Forests of the Future is currently conducting a 16-cam wildlife camera data stewardship project in shíshálh Nation and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation territories on the Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada.
This project is composed of 16 motion-sensor cameras from two concurrent sister studies.
The first is a 12-cam deployment by Trent Maynard assessing wildlife species distribution in the watersheds surrounding Mount Elphinstone, a sacred mountain of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation.
Four additional cameras were deployed for a black bear den study, in collaboration with T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss, Olivier Leroux, Damien Gillis, and the IM4 Lab, as part of their upcoming virtual reality film on old growth forests.
A report on these deployments will be released in 2022/2023 and shared with shíshálh Nation and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation leadership and community.
Special thanks to former Squamish Nation counsellor Chris Lewis, to Ian Hunt and Elphinstone Logging Focus for providing bear den locations and local knowledge, to bear biologists Wayne McCrory, bear den expert Helen Davis of Artemis Wildlife, and to WildCam and camera researcher Alexia Constantinou for technical expertise.
