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WELCOME TO racerocks.com and racerocks.ca

I hope you are finding what you are looking for on the racerocks.com website.  First a brief introduction and rationale for why this site exists.

Between 1976 to 2004 I taught in the International Baccalaureate Biology and Marine Science/ Environmental Systems Program at Lester B. Pearson College. Throughout that time, I was very fortunate to have Race Rocks available within a 15 minute boat ride from my classroom in Pedder Bay at the Southern tip of Vancouver Island. This allowed us to use the area as a valuable resource in field work with my classes in biology, marine science and environmental systems. Since 1976 we also used the area extensively for SCUBA Diving and I was a PADI Instructor with the students in the Diving Activity at Pearson College. In 1980, the students and faculty of the college with the cooperation of BC Parks, made Race Rocks into a provincial Ecological Reserve and since that time I have served as the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve warden for BC Parks.

I first started publishing this website in 1996. I thought the area provided such a valuable teaching and research resource that we just had to do all that was possible to enable others to use it as well. In the year 2000, with the help of a Millennium Partnership grant, and Pearson College staff and volunteers,  we built a computer network on the island and microwaved the video and audio signals from the live cameras to the internet serving as a highlight on the website. In 2004, our work in Distance Education with the racerocks.com website resulted in an Award in Excellence in Distance Education from the Commonwealth of Learning.

Since retirement from teaching at Pearson College, I have continued to volunteer my time to keep developing and updating the website and trying to keep all parts of it operational. I also work with students, ecoguardians, staff, faculty and other volunteer contributors of videos and new reference materials to add to the archive of resources available on the website.

Another area I have spent extra time on is the historical section in preparation for the 150th anniversary of the lightstation, and the Race Rocks Taxonomy.

In February of 2007, I was appointed to the Board of the Friends of Ecological Reserves . There is a need to assist ER Wardens involved in the different ecological reserves (154) in BC to create an internet presence for their reserves to provide online access to the archives of their resources for research and education.   So since 2011 I have been adding resources on other Ecological reserves in the province to our website for the Friends of Ecological reserves .

I have been also been promoting the Adopt an Ecosystem Approach for community Stewardship of ecologically significant areas.

I  serve as a volunteer on the Metchosin Environmental Advisory Select Committee and have added a website to present the diversity and problems of Coastal Metchosin, linking it as "ecosystems contiguous to Race Rocks" http://metchosinmarine.ca/metchosinmarine/marineecosystems1.htm and I have added a section on Strategies for a Sustainable Marine Future and Education Issues.

I live in the Metchosin Community near Pearson College and serve as a consultant in marine education.

You may e-mail me with the following link:
Garry Fletcher



garryand students
gfand students


race rocks video This video was produced by the CRD and provides some background on the creation of the Ecological Reserve at Race Rocks.


We welcome questions, suggestions and feedback on the racerocks.com/racerocks.ca website. Since 1997, Lester B. Pearson College has managed the Ecoreserve  for BC Parks, and has staffed it with an Ecoguardian. You can see their logs at http://www.racerocks.ca/wp/ It depends on resources we have to raise independently specifically designated for Race Rocks in order to keep the island facility open. See how you can help with the Race Rocks Endowment Fund.
Link to other e-mail contacts for Lester Pearson College and Race Rocks


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