Where would we be now without the awesome foundation that has been created for the club in years past? Below is a selection of some of the more recent alumni we are thankful to have had as part of the team.

Volunteer Coordinator

Alicia first volunteered with the ERVN in her first year at UVic then stepped into a leadership role in 2017. Alicia is working toward a BSc in Geography with a minor in Economics. She has always had a passion for learning about human relationships with the environment and hopes to share the therapeutic benefits and healing nature of work outside that connects people to the land. Previously Alicia has worked for the Cowichan Valley Regional District Environment and Engineering Department,  the POLIS Water Sustainability Project, UVic Community-Based Research Lab and as well with BC Housing’s People Plants and Homes program. She spent time volunteering at VerdEnergia, an agro-forestry restoration project in Costa Rica. Her favourite thing about restoration is the opportunity it provides for sparking conversations and building community. After graduation she will become a Farm Manager at The Old Blue Truck Farm, a regenerative agriculture endeavour in the Kootenays. She is keen join the community of people working creatively for environmental and economic justice and resilience.

Native Plant Garden Coordinator 

Maria is in the final stages of completing the Restoration of Natural Systems diploma at the University of Victoria. She joined the ERVN in the fall of 2018  taking the lead on the Native Plant Garden at the Campus Community Garden. She attended the ERVN trip to Thetis Island in the fall of 2018, where they participated in riparian restoration training. She organized a forage fish spawning sampling training session for the ERVN and hopes to continue to contribute to supporting ongoing researching and monitoring to better serve restoration initiatives.  
 
Maria is passionate about conservation biology, ecological restoration and is obsessed with the marine environment. She has a background in behavioural science and has keen sense for experimental research. She went from studying humans to observing nature, processes and interactions and hopes to contribute to ecological research in a valuable way. 
 
She is currently working on several projects, including a restoration of a Garry Oak meadow in Metchosin in honour of Moralea Milne and is also completing a directed studies on eelgrass (Zostera marina) restoration in our changing climate. 
 
In her free time, she can be found digging soil pits, going on adventures and surfing the south Island.

Field Trip Coordinator 

Janey is a fourth-year marine biology student at UVic. Janey is passionate about caring for the environment, and learning about all-things ocean. Growing up in British Columbia, she has had plenty of opportunities to appreciate nature, and has since decided to pursue a career in the environmental field. One of her first inspirations was when she joined the UVic Ecological Restoration Volunteer Network to help restore the UVic campus. This has been a great experience to learn more about the terrestrial part of nature, and how restoration connects to society. Having experience in marine biology studies, restoration, and outreach, she hopes to help restore the coastal areas of British Columbia in the future, and inspire others to be stewards of nature through education.
 

Site Coordinator 

Wylie Fuller is an upper-year Geography and Environmental Studies student at UVic, graduating in Spring 2019. Wylie enjoys learning about history and plant cultivation on the coast and found particular inspiration while attending ES field-schools with Darcy Matthews and Natalie Ban. He bring this knowledge, as well as his more in-depth studies of studying urban deer management, protected areas management. He is in the beginnings of seeking to learn medicinal properties of coastal plants. He enjoys playing banjo on his time off. Wylie is stepped into coordinating the Bowker Creek restoration site in 2018 and then moved to coordinating the native-plant nursery at the UVic Campus Community Garden in January 2019 for the ERVN. He welcomes help and suggestions!

Student – Staff Liaison 

John is a 4th year Double Major Undergraduate Student in Biology and Environmental Studies at UVic.  As part of the ERVN, John acts as one of the liaisons to bring together faculty, faculties management staff, and students for organizing restoration events. He has been particularly involved with bringing together the DTB Courtyard Garden Restoration. He has spent time on Vancouver Island since he was a grade-schooler and loves to learn how different species interact with each other and their environment. During events, you can see him keenly learning more about the ethnobotany of plants or looking for insects, birds, or reptiles. John wishes to express his  appreciation for the ERVN as being a group that he can work with to actively engage in restoration events at UVic and can see a long-term direction for ecological restoration on campus.

Social Media Coordinator 

Breila Pimm was raised in the interior Of British Columbia, in Nelson, Fort St. John, and Shawnigan Lake. She has had a large spot in her heart for the beauty of the outdoors, having spent so much of her youth in the woods, prairies, and on the coast. Upon her second year of university she came to realize her lifelong dream of being a caretaker of the Earth. That said, she is currently completing her undergraduate studies in Environmental Geography, along side a Restoration Of Natural Systems diploma at the University of Victoria. She joined the UVic Ecological Restoration Volunteer Network in 2018. Aside from school, she currently works for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the “Salmonids in the Classroom” program that integrates young students into the physical realm of salmon conservation.