A retired fighter pilot turned citizen scientist was honoured last month for his work documenting the flora and fauna of Garden Bay’s Hotel Lake.
Last month, BC Lake Stewardship Society (BCLSS) recognized Brian Croft with its Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award for 2024, though Croft is quick to point out credit goes to the “little crew of volunteers” who have taken up the task of painstakingly detailing lake life.
One could start 23 years ago when Croft and his wife found their cottage on the north side of Hotel Lake, discovering over the years the passion residents had for the lake and its surrounds, soon enough numbering among them. But, the citizen science started in true three years ago with a website, hotellakeadvisory.com.
Croft and some of his neighbours created the site to document information about plant and wildlife at the lake. They take topics and sift through the information on the internet, relying on universities, papers and good photographs “to try to get people to engage in a simple but accurate read of whatever it is we're talking about.
“If you're in the middle of the woods and you've got a question, our website and all of this information is right there, and it's correct and it's relevant to this area.”
There’s no social aspect to the site or membership, says Croft. “It costs about 400 bucks a year to run it and people just, whenever they feel like it, they'll send a cheque of 20 bucks.”
The site is extensive –- with pages on everything from ticks to toads, wetlands to watersheds.
It was while the group was researching a page on freshwater jellyfish that they found themselves working with UBC on a research project studying the tiny invasive species. The group ended up barging equipment out onto Hotel Lake for data sampling every four days in the summer of 2023. It’s a project that’s continued with “even more interesting and time-consuming work” and which they’re expecting more of in 2025.
Through all the endeavours, Croft had followed the BCLSS’s work, including with several B.C. ministries, filling in the gaps in government data for some of the province’s 200,000 lakes.
The Hotel Lake volunteers cultivated working with UBC, rallied to start gathering data and worked toward publishing an official Lake Characterization Report through the society. The report “gives us a true fingerprint of what the lake is and which we can refer to in the future to ensure that things aren’t going astray,” says Croft.
Shortly after news of Croft’s award became public, the team was invited to start level three of the program, accelerating progress toward a final lake report in coming years. “We're very pleased to be able to do these advanced tests now,” he said.
“What we find is, if people understand their neighbours, the plant life around them and all the animals, we're hoping we get people all making better decisions in the future.”
The core group of about eight Hotel Lake citizen science volunteers abounds in scientific talent, including a fellow pilot who flew with Croft in Europe during the Cold War. “Our background in aviation and the atmospheric sciences and whatnot really blends in nicely with what we're doing,” shared Croft. Two of the other volunteers include a retired chief of surgery and a retired general practitioner. (“They have the biological background.”)
“Between the group of us, we have an amazing cross reference of science that we bring,” said Croft. “We all bring something to the lake with our backgrounds. And we have another neighbour up here who is a biologist, who is probably a world-class expert in rhododendron.”
At the moment, Croft’s focus is the scourge of invasive scotch broom –– “It's a fire hazard if it ever lights up or somebody throws a match at it.”
“This stuff has to be picked in April, when the thing is blooming, all beautiful yellow flowers. Everybody loves them. That's the one that has to go.” (See more on the website.)
“The BCLSS Volunteer Award elevates the awareness and importance of how education, monitoring programs, restoration projects, and ‘environmentally friendly’ living contribute to the vision of clean, healthy lakes throughout British Columbia,” said the society in a letter to Croft. The letter noted Croft’s work educating many about the lake and its creatures, volunteering with the UBC freshwater jellyfish project and helping to set up a Level 1 BC Lake Stewardship and Monitoring Program for the lake.
“Your dedication and hard work are extremely appreciated and make a significant contribution to the BCLSS fundamental values –- preservation, protection, and restoration of lakes throughout British Columbia,” said the letter.
If residents at other lakes are considering undertaking such citizen science work at their home lakes, Croft encourages them to “stop thinking about it and start doing it.”
“If every lake had people living around it that were to join up in the same way, it would really make a big difference in the future in terms of understanding,” shared Croft. He added that coastal lakes are unique in Canada as they don’t freeze over every year as most Canadian lakes do. “So it's doubly important to understand what's happening under the water.”
