Raincoast Education Society

Coastal Raincoast Ecology in Tofino
2025-06-19 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Vancouver) | Yellowgate Trail across from Pacific Sands Resort, Tofino
This outdoor course focuses on our coastal temperate rainforest. From the forest floor to the top of the canopy, you will explore the many interactions that make up the fabric of this iconic habitat. Join us to discover the dynamic nature of old-growth forests!
Small Town, Big Picture is a suggested prerequisite for this course.
Where: Yellow Gate Trail (across from Pacific Sands)
Time: 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Date: June 19th
This FREE program is offered as a joint initiative of the Raincoast Education Society, the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Ucluelet and Tourism Tofino, The Raincoast Education Society is responsible for course curriculum, registration, and program delivery.

Tonquin Trail Walk
2025-07-17 13:00 - 15:00 | Tonquin Trail, Arnet Road, Tofino, BC
The Tonquin Trail showcases some of the regions most iconic species and unforgettable views. Join RES for an interpretative walk and take a journey from rainforest to kelp forest. We will discuss a myriad of species, explore the diversity of ecosystems in the coast, and find ourselves enmeshed in their connections. Bring your walking shoes, water, and sense of wonder! Free….Free…Free. No dogs please!

When: Friday, July 4 I Thursday, July 17 l Wednesday, July 30
Time: 1:00-3:00pm
Location: Tonquin Trail access at the Tofino Community Hall

Small Town, Big Picture: Tofino
2025-09-10 17:00 - 20:00 | Tofino Visitor Centre, 1426 Pacific Rim Highway, Tofino, BC, V0R 2Z0
The West Coast Ambassador Program: This three-hour orientation session delivers the “big picture” of living in Tofino. Learn about local history and basic ecology, cross-cultural understanding, businesses and activities, festivals, host etiquette, and important civic information. This is a great way to get up-to-date local’s information about living and working in Tofino.
Location: Tofino Vistitor Centre Conference Room
Time: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Dates: September 10th

The West Coast Ambassador Program is a joint initiative of the Raincoast Education Society, the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce , Tourism Ucluelet and Tourism Tofino. The Raincoast Education Society is responsible for course curriculum, registration, and program delivery.

Mushrooms of the West Coast 2025
2025-10-10 19:00 - 2025-10-12 13:00 | Ucluelet Community Centre, 500 Matterson Drive, Ucluelet, British Columbia, V0R 3A0, Canada
This weekend field course will introduce participants to the wonderful world of West Coast Mushrooms. Topics to be covered include introduction to fungi (what are they, and what is their role in our forests?), essentials of collecting and identifying fungi in the field, edible, medicinal and poisonous fungi, cooking with wild mushrooms, and more!
Thank you to Dr. Andy MacKinnon & Dr. Shannon Berch for joining us on the West Coast to share their knowledge & passion!
Course Registration is $350. per person.
Friday (7:00 pm – 8:30 pm)

Presentation – overview of wild mushrooms, different fungus groups, role of fungi in ecosystems, and mushroom identification.

Saturday (8:30 am – 5:30 pm)

Field collection of wild mushrooms at field site.
Sorting of mushroom collections, spore prints, microscope ID session.
Afternoon presentation on foraging and identifying edible mushrooms.
Mushroom cooking demonstration and tasting with Chef Ian Riddick of Heartwood Kitchen!

Sunday (8:00 am – 1:00 pm)

Field collection and identification of wild (edible) mushrooms.
Group lunch and course wrap-up.

About the instructors:

2024 Mushroom Course Photos!

Raincoast Education Society's Online Auction
2025-10-15 08:00 - 2025-10-29 23:59
Raincoast Education is celebrating 25 years of exploring, learning, and sharing the treasures of Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds! Over the years, we’ve brought students, researchers, and community members together to experience the coast firsthand, fostering curiosity, awareness, and connection with the natural world.
To mark this milestone, we’re thrilled to launch our online fundraising auction — a curated collection of unique experiences, original artwork, and coastal treasures, all highlighting the best of our region. Each item has been generously donated by local individuals and businesses who share our passion for education, research, and the coast we all value.
Date: Now through midnight, Wednesday, October 29th.
Online Auction Here!
Why participate?
Your bids help Raincoast Education continue:

Hands-on learning, including teaching our local youth the BC Science Curriculum outdoors
Promoting awareness of our region and what it offers
Engaging the community in meaningful educational and research experiences

We’re proud to be part of a vibrant network of local non-profits, all doing amazing work in the region.

Small Town, Big Picture: Tofino
2025-10-15 17:00 - 20:00 | Tofino Visitor Centre, 1426 Pacific Rim Highway, Tofino, BC, V0R 2Z0
The West Coast Ambassador Program: This three-hour orientation session delivers the “big picture” of living in Tofino. Learn about local history and basic ecology, cross-cultural understanding, businesses and activities, festivals, host etiquette, and important civic information. This is a great way to get up-to-date local’s information about living and working in Tofino.
Location: Tofino Vistitor Centre Conference Room
Time: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Dates: Wednesday, October 15th

The West Coast Ambassador Program is a joint initiative of the Raincoast Education Society, the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce , Tourism Ucluelet and Tourism Tofino. The Raincoast Education Society is responsible for course curriculum, registration, and program delivery.

