For the May get together of the NHS, Bill Merilees, a prominent BC naturalist, educator, and conservationist will lead a field trip around Buttertubs Marsh.  Saturday, May 13 at 1 pm, starting location  TBA,  Bill will interpret the scope of the full circle of land use and development history of the now reclaimed wetland and sanctuary.  The Hudson Bay  Company purchased the marsh in the mid-1800s, draining it for vegetable farming and a dairy cattle farm.  During wartime the reclaimed land served as a military camp and training ground.  A bird nesting platform now stands on an old concrete base of a military radio antenna.  Threatened to be built over during a housing boom in the 1970s the Nature Trust of British Columbia purchased 50 acres in 1974 to form the Buttertubs Marsh Conservation Area.  In 1990 Bill started the first ButterTubs Management Committee,  known later as the Friends of Buttertubs.

                       photos: City of Nanaimo