Project Nest Box

7 December 2019Sarah R, Mackenzie ‘20

The Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society is a wetland and wildlife conservation group in Duncan, BC. Somenos Marsh is one of the largest intact wetland systems in the area, and supports a huge population of birds, plants, and other species. One of their species rehabilitation initiatives is Project Next Box, which engages in students from many local schools in the building, maintaining, and monitoring of bird nesting boxes.

The Brentwood Environmental Action Team (BEAT) has been involved in this project in the past, and this year is no different. A couple of weeks ago, a handful of students gave up a few hours of their Sunday to help make birdhouses for this project.

We gathered in Brentwood’s amazing Makerspace (essentially a workshop stocked with all the tools and materials a person could hope to have access to) to start building. After donning safety glasses and earmuffs, jigsaws, spindle sanders, and drill presses were soon in action, and the piles of lumber were beginning to take shape. From measuring, cutting, and sanding, to drilling and hammering all the pieces together, the small group of volunteers was incredibly efficient and capable.

In just three hours, we had managed to transform the shapeless stacks of boards into 43 well-fashioned bird houses. 20 of these were saved to be put up around campus as part of a bioremediation and bird monitoring project led by biology teacher Mr Miller, while the remaining houses were donated to Somenos Marsh.

These boxes were designed specifically for Tree Swallows and Violet-Green Swallows, both of which are at-risk species in the area. In February, the BEAT will be taking another group of volunteers to participate in a clean up and invasive species removal at Somenos Marsh. Later in the spring, we will go back to help to install the nest boxes we built, and see first hand the birds that will benefit from them!

Thank you to Mr Miller and Ms Richardson for organizing this event, and to the volunteers who came out to help brainstorm and build!

Sarah R, Mackenzie ‘20

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