The first time we came upon it, we were simply looking for Hakai’s white-sand beach and sheltered anchorage in its adjacent Pruth Harbor. Once there, however, we found not only the beach – one of the loveliest anywhere north of Vancouver Island – but sturdy research vessels and a serious concrete dock. A pair of biologists testing water samples on the dock told us the place had been a private fishing lodge, but had just been bought by a Canadian couple who planned to turn it into an ecological research center. We were intrigued.
Fast-forward six years, and the Hakai Beach Institute is an
inspiring example of private money doing a world of good. The founders, Eric
Peterson and Christina Munck, run it as a research, teaching, and leadership
center focusing on long-term ecological research – studying this remarkably wild
stretch of coastline and how it’s changed over time. (Say, the 15,000 years since the Last Ice Age.) They are
particularly interested in the coastal margin – the line where Pacific
Ocean meets temperate rainforest.
We’ve returned to Hakai almost every year since then. And every year there has been some terrific improvement: cedar planks just the width of your foot laid down along the muddy forest trail to the beach; cool new research labs built atop
the dock; yurts pitched in the forest as housing for visiting grad students.
Boaters, amazingly, are welcome to anchor, sign in, and walk
the forest trail to the beach.
This time, we had the pleasure of meeting Christina and were able to learn more about the new research labs and some of the other programs' recent improvements – all of which Christina and Eric
oversee personally.
We both left feeling inspired not only by our walk on the beach by one couple's remarkable generosity
in taking such a hands-on, long-term approach to this part of the planet.
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