirmed. Each category has more specific sub categories like, singing males, courtship displays, or adult carrying food for young.

This Region has a goal of 7 squares. Currently 3 are done, and two more are about half done. The square around Port Alberni, and to the east including the Hump and south behind town is done. And a square encompassing the area around Bamfield is done as well.  If you are able to record anything out Beaver Creek past Malabar Road out to Oshinow Lake, or in the Sproat Lake area out to Taylor Arm, Nahmint, China Creek, Mactush or anywhere around those places, please give me a call as soon as you can. I’ll be asking you exactly where you saw the bird, what day it was, and what it was doing. Anything you can pass along would help. But remember the area around the city and east has been done, so don’t waste your time there.

Want to learn more about natural history on Vancouver Island? Take a tour with Rainbird Excursions.

The status Oregon Ash in British Columbia is a matter of some debate among botanists. It is the rarest tree on Vancouver Island. But the debate is whether it is introduced or natural to BC. Some botanists think it’s presence on Vancouver Island is from seeds disseminated from planted ornamentals. However one recent authority says that “the pollen record indicates that it has been a native species fornine and half millennia, though it has never been abundant”.  To read more about its status, follow this link: http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben321.html

It can be found in poorly drained rich bottomland, near the mouth of the Somass River in Port Alberni and in scattered spots in the Duncan and Victoria areas.

For more information about the natural History of Vancouver Island contact Rainbird Excursions.

Click on the title to see the post without the Welcome box in the middle.

A spring trip to Sandy Island Marine Provincial Park is a magnificent way to spend the day. This, rather convoluted name, was given to the park when it was established in 1966. But locals refer to it as Tree Island.  Protects a number of rare plants and animals as well as provides endless fascination to those who like to wander in the broad sandy tidal flats that extend to its neighbour, Deman Island.

Flushes of blooming spring flowers wash over the island all spring and into the summer. From the early abundant yellow Arnica, through to the startling blue larkspurs that come later, there is always something to photograph here.

You can get to the park either by motorboat, kayak or by taking the ferry to Denman Island, driving to a trail-head, and walking at low tide over to the island. It is also very popular with sail boats. On the island, which is scarcely more than a large forested sand dune surrounded by meadows, there are a number of  places to camp and a pit toilet. You can wander through the forest and meadows along paths taking in magnificent views of both the coastal and Vancouver Island mountains, proceed with your head down checking out the variety of blooming flowers.

Tide flats also are magnificent, they are a stopping point for a good variety of sandpipers, gulls, terns, ducks, herons, grebes, loons, and so on. The parks also attracts nesting Bald Eagles,  Warblers, Towhees, and other upland birds. Particularly along the eastern side of the island you’ll also find seals and sealions. And on your way across to the park, you may encounter dolphins or even Killer Whales. Needless to say, the park also attracts a good number of birdwatchers and naturalists.

Want to learn more about the natural wonders of Vancouver Island? Check out Rainbird Excursions.

A normal robin is in the top right

Recently a person sent me a picture of a strange looking American Robin that had been hanging around her home. It is displaying a condition known as leucism. Some people refer to it as albinism. But that is not quite the correct term. For albinism is a condition where there is no colour in any of the feathers or in the skin. The creature is entirely white. This is very rare. Leucism, or partial albinism, is much more common. Here the condition presents as patches where there is no colour in the feathers, but it does not extend to the skin. It can be symmetrical as in the case of this Robin or asymmetical. I have heard that this leucism is more common in birds than in mammals. But I don’t know about that. I have a very small patch of white hair on the back of my head that the barber has noticed. But I don’t think I’m all that uncommon!

Seriously, it seems that in the bird world Robins, and house sparrows are the species where it is most often reported. This may be because they are the most often seen.

Speaking of being seen, leucistic and albinistic birds often don’t survive as long as others for a couple of reasons. First, they are really visible to predators, much more than normally plumaged birds. Secondly, the feathers wear down faster as the melanin, the colouring in the feathers, helps make the feathers wear longer.

Interestingly, in the First Nation cultures of Vancouver Island, white ravens are revered. and in the last couple of years one has been showing up in the Parksville area quite regularly. Here’s a photo of it by noted Vancouver Island photographer, Ralph Hocken. It is a true albino.

