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In partnership with ECCC, Gwaii Haanas monitors five Marbled Murrelet colonies by using a radar station located offshore. As birds fly out to the ocean at dawn, and return at dusk, the radar data is used to estimate the number of birds per hectare of suitable nesting habitat. Sampling areas focus...

Black Oystercatcher breeding success is estimated by visually surveying known breeding habitat in key areas of Gwaii Haanas. Surveys are conducted twice a year during breeding season. Black Oysercatchers are very vulnerable to disturbances, predation of eggs and young, predators, oil spills and...

The subalpine zone of Haida Gwaii occurs between an elevation of 600 to 800m. Permanent plots are monitored every 5 years to detect any changes to the structure and composition of the vegetation community on Yatza Mountain. Metrics include: canopy closure, debris classes, tree species, organic...

Gwaii Haanas evaluates changes to forest breeding songbird occupancy and diversity annually. Point counts are conducted using Acoustic Recording Units (ARUs) at permanent sampling sites.

The EPT index measures the proportion of freshwater organisms belonging to the taxa Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera (or EPT for short). These species are considered to be highly sensitive to pollution and are a measure of good environmental conditions. Any significant declines to these...

Non-native mammal species are monitored annually in areas critical for the protection important seabird islands. Remote cameras are deployed for 15-days to annually detect any changes to the mammal community at key sites. Non-native species pose the greatest ecological threat in Gwaii Haanas....

The forest understory vegetation community is a key ecosystem component of Haida Gwaii forests. Understory plants provide food for native fauna (bears, birds etc.), structure for nesting habitat (eg. songbirds, auklets), and medicines for Haida use (among others). In Gwaii Haanas, 3 sites are...

Annual visual surveys are used to assess annual occupancy of breeding western toads at 10 known breeding ponds. Because of their reliance on wetland habitat for breeding, western toads are used as a measure of aquatic ecosystem health. The western toad is the only amphibian native to Haida...

Gwaii Haanas has partnered with ECCC to monitor a set of permanent plots mapping colony structure and burrow occupancy rate by excavating samples of burrows of Ancient Murrelet and Cassin’s Auklet. The data are used to determine if the breeding population areas are changing at specific key...

Water Quality is measured annually in both streams and lakes in Gwaii Haanas. Many water quality parameters are collected and they can be grouped into three categories: (1) Physical (e.g. temperature, depth); (2) Chemical (e.g. pH, nutrients) and (3) Biological (chlorophyll a). Water quality is...