We are delighted to introduce a new member of A Rocha’s Conservation Science team, Laura Newberry. Laura started as our new Conservation Biologist based out of Brooksdale Environmental Centre at the end of September 2017. Local to the Greater Vancouver area, she brings a familiarity and love of native plants and creatures in the landscape of the Little Campbell River watershed. She is not a stranger to A Rocha – she was a student summer worker with the Admin team in 2013, and has completed a practicum project with us through her studies at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in 2013-14.
Laura has extensive field work experience: surveying birds, bats, amphibians, small mammals, fish and native plants. She is currently finishing off her final year of her Masters in Ecological Restoration at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and BCIT, analyzing her research on how areas dominated by non-native blackberry plants affect native bird diversity. Laura brings confident, cheerful leadership to the Conservation Science team and is already mentoring interns in their studies of spawning salmon and invasive streamside plants. We look forward to working together to improve the health of our special place: the Little Campbell River watershed, through study and collaboration. We are grateful for funding through ECO Canada’s internship program and generous local donors for support of this important position.
