2019 Community Stewardship Nominee Profile – Andrew Simon

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 Information based nominee’s submission to 2019 Islands Trust Community Stewardship Award program.   
 
Sustaining the Islands – Community Stewardship Awards Program 
 
 
 
2019 Nominee Profile 
 
Andrew Simon, Galiano Island Local Trust Area 
 
Category:  Individual  
 
Project:       Creating a “living field guide” on Galiano Island 
 
Nominator(s):      John Reynolds 
 
Project Description
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Andrew Simon was nominated for his volunteer work with the Biodiversity Galiano project 
(www.biogaliano.org). Biodiversity Galiano, which Simon initiated in January 2016, is a community-
based initiative to document the flora and fauna of Galiano Island. To date, more than 2,000 species 
have been documented, represented by more than 10,000 occurrence records contributed by 150 
people. Simon has worked with dozens of experts to critically review and annotate these observations, 
integrating them into a database with historical records that acts as a comprehensive inventory of the 
island’s biodiversity.  
 
Since its inception, the project has engaged island residents and organizations across a broad cross-
section of the community, through activities that incorporate natural history studies, the arts, and even 
music. Simon has written dozens of articles in local media and organized more than 50 community 
events, including two major BioBlitzes in partnership with local conservancies. He has also reached out 
beyond Galiano Island, working with Valdes Island Conservancy and Mayne Island Conservancy, as well 
as with Lyackson First Nation and other communities in the broader region. 
 
Simon is preparing to formalize the results of the project, in collaboration with over 30 research 
scientists, to be published in the Biodiversity Data Journal in January 2020. 
 
The nominator describes that this project represents an unprecedented effort to comprehensively 
document the biodiversity of one of the southern Gulf Islands and will provide a critical baseline for 
understanding the future impacts climate change. Simon’s latest initiative aims to extend the reach of 
the project beyond borders, networking biodiversity projects throughout the Salish Sea 
www.salishseabiodiversity.org ).

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