Barb is enthusiastic about sharing her passion for BC’s diverse coastal ecosystems aboard Passing Cloud.  Since graduating from Simon Fraser University with a PhD on the mating behaviour of swallows, Barb has become a part-time university instructor and part-time research consultant. She has taught a variety of field courses at Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre and Quest University. She has worked with several non-profit organizations and government agencies to promote forest and wetland conservation.

In 2010, she founded a charitable society – The Wetland Stewards for Clayoquot and Barkley Sounds – that does applied research and educational outreach on amphibian species at risk on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Highlights of that work include protecting an important wetland habitat from being logged, and the successful installation of a tunnel that allows frogs and salamanders to migrate safely under the highway.

When not in the woods or at the marsh, Barb spends time on the ocean. She regularly snorkels in her favourite kelp forest along the Ucluelet Peninsula where she lives, and she enjoys sailing adventures with her spouse on his 40-foot ketch.