THE VOICE FOR BIRDING, CONSERVATION, AND RECONCILIATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA ISSN 2563-8203 (PRINT) • ISSN 2563-8211 (ONLINE)
The
Five Rules on the Mechanics
of Landing
If there were a flight school for birds, these five rules would be top of the curriculum in the Landing 101 class. An excerpt and photographs from the book, How Birds Fly: The Science & Art of Avian Flight by Peter Cavanagh
“We are as much alive as we keep the Earth alive.” –
Chief Dan George
How the Wild Bird Trust of BC's Land Back School, which supports land-based education for place-based redress, could help create economic justice.
Decolonizing Bird Knowledge Symposium
Birding across Turtle Island is undergoing a long overdue moment of accountability and diversification, and this firstof-its-kind, sold-out gathering heralds the future for birding.
Wingspan is published twice a year by the WILD BIRD TRUST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. Printed in B.C. at International Web Express.
CONTRIBUTORS: Rob Alexander, Rachel Baumann, Janine Brooke, Jan Bryant, Peter Cavanagh,
Pierre Cenerelli, Sue Flecker, Institute for Integrative Science and Health, Finn Fraser Grathwol, Susi Grathwol, Molly, Hunt, Sophia Ngai, Isabela Ortiz, Lianne Payne, Karen Thomas, and Teresa Wicks.
The Wild Bird Trust of B.C. (WBT) is a notfor-profit society and registered charity, BN
BECOME A MEMBER
Wild Bird
The Voice for Birding, Conservation & Reconciliation in British Columbia
140265570RR0001, that manages Maplewood Flats and the Coast Salish Plant Nursery, a social enterprise, in North Vancouver, unceded selílwitulh / Tsleil-Waututh Territory.
Our mission is to provide wild birds with sanctuary through ecological protection and restoration, and support communities with education, culture, and reconciliation programs.
Wild Bird Trust of B.C. 2649 Dollarton Highway, North Vancouver, B.C. V7H 1B1 Tsleil-Waututh Nation
(2 kilometres east of Second Narrows Bridge) Tel: 604-929-2379
@MaplewoodFlats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS:
Make sure your membership is up-to-date. To renew, you can join online, mail a cheque or pay in person. wildbirdtrust.org/supportus/ become-a-member
To pay by cheque, please make cheques payable to: Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia, and mail to: 2649 Dollarton Highway, North Vancouver, B.C. V7H 1B1
To
Should Maplewood Flats be considered ‘property’?
Karen Thomas (President) and Irwin Oostindie (VP)
In 1863, like magic, the first lines were drawn on a map of Tsleil-Waututh by an English cartographer. These parcels would later be registered in a land registry, one of the first places on the planet where a land registry was used to steal unceded First Nations land by registering it as private property. Today that stolen land includes Maplewood Flats.
In the book Colonial Lives of Property (2018, Duke University Press), UBC professor Brenna Bhandar examines the crucial role of land registries in modern property law, by contributing to the way we are divided by race in settler colonies—yes, Maplewood Flats is part of a settler colony when it too would be drawn on
a map. Bhandar examines both historical cases and ongoing processes of settler colonialism in Canada, Australia, and Israel and Palestine. At the centre of her analysis is how colonial appropriation of Indigenous lands depends on the idea that Europeans have racial superiority and that their legal tools justify and equate civilized life with these new English concepts of property. In this way, property law sets up and normalises settler colonialism and separates people by race, determining who has access to these lands and who benefits from the property.
Relying on this same property law, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority claims to own TsleilWaututh and Coast Salish Peoples lands and waters. Such claims by colonial governments are problematic considering sites like Maplewood Flats area have been stewarded by Coast Salish Peoples since time immemorial. For millennia, Coast Salish People lived in balance with systems that include the wild birds that fly across continents.
If the Pope can apologize, can colonial governments? The Vatican on March 30, 2023, responded to Indigenous peoples demands and formally repudiated the "Doctrine of Discovery," the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” which led to these property laws and land theft. It is a step in the right direction that the Pope backed down from the idea that Indigenous Peoples, such as the Coast Salish, were not civilized or could not ‘own’ and steward land.
In 1949, over on Dollarton Highway stood a sign that stated “No Asians” could purchase properties in the new District of North Vancouver subdivision. Then
in 1971, speaking to a National Film Board crew in Mudflats Livin’, future Tsleil-Waututh Chief Leonard George proposed that the Maplewood Flats area should be protected for Tsleil-Waututh children to learn about nature. However, in 1993, (for the second time) this land was stolen from Tsleil-Waututh without their permission when the Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats was created. While it was admirable citizens fought the threat of more commercialization and industrialization, we also know Tsleil-Waututh rights were trampled on.
Today as a non-profit conservation organisation we look back with reflexivity and apologize to the Tsleil-Waututh for playing our role in this displacement and welcome opportunities to repair relations. We invite the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, District of North Vancouver and other entities to follow the Pope’s lead and recognize whose lands we occupy.
Photo caption: President Karen Thomas and Vice President Irwin Oostindie attended the Real Estate Foundation of B.C.’s B.C. Land Awards event. The evening was filled with stories of Inspiring projects–like The Wild Bird Trust–to strive to bring justice to conservation and land repair with First Nations in B.C.
According to Environment Canada, it is estimated that upwards of 42 million birds die from collisions with windows each year. It’s challenging for birds to distinguish reflective and transparent surfaces from open air, and it’s this lack of distinction that leads to these collisions.
Saint-Laurent, a borough in Montreal, recently passed a bylaw that states large buildings must take steps to reduce reflectivity and make glass more visible, such as by using fritted glass or by applying visual markers to the surface.
While it’s not a fix-all solution, it is a first step.
“We need to build up education and awareness to be able to develop the right type of techniques and technology,” DeSousa said. (CBC)
Kingsville bird sanctuary upgrading to GPS tracking Kingsville’s Jack Miner Migratory Bird Sanctuary is upgrading their banding process to include GPS transmitters.
While the sanctuary has been banding birds since 1909—beginning with simple metal bands—this change toward 21st century technology comes alongside a new program designed to improve tracking of ducks and geese, specifically waterfowl ecology in response to landscape shifts.
According to Matt Olewski, executive director of the Jack Miner Bird Foundation, the bands track temperature, altitude, and velocity, and are able to detect flight. (CBC)
Toronto Bird Celebration building community through birding
Every spring since 2016, the Toronto Bird Celebration (TBC) has been connecting residents to urban nature. The free TBC festival, which includes guided walks around greater Toronto to online presentations, provides space for both long-time residents and newcomers to experience nature and connect with their community.
One participant, Anuj Trived, shared that “as a newcomer to Canada, TBC is the first time I felt included and positive about moving here.”
The TBC’s aim is to ensure all participants experience a connection to community and learn through cultural knowledge at the festival. (BirdsCanada)
Seal River watershed potentially becoming protected
According to the National Audubon Society, the last fifty years has seen North America’s bird population decline by nearly three billion birds. Converse to this, the Seal River watershed has recently been found to be home to over 100 species of birds—more than have ever been documented there before.
In December 2023, an agreement was signed between four First Nations communities— the Sayisi Dene, Northlands Denesuline, Barren Lands First Nation and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation—and provincial and federal governments to talk about developing the Seal River watershed into a protected area.
Toronto Bird Celebration participants enjoy the wonders of spring migration. Lunch with Birds at Queen’s Park. Photo: Brian Chan. (BirdsCanada)
Glass building reflecting the sky. (Wikimedia Commons)
Birds banded with GPS tracking at Jack Miner sanctuary in Kingsville, Ont., on Sept. 18, 2024. (Rylee Wallace, CBC)
Many bird species found in the area are already protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. (The Narwhal)
Kestrel falcon that survived wildfire to be released
A kestrel falcon that survived a wildfire in 2023 is being released back into the wild. The falcon, which was found by someone evacuating the Shuswap region, was taken to the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) for rehabilitation.
While only the falcon’s flight feathers on its wings and tail were damaged, it took extensive rehabilitation before the bird could fly again. The AIWC is now waiting for the necessary B.C. government permits to allow for the falcon’s release across the border. (Global News)
Osprey a partial cause of “blue sky” power outages Ospreys are getting the finger pointed at them for New Brunswick’s recent “blue sky” power outages.
Phil Landry, executive director of the project management office and engineering for NB Power, said wildlife is the cause of some of the outages. While all small animals, such as squirrels and raccoons,
are taking the blame, ospreys have been seen in greater numbers in the area this year.
Ospreys are drawn to power poles for nesting sites, often building nests three or four metres deep, which they return to year after year.
While they were once nearly driven to extinction, the global osprey population now sits at around 500,000. Ospreys are a protected species. (Global News)
Caloric needs of seabirds calculated for conservation efforts
Researchers at the University of Liverpool are using preexisting data to estimate seabirds’ caloric needs. Ruth Dunn, PhD candidate at the university, and her colleagues compiled data about the calories a range of seabirds— including the common murre and frigate birds—burn during fishing, flying, and swimming, among other things. With this data, the researchers created formulas to determine each seabird’s daily caloric energy expenditure.
Dunn hopes that this information will be used in future conservation efforts, especially in terms of resource competition between seabirds and fisheries. However, she also pointed out that the health
of seabirds depends on a number of factors–not just caloric intake. (Hakai Magazine)
Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas in its third year
The Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, now in its third year, aims to map the numbers and distribution of its roughly 300 breeding species of birds.
For survey purposes, the Atlas breaks the province up into 10 km by 10 km squares; each square is expected to have 20 hours of observation at 25 points of contact to ensure the data collected is thorough.
Since Ontario’s population resides mainly in the south, the objective is to survey 100% of squares in the southern region. The central and upper squares will receive 5% and 2% coverage respectively, due to their lack of accessibility by roads and avail ability of volunteers. (BirdsCanada)
Compiled by Catherine Campbell, writer and editor at Wingspan Magazine.
Lesser yellowlegs in the Seal River watershed. Photo: Steffen Foerster (TheNarwhal)
Kestrel falcon that survived a 2023 wildfire. Still from Global News Hour at 6 Calgary. Aug. 22, 2024.
Ospreys nesting on power poles. New Brunswick. Global News. Aug. 14, 2024.
Habitat Research Update
The Wild Bird Trust of BC’s habitat team, in conjunction with a number of outside researchers, have been conducting a range of projects this year at Maplewood Flats—from sea level rise to marine system biodiversity, researchers have been hard at work. Below are some of the current and recently completed projects.
Crabapple and Soil Contaminant Assays
RESEARCHERS: Zac Shortis (CapU), Alejandro Paredes-Borjas, Thomas Flower (CapU), Mark Vaughan (CapU), Benji Eisenberg (TWN).
STATUS: In progress
DESCRIPTION: Contaminant plant uptake on TWN-MFCA shoreline, focus on culturally important Crabapple trees (Malus fusca); in conjunction with CapU.
DESCRIPTION: Employing environmental DNA as a novel tool to establish current baselines and monitor nearshore fish communities in a highly urbanised inlet of the Salish Sea; in conjunction with UBC Oceans.
DESCRIPTION: Tracing Metro Vancouver urban runoff, from points of entry to the urban ocean, and its impacts on marine ecosystem biodiversity, health and capacity to support essential ecosystem services; in conjunction with UBC Oceans.
