BBA Field Trip to Goldstream Park & Hatchery
On November 6th our BBA in Business and Sustainability Year 3 students had the opportunity to go on a field trip led by STNL310 Business & Ecology instructor Alison Moran and Peter McCully of the Goldstream Volunteer Salmonid Enhancement Association.
Alison Moran strives to provide experiential learning. Her students learn how ecosystems work, the crucial services they provide, and how we can make better more sustainable business practices for mutual prosperity. “We do deep dives into specific topics so they can get a hands-on (multi-sensory) understanding of a topic and, I hope, increase their empathy for the natural world,” says Moran, who also was nominated for the RRU Kelly Outstanding Teaching Award in 2018.
Peter McCully and the Goldstream Volunteer Salmonid Enhancement Association are a group of volunteers committed to research, conservation, and public education. These volunteers share their time and knowledge to help preserve and enhance our declining salmon stocks as well as educate us “how public involvement, in wildlife conservation and preservation can provide environmental rewards without costing the taxpayers large sums of money.”
During this field trip, RRU students visited Goldstream Provincial Park and Estuary, located in one of Vancouver Island’s beautiful old-growth temperate rain forests. The Business & Ecology class received an up-close and personal education on how important sustaining estuaries is for our prosperity as a species, as well as how these concepts and making successful business decisions can be mutually beneficial.
It is important to note that estuaries are one of the most productive types of ecosystems on earth, respecting and maintaining them is crucial. According to the Capital Regional District (CRD), although only making up 3% of British Columbia’s coastline, roughly 80% of all wildlife species on the coast depend on them. Believe it or not, we depend on them as well, estuaries tend to be “carbon sinks”, naturally capturing and absorbing CO2, reducing its concentration in the air and combating climate change. Natural estuaries are more efficient at this than anything man-made.
Students were also given a tour of the Howard English Hatchery on Goldstream River where they were able to view eggs being incubated, free-swimming fry (adorable baby salmon), and several tanks holding adult salmon who will be used to provide eggs and sperm to help enhance the next generation before being returned to the wild.
Learn more about our Bachelor of Business Administration program here. You can also register for our upcoming BBA webinar on February 5th, 2020 hosted by our Program Head Dr. Sean Irwin. If you are interested in volunteering with Goldstream Volunteer Salmonid Enhancement Association, please visit their website here.
