Happy New Year to all.  I look forward to a very successful 2012 and thank staff and Board members for their dedication and hard work.  Although we continue to struggle with finding appropriate sources of financing, we have had some recent successes with a number of funding initiatives still pending.  Michele Jones continues as our  bookkeeper but otherwise there has been a major turn over in staff and each new person is forging ahead learning and developing their new responsibilities.  These new staff members include:
–       Lauren LaBossiere – is our Estuary Coordinator and primarily involved with the Estuary Working Group.  Lauren will be coordinating the 2012 Estuary Awareness Campaign which we hope will involve some partnerships with the K’ómoks First Nations.  Keep abreast of this largest and most active committee of Project Watershed by visiting the Keeping it Living website at www.keepingitliving.ca  or our social media page http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Courtenay-River-Estuary-Keeping-It-Living/334041740236.
–       Kathryn Clouston – whose role is as volunteer coordinator, and fundraising assistant, working with me and other Board members in writing grant proposals.  Kathryn is also responsible for keeping our website up to date.  She is doing an excellent job.  Check it out at https://projectwatershed.ca/ especially the News and Events link to our blog.  If you missed some events from the past year you can view them through the older entries link at the bottom of the page.  If you have some stories or pictures of the estuary or other watersheds you would like to share send them to us at projectwatershed@gmail.com.
–       Steve Morgan – is the Business Manager of our social enterprise, the Mapping Centre.  See web site at http://maps.projectwatershed.ca/ for more info on their capabilities and products.  Already he has instituted some great changes in operations and will be marketing the Centre and attempting to generate new business and profits to benefit Project Watershed.
We also have a new Board member, Bill Heidrick who is involved with the Comox Valley Conservation Strategy and the Estuary Working Group.
The Board of Directors will have a meeting on March 4 to specifically discuss bylaw revisions and then after our AGM we will hold a retreat to deal with a number of important planning issues.
Project Watershed and its four major components, the Estuary Working Group, the Education and Outreach Committee, the Technical Committee and the Mapping Centre are all active and vibrant entities with developing programs and events.  Stay tuned for reports on the Estuary Survey, the Blue Carbon initiative, research activities in the Puntledge River watershed and the Estuary, land acquisition along the estuary, a report on petroleum storage tanks bordering the estuary, mapping initiatives including sensitive habitat atlas updates, and news on our evolving walking map for the Comox Valley!!