Sea Level Rise & Vegetation
RESEARCHERS: Sam Kohlmann (UBC Architecture), Alejandro Paredes-Borjas, Benjamin Eisenberg (TWN/UBC), Kees Lokman (UBC Architecture)
STATUS: In progress
DESCRIPTION: Researching sea level rise and vegetation communities at Maplewood Flats. LEVEL
RESEARCHERS: Diego Lozano (UBC Architecture), Alejandro Paredes-Borjas, Benjamin Eisenberg (TWN/UBC), Kees Lokman (UBC Architecture)
STATUS: Complete
DESCRIPTION: Researching sea level rise and vegetation communities at Maplewood Flats.
McCartney Creek Riparian Zone Wildlife Corridor Action Plan
Description: Installing trail cameras to document wildlife use as evidence to support the protection of riparian forest connecting MFCA with nearby mountains.
2024 Purple Martin
Nest Count
RESEARCHERS: Mark George (TWN), Alejandro Paredes-Borjas
STATUS: In progress
DESCRIPTION: Western Purple Martins were once a threatened
Mark George (Tsleil-Waututh) and Ale Paredes-Borjas (Site Manager) leading the Purple Martin Nest Count with staff and volunteers.
species in British Columbia, but are now considered stable due largely to the work of nest box programs. In 1985 there were as few as five nesting pairs, then 140 pairs in 1998, and now the current population is approximately 18002250. The Wild Bird Trust (WBT) began our Purple Martin Nest Box Monitoring Program in 1994; it continues to this day.
While the boxes are still being collected, the numbers are as follows: while there were 100 boxes placed around the flats, 65 nests have been found, including 11 unhatched eggs and 13 dead birds. The most frequent materials this year were sticks and bark, with about 10-15 lbs. of material per box.
Decolonizing Bird Knowledge Symposium
Isabela Ortiz and Irwin Oostindie
In the spirit of migration: “We didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us.”
Birding across Turtle Island is undergoing a long overdue moment of accountability and diversification, and this first-of-itskind gathering heralds the future for birding. A sold-out audience heard inspiring speakers from
across Turtle Island on Indigenous Knowledge and decolonization of birding and bird knowledge. A mix of morning walks and talks, and a day of practical case studies from birders and Indigenous Knowledge holders made for an impactful day. At its heart, Indigenous Knowledge holders continue to confront the biases embedded in
Videos Now Online from Inaugural Decolonizing Bird Knowledge Symposium www.youtube.com/@ maplewoodflats/videos Watch video recordings of the Symposium which was held November 30, 2024 at Maplewood Flats, TsleilWaututh Nation.
western science that dominates this space, reflecting its colonial roots. Together we want to go further and address land dispossession and other decolonizing birding issues.
Speakers talked about:
1. Emerging culture shift in birding communities and efforts to decolonize, diversify, and implement ‘Two Eyed Seeing.’
2. Lessons of tackling bird names and efforts at un-naming from the USA.
3. Amplify projects around building inclusivity and cultural safety.
4. Consider where we bird and First Nations’ land rights beneath our feet.
5. What Indigenous Knowledge teaches us about biodiversity and birding.
Why is the Wild Bird Trust of BC doing this work?
The Wild Bird Trust of BC has worked methodically for seven years towards land back of the only wildlife sanctuary in Vancouver’s harbour. We now recognize that by creating this celebrated birding conservation area 30+ years ago we displaced Tsleil-Waututh Nation from land and waters they have stewarded for millennia. Today the
Wild Bird Trust of BC is controlled by Tsleil-Waututh community members, marking the first time a conservation organisation has surrendered control to a local First Nation.
Through public programs and our magazine ‘Wingspan,’ we educate the community and promote this practice. In 2022 we created a Decolonizing Ornithology Advisory committee including Melissa Hafting (Author, BC Birder Girl), Jeffrey Nichols (President RAVEN Trust), and Irwin Oostindie (WBT Board, Decolonization Planner).
Our work proposes a disruption in birding practices here in British Columbia, and beyond, towards
Opposite page: Stephen Hampton keynote talk " To fight or to create: One Native's perspectives on decolonization"; This page: Speakers Seth George, Cease Wyss, Alyssa Bardy (on screen), and Stephen Hampton.
inclusive birding that reconsiders bird knowledge through an Indigenous lens.
What Can We Learn? Participant Feedback from Inaugural Decolonizing Bird Knowledge Symposium
This inaugural symposium was a success with a responsive sold out audience. The organizing team with Wild Bird Trust of BC is currently planning a follow-up symposium for this winter. Please follow our social media and join as a member of the Wild Bird Trust to support this work and access the next event at member pricing.
WHAT WE HEARD FROM ATTENDEES FROM NOVEMBER 30, 2024
“I really enjoyed learning about the return of control by the Wild Bird Trust Board to Tsleil Waututh governance since 2016 and the changes you have brought about to protect Indigenous land sovereignty. I also really enjoyed listening to Steve Hampton’s keynote, especially around false summits and the pitfalls of working in colonial systems to make change.
This was an incredible day! Also as a settler who moved here from Ireland in 2019, I have found it interesting to learn more about decolonization efforts in Canada, this correlates to Ireland in some ways, specifically language preservation.
I am fortunate to have learned from Indigenous friends and colleagues, and am passionate about this topic and have learned so much from the day! Thank you so much”. - Anonymous
“The specifics of how bird names are being held in racist sexist names was interesting”.
- Anonymous
“I’ve been working on decolonization by creating connection to land in the context of my research. By listening to Steve Hampton’s keynote especially, I learned what decolonization means in the context of birds, birding, multiple knowledges, and institutions and I can say that my understanding of decolonization is now deeper than what it was before the workshop”
- Joanna Chin
“I had no idea the history of the land of the Wild Bird Trust (at Maplewood Flats). As a settler who recently relocated to Vancouver, I also was unfamiliar with the particular injustices the Tsleil-Waututh and other Coast Salish people faced. I also gained so much insight on the processes that went into passing the motion of changing honorific bird names. Very interesting and a day that taught me so much and inspired me to work harder”. - Anonymous
“There are so many ways to disrupt colonial powers. People, and birds, are powerful when we work together”. - Anonymous
“The online broadcast (...) broadened my awareness of Wild Bird Trust’s transition to current priorities and my awareness of related initiatives in the U.S. Coincidently I’ve been reading Christian Cooper’s ‘Better Living Through Birding’. Having been a visitor to Maplewood Flats for more than twenty years to enjoy birds and plants, I know how damaged the land had been and how much the original folks with Wild Bird Trust accomplished. Please don’t deny crediting them”. - Anonymous
Karen Thomas and Irwin Oostindie lead a geography walk and discussion.
“I deeply appreciated learning and reflecting on the meaning and practice of decolonization, and the importance of redress. Helpful also to hear how land-back is being worked through at this site. All with a practical application around conventional knowledge about birds. Great range of compelling speakers, and lots of people and time to chat”. - Don Wright
“Great discussions about land back, the site of Maplewood Flats and its multiple jurisdictions, bird renaming, ways to approach birding or other adventures in nature--by first learning about who’s territory it is, and how to be a good guest. It felt really valuable and wonderful to be welcomed at the beginning”. - Anonymous
“The overlap of resistance to positive change along gender, age, racial, and cultural lines. How NGOadvocacy organizations and academic/research institutes are heavily reinforced by the conservative attitudes, actions, organizational structures, and financial support of the interest groups noted above”. - Marylee Stephenson
“We need to dismantle power systems, advocate for inclusive change and keep learning from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers” - Lindz
“It was energizing to learn about efforts to decolonize birding from both Indigenous and settler story-
tellers. It was illuminating to learn about how current birding institutions are descendent (sic) from extractive colonial projects and highly resistant to bird naming changes. It highlighted to me how important it is to actively work against colonial erasure in birding and beyond. I hope that this important work continues so that our diverse birder community can learn from more Indigenous knowledge holders. As a queer person of colour, I am grateful for all the recent efforts to create more inclusive birding spaces. I look forward to more of these decolonizing conversations and hope they spark much-needed paradigm shifts in birding culture and institutions. I am very grateful to all the organizers and volunteers who worked hard to put on this amazing decolonial birding event!” - Peggy Lee
“I loved listening to Steve Hampton, the panel, and the geography/history walk. I also didn’t know about all the work that WBT had been doing to work with/return stewardship back to Tsleil-waututh. Big fan. All conservancy/land-based orgs like park boards should follow their model”. - Anonymous
“That birds, land, waters, plants, sky, place, and the people who visit and steward the land are united, not separate. To approach work and pursuits with this holistic indigenous value. The whole day was highlights. That all work/pursuits should begin and exist within a decolonizing framework. I am very moved and inspired by what you are all doing. I am inspired to deepen this work in the communities I participate in. I will seek support in doing so. Thank you for a truly great day, and I look for-
ward to learning with you more”. - Anonymous
“There was a lot of really interesting discussion around changing bird names, and Indigenous perspectives on birds and birding. The most important parts of the symposium that are relevant to my own work relate to the organizational barriers to decolonization as they relate to volunteer led organizations, bureaucracy, and governance”. - Anonymous
Alyssa Bardy is a self-taught natural light photographer and a visual storyteller, a mother and a wife. Her photography tells the stories of motherhood, Indigenous reconnection, nationhood, and interconnectedness with Land, with a special passion for birds. Alyssa uses the lens as a tool for herself, her children, and future generations to learn and share the brilliance and beauty of both culture and creation. Alyssa is Upper Cayuga of Six Nations of the Grand River and is a member of Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, where she and her family reside. Examples of her work can be found in publications for Canadian Geographic and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. She has collaborated with artists such as Morningstar Designs and Chief Lady Bird and has provided imagery for the written words of Christi Belcourt, Waubgeshig Rice, Amy Shawanda and Christine Lukasavitch- MacRae, among others though the Centre
for Humans and Nature. Most recent exhibitions include her piece, People of the Longhouse in the Woodland Cultural Centre 2023 Indigenous Art show, and Nyá:wen Wháta, on public display in downtown Kingston, in 2023 as part of the Waawaateg exhibit.
Trenton
Schulz-Franco
Trenton is a non-practising lawyer, ecologist, geo-political commentator, photographer, canoe guide, cricketer, and founder of the Special Bird Service Society (SBS), originally from the traditional and ancestral territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ communities and the lək ʷəŋən speaking peoples, on what is now known as Vancouver Island. SBS is a syndicate of outdoor community building initiatives, focused on making nature more accessible for the Global Majority and 2SLGBTQ+ communities of the Salish Coast through education, recreation and habitat restoration opportunities, centred around birding.
Melissa Hafting
(Walk LeadBirding and the importance of inclusivity)
Melissa is a Board Member of Wild Bird Trust of BC and the author of “Dare to Bird: Exploring the Joy and Healing Power of Birds” and runs the BC Rare Bird Alert website, where she keeps track of all the rare birds reported in the province and helps out twitchers. In 2014, she founded the BC Young Birders Program which brings together youth of all races, sexual orientations and genders out on fun birding field trips in nature. She has a strong passion for wildlife conservation and
is from Vancouver. She is an eBird reviewer for 4 regions in BC and loves to travel around the ABA and abroad looking at birds. Melissa won this year’s Alan Duncan Bird Conservation Award winner from Vancouver Bird Celebration.
Karen Rose Thomas (Tsleil-Waututh, PhD student/UBC Anthropology, President/Wild Bird Trust)
Karen Rose Thomas is TsleilWaututh Nation (TWN) with family ties to the Semiahmoo and Squamish Nations also. She works as a professional archaeologist and has previously worked for TWN as a consultation and accommodation assistant, and as a referrals analyst. She has also served on the Board of the Museum of Vancouver and the First Peoples’ Cultural Council’s Indigenous Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee. Her current research is multi-modal and multi-temporal, looking at Tsleil-Waututh relationships to the lands, waters and each other. Karen Thomas is the President of the Wild Bird Trust of BC and supports the vision and direction of the organisation while mentoring community members into leadership.
