Purposes and Goals
The Rithet’s Bog Conservation Society is a group of volunteers committed to maintaining the health of Rithet’s Bog and educating the public about the benefits of the bog. We are a registered non-profit charitable society. We welcome new members who are interested in participating in the activities listed here.
Rithet’s Bog Conservation Society (RBCS) is a registered non profit Society dedicated to the care and stewardship of Rithet’s Bog Conservation Area, which contains the last remaining peat bog on the Saanich Peninsula. This Saanich park was donated to the municipality by the Guinness family of Britain in 1994 and subsequently zoned as a nature sanctuary. RBCS works closely with Saanich Parks, advising on the ecology and management of the park, particularly the bog ecosystem. Extensive educational material has also been developed by RBCS, including information on the post-settlement human history of the area.
RBCS is a Federated Club of the Federation of BC Naturalists.
Society Activities
Education
Our educational activities involve informing the public about Rithet’s Bog, its ecology and biological diversity, its status as a nature sanctuary and the importance of its wetlands.
Restoration
We work in cooperation with Saanich Parks and the Pulling Together Volunteer Program to develop restoration and management guidelines for the Rithet’s Bog Conservation Area. The goal of our restoration work is to develop functioning and self sustaining ecosystems that require minimal maintenance.
Display Booth
We have a display booth for community events to educate the public about Rithet’s Bog and our society. The display includes a small demonstration bog with live Sphagnum moss and other bog species.
Brochures and
Species Checklists
We are developing a library of brochures and checklists about Rithet’s Bog that covers a variety of topics.
Our species checklists will require continuing maintenance as we gather new data from our iNaturalist biodiversity project and try to keep up with changes due to climate change.
Information Kiosk
Our information kiosk is located at the park entrance near the corner of Chatterton Way and Dalewood Lane. It is another of our educational resources for reaching park users.
Biodiversity Project
We have a Rithet’s Bog Biodiversity Project hosted on the iNaturalst.ca website. Observations that park users post on the iNaturalist site provides us with data to update our various species lists. This is increasingly important as we try to monitor trends related to climate change.
Website
We intend this new website to be a living document that is constantly being updated.