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Heith takes over as
Manager of Recreation
By Kathy O'Reilly, North Island Eagle, April 26 2024
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The District of Port Hardy has a familiar face in a new role.
Naomi Heith has taken over as Manager of Recreation and Community Services.
“What a whirlwind of a month it has been. I moved back to Port Hardy almost three years ago and have been working as the Community Outreach Coordinator for the District of Port Hardy at Port Hardy Recreation,” Heith said.
“This job has been so life giving; allowing me to be creative, find solutions to challenges, and listen to the community in what they want to see for recreation and execute that to the best of my ability.”
Heith was interested in growing in her professional career and responsibilities, while still having a job that revolves around people.
Two job postings became available: Executive Director of Mount Waddington Family Literacy Society (MWFLS) and Manager of Recreation and Community Services. Heith applied for both.
“I was offered the position of Executive Director for MWFLS and was thrilled, this was a 10 hour a week position which would allow me to continue as Community Outreach Coordinator for 30 hours a week,” she said.
“For the next month, I was able to meet beautiful staff members and supports of Mount Waddington Family Literacy Society. This is a fantastic organization that promotes literacy at its core in various ways through tutoring, Mother Goose programs, adult literacy, community nights, and food programs.
The Manager of Recreation and Community Services hiring process took a little longer as the district had a variety of candidates to work through.
“I was offered this position with the option to continue as the Executive Director of MWFLS. After lots of consideration and thinking through logistics, I realized these were both big positions and knew they needed someone who could properly focus on each one,” Heith explained.
“It was a tough decision to make, but I stepped down as Executive Director of MWFLS and accepted the position of Manager of Recreation and Community Services.”
Heith is excited for this new position and looks forward to all the opportunities, growth, challenges, and fun it will bring. “I work alongside a great group of people who work hard to bring different programs, activities, and events together as well as maintain and develop our buildings to operate to their full capacity,” she said.
“I look forward to connecting with user groups of the recreation facility, listening and supporting the staff and community, and continuing to find ways to make recreation in Port Hardy grow,” she said.
“We have exciting ideas for the pool and can’t wait for all three facilities (pool, arena and civic centre) to be full of people and events.”
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Photo — Submitted
Naomi Heith has taken over as Manager of Recreation and Community Services for the District of Port Hardy.
BC Humpbacks bring hope to Planet Earth
By Kathy O’Reilly, North Island Eagle, April 26 2024
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North Islanders will be able to watch locally filmed Humpback footage that appeared in an episode of Planet Earth III on the big screen at the Gate House Theatre in Port McNeill on April 28 at 2 p.m.
The episode debuted on BBC Earth April 21.
“We will be showing the footage from the Planet Earth III episode we were involved with and video interviews with some of the world-famous videographers we worked with,” said Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) Humpback Researcher and Director of Education and Communications Jackie Hildering.
This footage includes trap-feeding, the ‘Whale Pump’, and the Humpback Comeback story.
“We want to share this moment with our home community and contribute to the North Island identity about how extraordinary the wildlife of this area is!”
“We will be answering questions and sharing what the filming experience was like behind the scenes,” Hildering said.
“We could never have imagined our research boat carrying the extraordinary wealth and volume of camera gear and working with famous nature documentarians, let alone that Sir David Attenborough himself would say the name of one of the Humpbacks we nicknamed and that we would spend weeks looking for whale poo.”
BBC producer Fredi Devas first became interested in the Humpback Whales in BC waters after learning of MERS’ research on a novel Humpback feeding strategy dubbed “trap-feeding”.
This feeding strategy is used under very specific conditions by some Humpbacks near northeastern Vancouver Island. If juvenile herring are in small, diffuse schools, these Humpbacks set a “trap” by positioning beside the fish with their mouths wide open. The fish then collect near, or in, the mouth of the Humpback to escape predation by birds. In 2011, a young whale named Conger was one of only two Humpbacks known to use this jaw-dropping new feeding strategy. MERS has now documented that at least 32 Humpbacks have learned to trapfeed. It is Conger’s name that Sir David Attenborough says when trap-feeding is explained in the episode. “It was wonderful to watch producer Fredi Devas, who has filmed all over the world, fall in love with the area, experiencing the abundance and biodiversity of marine life sustained in BC waters” said Hildering. Humpback Whales are ambassadors for how productive these cold, high current, oxygen and plankton rich waters are. Humpbacks bulk up with small schooling fish and krill in BC to be able to migrate and sustain themselves in warm water breeding grounds where there is little to no food for them. Christie McMillan, MERS Humpback Researcher and Science Lead shared, “Commercial whaling only ended in British Columbia in 1967. When we began documenting the return of Humpbacks from the brink of extinction, we wanted to know who individual Humpbacks were and to make it count for conservation. We applied our research to create awareness and action for the threats they continue to face – climate change, entanglement, vessel strike, and noise.”
The return of Humpback Whales provides a message of hope and capacity for human values to change. It is now understood how important whales are for the world’s climate.
The MERS team spent considerable time looking for whale feces when working with the Planet Earth III film crew in order for this connection to be communicated in the episode. By defecating at the surface, whales fertilize algae leading to carbon capture. It’s estimated that every large whale sequesters (removes) approximately 33 tons of carbon from the atmosphere. That’s the equivalent of around 30,000 trees. The Marine Education and Research Society’s involvement with Planet Earth III was motivated by the opportunity to communicate the vital importance of whales and how our daily actions connect to the welfare of whales. Thank goodness for second chances.
Admission is by donation and “there will be popcorn”.
Just need to communicate that they have to register at www.mersociety.org/events please.
Photo — Submitted
Marine Education & Research Society Science Lead Christie McMillan and Education & Communications Director Jackie Hildering react to the size of the BBC’s equipment.