Cease Wyss (Squamish, Ethnobotanist)
T’uy’t’tanat
Cease Wyss is an Indigenous matriarch of the Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:lo and Hawaiian people. Through her work as an ethnobotanist, artist, activist and community-based educator, they strive to share Indigenous customs, teachings, and futures and to connect
Indigenous peoples. Wyss’s thirty-year career encompasses a vast array of practices, from weaving, making remedies, medicine walks to the realm of Indigenous Digital Futurisms. Ceases’ interactive, community-based work is insightful and informative of their contemporary conditions. Cease Wyss has been an inspirational teacher at Maplewood Flats sharing her vast array of knowledges impacting ecology and Indigenous rights. Her ideas are shared on her website https://tuyttanatceasewyss.ca.
Irwin is a Dutch settler and has served as the President of the Wild Bird Trust (2017-2022) and as its Planning Director until 2024. He has an MA in Communications at SFU, doing engaged research on issues of place-based redress and how reconciliation functions as a spectacle. He holds a 2023 Graduate diploma in Urban Studies at SFU and a 2004 PostGraduate Certificate in Media Arts from Capilano University (where he researched the history of Maplewood Flats). He has been an Executive Director or Communications Director for many non-profits in BC and is Director of Voor Urban Labs, a Vancouverbased urban planning and research company. Irwin Oostindie lectures regularly and advises NGOs in the decolonization process.
Les George (Tsleil-Waututh, Secretary/Wild Bird Trust)
Les George is a respected storyteller and cultural guide from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. He is the grandson of the late Chief Dan George and has strong family connections to the Squamish and Musqueam Nations. Les continues to share his culture and heritage, guiding tours that highlight Tsleil-Waututh village sites and traditions. His work helps foster inter-cultural understanding and appreciation for Indigenous cultures. In 2023, Les George was named the Indigenous Storyteller in Residence at the Vancouver Public Library.
KEYNOTE TALKS
To fight or to create: One Native’s perspectives on decolonization
Steve Hampton (Cherokee Nation/Choctaw)
Steve Hampton is a member of the American Ornithological Society’s Ad Hoc Committee for English Bird Names, where he helped draft the recommendation to change all honorific names. He worked for the California Dept of Fish & Wildlife for 25 years, involved in oil spill damage assessments, seabird restoration, and tribal coordination. He lives in Port Townsend,
Washington (also known as qatáy, S’Klallam lands) and serves as the Conservation Chair of Rainshadow Bird Alliance (formerly known as Admiralty Audubon Society). We can’t wait to hear Steve discussing changes to birding names, from birds to organizations. Deep dive into Indigenous Knowledge and the challenges around Western ornithology! Stephen is at stephen-carr-hampton.com .
“But so these are structures that exist (...) The people that came up through birding 30, 40, 50 years ago at a time when it was pretty much white men for a variety of political reasons. And those are the people today that by definition have the most experience that have the reputations that have written the books that have advanced to senior level of various organizations. And these bylaws and steps and charters are barriers to start change. I mean, that’s their goal. Their goal is to preserve the status quo as much as possible and to protect the organization from change. And that creates serious obstacles for decolonization and serious obstacles for nonwhite men getting to have a say at the table”.
Spectacle reconciliation or performative reconciliation: “The analogy I want to use is a table like a banquet table piece. Oftentimes when people say they want diversity: they want a table, with a feast, their banquet with black and brown faces at it. But God forbid, those people have an opinion about the menu, about the time of the meal, about the way things are done, the decor, etc. If they have an opinion, it should be supporting the pre-existing structure. So the alternative is building our own table. Which we’ve done with these affinity groups; creating our
own alternatives. Indigenous people have a leg up here. We have a lot of—not all tribes—reservation land or land where they have some measure of sovereignty. And perhaps they’re doing great things on those lands”.
Decolonization: “I should really think about what this means to me. I came up with two things. We struggled with strategy for the land and restoring respect for all people. Respect for the land and respect for all people are two strong indigenous values”
Bureaucracy: “Most of the adults have not been with those scenarios and covered wagons and whatever else. Most of our battles have always been with bureaucracy, with the papers, with the papers of the white man have been with bureaucracy, rules, bylaws, institutional structures. And it is still hard. And this has always been the battlefield upon which we’ve played and lost”.
“It all starts with educating the younger generation; We need more comprehensive ecological education of all [angles]. And it is frustrating because the media really dumbs things down”.
What can US efforts at inclusivity in birding teach us?
Jordan Rutter (Bird Names for Birds)
Jordan Rutter is a life-long birder with a passion for connecting others to the natural world through birds. She is the co-founder of
Bird Names for Birds, an initiative advocating that eponymous common bird names be changed using a new decision-making process developed that would include all community members. Building on her 15+ years of experience in ornithology and science communication, Jordan’s interest in improving birding accessibility is connected to her passionate belief that the joy of birds belongs to everyone. Jordan has an M.Sc. in conservation biology from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Follow Jordan Rutter’s work at birdnamesforbirds.com
“T his bird names question really is a conversation starter. There’s been a struggle about names for years now. Yet the time is insignificant to the other more important issues that have been taking place for centuries. Bird names really are the tip of the iceberg. Yet if the community, and honestly society at large, is struggling to talk about bird names, then what does that say for those things that really do matter more?”
“The tendrils of colonialism are so farreaching, so intertwined in the deepest roots that
they are connected to bird names. Something seemingly trivial is actually diagnostic for how intense things are and how much work there is to do. And for me personally, there’s such a direct tie to what’s important to me and what’s important to my community”.
“All of this has led to a very common question or comment regarding judging historical figures by today’s standards. Ethics, morals, and society standards at large evolve. Things are different today than they were 150 years ago, but that’s a good thing. As people, we learn, we grow, and we continue to advance society. Currently, we are perpetuating the systems and structures of 150 years ago, by maintaining the status quo of bird names. And Bird Names for Birds is advocating that all eponymous English common bird names be changed”.
“So my unequivocal reply when the topic of erasing history will happen if bird names get changed, is ‘no’, no, it won’t. If anything, we are teaching history and getting it more attention than ever before. This work is bringing these historical figures and their lives forward, and we want more people to be aware of the literal skeletons in the closet to better inform our actions of today and planning for the future”.
“What are some other benefits of [changing bird names]? Well, it can increase accessibility: There are several ways, but most obviously think about the immediate information conveyed by a bird name. It helps you imagine and conceptualize that bird.
Changing their names puts everyone at the same starting line since a lifelong birder will need to learn the names at the same time as someone picking up binoculars for the first time today”.
Jordan Rutter keynote on "What can US efforts at inclusivity in birding teach us?"
Becoming Birds: Decolonizing Ecoliteracy
Teresa Wicks
a x̣est sx̣lx̣alt. xʷixʷey̓uł łu
hi skʷest. Hello, good day. Throughout my life I have spent countless hours observing, learning from, and talking with our feathered relatives. This life full of birds has not only taught me much of what I know about the places that I have lived in, but reinforced much of my belief that I can teach almost anything through birds. For me, this idea of birds as pedagogy (method of teaching/as teachers) is represented in the line “bird by bird, I’ve come to know the Earth” from Pablo Neruda’s poem “The Poet Says Goodbye to the Birds.”
This idea of knowing the Earth, or a place, through birds is likely familiar to many birders, educators, and scientists.
Can observing birds teach individuals about ecology? After all, time spent outdoors, connecting to a place and the species within it, has long been considered an important part of developing an ecoliterate populace, capable of building a sustainable and climate-resilient future.
But what does it mean to be ecoliterate? How do we build ecoliteracy? And whose ecological knowledge is centered?
For decades, researchers, educators, and ecologists have defined ecoliteracy through the ecological knowledge and competencies
of western science and cultures. Meaning to be ecoliterate one must only know what western science says you should know, and that you should learn it through western knowledge holders or practices.
Because of this, other ways of knowing are frequently treated as mythologies, rather than as accepted knowledge. Indigenous Ecological Knowledges come from the land and from cultural values, and are found in Indigenous languages, stories, and ceremonies. To be ecoliterate is to understand the relationships between the land, species, natural forces, and people. It’s important to note here that Indigenous Ecological Knowledges are diverse. In Oregon alone there are seven language families and 100 tribes and bands, each with an intimate knowledge of the ecology, species, medicines, etc. of their lands.
To understand ecoliteracy through a more equitable and just lens, and in a way that embraces the complexity and diversity of knowledge systems that exist outside of western science, it is useful to consider what constitutes ecoliteracy. Educators and scientists agree that facts are an important part of ecoliteracy. While ideas discovered through western science and ideas discovered through Indigenous science may be similar or the same, forcing Indigenous Knowledges into a western worldview is another form of colonization, as though
western societies discovered this knowledge. Indigenous knowledge systems classify and name species in different ways than western knowledge systems. For example, western society groups birds by genetic relationships; some Indigenous peoples, for example, classify birds by their role in the ecosystem. The physical relationships between these species is as important as their classification. Because of this, we need to expand what it means to truly know and understand ecosystems.
To do this, we can use socio-ecoliteracy, critical place pedagogies, and critical Indigenous pedagogies. Critical pedagogies embrace the idea of learning from a place through reconnecting people and communities with places, including developed, disturbed, and otherwise altered by colonial/capitalistic activities, such as parks, suburbs, and urban areas, etc. This process is known as rehabitation. Critical place pedagogies also focus on un-centering the white narratives of a place and learning the Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) histories and cultures of a place (decolonization/ unsettling). This means learning not just whose Indigenous lands you’re on, but how settler-colonial activities have affected and continue to affect those communities. For example, asking questions like how their Tribe is recognized today, did they cede their lands, and how they steward the land. Critical Indigenous pedagogies require the
re-centering of Indigenous voices, cultures, and knowledges of place, and making sure that work is Indigenous-led (indigenization).
One example is the use of fire. Many of the Tribes whose homelands are in what is known today as Oregon managed ecosystems with fire. These fire-dependent cultures use fire to fulfill their reciprocal responsibilities to the plants and animals that sustain them, including camas, huckleberry, acorn, and big game such as black-tailed deer. This cultural view sees fire as a way to honor our responsibilities to our four-legged, winged, and plant relatives. When settlers arrived in Oregon, they saw these fires as destroying resources that they depended on, such as timber and grasslands for grazing.
Therefore, fire suppression became the “norm” despite thousands of years of land management achieved through fire. This led to changes in habitat throughout Oregon.
To bring ecosystems back into balance requires not just incorporating Indigenous burning practices into western land management,
but the inclusions of Indigenous people and voices in the process. When we use this expanded framework, how does ecoliteracy shift? Using only facts from western science to measure ecoliteracy in Oregon birders, we find moderate ecoliteracy. Participating in community science, which requires spending time observing a species and the surrounding land, appears to slightly increase ecoliteracy (over birding by itself). However, when we use the expanded framework for ecoliteracy, we find that Oregon birders that have a strong connection to place have higher ecoliteracy. These birders appear to have a strong connection to the land, and an understanding of Indigenous histories (though, sadly, not present) of these places. Moreover, the way in which Oregon birders with strong place attachment discuss the places in which they spend time indicates that they are “becoming birds,” meaning they are understanding the places in which they spend time through birds and their needs. While there is a need to understand “global ecology,” it is important to understand the fine-scale information
that we lose when we allow the globalization and colonization of knowledge, systems, and place.
To enact positive change for the future requires balancing the needs of BIPOC peoples around the world with the needs and knowledges of Indigenous Peoples of the places we occupy. A balance between general knowledge and placespecific knowledge.
Dismantling the way we talk about ecosystems and ecological knowledge does not require that we ignore facts over opinions. It does mean re-envisioning what it means to learn and to know information and how we talk about place/the land.
Teresa Wicks is the Eastern Oregon Field Coordinator for the Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon).
Left: Sandhill Crane and Snow Geese, photo by Mick Thompson; top: Camas, photo by BobandCarol/Flickr
Two-eyed seeing: guiding principles
Institute for Integrative Science and Health
Two-Eyed Seeing is the Guiding Principle brought into the Integrative Science co-learning journey by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall in Fall 2004.
Etuaptmumk is the Mi’kmaw word for Two-Eyed Seeing. We often explain Etuaptmumk:
Two-Eyed Seeing by saying it refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing ...and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all.
Elder Albert indicates that Etuaptmumk - Two-Eyed Seeing is the gift of multiple perspective treasured by many Aboriginal peoples. We believe it is the requisite Guiding Principle for the new consciousness needed to enable Integrative Science work, as well as other integrative or
transcultural or trans-disciplinary or collaborative work.
Etuaptmumk - Two-Eyed Seeing adamantly, respectfully, and passionately asks that we bring together our different ways of knowing to motivate people, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike, to use all our understandings so we can leave the world a better place and not comprise the opportunities for our youth (in the sense of Seven Generations) through our own inactions.
Elder Albert, in his explanations of Two-Eyed Seeing, frequently also talks about Netukulimk, especially when the discussion context involves our Earth Mother. Netukulimk is a Mi’kmaw understanding that, in Albert’s words, “takes you into a place where you are very conscious of how the human two-leggeds are interdependent and inter-connective with the natural world ... this philosophy / ideology is so ingrained in your subconscious that you are constantly aware of not creating an imbalance.” Key concepts within this understanding are: co-existence, inter-relativeness, interconnectiveness, and community spirit. Albert emphasizes that these four apply to our relation-
ships with each other and with Mother Earth.
After some years experience in attempting to explain the Guiding Principle of Two-Eyed Seeing to various audiences, Albert has also begun to say: “Two-Eyed Seeing is hard to convey to academics as it does not fit into any particular subject area or discipline. Rather, it is about life: what you do, what kind of responsibilities you have, how you should live while on Earth … i.e., a guiding principle that covers all aspects of our lives: social, economic, environmental, etc. The advantage of Two-Eyed Seeing is that you are always fine tuning your mind into different places at once, you are always looking for another perspective and better way of doing things.”
In bringing Two-Eyed Seeing into the Integrative Science journey, Elder Albert has passionate concerns for the well-being and future of Aboriginal peoples and Indigenous knowledges. This is evident when he states what happens in its absence: “When you force people to abandon their ways of knowing, their ways of seeing the world, you literally destroy their spirit and once that spirit is destroyed it is very, very difficult to embrace anything
academically or through sports or through arts or through anything – because that person is never complete. But to create a complete picture of a person, their spirit, their physical being, their emotions, and their intellectual being…all have to be intact and work in a very harmonious way.”
This switch followed Elder Albert’s encouragement that we emphasize that Mi’kmaw First Nations’ understandings are but one view in a multitude of Aboriginal and Indigenous views … and similarly so are the various disciplines in the Western sciences. All of the world’s cultures (which we take include Western science) have understandings to contribute in addressing the local to global challenges faced in efforts to promote healthy communities. One might wish to talk about FourEyed Seeing, or Ten-Eyed Seeing, etc., as four perspectives or ten perspectives are brought into the collaboration.
Furthermore, Albert indicates “the two jig-saw puzzle pieces help remind us that, with respect to Aboriginal Traditional Knowledges [Indigenous knowledges], no one person ever has more than one small piece of the knowledge.” There is a need to recognize that Traditional Knowledges draw upon the community of Elders and other Knowledge Holders (i.e., the knowledge is collective), as well as the collective consciousness of the people. So, here too, one might wish to talk about multiple-eyed seeing.
The guiding principle of TwoEyed Seeing further helps us to acknowledge the distinct and whole nature of Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing (i.e., such are represented as a whole eye). Similarly, it helps us recognize the distinct nature of Western knowledge and ways of knowing
(i.e., such are also represented as a whole eye). At the same time, TwoEyed Seeing asks that these two eyes work together (i.e., as they do in binocular vision).
It may be that in a particular set of circumstances we will choose to call upon the strengths within Indigenous sciences, whereas in another set of circumstances we might choose to call upon those within the Western sciences. TwoEyed Seeing can require a “weaving back and forth” between knowledges, and this will draw upon abilities to meaningfully and respectfully engage in an informed manner in collaborative settings. To help us do this, we have developed the four big pattern knowledge understandings (with visuals) as tools. Read more about our efforts in this regard and about weaving capacity, under co-learning and under integrative science research to highlight the philosophies in our science stories.
Two-Eyed Seeing, in that it speaks directly to the setting of collaborative, cross-cultural work, intentionally seeks to avoid the situation becoming a clash between knowledges, domination by one worldview, or assimilation by one worldview of the knowledge of another.
In Integrative Science, we acknowledge the need for what Ermine et al. (2004) referred to as “ethical space” within the precarious relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Western world. In the combined understandings and words of Elders Murdena and Albert “we recognize that the Indigenous Sciences draw upon Tribal Consciousnesses, while we also recognize that the latter tend to be negated by too much formal education and that our times place an overwhelming emphasis on formal education. We must, therefore, be diligent in taking the best
from our two worlds: Indigenous and Western. We recognize that Western Science privileges objectivity and de-emphasizes the human element, yet we depend heavily upon it and its technologies in our modern lives. Nevertheless, for the benefit of all humans, our times need to learn to factor the human element into science and to rediscover our humility as but one species on the planet”.
When Murdena and Albert talk about formal education as above, they are recognizing its value and necessity in today’s world while also asking that we recognize the rich value of informal education that occurs in non-institutional settings such as the out-of-doors, community gatherings, family story sharing, and mentorship relationships. The Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre within the Canadian Council of Learning developed a unique lifelong learning model for First Nations’ peoples. It is structured in the image of a tree which, when examined in cross-section, is seen to emphasize formal and informal learning in each ring of growth over the course of the individual’s lifelong learning journey, with Indigenous Knowledge and Western Knowledge at the core. The model identifies the nurturing guides for the learning journey as including teachers, elders, parents, mentors, and counselors, and it identifies the sources and domains of knowledge as including the natural world, languages, traditions and ceremonies, ancestors, family, self, community, clan, nation, and other nations. You can access and interactively explore elements in the First Nations’ Holistic Lifelong Learning Model.
This article has been reprinted from the Institute for Integrative Science and Health’s website.
Reading List: Naming Birds, Ethical Ecology, and Capitalism’s Environmental Cost
In fall of 2021, the Wild Bird Trust of BC developed a reading group with the objective of building and reinforcing knowledge around decolonizing conservation. Chantelle Spicer, the reading group’s original facilitator, is of Mi’kmaq, Jewish, and Moroccan descent. She has a Master’s degree in Anthropology from Simon Fraser University and has worked with the Snuneymuxw First Nation to understand their relationship with Saysutshun—a part of their territory held in the B.C. Parks system. This reading group helped participants assess their own relationships to the Tsleil-Waututh nation, land, and waters.
The following fall, this knowledge was shared with a wider audience when the first public reading group launched. The Decolonizing Conservation Reading Group, an eight-week program with a curated reading list, was facilitated by knowledgeable hosts connected to Maplewood Flats and the TsleilWaututh nation.
Names Are Power: Let’s Talk About Decolonizing Bird Names [read time: 8 mins.]
A blog post summarizing the history of bird names, how names have no ownership, and the benefit of Indigenous Knowledge in conservation. bit.ly/DeBirdNames
Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology [read time: 15 mins.]
A scientific article outlining the harms of exclusionary Western approaches to ecology and the shifts that need to occur to make the field and its research more inclusive. www.nature.com/ articles/s41559-021-01460-w
Capitalism is killing the world’s wildlife populations, not ‘humanity’ [read time: 5 mins.]
A blog post highlighting the connection between a decline in environmental health and capitalism, and the harm the latter causes to the natural world. bit.ly/
CapWildlife
We welcome reflective submissions on these sources for our next issue of Wingspan. Subscribe to our social media (we’re on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @MaplewoodFlats) and newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on the next submission date.
Now, in between reading groups, we want to offer resources for those who are interested in deepening their knowledge of decolonizing conservation. We’ve chosen three sources for you to read, listen to, or watch when you find yourself with a few spare minutes.
Top: Cooper’s hawk (immature) at Maplewood Flats by Rob Alexander. Bottom: From “Words Rising, Birds Rising” Exhibition talk by Christie Charles.
Busy foregrounds and backgrounds
Pierre Cenerelli
For today’s article, I will bravely—or is that foolishly?—wade into the controversial topic (at least among many wildlife photographers) of the busy foreground and/or background.” If you’ve been reading this column or have attended one of my seminars, you may recall that I have suggested that photographers should minimize the number of objects visible in front of their subject and create a bokeh (or pleasantly blurred) effect for the background. But as I have also indicated, these are not hard rules: In fact, showing your subject in their environment can situate them nicely in their natural habitat and can even create a very esthetically pleasant image.
I will use the three photos included with this article to illustrate my point: The first photo of a Northern cardinal works because its subject
stands out due to the contrast by its red plumage and the green/yellow leaves that surround it. It also illustrates one the most common habitats of this bird.
The second photo of a “red-shafted” Northern flicker on the ground stands out due to the orange colour of the pine needles and the interesting effect they create on the ground. Paradoxically, the brilliant colour surrounding the flicker seems to accentuate its more subtle features. And it also illustrates that this member of the woodpecker family in fact spends much of its time feeding on the ground and not on trees.
The third photo of a feeding Great Blue Heron illustrates the perils of having a busy background. Although the emerging pink flowers of the fragrant water lilies create a pleasant canvas, the heron’s gray plumage may make the bird blend
Clockwise from left: Northern cardinal; “red-shafted” Northern flicker, and feeding Great Blue Heron.
in a bit too much, thus reducing the contrast between subject and its surroundings, which in turn dampens the dramatic effect of the photo.
Despite these possible pitfalls, I would encourage all photographers to experiment by placing birds firmly in an identifiable habitat to illustrate where they live and to create an aesthetic effect or enhance a dramatic story. You may be surprised and delighted by the results.
Pierre Cenerelli is an avid birder and award-wining wildlife photographer. He has been known to haunt the trails at Maplewood Flats from time to time, usually camera in hand.
Birds of Maplewood Flats
by Sue Flecker
purple martins
turkey vulture
by Finn Fraser Grathwol
pine grosbeak by Janine Brooke
by Susi Grathwol
Bald eagle (adult and juvenile)
The Mechanics of Landing
An Excerpt and photographs from How Birds Fly: The Science & Art of Avian Flight by
Peter Cavanagh
What is a good landing?