Raincoast's 25th Anniversary Party
2025-10-17 18:00 - 22:00 | Ucluelet Brewery, 1601 Peninsula Rd, Ucluelet, V0R 3A0
This year we’re hitting a big milestone — we’re turning 25! 🎉
To celebrate, we’re throwing a community party at the Ukee Brewery on October 17th from 6 – 10pm. We hope you can come join us for an evening of good food, good people, some meanders down memory lane, and music by the one and only Geoff Johnson.
The food will be delicious, Ukee’s finest beer will be on tap, and we’ll even have some limited-edition RES merch for sale. Come on out and celebrate everything we’ve accomplished together, and let’s toast 25 years of education, research, and community engagement!
This year we have decided to ditch the silent auction for an online auction so that folks can contemplate and bid at their own pace. The auction is live now and ends at midnight on Wednesday, October 29th. We have an incredible catalogue of unique experiences, stunning original art, and some fun little treats too — all generously donated by local individuals and businesses, and all highlighting the best of what our region has to offer. Bid, celebrate, and help us keep bringing education & research to Clayoquot & Barkley Sounds. 🌊
friends + online auction + music + food + drink = fun
Space is limited, so book your tickets now!
🙏🏽 If ticket price is a barrier, please contact us.

Small Town, Big Picture: Tofino
2026-02-11 17:00 - 20:00 | Tofino Visitor Centre, 1426 Pacific Rim Highway, Tofino, BC, V0R 2Z0
Small Town, Big Picture: Tofino is one of 5 courses available within the West Coast Ambassador Program. This three-hour orientation session delivers the “big picture” of living in Tofino. Learn about local history and basic ecology, cross-cultural understanding, businesses and activities, festivals, host etiquette, and important civic information. This is a great way to get up-to-date local’s information about living and working in Tofino.
Location: Tofino Visitor Centre Board Room
Time: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Dates: Wednesday, February 11th

The West Coast Ambassador Program is a joint initiative of the Raincoast Education Society, the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce , Tourism Ucluelet and Tourism Tofino. The Raincoast Education Society is responsible for course curriculum, registration, and program delivery.

Arctic Turns with Dr. Mark Mallory
2026-02-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom Event
Breeding biology and annual movements of Arctic Terns from Nunavut, Canada
Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea) are a small seabird with a circumpolar distribution. Scientists and northern Indigenous Peoples have reported declines in numbers of Arctic terns in the 21st Century, but in Canada, very little was known about their breeding or movements. To that end, our team undertook a multiyear study of tern breeding, diet and movement from a colony at Nasaruvaalik Island in the high Arctic. In this presentation, I’ll summarize some of what we found about the challenges they face during nesting, the incredible information we documented on their year-round movements, and how these data continue to give us benefits in considering issues like marine protection in Canada and on the open oceans.
About our speaker: Dr. Mark Mallory is a Canada Research Chair at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, where he studies effects of climate change, pollution and human activity on coastal environments (especially seabirds) in the Canadian Maritimes and Arctic.
He has worked in Nunavut for 25 years, and lived in Iqaluit, Nunavut from 1999-2011. Although focused on birds in Canada’s high Arctic, Mark’s collaborations stretch from Alaska to Norway, and he has extensive work underway in Labrador and Nova Scotia.
He has written > 400 scientific papers, as well as the book Common Birds of Nunavut, and has led >25 Arctic research expeditions. His research led to the creation of Akpait and Qaqulluit National Wildlife Areas on eastern Baffin Island, and the uplisting of ivory gulls to Endangered status.
Mark has been appointed to two Arctic Council international expert groups, the College of the Royal Society of Canada, was made a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and was awarded a Fulbright Canada Chair in Arctic Studies at the University of Washington. Mostly, though, he just likes watching birds.

Small Town, Big Picture: Tofino
2026-03-11 17:00 - 20:00 | Tofino Visitor Centre, 1426 Pacific Rim Highway, Tofino, BC, V0R 2Z0
Small Town, Big Picture: Tofino is one of 5 courses available within the West Coast Ambassador Program. This three-hour orientation session delivers the “big picture” of living in Tofino. Learn about local history and basic ecology, cross-cultural understanding, businesses and activities, festivals, host etiquette, and important civic information. This is a great way to get up-to-date local’s information about living and working in Tofino.
Location: Tofino Visitor Centre Board Room
Time: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Dates: Wednesday, March 11th

The West Coast Ambassador Program is a joint initiative of the Raincoast Education Society, the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce , Tourism Ucluelet and Tourism Tofino. The Raincoast Education Society is responsible for course curriculum, registration, and program delivery.

Gray Whales with Dr. Aimée Lang
2026-03-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom Event
Dr. Aimée Lang will present insights into the status of eastern North Pacific gray whales based on monitoring whales on their migratory route and also highlight the importance of understanding movement patterns and migratory connectivity for effective conservation and management.

About our speaker: Dr. Aimée first began studying gray whales in 2002, when she began her Ph.D. work through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She spent the next six summers collecting photographs and biopsies from the gray whales that feed off Sakhalin Island, Russia. After completing her PhD, she continued to work on gray whales at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, where most of her research focuses on using genetic and genomic tools to better understand the behavior and population structure of marine mammals. She also leads the field component of SWFSC’s two shore-based surveys to monitor abundance and calf production in the eastern North Pacific gray whale population.
Research Biologist, Marine Mammal Genetics Group & Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center,

Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries
