UVic Sustainability Scholar, Matt Britton

April 17, 2025

The UVic Sustainability Scholars Program offers paid internships to graduate students to advance applied sustainabililty research projects for community, government, Indigenous and not-for-profit organizations.

UVic School of Public Administration, graduate student, Matt Britton mapped a rare ecological zone for his sustainability scholars internship with Sandown Centre for Regenerative Agriculture.

“Littlewood Forest is part of the smallest and most threatened biogeoclimatic zone in British Columbia and contains several small, unique ecosystems. I spent 35 hours on the ground wading through ponds, balancing on fallen logs, to get a sense of the land and it's beautiful biodiversity."

 

Photo: Littlewood Forest, North Saanich

Can you describe the environmental challenge you are working on?

Last summer, I was engaged to research and develop a map of ecological zones within the Littlewood Forest in North Saanich, which is stewarded by the Sandown Centre for Regenerative Agriculture. This 17-acre parcel of land is a second-growth, coastal Douglas-fir forest with a pond, natural springs, and a low-lying wetland complex, all of which have been heavily impacted by invasive species due to decades of neglect. While most of the land around the Littlewood Forest was cleared for agricultural use in the 1800s, the area that comprises the forest area was left mostly intact, possibly due to the presence of a swamp and natural springs that occur in that area. In the 1950s, the land was converted into a horse racetrack, which operated until the turn of the century. It was eventually acquired by the District of North Saanich, subdivided, reclaimed through demolition of buildings, and leased to the Sandown Centre to manage restoration activities.

Littlewood Forest is part of the smallest and most threatened biogeoclimatic zone in British Columbia and contains several small, unique ecosystems. Despite threats from invasive species, it has strong biodiversity, with a variety of trees, shrubs, and wildlife. The problem faced by the Sandown Centre was that they were given very little information about the history and ecology of the forest area when they took over management of the land in 2020. The rest of the land under Sandown Centre's purview that had been cleared for agriculture was relatively easy to access, survey, and evaluate, but due to the density of the mature trees and damp soil from natural springs in the forest, little had been recorded about the forest. Establishing a baseline analysis is a critical step in developing a management and conservation strategy.

Can you explain your solution to this challenge?

Through UVic's Sustainability Scholars Program, the Sandown Centre engaged me to conduct a field survey, record observations, and map the forest into zones by major features and ecosystems. I also conducted and analyzed stakeholder interviews,  reviewed existing reports and data relevant to the area (including historical aerial photographs from McPherson Library's collections), and developed recommendations for restoration and conservation actions for the space. These actions were the first steps for SCRA to restore this ecosystem in a way that ensures its health and vitality while addressing critical issues such as biodiversity loss, ecological degradation, and the impacts of colonization on the landscape. 

Photo: Matt holds some local berries found in Littlewood Forest.

Why is this important to you?

The 35 hours that I spent on the ground (and wading through ponds...and balanced on fallen logs, etc...) in Littlewood Forest really allowed me to get a sense for lay of the land, its beautiful biodiversity, its challenges and needs, and a vision for how it can be conserved and maintained. While the historical aerial photos, previous reports, and stakeholder interviews provided important context, it was really the hours of fieldwork and mapping that gave me a real sense of place and the perspective needed to develop a conservation and management plan for the forest. This experience really reinforced my understanding of the importance of connecting to the land; research and secondary sources can only take you so far.

Why did you join the Sustainability Scholars Program?

I like being outdoors, and this program gave me an amazing opportunity to do some fieldwork, enjoying a beautiful piece of land while also giving back to the community. The program is an incredible win-win opportunity: community organizations get valuable research assistance for free, and students get paid by the program (which is funded by generous donors). Even though it was difficult to manage a full load of classes during the summer term AND the program, it was an incredible experience that would have been hard to pass up!

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