There is a hackneyed saying among airplane pilots (sometimes attributed to Chuck Yeager) that a good landing in an airplane is one that you walk away from, while an excellent landing is one where the aircraft can be used the next day. Birds so rarely make landing errors that we can propose a more biomechanically rooted definition of a good landing for birds: a good bird landing is one where a bird’s feet reach the water, ground, or perch with minimum forward and vertical speed. Since a bird’s only brakes before touchdown are aerodynamic forces, they use their wings, tail, body, and direction of flight in creative ways. Bird landings have been described as the process of collision avoidance, and a number of mathematical models have been proposed to account for their approach trajectories. One important control construct, called tau theory, is based on optic flow — the size on the retina of objects in the landing field of view. The control of landing in different birds can be modeled using this approach. On a practical level, information from research studies and the keen observations of bird watchers have led me to formulate a few rules for landing that birds seem to follow.
The 5 Rules for Landing
If there were a flight school for birds, my guess is that the following five rules would be top of the curriculum in the Landing 101 class.
Rule no. 1: Land into the Wind
If you get the chance to watch a small flock of geese that has found a rich food source on a windy day, look at the approach of their conspecifics flying in from an upwind location. They will fly fast toward the group, go past it, and then execute a 180-degree turn, joining the group by landing in a direction that faces the oncoming wind. This is because the headwind reduces their ground speed, bringing the landing speed closer to the minimum forward speed criteri-
on. In the limit, a headwind of 32 km/h (20 miles per hour) and an airspeed into the wind of 32 km/h (20 miles per hour) will reduce ground speed to zero. A fascinating study has shown that birds prefer to land in either direction along an approximately north-south magnetic axis in calm conditions.
Rule no. 2: Modulate Wing Lift
Birds will attempt to modulate their wing lift until it is almost equal to their body weight at touchdown so that there is no downward acceleration, which could cause a hard landing. They achieve this either by hovering or, more typically, by increasing their angle of attack until their wings are in a near-stall condition. Stall occurs when the smooth laminar flow over the wings is disrupted and eddies of turbulent air arise. You might be surprised to know that aircraft are close to a nearstall condition on landing, and it is not uncommon to hear the stall warning horn blaring just before the wheels of a light plane touch down on the runway. In a
near-stall condition, flight control is reduced, and so this part of the flight envelope needs to be approached with caution.
Rule no. 3: Get the Landing Gear Down
This rule is also important for pilots of retractable-gear aircraft: Get the landing gear down and locked. For birds, the goal is to position their anatomically different feet so they’re ready for interaction with the landing substrate.
Water landings deserve additional points for difficulty because incorrect placement of the feet could generate large hydrodynamic forces and destabilizing moments. Ducks, geese, and swans water-ski on landing, surfing on their webbed feet until they gradually sink into a swimming position. Waders, who usually have separated long, narrow toes, will generally land in water that they know to be sufficiently shallow and will walk forward out of the landing to brake and lose momentum. Although flamingos have webbed
cormorant
bald eagle
feet, they land in water with their feet folded using a typical wader landing because their long legs allow them to touch the bottom in quite deep water.
Rule no. 4: Swoop up to the Perch
A very good way to bleed off speed before landing is to glide up toward a perch. I often have the opportunity to watch Pelagic Cormorants (Urile pelagicus), which are masters at this kind of landing. These birds nest and perch on top of the pilings along the ferry dock in Anacortes, Washington, about 6 m (20 feet) above the water. Their approach to landing is to fly just above the water and then abruptly swoop up to the perch with the goal of landing at zero vertical speed.
This bird takes the kinetic energy from its fast approach and converts it into potential energy, stalling out just before landing. With some simple assumptions we can calculate that to reach the 6 m (20-foot) high perch, the bird needs to approach at a speed of 10.9 m/s (about 24 miles per
hour), which is well within its capabilities. A similar calculation predicts that if the bird flew the approach at its maximum speed of 15 m/s (about 33 miles per hour), it could reach a perch 11.3 m (37 feet) off the water.
This form of landing has been studied by Marco KleinHeerenbrink and his colleagues at the University of Oxford, England, in Harris’s Hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus) that were trained to fly between two perches. They found that the control strategy in a swoop-up landing involves minimizing the time between stalling and landing. This is understandable, since control during slow flight after a stall is difficult. I have noticed that when a cormorant’s target perch is occupied and it peels off its approach at the last moment, it sometimes scrambles, flapping energetically and diving, to gain control and generate lift.
Rule no. 5: Apply the Brakes
The final landing rule is key to reducing landing speed, prevent overshoot on a ground or water landing, and minimize rotation
when landing on a perch. We can visualize how this works by looking again at results from the aerodynamic force platform.
Diana Chin and David Lentink, who conducted the experiment, describe what is happening as “repurposing” lift. These forces cause the bird to bleed speed from the approach. On hitting the perch, the foot force increases rapidly, not only supporting the body weight but also continuing the braking action, as shown by the backward orientation of the force vectors. In this landing the contribution of the wings and feet to the braking action was determined to be 25 percent and 75 percent, respectively.
Wild Bird Trust of BC has launched a Learning Circles program, where educators and decolonizing planners share their knowledge about ways to prioritize First Nations sovereignty in land-based pedagogy. The Circles are a way of supporting community learning and will help design an expanded Maplewood Flats’ placebased and land-based education pedagogy.
“Pedagogy, most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners.” (Wikipedia)
Maplewood Flats is a platform for decolonizing work as we lift up Tsleil-Waututh knowledge and placebased redress. Through training and learning we aim to
support settler accomplices and local First Nations working together for land back projects across BC. Decolonization planners from Voor Urban Labs are assisting Wild Bird Trust in this work.
Learning Circle
1: Land-based Pedagogy Launch September
28, 2024
We launched our Learning Circles on September 28, 2024 with a group of experts to help design and develop a decolonial framework for building pedagogical systems. These included Zarah Martz (Zarah Martz, siʔáḿθɘt Vice Principal, Tsleil-Waututh Nation), Melissa West Morrison (Former WBT staff, and Kwakwaka’wakw and Chinese Knowledge holder), Heléna Mauti (Sessional Faculty, Trent
University, and Research Associate, Voor Urban Labs), Karen Thomas (UBC Archeology PhD student and Wild Bird Trust President), and Irwin Oostindie (Director of Voor Urban Labs and Vice-President, Wild Bird Trust).
Zarah and Melissa presented their findings based on their experience of teaching at Maplewood Flats. Melissa presented findings on previous lessons on integrating a youth cohort and a Tsleil-Waututh cohort on the site. Zarah presented on the role of land based education in the curriculum for Tsleil-Waututh students in their own territories. Helena brought theoretical lessons for us to consider as we advance land back and Tsleil-Waututh sovereignty aspirations, vis a vis development of educational systems. Karen and Irwin presented goals and expectations for land based education to be in alignment with TsleilWaututh integration at the site.
Watch the recordings: youtube.com/@ maplewoodflats/ videos
SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR UPCOMING LEARNING CIRCLES!
A hybrid in-person and virtual event at Maplewood including on-site and Zoom breakout groups.
Learning Circle 2:
Creators Garden
December 14, 11am-1pm (Pre-registration required)
For our December Circle, we will hear from Joseph Pitawanakwat, Andrés Jiménez Monge and Junaid Shahzad Khan of Creators Garden. Maplewood Flats and Creators Garden have remarkable similarities with respect to their emphasis on education, native plant knowledge, and First Nations language. We will learn from their interdisciplinary approach to lifting up First Nation’s sovereignty while also engaging settlers in landbased learning.
Creators Garden is dedicated to helping with various aspects of an immense restoration of knowledges and implementing extensive education strategies. It is an effort to provide land-based education, and to shift conventional paradigms of how we see and understand and manage The Great Lakes Region (Ontario). To see the high-value of Indigenous knowledges in an opportunity to increase human and environmental
Watch a presentation on ‘Who Named That Bird? Decolonizing Birds with Joseph Pitawanakwat.’
In this talk, we explore how the Anishinaabe people name and understand birds. This talk provides a glimpse to the Anishinaabe language and the messages within it that express the connections around all of us. Watch the Toronto Public Library’s event online by sharing your email address at www.crowdcast.io/c/ tpldecolonizingbirds_1/register
Joseph is Ojibway from Wiikwemkoong, married with one daughter. The Founder & Director of Creators Garden, an Indigenous outdoor, and now online, education based business, focused on plant identification, beyond-sustainable harvesting, and teaching every one of their linguistic, historical, cultural, edible, ecological and medicinal significance through experiences.
Andrés Jiménez Monge not Indigenous, he is a Costa Rican Canadian biologist who strives towards creating deeper connections between people and the planet. From leading the campaign to ban shark finning in Costa Rica, to promoting environmental education in Canada, and managing conservation projects.
Junaid Shahzad Khan is a non-Indigenous, Muslim-Canadian from the Indus Valley, from the region that is now Pakistan. Junaid has worked as an ecologist for over 12 years, on issues of invasive species, plastic pollution, habitat
revitalization, insect conservation, and bird education.
Learning Circle 3: Putting the Face of Tsleil-Waututh on the Land at Maplewood Flats
January 20, 7-9pm (Pre-registration required)
Our January learning circle will serve as an overview and progress update for all Wild Bird Trust members who wish to understand our progress at integration with Tsleil-Waututh. We will unpack how landbased education is playing a central role in training members, volunteers, staff and the broader community in ways that Maplewood Flats can play an important role in advancing Tsleil-Waututh interests and challenge the social license of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to continue to claim the site as their property.
Keep an eye out for registration links on @MaplewoodFlats instagram and Facebook and in our e-newsletter!
“We are as much alive as we keep the Earth alive.”
— Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Land Back School: Land-based education for place-based redress
Wild Bird Trust of BC (WBT) has managed the 256-acre Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats (“Maplewood Flats”) in the heart of Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) territory since 1993. Our mission is to provide wild birds with sanctuary through ecological protection and restoration, and support communities with education, culture, and reconciliation programs. The conservation area receives 80,000 visitors annually and is the only wildlife sanctuary in Vancouver’s harbour.
Through colonization and industrialization, these lands and waters that sustained Tsleil-Waututh, Coast Salish peoples, and morethan-humans for millennia were infilled and polluted. When the lands (federal and municipal land title) were declared a conservation area in the 1990’s, Tsleil-Waututh and Coast Salish peoples were excluded from governance and the site continued to be taken over by invasive plants which had no cultural connection for Tsleil-Waututh; and provided little biodiversity for more-than-humans.
Land justice and Indigenous justice are inseparable. In 2017 a new Board of Directors prioritized reconciliation with Tsleil-Waututh, and by 2022, the board shifted power to a majority local First Nations governance. This significant change represents a unique and important opportunity to
model a new paradigm for “conservation” which upholds UNDRIP and advances First Nations’ sovereignty, rights, and title.
Etuaptmumk - the Mi’kmaw word for Two-Eyed Seeing, coined by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, guides the journey of bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and Indigenous and western science together to decolonize conservation through placebased redress in the heart of the lower mainland’s urban centre. Educational opportunities are provided through programming, exhibits, publishing, and ecological regeneration. The Coast Salish Plant Nursery (CSPN), our social enterprise, is the only native plant nursery in the lower mainland and supports TWN priorities including ecological regeneration, cultural regeneration, and economic justice.
The Land Back School will provide the infrastructure to nurture a decolonial land-based community of practice through connecting plants to land justice and placebased redress at “Maplewood Flats.” This responds to non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples’ need to participate in local solutions to interlocking climate and colonial crises by bringing together Tsleil-Waututh and Coast Salish knowledge holders with urban Indigenous communities and set-
tler and migrant participants from throughout the local area.
