Fifty-five Acres and $92-Million
As Eric Peterson explains in detail in this inaugural issue of Tula Quarterly, he and fellow Tula codirector Christina Munck made two key announcements in March. The first was the donation of $92-million to Tula to help usher the organization toward a sustainable and independent future. The second was the transfer of 55 acres of land on Calvert Island, British Columbia, to the BC Parks Foundation. This land will become part of the Hakai Lúxvbálís Conservancy, which is collaboratively managed by the province and the Heiltsuk and Wuikinuxv First Nations. The news was covered in articles in Canada’s National Observer, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and the Financial Post, among others.
Bringing Back the Sunflower Stars
In a CBC article on efforts to restore sunflower sea star populations, Hakai marine ecologist Alyssa Gehman discussed ongoing efforts to understand sea star wasting disease. The marine epidemic hit the Pacific coast of North America in 2013 and ultimately killed an estimated 5.75 billion sunflower sea stars—an important species in kelp forests and across the marine ecosystem—along with causing massive mortality rates in several other sea star species.
United Nations Nods to Vital Estuary Work
Rebecca Martone of the Ocean Decade Regional Collaborative Centre for the Northeast Pacific was interviewed for an article in Canada’s National Observer about global recognition for the Estuary Resilience Project (ERP). An initiative of The Nature Trust of British Columbia—in collaboration with a dozen coastal First Nations and the Hakai Institute, among others—the ERP received endorsement from the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. You can read more about ERP in this issue of the Tula Quarterly.