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Kids can take a pollinator survey at Colony Farm

NatureKids BC is running its Pollinator Citizen Science Project in Coquitlam on Sunday, July 22.
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NatureKids BC will run a Pollinator Citizen Science Project at Colony Farm regional park in Coquitlam on July 22 for children aged five to 12.

If you’ve got children interested in seeing science close up, NatureKids BC has got a program for them this month in Coquitlam.

This spring, the charity launched a Pollinator Citizen Science Project for kids aged five to 12 to study insects that fertilize plants.

And on July 22, biologist Erin Udal will lead a group of young scientists around the Colony Farm park garden to talk about the role pollinators play in the ecosystem, identify specimens and conduct a survey.

The data collected will be used as part of NatureKids BC’s province-wide program, with the information also spread to other conservation groups — in the Tri-Cities, Metro Vancouver, Colony Farm Park Association and Burke Mountain Naturalists, to name a few.

Udal, who holds a bachelor of science degree from SFU, said the aim of the project is to connect kids with the outdoors. “There’s a very important aesthetic appreciation to being outside,” she said. “It’s a great equalizer for people’s relationship with nature.”

Udal feels children growing up in urban settings often don’t get a chance to venture into green spaces to see science at work. She hopes the lessons gathered from pollinator study will transfer to the kids’ own backyards or at schools, where they can plant flora to attract pollinators.

• The NatureKids BC Pollinator Citizen Science Project at Colony Farm regional park, off Colony Farm Road in Coquitlam, is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 22. The event is free. Visit naturekidsbc.ca.

jcleugh@tricitynews.com