We understand plants as our teachers and Indigenous language as the connector between reductive and relational paradigms. Plants, and their connection to culture and place as shared through TWN and Coast Salish knowledge holders, will guide this innovative land-based educational program which supports hands-on ecological regeneration, propagation, research, policy writing, and more.
First Nation’s leaders have introduced two-eyed seeing to guide this work as it represents a strong opportunity to engage both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in ecologically regenerative and socially just “conservation” and land stewardship that demonstrates reconciliation in action.
The concept of land-use is itself extractive. Our work aims to transform settler understanding from land-use (separated from nature, extractive) to land-relationship (connected with nature, reciprocal). The historical and ongoing harm of “conservation” in the context of colonization and industrialization is also essential learning as we advance land justice and Indigenous justice—which are one and the same.
As the only wildlife sanctuary in Vancouver’s harbour, and with wildlife corridors increasingly broken between the Salish Sea and
the North Shore mountains and creeks, the question of repairing ecological and cultural relations becomes central. After more than a century of industrialization and land titles and surveys carving up these lands, public discourse around terra nullius assumptions and ecological harm are finally becoming mainstream.
Why now? Despite the TRC’s 2008 reconciliation launch, and City of Vancouver’s 2014 declaration as City of Reconciliation, there exists few civic opportunities for public participation to advance this societal transformation. Maplewood Flats is a unique place-based redress platform that is deliberately accessible as a pedagogical system, and the Land Back School has been designed as this vessel to engage the public. Like the Society Promoting Environmental
Conservation (SPEC) in the 1960s and the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre in 1970s, Maplewood Flats has now emerged as a civic space to promote decolonizing conservation in B.C.
Why this? We believe that transforming minds to re-embed humanity within the greater web of life is not only necessary, but possible. We have witnessed the ability for settlers to transcend western worldviews and rethink epistemological bias through the entry point of native plants. Having worked with hundreds of participants in a variety of Maplewood Flats workshops since 2017, we have witnessed how personal transformation leads to community transformation, which leads to systemic transformation. By consolidating one-off sessions into a contiguous and permanent
“school” structure, participants will access a graduated learning system and mix of learning modalities.
Land-based learning is recognized as having multiple benefits for both Indigenous and nonIndigenous people. The recent Yellowhead Institute Special Report by Mandee McDonald entitled ‘Indigenous Land-Based Education in Theory and Practice’ states that: “the literature finds an extensive record of the benefits of land-based programming for Indigenous peoples’ mental and physical health but also positive learning outcomes for students of Western place- based education models.”
Indigenous science, knowledge, and leadership have been recognized by the IPCC and government as critical to addressing interlocking 21st century crises, but we
Artist render of Takaya Tours storytelling firepit at Maplewood Flats by Molly Coulter, Voor Urban Labs.
find most actions to be performative. We believe that expanding our community of practice fills a critical gap in education, and we believe that community-based organizations have has a unique and powerful role to play in advancing Indigenous sovereignty, and ecological and social justice through place-based redress. By training the trainers at Maplewood Flats, we can influence learnings for organizations across B.C., and can catalyze meaningful collective action. An ecosystem of educated and empowered people can change history.
Though our project is centred in the heart of Tsleil-Waututh territory, adjacent to Indian Reserve #3, the lessons learned include off-site work in the region including native plant rescue and plant salvage and storage for land developers, and decolonizing land use and plant knowledge for municipalities in the region. We wish to scale up and mobilize this knowledge through the Nursery’s parent, the Wild Bird Trust of BC, with its province-wide community of 1300 members.
As wild birds migrate, this work is inherently connected to the bird habitats similarly at risk in the north south migration routes. These routes are remarkably similar to the Condor and Eagle Prophecies of multiple Indigenous teachings that emphasize coordination, scaling up, and sharing strategies and systems towards an emergent global land justice movement. In this regard we are inspired by Indigenous climate action and the work of Tsleil-Waututh through their historic TMX First Nations Scientific Assessment (2014). We intend to share our learnings with the 80,000 annual visitors to the site, through web and print publications, as well as through our advocacy for municipal and provin-
cial policy changes which recognize the cultural and ecological importance of native plants.
Justice for Indigenous peoples and justice for the land is an important pillar in our organization's mandate. We believe there can be no justice for either without justice for both. Our board is majority local First Nations and we work closely with TWN including council, community, and staff. Our work is in support of TWN’s work to regain sovereignty in their territory.
Indigenous leadership has always been necessary to re-balance western culture’s dominance in the web of life. Unfortunately support for Indigenous-led land justice has been largely disregarded by colonial institutions, and where it is present is often tokenized. The concept of land-based learning is also not new having been practiced by Indigenous peoples for millennia. By degenerating and polluting the land, colonial systems also destroyed language and culture which was inherently connected with the land. Without this wisdom of interconnectedness and long-term thinking, western culture will continue to erode the foundations of life. Land Back School challenges the worldview and paradigm from which extraction and exploitation of land originated and responds to the outcomes of that worldview: a web of life in crisis. To our knowledge, the WBT is the first formerly white-settler led ‘conservation’ organisation to shift power/ governance to local First Nations. By supporting First Nations’ Knowledge holders, ethnobotanists, and stewards we are creating conditions for this knowledge to be suitably shared with settler communities. Together, we assert that by practising a two-eyed seeing approach, the Wild Bird Trust
community can heal relations with Tsleil-Waututh and with the land itself, and in doing so, we create a framework for other civil society organizations to follow.
We will continue to work closely with TWN Council, staff, and community to ensure the work we are doing is advancing their mission of sovereignty. Former TWN Chief Maureen Thomas and former Councilor Carleen Thomas both serve on the WBT Board providing steady leadership. Other TWN and Squamish community members provide crucial analysis for partnership and program delivery with local Nations.
We continue supporting Indigenous Knowledge holders through paid opportunities, while building relations with TWN Directors from: Economic Development, Treaty Lands and Resources, Public Words, Education, Community Services, and Health. Working towards a Relationship Agreement between WBT and TWN will lead to more collaborating directly with department Directors and community ensuring WBT support Nation initiatives and internal priorities.
In 2022 we secured $420,000 in funding from various public and foundation grantees for capital improvements at Maplewood Flats in order to concretize community benefits that can be platforms for engagement with the TWN community. Infrastructure projects include a Coast Salish demonstration garden, outdoor classroom, public artworks, and a TWN youth “Innovation studio.”
With these new built forms, we believe in economic justice, advancing it through partnerships with TWN enterprises including Takaya Tours.
The Land Back School will blend theory and land-based learning toward the following outcomes:
1. The continued return of TWN ecology, culture, language, and economic justice on these lands towards TWN’s quest for sovereignty, which serves as a model for civil society to follow elsewhere.
2. The ability to share these learnings through web, video, and print toolkits.
3. Expanded ecological regeneration of “Maplewood Flats” with native plants (90% of the site currently features invasives) through an expanded base of settler, migrants and paid Indigenous participants.
4. Scaling Native Plant Propagation: creating a new model for native plant regeneration through social enterprise.
5. Native Plant Nursery services for Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh land developments.
6. Coast Salish Native Plant Guide for local schools, civil society, and landscape industry using Hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm̓ and Skwx̱wú7mesh sníchim.
7. Municipal, Regional and Provincial Land-Relationship (Land-Use) policy changes that support native plant regeneration for development/ re-developments.
8. A growing ecosystem of land back accomplices who are educated and empowered to take action in their spheres of influence.
9. Native Plant Propagation workshops, Decolonizing Conservation Reading Groups, food sovereignty and soil health education.
10. Scaling capacity to support TWN community priorities, including shoreline restoration with TWN Public Works.
11. Partnering with TWN Health & Wellness Department on food sovereignty initiatives.
12. Partnering with TWN Treaty Lands & Resources Dept on ecological repair initiatives.
13. Expanding partnerships with local municipal governments on free public distribution of native trees/plants (including DNV Urban Tree Canopy Program); Coast Salish seeds with cultural knowledge (with DNV and Surrey Parks).
For more information contact: maplewoodflats@gmail.com.
Artist render of Takaya Tours canoe docks at Maplewood Flats by Molly Coulter, Voor Urban Labs.
Lodgepole Pine
Pinus contorta var. latifolia
ALSO KNOWN AS contorta pine, shore pine, twisted pine
Type: Evergreen tree
Exposure: Sun - Part shade
Moisture: Dry - Wet
Soil: Light (Sandy) - Medium (Loamy)
Soil acidity: Mildly acidic - Neutral
Max height: 50 ft.
Max width: 18 ft.
Growth habit: Irregular / Upright
Growing ease: Easy
Reproduction: Monoecious
Self-fertile: No
Container tolerance: Low
Attracts: Birds, butterflies, mammals, moths
BLOOMS & FRUITS
The cones, which vary in size and shape, but have a sharp point at the end of each scale, ripen from mid-May to mid-July. The cones mature from August through October, and the seeds disperse by wind before the next growing season.
FEATURES
The branches of lodgepole pine are dense with stiff, deep green needles that may grow in a twisted pattern. When planted near the sea, the wind models the tree’s branches into interesting shapes, giving each tree a crooked, unique shape. When mature, lodgepole pine’s bark is reddish-brown and scaly.
USES BY PEOPLE & CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
The resin of the lodgepole pine is often used on open sores for its antiseptic and healing properties, but is also used as a glue-like substance for waterproofing shoes and canoes. When consumed, the young shoots offer relief from stomach aches, and the young buds are chewed for a sore throat. When processed, the needles will produce a tannish-green dye.
WILDLIFE VALUE
The oily seeds are favoured by a number of birds, including grosbeaks, chickadees, and nuthatches, as well as by squirrels and chipmunks. The bark is eaten by porcupines and other small mammals, and the foliage is a food source for deer and grouse. The pine needles are an important nest building material, and the entire tree provides shelter for wildlife and birds. Lodgepole pine is a larval host for close to forty butterfly and moth species, including western pine elfin butterflies and brown-lined looper, red girdle, and western carpet moths.
CARE INSTRUCTIONS
Lodgepole pine prefers dry to average moisture conditions and well-drained soil. The tree is tolerant of drought, low nutrient conditions, and salt; it is highly adaptable to the site’s conditions, but will die in standing water. When pruning the lodgepole pine, only trim back the new growth of the current season and any dieback. In a typical yard, lodgepole pine can reach a height and width of seven metres.
Photo: Lodgepole pine by Matt Lavin, Flickr, CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Yintah
Catherine Campbell
“Get away from that gate! You don’t have consent to enter our territory. You are invaders!”
A powerful opening sentence from Freda Huson, Chief Howilhkat of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, as she peacefully stands against RCMP on one side of a wooden barrier. Her words come after years of effort protecting the Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s traditional territories from the Trans Mountain pipeline’s construction. Yintah, a documentary directed by Brenda Michell, Jennifer Wickham, and Michael Toledano, records the process.
The Trans Mountain pipeline, the only pipeline to date that would run oil from Alberta to the West Coast, was first begun in 2013 without the consent of Nations whose territories would be crossed. The pipeline, which would disrupt wildlife, delicate ecosystems, and the ancestral lands a number of Nations live on, also carried the potential threat of sullying the thousands of rivers and streams the pipeline was set to run through.
The streams and rivers running through Wet’suwet’en First Nation territory support the surrounding wildlife, including a number of species of salmon, most of which are considered either threatened or endangered in B.C. These streams and rivers are also where the Nation gets their drinking water. Molly Wickham, a wing chief of Cas Yikh, a house group of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, emphasized:
“This whole fight is based on protecting Wedzin Kwa as our drinking water source, as our salmon-bearing river.”
