Field Trips

NWBio

2015

 

UBC Botanical Garden & Greenheart Canopy Walkway:  Join botanist Shona Ellis (plants, fungi and algae) for a guided walk through the UBC Botanical Garden, Canada’s oldest university Botanical Garden.  Your visit will include the opportunity to traverse the Greenheart Canopy Walkway, a 310m walkway suspended from Douglas fir, Red cedars and Grand firs, reaching a height of nearly 60m above the forest floor.  The Botanical Gardens is a 20 minute walk from the centre of campus.  Total estimated field trip time is 2.5 hours.  Compare prepared for the weather.  Estimated fees: Botanical Gardens with canopy walkway - $20.


Forest Walk, Pacific Spirit Park:  Join ornithologist and science educator Alice Cassidy and mycologist Brett Couch for this leisurely walk Pacific Spirit Regional Park. The park is a mix of deciduous and coniferous forest types.  We will walk along well-maintained dirt trails, stopping to look, listen and use some other senses too. We will see what we, collectively, can identify in local (and some introduced) flora and fauna. Alice will model ways that she has brought her biology students into the great outdoors, and provide you with some ideas you might want to try in your teaching practice.

If you have them, bringing along a hand lens and binoculars will help you enjoy some more of the variety of organisms we may encounter in the park.

The entrance to Pacific Spirit Park is a short, 15 minute walk from the centre of campus.  Total estimated field trip time is about two hours.  The terrain in the park is not challenging, but please come prepared for the weather and wear sturdy footwear.  No fees.


Granville Island Public Market & Brewery:  Historically, Granville Island was a fishing site for the Musqueam people. By the early 1900’s, it housed sawmills and factories.  Today, Granville Island is home to a vibrant community of merchants and artists.  In the first part of this field trip, you will have a guided tour of Granville Island Brewing and have a chance to sample several of their popular brews. In the second part of the field trip you will have a chance to explore Granville Island Public Market, with its assortment of colourful food and crafty stalls. Estimated total time for the field trip including transportation to and from Granville Island is 3 hours.  Transportation is included.  Brewery tour limited to 24 people. Estimated sampling fee - $10.00.


Chocolate Workshop:    This 75 minute tasting workshop will include a discussion of where chocolate comes from, how it is made, the importance of growing region and fermentation on developing flavor and the genetics of Theobroma cacao. Five to seven different chocolate samples will be provided.  Space limited to 25 people.  Estimated fee - $20.00.


Beaty Biodiversity Museum:  Visit UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum, which has over 500 permanent exhibits dedicated to showcasing UBC’s research and biological collections, which includes a 26-meter-long skeleton of a blue whale.  Get special behind the scenes access to the museum with a curator.  No fee.


UBC Museum of Anthropology:  The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) places special emphasis on the First Nations people and other cultural communities of British Columbia.  The MOA and UBC are situated on the traditional lands of the Musqueam First Nations people.  Not far from the UBC campus was the largest of the Musqueam villages, which was called c̓əsnaʔəm.  This village was first occupied 5,000 years ago.  One of the current exhibits at the museum is “c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city”, which demonstrates the continuous connection the Musqueam people have with their territory. Entrance fee - $14.50 per person.