Toads, frogs and miscellaneous activities.

As promised, I can tell you a bit more about the projects to which I've been assigned while I'm here. A Rocha Brooksdale is located on a piece of land which has a waterway running through it called the Little Campbell River, and the key projects here all relate in some way to this and the surrounding watershed. Rather than try and explain about it here too much, I'll just refer you to the website which says it far better (and more accurately!) than I could. http://www.arocha.ca/little-campbell-river/

Western Toads are a native species of, well, toads (apparently they don't hop like frogs do) which has a breeding site on the watershed. For the last few years surveys have been done to confirm the site, and try and see if there are any others. So far the one site is all there is. Western Toads are very site specific in their breeding habitat, so it's important to have accurate information about the breeding, so steps can be taken if necessary to protect the site. The pond is entirely privately owned by multiple people, and currently has no protections on it, so in addition to surveying the tadpoles and toadlets (they're just miniature toads and really cute!) I'll be hoping to engage some of the landowners and maybe involve them in some way in the care of the site. I'm not sure yet what that will look like, but since I can be pretty engaging when I want to be, hopefully I can have some success in that aspect of the project. I'll keep you posted.

The other project is frogs. American Bullfrogs to be precise. Unfortunately this species is not native on this side of the continent, and was introduced with plans to farm them for their legs. The market didn't take off, and they were released into the wild where they have established (apparently they're in the topp 100 invasive species in the world and really problematic in lots of countries) and are a serious problem, both predating on and outcompeting native species. So, the aim of this project for me is to establish the relative abundance of the bullfrog in several different ponds on the watershed. This information is useful as the species can then be tracked, and the impact better understood.

So, in practice these projects mean a lot of pond time for me. Some of it on the edge, and some of it in the water. Fortunately we have very attractive waders to wear to (at least when they are waterproof) keep me dry. I've included a before, during and after (note the mud on the knee) photo. Like I said, *very* attractive!! What you can't see in the photo is the type of pond we're in. Some have lovely gravel on the bottem which makes the pond pretty easy to walk through, a little uneven at times and a few obstacles, but overall reasonably ok. Others however have pond weed and lilies, and worst of all seriously muddy bottoms which suck your boot down with each step, and require some serious work to get around. A good workout, and using some new muscles! A couple of hours of doing that is pretty hard work (though fence post pounding is still harder!) I'm sure I'll get better. Mostly I'll be working with a lady named Ashley (she's the other one in the photo), and we're already getting along famously. The nicest thing she said to me on our first day out was how much she enjoyed being with another chatty person for the morning. Isn't that lovely :-)

I'll be involved in other projects too. We are doing fencing as part of the habitat restoration and protection aspect of the work here. As in New Zealand, riparian strips alongside waterways are really important for stream health, and keeping livestock off those areas is one of the key ways to achieve this. There are other projects involving Barn Swallows and I've helped check nests (with the help of a camera on a stick thingee) to see if there are eggs or chicks. There's more hummingbird banding to come, and I also got to attend a town planning type meeting as there is a proposal to establish a truck park and associated services right across the road from A Rocha, and right in the watershed that we are trying to protect and enhance. The meeting was interesting, and felt quite similar to ones I've been to in NZ that are along the same lines.

In addition to all that, I cooked for the first time for 20 people. Successfully! My goodness it's a bit harder than cooking for five or 10. To be fair I did choose a fairly labour intensive quiche (Alison Holst's self-crusting one that is a favourite of mine, go here for the recipe http://www.radionz.co.nz/collections/recipes/self-crusting-potato-and-vegetable-quiche ), and I did have a very able helper, one of the other interns, Kathy, who was just wonderful. I knew it would be hard work, but next time I'm cooking for even more, and so I wanted to save my easier recipes for future use. Also, at the moment we have plenty of eggs, but soon they will be going to the recipients of the sustainable agriculture part of the work A Rocha does, (there is a little more info here if you're interested http://www.arocha.ca/about-brooksdale-csa/ ) so it seemed a good time to do the quiche. I even did three versions, normal, vegetarian and gluten free. Let me tell you, I was satisfied, but a bit tired after.

Yesterday was officially our weekend, but there was an Oceans Day event at a local beach (the same one I cycled to last week), and I helped out at the A Rocha stand for a few hours. It was fun to talk to some of the locals, though I did have to practice speaking slowly a couple of times! II'm having a bit extra time off when Dad is here, so it will all come out in the wash.

I've been to three different churches since I've been here, and decided where I'll go from now on, so that's good. I am planning and scheming for Dad's visit at the end of the month, and weekends in between are filling up fast. They do Bard on the Beach in Vancouver over the summer, a number of Shakespeare plays at a venue, suprise, on a beach. I'll be seeing The Merry Wives of Windsor with Nic and Andy in a couple of weeks, so that'll be fun. I've been enjoying getting out on the bike on the weekends, and really appreciate the Google Maps terrain feature that tells you where the hills are if you select the cycling option. Roads here are pretty much straight, they don't follow ridges like they often do in Auckland, so you can't tell from a map if you'll be going up and down and up and down (and sometimes up and down!) along the same road. I have been *down* a hill that the sign told be had a 13% gradient, let me tell you I asked a local and took a different route home!

I've appreciated emails this week, and also been able to Skype parents, Wayne, Nic, Heather, Martin and my favourite niece called Emma so I'm feeling very connected which is nice. There's also been some really good conversations here, including a presentation from the A Rocha UK head guy which I found very interesting. I have lots of deep thoughts running around in my head, and coming out in my journal. I'll share here soon when I have them a little more articulated than they are at present.

I think that's enough for today. Thanks for sticking with me.
I'll write again soon.
Love
Sarah

PS the last photo is an action shot on the birdwalk with Stan and some of the other interns when we saw the baby barn owl. Check out my Facebook for an actual pic of the bird, courtesy of Bea. My phone is not up to taking that sort of photo!