Volunteer Spotlight: Miranda Cant
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- Created: Thursday, 17 August 2017 10:00
This August we are sending off volunteer Miranda Cant with a huge thank you for lending her time and energy to sharing conservation with our community.
While it's always sad to see one of the HAT volunteer team head out, we know Miranda will bring her enthusiasm and knowledge about nature with her wherever it takes her.
Miranda holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science at Royal Roads University. Her love of being outside and interacting with people and the environment makes her a natural fit for the HAT volunteer team. According to Miranda, "HAT has provided me something to look forward to on the weekends and allowed me to get out in the community, and I am forever thankfull!"
Miranda came to us this year and dove right in to HAT's outreach program, attending events to pass on the message of habitat stewardship. Miranda also joined the annual bat count!
Miranda says, "I first found out about HAT when I was volunteering with the Nature Conservancy at the Matson Conservation Area. I got inspired by the similar work they did, like the Nature Conservancy but at a regional level. I am inspired to volunteer with organizations such as HAT as it allows me to meet like minded individuals in the community. I love meeting new people who are just as passionate about the environment as I am!"
She adds, "My favourite experience volunteering with HAT is a tie between the In Bloom Festival at the Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve and bat counting. It was absolutely beautiful at the preserve and I felt honoured to be able to visit the property and educate people about HAT." When it comes to bat counting Miranda shares, "I have learned a lot more about bats and seeing them fly and the different places they live is just so cool."
When it comes to broadening horizons, Miranda explains that volunteering with HAT has helped a lot, "I have learned many things since I’ve started volunteering with HAT! I learned about the Blue grey Taildropper slug and how in Canada its only been recorded on Vancouver Island! How cool is that. I learned about the White Nose Syndrome affecting bats in Eastern Canada, as well as how common it is to have bats in residential areas."
"HAT has given me the opportunity to learn more about Vancouver Island and spread that knowledge to my class mates." - Miranda Cant
Thank you Miranda, we are so grateful to you for sharing your kindness and enthusiasm with the community!
Pete Lewis
A row of turtles basks on a log in the lake, the sun warms their bodies like contented sunbathers. It’s a delightful, idyllic scene – or is it?
If an abandoned pet Slider survives the ordeal of going from a cozy, all-inclusive home to fending for itself outdoors, it now poses a serious risk to coexisting with Western Painted Turtles. We have found that Sliders frequently have respiratory disease when rescued from the wild, and this could be spread to native Painted Turtles.
Disease is not the only problem, introduced Sliders compete with native turtles for basking habitat, food, and nesting sites. Not only that, but Sliders increase pressure on other species as they gobble up plants, crustaceans, aquatic insects, snails, amphibians, and their eggs. As bigger turtles, Sliders can easily dominate basking logs. Basking spots are not only a nice place to catch some sun, they are essential to maintaining healthy metabolic rate and digestive function in Painted Turtles. Suitable habitat for Painted Turtles is essential, yet in the Victoria region over 80% of pre-colonial wetlands have already been lost, and water quality has declined in the remaining waterbodies with alteration of flow, as well as modern use of industrial chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides. Now Painted Turtles have to cope with abandoned pets on top of habitat loss and degradation.
So what’s to be done about this rival for precious habitat? Aimee Mitchell and researchers at the Coastal Painted Turtle Project recommend recording non-native turtle and nest observations, removing non-native turtles before successful breeding, monitoring the area following removal, and public education on non-native turtles.
Around 1:00 pm on Tuesday, July 4th, Sooke Firefighters, the Capital Regional District (CRD) and Ministry of Forestry were called to the scene of a forest fire on Mt. Manuel Quimper. Mt. Manuel Quimper is part of the Sooke Hills Conservation Covenants co-held by Habitat Acquisition Trust and The Land Conservancy. These lands are owned by the CRD. 
This incident is a clear reminder of how flammable the ecosystems of our area are at this time of year, and to practice extreme fire caution when out and about. The fire's proximity to the existing trail and lack of lightning in the area at the time suggests that this fire is human caused. Open fires are currently banned across British Columbia, at the time of writing, and the province remains in a state of emergency due to wildlfires. We would also like to remind park visitors that CRD by-law prohibits smoking in public parks. 
The fire at Mount Quimper impacted both a thickly forest area and aopen rock outrcop meadows, where the thick mossy layers will take a long time to recover. As a result of the fire, there are anumber of charred, dead trees left still standing. If visiting this area of the park, be aware of the possible danger presented by standing dead trees.