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MABRRI is currently working with Snaw-Naw-As First Nation to develop the Snaw-Naw-As Garden of Spiritual Healing over the course of two years. The main goal of the garden is to help preserve traditional knowledge and language pertaining to local native plant species. The garden will also help promote food security, raise awareness of physical and mental health benefits associated with gardening, and foster a sense of community by being a place where members can teach, learn, and explore gardening together.

On Wednesday May 3, MABRRI research assistants Ryan Fredrickson, Kidston Short, and Larissa Thelin spent the day on the Salish Sea with Captain Tom Fredrickson to do water sampling for the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project. Coordinated by Canadian-based Pacific Salmon Foundation and American-based Long Live the Kings, the project aims to determine the primary factors affecting the survival of juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Salish Sea.

On Tuesday, May 2 the newest MABRRI research assistants went on a tour of the MABR to get acquainted with where we will be working all summer. During this day trip we went to Little Qualicum Falls, a provincial park designated as a UNESCO Amazing Place. For many of us, this was our first time at the falls. The tall mossy cliffs and gorgeous waterfall made us understand why Little Qualicum Falls was chosen as one of MABR’s 10 Amazing Places.

VIU's Deep Bay Marine Field Station provides educational opportunities for a variety of audiences.

On Saturday March 25th, Students from Vancouver Island University (VIU), in association with Staff from the City of Parksville, hosted a World Café for the Community Parks Master Plan & Survey Project. From 10am – 3pm, students worked with members of the community to draw ideas about the future of the City’s Parks and Trails. Altogether, seventeen students from Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI), Masters of Community Planning (MCP), and a range of bachelors programs volunteered to facilitate the World Café.

On Monday morning a few of the MABRRI researchers (Graham, Kayla, Ryan) loaded up our inflatable boat (Big Red), a kayak, our inflatable life jackets, three dry suits for snorkeling, our flippers and masks and the all of the necessary safety gear into the F-150 VIU work truck. We then made a quick stop for coffee and some breaky and headed for the 6:30am ferry over to Gabriola Island. Once we made it over to Gabriola, we found our way to Orlebar Point and Barry Point with the help of our tour guide (Kayla) who grew up on Gabriola Island.

Our brand new, state-of-the-art, mobile mass spectrometry facility, one of only a few in Canada, made its inaugural road trip this fall.  The mobile lab has been custom fitted with specialized, ruggedized mass spectrometry instrumentation that will provide high precision measurements of chemicals that are important indicators of environmental and human health.  On-board global positioning information is interlaced with instrument data to yield real-time contaminant concentrations which can be visualized on geo-spatial scales.

From CHEK News September 26, 2018.

A major innovation coming out of Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo could soon become a weapon in the war on fentanyl.  The deadly drug is responsible for an epidemic in fatal overdoses and VIU scientists have come up with a way to tell within seconds whether the drug a user is about to take will kill them. 

A team of Nanaimo-based scientists has made a discovery that has them very excited.

“This technique could save a lot of lives,” said VIU Chemistry Student Armin Saatchi.