To learn more about the natural history of Vancouver Island,  take an adventure tour with Rainbird Excursions.

Click on the title to see the page properly.

Lots of people these days travel with bicycles on Vancouver Island. And why not? It’s a great way to get a little exercise and have a relaxing time peddling through the neighbourhoods and parks of the places you visit. You can even do it if you aren’t that fit or if you have children with you if the ground is pretty level. Port Alberni has some wonderful potential for some very relaxing riding on some pretty level streets and paths that aren’t always heavily traveled. And where there is lots of traffic, there is a broad sidewalk to ride on safely. I am going to give you a few suggestions of places to ride that aren’t very difficult and that I think you will enjoy. Many of these routes have lots of alternatives that you can explore as well. I mention some of them in the Google Earth file of the routes that I am attaching to this post when I figure out how to do it.  Below are some routes.

Roger Creek Route

This route features the Clutesi Haven Marina where the salmon sport fishermen return with thier catches, a walkway along the Somass River where black bears are often seen patroling the opposite shore, some of the oldest homes in Alberni, the older of the two towns, now amaglamated into Port Alberni. It also takes you past Roger Creek Park, a picturesque park popular with locals for wedding and school graduation photos. The route is about 3 km or 1.9 mi.

Kitsuksis Dyke Bike and Walking Path

This dyke system was constructed to protect the neighbourhoods and businesses after a tsunami from an earthquake in Anchorage Alaska in 1964 caused a lot of destruction in this area. Since its construction, it has been paved and now serves as a flat and very pleasant walkway and bike path along the banks of this creek. The total distance is about 3 km or 1.9 mi. There is a lower and an upper foot-bridge that is quite accessible by bycyles. And there are a couple of alternative routes or extentions you can take.

Old Cemetary Loop

This longer route has a bunch of interesting features along it. You will proceede from the same parking lot beside Solda’s Restaurant along River Road through the Hucacasath First Nation Indian Reserve, then up past an old cemetary where the pioneers who first came to Port Alberni are buried. Also buried there are the dead from WW2. There is also an interesting space where Chinese settlers were buried separately from the rest of the Christian community. The route continues Down Mary Street and turns left off it along another dyke system and a park A steep pitch takes you up onto Nelson Street, and through a quiet neighourhood where you can meander down toward River Road and Past Naesgard’s Farm & Market. Naesgaard’s has a variety of fresh rfuit in season and cool drinks. Finally you can cross River Road at Naesgaards and, if the mood strikes you, take a dip in the Somass River at a fishing hole there. Or esle you can peddle down the river and back to your starting point. Total distance is around 5 km or 3 miles.

Somass Estuary Route

The Somass River is the large river that flows into the ocean at the end of the Alberni Inlet. The estuary or delta is the most botantically diverse on Vancouver Island harbouring over 200 plant species, twice that of other estuaries on the island. The area is also one of the best places to birdwatch in the Alberni Valley. And it is a nice place to get away safely on a rural road without having to worry about traffic. The route is about 8 km or 2.5 mi round trip. It takes you through a variety of habitats, and past bothe the City sewage lagoon and the Mill effluent pond. Don’t worry, the smell isn’t that bad as it generally blows away from you. the best time to ride this route is in the morning because it often gets windy here in the afternoon.

