Hakai

Welcome to the Hakai Institute, located on beautiful Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada, in the heart of the Central Coast.

The Hakai Institute occupies an isolated 87 hectare site on the exposed Pacific edge of the world's largest temperate zone rainforest. We are surrounded by the Hakai Luxvbalis Conservancy, which at 1,230 square kilometres is the largest marine conservancy on the BC coast. The austere Hakai landscape has been sculpted by the hurricane-force storms and fierce Arctic outflow winds that lash the site during much of the year.

In summertime, however, Hakai is a natural meeting place, with its spectacular beaches and vistas and rich intertidal life, where people have congregated for many millennia. We draw inspiration from that long tradition, which enriches the activities we host. We partner with local First Nations, the BC universities, local schools, BC Parks and other organizations, and through those partnerships seek a creative synthesis between science and the traditional knowledge of the people of the Central Coast. Together we seek to bring education, expertise, inspiration and leadership to this wild and spectacular part of the world. Through education & sharing we create a sense of community.

At Hakai we strive to provide the finest hands-on learning opportunities for students while minimizing our impact on our surroundings. Since 2009 we have made significant upgrades to all systems and amenities, from electricity production and satellite Internet services to water treatment and waste management.

We are committed to long term, year round, ecological monitoring of climate, ocean conditions and other environmental variables in this relatively poorly studied but exceedingly important region of the Pacific coast.