To Molly and everyone defending the land against the pipeline, it’s not about ownership; it’s not about causing problems, as much as some may highlight it that way. It’s about protecting the land and the Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s traditional ways of being, and acknowledging the land as an extension of us.
“The ancestors said we are the land and the land is us. And when you are living on the land, when the things that you consume
are coming from the land, that becomes part of you.”
And while it isn’t about ownership, it is about protecting the lands and waters for future generations. There’s no hope for the Nation—any Nation—to continue their traditional ways of being if the land they live on is destroyed. At one point, Freda yells across the barrier to the RCMP:
“I am not protesting. I am not demonstrating. I am occupying our homelands.”
In April 2024, after 12 years of work and $34 billion spent— approximately $26.2 billion over budget—the pipeline was finished and authorized to carry crude oil between the provinces. Despite the devastation the Nation faced through the process, Freda shows determination for the future.
“We’re still here. We’re still fighting, but we’re still here.”
If you’d like to view Yintah for yourself, you can watch it on CBC Gem, https://gem.cbc.ca/yintah, after signing up for a free account.
Film still from from Yintah.
Beyond the bird sanctuary: the evolution of Maplewood Flats and adaptive ecological practices
Sophia Ngai
This paper won an Honorary Mention in the 2024 BC Society of Landscape Architects (BCSLA) Philip Tattersfield Essay Competition. The theme for 2024 was “Celebrating 60 Years of Landscape Architecture Excellence in British Columbia: Reflecting on the Evolution of Designed Spaces”
Brief History: Competing Interests
Since 1993, Maplewood Flats Conservation Area has been managed by The Wild Bird Trust of BC, but the landscape is situated within the traditional and unceded territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN). Prior to settler contact and industrialization, the land we now call the North Shore was made up of contiguous mudflats across Səlílwətaɬ (Burrard Inlet). The TWN has a strong historically reciprocal relationship with the Burrard Inlet, where it offered food security to the Nation and was, in return, managed for its resources and marine life (Wild Bird Trust of BC, 2018a). The future use of the mudflats has always been controversial, marked by the tension between conservation, preservation and development. The area’s population saw significant growth in the 1960s, as many were fleeing from the increasingly urbanized Vancouver. The proximity to nature and liberty from urban establishments attracted a community of artists, hippies and outsid-
ers who lived in the shacks built on stilts in the inter-tidal flats (Griffin, 2015; Lawrence, 2021). Residents were soon evicted by Mayor Ron Andrew’s civic order, which cited safety hazards and the municipality’s need to respond to development pressure (Fresco & Paterson, 1972).
The terrestrial area above the mudflats, now accessible to the public, was subsequently created by dumping 1.5 to 2 metres of fill material over the existing mudflats to build a port facility (Mooney, 2010).
But the filled area was never built upon. Following the discovery of dioxins in Howe Sound’s commercial fish catches and the urban encroachment into the Lynn Canyon Park woods, environmental awareness grew in the 1980s-90s. Many development projects for the flats were proposed to the District Council but were shot down due to fierce opposition from residents at the time (Gram, 1990; “Invaluable Flats Should Be Preserved,” 1988). As development halted, nature began to take over. Maplewood Flats gradually
became an ecological haven for over 8,000 water birds and native mammals during the winter and migratory periods (“Sanctuary Pushed: [4* Edition],” 1989).
With a petition of over 3000 signatures, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee proposed to preserve the 27.5 hectare terrestrial area undergoing ecological succession as a wildlife habitat and sanctuary to the North Vancouver District council (“Sanctuary Pushed: [4* Edition],” 1989). This eventually prompted the transfer of administration and management rights to Environment Canada for 49 years (Bohn, 1993). Now a Wildlife Management Area, Maplewood Flats includes one of the last and largest remaining mudflats in North Vancouver as the rest of the coast has been industrialized.
Ecological Conservation and Cultural Preservation
In 1997, landscape architect Patrick Mooney was hired to oversee and design a freshwater wetland in Maplewood Flats. Given the lack of freshwater supply on-site, the site was regraded to direct surface run-off to the proposed wetland area. Groundwater is pumped to the wetland to supplement the water levels during the drier summers (Mooney, 2010). Since then, the Wild Bird Trust of BC (WBT) has done further enhancement work, invasives management, and rein-
troduced native planting through the Coast Salish Nursery program. In less than a decade, Maplewood Flats has recorded more than 250+ bird species, a remarkable increase from only 206 when the design was first implemented. Located on the Pacific Flyway, the Flats is a resting habitat for migrating shorebirds en route to the far north or waterfowl who spend the winters on the flats to feed. The coastal subspecies of purple martin, which was virtually absent in North America from the 1940s to the 1990s, has returned to BC in part thanks to the Nest box programs at Maplewood Flats (Grass, 2007).
In addition to the design, MWF’s thriving diversity is also a culmination of community stewardship efforts. In this regard, the ongoing work of Wild Bird Trust cannot be overstated. Recognizing that the designation as a conservation area might have continued the exclusion of the Tsleil-Waututh community from Maplewood Flats, WBT’s administration and management strategies are now centred around honouring and sharing Indigenous knowledge of wildlife and Coast Salish culture in culturally appropriate ways (Wild Bird Trust, 2018a). The shift from merely restoring the ecological condition of the site to the broader socio-ecological landscape in WBT’s management strategy reflects changing ideas of ecology which acknowledge the complexity and uncertainty in ecosystems. Research in the early 2000s began to highlight the importance of a dynamic knowledge acquisition process that often emerges within local institutions and organizations. Management and governance of these systems require flexibility and capacity to respond to environmental feedback (Folke, 2004). Traditional
ecological knowledge is culturally evolved and developed through daily and long-term interaction with the landscape. It contributes to not only an understanding of the impacts of management practices on long-term ecological structure, but also the enhancement of their flexibility and adaptability (Gadgil et al., 2001; Watson et al., 2003). The Coast Salish Plant Nursery is a WBT partnership program with the TWN that aims to promote the cultural connection of Coast Salish plants and their importance in improving wildlife and habitat.
Established in 2009, the nursery hosts regular workshops with local Indigenous ethnobotanists and nursery experts to educate the public on the living history of
Coast Salish culture and ecology, More importantly, it offers an opportunity for the local community to materially participate in the decolonization and restoration of the landscape, where native plants are prevented from establishing by garden plants like ivies, English holly, and Daphne laureola that encroached into the forests (“Building a Community of Practice for Ecological Regeneration and Land Justice: The Coast Salish Plant Nursery at Maplewood Flats,” 2023; Carey, 2022).
Figure 1. [Three views of squatters’ shacks, Dollarton Hwy. just west of Cates Park]. (ca May 1982). MONOVA: Archives of North Vancouver (Inventory # 6128), North Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Figure 2. [Consists of one negative of he Maplewood Flats shoreline.]. (ca 199-?).
MONOVA: Archives of North Vancouver (Inventory # F106-S29-f27-11), North Vancouver, BC, Canada.
By managing invasive species and restoring native plant ecosystems, these practices preserve TWN’s traditional access to traditional food and medicine with food and habitat for wildlife. The focus on local ecological knowledge and community participatory action in WBT’s operations reflects evolving ecological practices and the growing importance of traditional knowledge in ecosystem management.
Since 2017, WBT has been engaging in the development of a Habitat and Cultural Use Plan to facilitate reconciliation with TWN and to address emerging ecological issues at the site (Wild Bird Trust of BC, 2018b).
The organization also publishes a biannual publication titled Wingspan which addresses topics related to the effects of climate change on birds and the processes of conservation and reconciliation (Wild Bird Trust of BC, 2018c). With over half of the WBT board members belonging to the TsleilWaututh Nation, the emphasis on Indigenous leadership and partnership supports efforts to decolonize conservation work that often perpetuates legacies of exclusion and colonialism.
Indigenous-led Landscape Management
From an industrial brownfield to a conservation area, MWF’s evolution echoes the broader recognition of a socio-ecological landscape that stewardship and restoration practices operate within. It serves as a space for nature and cultural
Figure 3. Wild Bird Trust of BC [@ maplewoodflats]. (2023, May 26). Our Coast Salish Native Plant Nursery is officially open this Saturday, March 30th!. [Photograph]/ Instagram. https:// www.instagram.com/p/C4_C0WQsvVz/
heritage conservation, fostering mutual learning, respect, and trust among humans (and perhaps non-humans). Policy frameworks such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and Indigenous Community-Conserved Areas (ICCAs) reaffirm the rights of First Nations governments in protecting and conserving ecosystems. Maplewood Flats today not only functions as a wildlife sanctuary but also stands as a model that prioritizes and respects the role of Indigenous leaders and knowledge in contemporary landscape management.
Land Back and Walking the Talk
In March 2024, Irwin Oostindie (Wild Bird Trust VP) attended a panel discussion by the Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia, highlighting instances when a love for the outdoors led to benefits for local First Nations. Here are his words:
Igrew up here just three kilometres away from where I’m sitting now, which is the Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats. It’s the only wildlife sanctuary in the harbour of Vancouver.
Right now, we have students from the Tourism Management Program at Capilano University researching with us, looking at Indigenous Knowledge and tourism product development—looking at what the public expects from the site here, and how we can produce more opportunities for the public to learn and integrate Indigenous Knowledge into the site.
When you think about the environmental racism that the Tsleil-Waututh Nation have had to put up with for decades, all the refineries that surround their reserve here, the train lines, the off gassing, these mining operations, Dollarton Highway, all that impact is something that we don’t think about when we think about this beautiful bird sanctuary that we operate. But when I go back even further, and reconsider 'terra nullius' attitudes, we have to start thinking about what actual rights do settlers, our organizations, and our municipal governments have to the unceded conservation lands?.
In the 1850s, an experiment of the British Commonwealth led to the first land registries. It was the first time that these lines on a map became registered in an office, magically turning them into properties that the settlers could claim as their own. Land registries reinforced that the lands weren’t being used productively, because essentially, settler eyes didn’t understand how to interpret Indigenous science, they didn’t understand clam gardens, they didn’t understand the food forests that Coast Salish people have operated for millennia. This agri-
Decolonial Geography Walk with Karen Thomas and Irwin Oostindie at Maplewood Flats during the Decolonizing Bird Knowledge Symposium, November 30th, 2024.
Photo by Molly Hunt.
cultural production in the forest was blind to Western science.
In 1893, settlers proclaimed this land to be the District of North Vancouver—more than a century later, the municipality brands itself it considers and brands itself as this place where mountain biking trail networks, all this beautiful integration with nature exists. But in that fateful year of 1893, when the District used terra nullius prejudice to create the municipality from stolen Squamish and TsleilWaututh lands, most of the North Shore was a brutal clearcut. So it’s important to think about our history and in the context of what we’re actually doing as organizations.
Because of the needs for reparations, we focus on redress—we don’t focus on reconciliation. Reconciliation is about dialogue; it’s about understanding the problem. But redress is actually doing something about it. It’s about repairing that relationship.
And so the premise of our work here, in the harbour of Vancouver is all about land back, it’s about repair. And the repair is not just improving sites like Maplewood where extractive gravel mining and log sorting happened, or the destruction of the habitat: it’s actually also about repairing the relationships.
I grew up thinking about this area, as many of us do, from a settler worldview: that this was a place the hippies squatted in quaint rustic shacks (like in the
NFB's Mudflats Living film). There’s a kind of nostalgia around the 1970s. What that does is it blocks that longer history of the land— that this land has history, and that when we are repairing this damaged land, that damage only happened in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. So it’s only two to three generations ago, we destroyed the mudflats here in the harbour. And so while we’re proud of the repair work that we’re now doing, we have to put it in context.
