黑马磁力's Brian Croft said that a "lovely little lake" inspired him to co-found a volunteer project that led to an award from the BC Lakes Stewardship Society for years of citizen science.
Croft is best known for his historic paintings, as well as his work organizing the West Fine Art Show that has been showcasing artists for years in 黑马磁力.
But the former RCAF fighter pilot and airline pilot has also been visiting the Sunshine Coast near Pender Harbour on and off for years, and it was there that he and some friends got involved with studying and protecting Hotel Lake.
It started about 22 years ago, Croft said, when he was part of a society formed to protect Hotel Lake from water extraction. The Environmental Appeal Board eventually found that there hadn't been enough science to show what the impact would be of drawing large amounts of water from the lake.
The lack of research into the lake stuck with Croft, and he started up a website, still online, dedicated to providing as much information as possible about Hotel Lake and its local flora and fauna.
"I'm deeply concerned about the planet," said Croft.
One of his beliefs is that if people know more, they can make better decisions.
So the became a storehouse for data, and the group's members kept gathering more information.
When they found freshwater jellyfish in Hotel Lake, the group reached out to a UBC professor, and that led to them being asked to help with a scientific study. They took a series of measurements, including water temperature, oxygen content, and raising plankton from the bottom of the lake.
From there, they joined up with the BC Lakes Stewardship Society (BCLSS) and have been doing data measurements ever since.
What that means is that now, if there's a proposal to do something in or around the lake, they have the science on their side, Croft said.
"If we're going to get anywhere with the planet, we're going to have a lot of people doing a lot of things on the data side," he noted.
The group has a couple of eight-foot by ten-foot barges they use as stable platforms for their lake sampling work. He described it as a group of friends and neighbours having a lot of great conversations out on and near the lake.
"Doing the science is a lot of fun," Croft said.
They're not alone. Croft said that BCLSS has many capable volunteers doing similar work all across the province.
He recently received the BCLSS 2024 Outstanding Volunteer Award 鈥� a bit of a surprise, as he was nominated by one of his friends, who hadn't told him in advance.
Although he's pulled back from painting recently, Croft is still busy here in 黑马磁力 as well. This September there's another West Fine Art Show coming up at the Glasshouse Winery in South 黑马磁力 that he's looking forward to.
