Henry Robinson, Kiera Scanlan, Jack Wakenshaw and Joshua Drake

• British Columbia Expedition: A Newcastle University expedition into the heart of British Columbia to explore biodiversity and species distribution
• BSc Hons Biology and BSc Hons Zoology

Our expedition to British Columbia, as part of the Expedition Scheme, took us halfway around the world to an off-grid research camp in the depths of the Canadian wilderness. After two long days of travel, we arrived to a cluster of lakefront log cabins that we would call home for the next month. During this time,
we had run-ins with grizzly bears; encounters with wolves and eagles; and were fortunate enough to see spectacles like the Northern lights and meteor showers.

Each one of our projects aimed to explore different aspects of the regional ecosystem, stretching from mountains and lakeshores to the very centre of the forest. We worked in collaboration with the John Prince Research Forest (JPRF), an organisation committed to sustainable logging through resource conservation and management. We focused on camera trapping as a core method to study our research questions. One member observed the correlation between mammal diversity and logging, while another investigated carnivore behaviour in lakeside habitats. Other members studied otter behaviour and the effectiveness of lures in camera trapping.

Throughout our stay, we assisted the JPRF team with a wide variety of tasks, including hummingbird tagging, bear hair snagging for DNA study, and an international forest management scheme. Our projects were primarily successful, teaching us valuable fieldwork skills and the ability to adapt with the ever-changing environment of remote research.

Funded by: Newcastle University Expeditions Committee and Gilchrist Educational Trust

Project Supervisors: Professor Aileen Mill, Professor Darren Evans and Dr Mark Booth