Our Landscape Architect, Victoria Drakeford forwarded a colour version of her Master Plan for the site today. It lays out our vision for how we will develop the site over time. It is based on the use of all native plants, reduction in the requirement for irrigation, restoration of riparian areas, demonstration of the use of Native plants for landscaping, native food plants and the use of the entire site for educational and interpretative purposes. In short, we are really excited about the vision she has laid out and how it reflects the intent of what we are trying to achieve. Click to download a PDF of the full plan.
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Recent CSR Photos
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Landscape Master Plan for the site
August 12, 2010 — bkingzettVIU New Release: Deep Bay Field Station promotes sustainability on multiple levels
August 10, 2010 — bkingzettVancouver Island University
NEWS RELEASE
Aug. 10, 2010
Vancouver Island University’s Deep Bay Field Station goes beyond promoting sustainability for the shellfish aquaculture industry. The field station, with its distinctive clamshell shape, is also providing a model for green design and integrated regional development.
When it opens this fall, the field station will provide leading-edge teaching and research facilities as an extension of VIU’s Centre for Shellfish Research (CSR), said VIU President and Vice-Chancellor Ralph Nilson.
“The field station will also stimulate job creation and demonstrate the innovative ways that our coastal environment can be protected and enhanced through consultation, collaboration and creative partnerships,” Nilson said.
“The field station will be accessible to the public and visitors can get a sense of the wide variety of programs that VIU offers — whether they are tasting seafood dishes prepared by our culinary arts students, touring the grounds rehabilitated by our forestry and horticulture students or riding in the Chetlo, the durable craft built by students in our welding and aluminum boat building programs.” Read the rest of this entry »
Links of interest – June 30 thinking of Baynes Sound and oysters
June 30, 2010 — bkingzett
We get exposed to a lot of news stories and media relevant to our mission every week. When we get a chance I’ll post a few and try and make it a regular thing. This week several videos: two from Washington State and one from our friend Brent the “Oysterman” on Cortes Island. Viewed as a group to provoke thought about how Baynes Sound relates to these three and the linkages between caring for the marine environment and producing local food in a sustainable manner.
Recycle and Reuse.
June 30, 2010 — bkingzett
As part of the green building strategy we are accounting for all the materials that come on and leave site and recycling as much waste as possible. Read the rest of this entry »
New Shaw Cable Video
May 20, 2010 — bkingzettShaw TV Nanaimo produced a new video documentary (embedded below) about the Field Station which aired this week on “The Daily” – Channel 4. Click to play
Green IS the new black, how we’re working on it.
May 11, 2010 — bkingzettA very detailed post on what is going to make the Deep Bay Field Station so “Green” Taken together it’s a pretty impressive list. But the key really is the integrated approach to design so that the building is more than the sum of its parts. The other key part is making all these features accessible for education and leadership and doable for other projects. Coastal sustainability is key to maintaining quality of life on Vancouver Island and this project is intended to be a significant resource for VIU’s mission to provide support and leadership.
Read on for much more Read the rest of this entry »
What we are about
April 27, 2010 — bkingzett
Archaeological investigations indicate that the the Baynes Sound region has been continually occupied for more than 5000 years and that shellfish have sustained the peoples of Baynes Sound during that entire time as they continue to do today. What do shellfish, the humble oysters, clams, mussels and scallops mean for Baynes Sound, and BC coastal communities as a whole? Read the rest of this entry »
Development of New Shellfish Raft Technologies
February 17, 2010 — bkingzettLast week we began launching new prototype rafts for shellfish aquaculture which we hope will lead to increasing the productivity and sustainability of the shellfish industry. Older raft designs in use are mostly constructed from wood and coated Styrofoam (like many older docks). These can degrade with age and in extreme weather conditions may be at risk up resulting in losses of crops and creation of marine debris. In 2006 unusually large storms resulted in large losses of rafts and we have been working with the shellfish industry since to develop new designs. With assistance of the Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program we engaged Dynamic Systems Analysis Ltd. in Victoria to help develop new designs through advanced engineering methods and virtual prototyping.
The video below is a virtual simulation of three of our new prototypes in an extreme weather environment.
This technique has allowed us to “virtually” model and test a variety of construction materials and over 30 designs before settling on the current prototypes.
Follow the link below for a photoessay on the actual prototypes getting built. We are now going to test the variations of our prototypes at the Deep Bay Field Station research farm and then later release the plans to industry.
How Green is that? platinum hopefully…
January 16, 2010 — bkingzettEarlier this week, a media contact asked just what that I meant when I said that were shooting to be one of the greenest buildings in Canada. Just how “Green” will the Field Station be? Well, we are designing and building to attempt to join a pretty exclusive club in seeking LEEDTM Platinum Certification.
Our intent is to support sustainability in the coastal environment (land, estuary and sea) and educate about coastal sustainability issues. In coastal systems bivalve shellfish are the ecosystem engineers of bays and estuaries, creating the enabling conditions for many other species as well as providing important services to people. Not so fun fact: Globally, 85 percent of oyster reefs have been lost, making these the most severely impacted marine habitat on the planet.
We originally set out to “walk the talk” in our own development at the Field Station, but that has really grown into being part of a much larger VIU initiative about demonstrating, educating and providing sustainability leadership.
Seeking Platinum LEED Certification is how we will prove just how “Green” we are. Read on to learn about The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ and just how exclusive this club is. Read the rest of this entry »
Of interest: new shellfish video – “Farming the Tidelands”
January 5, 2010 — bkingzettThis excellent new video from the Pacific Shellfish Growers Association in the USA where the industry is much larger, gives an excellent primer on the west coast shellfish industry and its relationships with community and the environment. Developing and improving this relationship and its opportunities is for BC coastal communities is a prime focus of our work at the Centre for Shellfish Research.
Part 1: “Farming the Tidelands”
Part 2: after the jump Read the rest of this entry »
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