Update January 2017: Thanks to everyone who donated to our campaign, we raised almost 30% of our goal! As you can see from the before and after photos below, the new floor is a vast improvement. No more sharing the space with unwanted critters!

We have initiated a crowd funding campaign on Indigogo’s non-profit sister site Generosity.

For over a decade, our researchers have called 585 South Shore home for eight months of the year. It’s a rustic but comfortable cottage on the south side of Pelee Island. From three to five researchers and volunteers live here from April to November every year. It is not just a living space, though. 585 South Shore is our island office too. Here is where all the data gathered from census and banding gets entered into various databases. And it is where we hold our annual owling nights, inviting the public into our modest space 3-4 times a year to hopefully catch owls, but also get together as a community. But over the years the natural elements of the island have been slowly encroaching in on the place. Staff have done their best to keep flora and fauna out of the living spaces. And some things are more tolerable than others- the spiders and various insects are expected and live in harmony with the human cohabitants. But a few times larger critters have made their way inside. They have been removed fairly quickly and humanely without much fanfare. The problem is the kitchen floor is sinking and rotten, and it is just a matter of time when those critters make a large enough hole claiming victory. So it is time to admit defeat and build a new floor. The problem is, we don’t know the extent of the damage. We hope it is just the floor and not the foundation and walls too. But living and working on Pelee Island is one big adventure, so we are erring on the side of caution.