When we embarked on this in 2017, the Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia used to have about eight different sites across the province. Now we have this site here at Maplewood Flats. In 2007, we started to think first about TEK—Traditional Ecological Knowledge—two-eyed seeing; we started to think about restoration work.
I remember being at an annual general meeting here in the Nature House. There were about 80 people in the room, and about 79 out of those 80 people were visibly white. But when you looked out the window, and you see who’s walking the pathways—we have about 80,000 visitors a year—it’s not white folks. Even our own work was not in sync with what was happening outside of our little bubble. That started a kind of reflexivity, which was critical.
For more than three decades, we’ve put up nest boxes for the purple martins that fly up from Brazil. But what we never really figured out was that those nest boxes sit right in front of Reserve no. 3 of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Where Chief Dan George is buried in the graveyard, just 100 metres south is where we have these purple martin nest boxes. We never once asked the Tsleil-Waututh to participate, even in the work that we were so proud of doing ourselves.
That was a good moment to go, yes, we’re proud of the work, but who’s included and who’s not included? And how are our policies aligned with this vision of understanding what we’re doing from a bigger perspective. The birds don’t recognize a bubble; they don’t go, ‘Oh, I’m in your jurisdiction, or you’re in that jurisdiction.’ We didn’t recognize that the TsleilWaututh were actually doing more for our own mandate as the Wild Bird Trust than we were doing for ourselves. And we excluded the Tsleil-Waututh for 25 years because it was our ‘jurisdiction.’
When the public comes, and a Tsleil-Waututh family whose ancestors have walked here for thousands of years are confronted on the trails by a non-Indigenous birder because they’re not behaving correctly in a "bird sanctuary"—this really...provoked the questions of: whose land is this? What are we doing as an organisation?
And so we started to think about the policies. We want to do educational workshops, with at least fifty percent of our workshops lifting up Indigenous Knowledge. We’re probably one of the first non-profits to hand over majority control of the board of directors to a local First Nation. Tsleil-Waututh are effectively governing the Wild Bird Trust of BC now. What this is walking the talk.
But it’s also a practical way for the Tsleil-Waututh to inform the work that’s happening here in a place-based way. And taking a place-based inventory is critical. You don’t have to solve all the problems of the world, you don’t have to solve the problems of Saskatchewan—you just have to solve the problems of where you’re at, of where you’re operating.
To take a place-based approach, ask your organisation: what are your protocols? How do you understand the land within the context of the Indigenous communities who have called it home for millennia? What kind of programming are you doing? Are you programming for First Nations communities? Or are you just adorning your work with Indigenous Knowledge for mainstream audiences? Are you also recognizing that the First Nations communities are your audience, your community that you’re serving? And what would you do if your policies are implemented—what would it look like in three to five years, or ten years?
To take a place-based approach, ask your organisation: what are your protocols? How do you understand the land within the context of the First Nation communities who have called it home for millennia? What kind of programming are you doing? Are you programming for First Nations communities? Or are you just adorning your work with Indigenous Knowledge for mainstream audiences? Are you also recognizing that the First Nations communities are your audience, your community that you’re serving? And what would you do if your policies are implemented—what would change look like in 5-10 years.
For the WBT, we looked at our infrastructure. We are very popular with the public, so we thought: how do we serve and integrate that Tsleil-Waututh perspective, that worldview; what’s referred to as 'putting the face on the land' face on the land. When people come to our site, will they experience a settler birding organization's operations, or will they actually experience TsleilWaututh culture and Tsleil-Waututh worldviews on the site?
What we’re doing now is repairing cultural and ecological relations. We’re thinking about: what’s the
infrastructure? Can we build a space where Tsleil-Waututh youth can hang out in their studio space? Is there teaching spaces for Takaya Tours—which is one of the leading social enterprise Indigenous tour companies in Canada—and can they host tours here?
The Capilano University students that are researching with us right now are thinking about: what would these changes look like? What are those “product offerings” that can be offered where TsleilWaututh knowledge and economic opportunities for Tsleil-Waututh are centred in the educational work that we do for the 80,000 visitors we have each year?
In terms of longevity, I’ve been learning to do this kind of work for about 30 years. For the past eight years, we’ve done practical work here. When I thought about what our success looked like, for me personally, I hoped Tsleil-Waututh children to grow up understanding and reflecting on this site as part of their village, as part of their community, as part of their lands, and not be a site where they’re excluded anymore. And now we have the Tsleil-Waututh Nation siʔáḿθət School students coming on site and experiencing this land.
That’s a generational shift that will keep going as we move forward. Tracking our data: we went from zero Indigenous Knowledge in 2015, to about forty to fifty percent Indigenous Knowledge in our workshops and our educational programs in the present day. We offer about fifty to eighty workshops a year for the general public. This comes from having policy, implementing policy, tracking the outcomes through data, doing the oversight—asking yourself, are you actually doing what you’re aspiring to do?
We track a lot of this work in Wingspan. We use Wingspan as an educational tool because we want folks to replicate what we’re doing here on this site. We want folks to replicate this land back in interstitial spaces like church properties, conservation areas, camp sites. There’s lots of land that could be returned to the First Nations.
We don’t believe that we have to wait for the Canadian state or overworked First Nations to do land back. Land back can be done by our own organizations, and then the political economy and benefits will then be accrued by the local nations. We can still do what we love to do, but we do it where the economic benefits are more directly benefiting the nations who have been alienated from these opportunities by our own organizations.
WILD BIRD TRUST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Annual General Meeting
2024 AGM NOTICE
Taking place on Monday January 20, 2025 from 7pm to 9:00pm via Zoom or in-person at 2649 Dollarton Highway, North Vancouver, Tsleil-Waututh Territory
The Wild Bird Trust of BC (WBT) invites members to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday January 20, 2025 from 7pm to 9:00pm. The AGM will be held in hybrid format, both in person at Maplewood Flats and virtually through Zoom. All members are encouraged to attend the AGM hosted by our Board of Directors. Following our AGM will be a a presentation:
Putting Tsleil-Waututh Face on the Land at Maplewood Flats. A presentation will share about the future of Maplewood Flats and actions to integrate Tsleil-Waututh language and culture and socio-economic interests across the site. A discussion with WBT members will follow.
Please confirm your attendance by registering with a ticket through the link provided, after which you will receive a Zoom link for the meeting, and the AGM members’ package. Members do not need a computer to attend—they may attend by telephone through the Zoom link provided.
To register, use the QR code or visit the link below:: https://bit.ly/wbtAGM2024
For those who join the AGM in person, there will be soup and bannock at 6:30pm.
NOTICE OF MOTION
Be it resolved that the following members in good standing be elected to serve as Board of Directors for the following year: (in alphabetical order):
Caitlin Aleck, Taylor Boisjoli, Kayah George, Les George, Nicholas George, Crystal Guss, Melissa Hafting, Irwin Oostindie, Carleen Thomas, Karen Thomas, and Maureen Thomas.
Be it further resolved that the Appointment of Officer positions take place by the Directors immediately following the AGM, at the first Board meeting of the Directors, and that the Directors may also appoint up to two more Directors during the Board term at their discretion.
2024-2025 Board of Directors
2024-2025 Staff
Join us in welcoming Madeleine Northcote , the new Administration and Operations Manager at Wild Bird Trust of BC. This is the most senior staff role in the organization which guides the administration, human resources, fundraising and programs work.
Madeleine is a settler of British ancestry and is thrilled to be joining the team at a crucial moment in its history as the first NGO in BC to surrender control to a local First Nation community. Karen Thomas, Board President, stated: “We are feeling energized by Madeleine’s passion for justice in the conservation and First Nations’ rights space. Arriving at this time, Madeleine will help us ensure stable leadership as we further the transition of the Wild Bird Trust for integration with Tsleil-Waututh Nation.”
Madeleine holds an MA from the Western University in Geography, and a Juris Doctor from UBC. She was called to the bar in 2021 and has practiced Aboriginal Law. As an avid and amateur birder and gardener, Madeleine is excited to contribute her love for conservation with her passion for Indigenous governance and decolonizing practice to the work of the Wild Bird Trust.
Karen Thomas President Irwin Oostindie Vice-President
Maureen Thomas Treasurer Les George Secretary
Caitlin Aleck Director-at-large
Taylor Boisjoli Director-at-large
Kayah George Director-at-large
Carleen Thomas Director-at-large
Nick George Director-at-large
Crystal Guss Director-at-large
Melissa Hafting Director-at-large
Ale Paredes-Borjas Site Mngr
Colin Chen Finance Mngr
HM Caffin Interim Comms Mngr
Lianne Payne Board Clerk
Cat Campbell Editor/Writer
Cease Wyss Ethnobotanist
Blaine George Facility Custodian
Stan Johler Intern 2024-2025
Faces of Wild Bird Trust of BC
Call for Volunteers
So much of what we do relies on people offering their time, skills, and passion. Whether you are a university student looking for real world practical experience, a retiree seeking to share your talents, or a local resident keen to give back to your community, Maplewood Flats provides a diverse and exciting range of volunteer opportunities.
Both the site and our organisation share a progressive approach to hands-on conservation work, public education, birding, ecological restoration, cultural programming, communications, and community engagement.
We also provide volunteers with specialized training where necessary so that we all learn and grow, and ensure the best possible experience on site.
You must be a member of Wild Bird Trust of BC to volunteer. Use the QR code to sign up, or if you have further questions, send an email directly to volunteer@wildbirdtrust.org.
Wingspan: Call for Submissions
Wingspan Magazine is inviting submissions — new writing, art, and photography — from our members and the public.
Submission Guidelines: We are seeking research write-ups, short articles and feature-length stories with a scope anywhere in BC, or birding globally; length between 600- 3500 words. Photography must be submitted in high resolution, 300 dpi as jpg, png, tif, or eps files. We currently do not accept artwork and illustration unless commissioned by us. Email your submission, or queries, to wingspan@wildbirdtrust.org.
Deadlines: Spring/Summer: March 15 | Fall/Winter: September 15
THANK YOU
The Wild Bird Trust of BC gratefully acknowledges our funders, donors, and volunteers for their generous contributions.
We also thank all our volunteers. So much of what we do relies on people offering their resources, time, skills, and passion.
Both the site and our organisation share a progressive approach to hands-on conservation work, public education, birding, ecological restoration, cultural programming, communications, and community engagement.
To donate, visit our CanadaHelps donation page by visiting the link, or use the QR code below: bit.ly/WBTdonate
Shoreline Cleanup volunteers. Photo by Lianne Payne
We need your support to protect wild birds and the ecosystems they depend on. Give the gift of sponsorship today. Sponsor a creature. Restore an ecosystem.
At Maplewood Flats, our mission is to provide wild birds with sanctuary through ecological protection and restoration. Please consider sponsoring a bird, animal, or amphibian through our new sponsorship program. Sponsorships begin at only $25 and they can be virtually gifted. Tax receipts are issued for all contributions of $25 or more. Use the QR code to donate, or visit: https://bit.ly/ SponsorWildlife.
Thank you to the Wild Bird Trust members who generously contributed their wildlife photography for this: Purple martins by Susi Grathwol, black-tailed deer by Janine Brooke, Pacific tree frog by Finn Fraser Grathwol, mergansers by Ming Robin, song sparrow by Brad Slavin, and Douglas squirrel by Danielle Payne.
