EXTENSION/PUBLIC INFORMATION

The response from the naturalist community was extremely encouraging. Over the project, many local biologists and naturalists from Williams Lake, McBride, Prince George, Mackenzie, Burns Lake, Smithers, Hazelton, Terrace, Whitehorse and other places attended talks on dragonfly biology and inventory and participated in collecting field trips. These people learned a great deal about dragonfly inventories and we hope that their enthusiasm for monitoring populations will stretch into the future (Fig. 9). Firm foundations have been laid for ongoing dragonfly study in the region, a benefit that will extend far beyond the scheduled time of this project.

Preliminary, informal communications of important findings were sent to the volunteers involved via electronic mail, and to the dragonfly research community via the newsletters of the Dragonfly Society of North America and the Entomological Society of British Columbia. Other community activities and published results are indicated below under Results.

Odonata species are listed and their conservation ranks and distribution maps are also given on the CDC website at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cdc/. Much of this information and the maps are the result of these inventories. This information has also been used in national general ranking of Odonata species.

This report summarizes the project, its purpose, design and results. A similar electronic report was submitted to the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund in 2005.

Figure 9. Volunteers played a major role in the surveys: they recommended collecting sites, helped with logistics and participated in collecting specimens and habitat data. They form a useful local resource for future monitoring of wetlands. Joanne Vinnedge and her daughter Laura at the peatland pond near Fort St. James.
Photo: Robert A. Cannings, RBCM