With the recent huge earthquake in Japan, I immediately thought of my personal exposure to a similar event here. I live in the Tsunami Hazard Zone in Port Alberni. Of course, almost everyone in Port Alberni and most people on Vancouver Island are aware of the tsunami that hit the west coast of the island on Good Friday 1964. The communities most damaged were Zeballos, Tahsis and Port Alberni, the latter, being a big community sustained the most damage. The 1964 event was very serious. But there was an even more serious Tsunami that happened around 9:00 PM, 26 January 1700. Of course this was before any European contact with the people living in this area then. So how do we know about this event and exactly when it was? Well first there is the oral history of the local tribes around here. The tsunami hit the village of the people living in at Pacheena Bay, the end of the West Coast Trail. According to the story, first there was an enormous amount of shaking, so violent that people couldn’t stand. It woke everyone up. Then a huge wave wiped out the village. Everyone but one person was killed by being swept out to sea. Only one person survived, Anacla aq sop. The current chief of the Huu-ay-aht, Spencer Peters is descended from her. Then there are written records along a 500-mile stretch of the eastern Japanese coastline of a tsunami, but no earthquake on January 26, 1700. The waves were about 1-5meters in height. Because of the lack of local earth movement, the earthquake must have come from across the ocean. Another reason we know about this, are several ghost forests along the coasts of Washington and Oregon. Scientists realised that these dead trees along the very edge of salt marshes were there because land had subsided in a large earthquake. Through dendrochronology they were able to closely ascertain the date of the event. Finally there is the geological evidence from up and down the west side of North America of a sand and gravel layer that could only have been laid down by a tsunami. Scientists have looked in tidal marches and estuaries from California to northern Vancouver Island and found this layer. One of the places it was found was in Port Alberni in the Somass Estuary. Being largely undeveloped, it is much easier to find evidence for these events here than higher on the floodplain where logging and construction have taken place. Using sedimentation rates, scientists have been able to determine the approximate date of the event, 1700. So, all this independent evidence points to the same time period.

Both the 1964 and the 1700 tsunamis are recorded in the sediments of the Somass river estuary. The former, being smaller, laid down a smaller layer of sand and gravel. The older and larger tsunami laid down a much larger layer, scary large. This tsunami was estimated to be 9.0 on the Richter scale and just off this coast in the Columbia Subduction Zone. Through extrapolation someone has determined the height of the wave from the earlier earthquake. They used this to draw a map of the likely inundation that would occur in the event of a similar huge earthquake. I sure hope everyone in town knows where the edge of it is.

On a more personal note, I have a niece, her husband, and her baby in Japan at the moment. They are OK so far. But I’m sure that they are being affected through brown-outs, pending food shortages, and possible radioactive contamination if a nuclear reactor fails. My thoughts are with them.

I have also taken guests from Japan on tours on two occasions. My thoughts are with them and their relatives.

Classic adult Herring Gull

Originally uploaded by TheRainbird

Contrary to many Vancouver Islander’s opinion Herring Gulls are not the common gull species on Vancouver Island. The Glaucous-winged Gull is. I was guilty of this for the first two years I was on the island. Adult Herring Gulls are relativley easy to distinguish from the Glaugous-winged. First Check out the black wing=tips on the Herring. There is no black on the Glaucous-winged Gull. Second, and this is only easily seen in good light, check out the eye colour. It’s bright yellow in the Herring Gull and generally dark, or darker in the Glaucous-winged Gull.

To Learn more about the natural history of Vancouver Island,  take an adventure tour with Rainbird Excursions.

Many people think that winter still has its icy grip on us. But there are a few signs of spring already in the fields and forests of Vancouver Island. One of them is that the Beaked Hazelnut bushes are in bloom.

Hazelnuts are large shrubs found in the wild lowland areas of Vancouver Island. They were a favourite of the first nations tribes here, as well as throughout the entire range of the species, which includes  the maritime provinces Southern Ontario and much of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The nuts, known as filberts, can also be found in grocery stores.  They are grown commercially in several areas accross North America, Europe, the middle east and even Australia. In, fact outside the town of Chemainus right here on the island is a farm that specializes in producing them.

Hazelnuts grow as male and female plants. The male shrubs produce catkins in the very early spring before the leaves flush out. The females also produce flowers. But they are extremely inconspicuous.  The males, however, are not. They can be readily found by looking for catkins. I have included examples of both flowers and the bush itself in the post.

This separation of male and female plants is uncommon in the plant world. The vast majority (85%) are hermaphrodites, meaning that each flower has male and female parts. Only 6-7 % are dioecious. The third category, monecious, means that the plant has separate male and female  flowers on the same plant. this is very common in conifers. Some other well-known examples of dioecious plants are: the Ivies,  Aspen and the Cottonwoods, and the Willows.  Some other notable ones are Asparagus, and Marijuana.

Want to learn more about natural history on Vancouver Island?  Take a tour with Rainbird Excursions