BCMA Climate Action Podcast Series EP04: BC HERN‘s Salvage Trip to Lytton, BC (Updated)

In this fourth episode of our #CALM series, we speak with Tara Fraser (Vancouver Art Gallery) and Heidi Swierenga (Museum of Anthropology at UBC), two members of the BC Heritage Emergency Response Network (BC HERN) steering committee. Tara, Heidi, and volunteers from BC HERN were able to go to Lytton BC in October to assist with the salvage and recovery of items from the Lytton Chinese History Museum and the Lytton Museum & Archives.

Join Tara and Heidi as they reflect upon this experience and how it will help to inform BC HERN's future work.

The BC Heritage Emergency Response Network is a growing consortium of art, culture and heritage professionals and volunteers in BC who feel morally and professionally obliged to plan for emergency situations and to support other cultural institutions in the event of localized emergencies that impact collections. The initiative was born from the identified lack of a unified support plan for disaster response and collections salvage in the province in light of the growing risk to collections due to climate change.

The BC HERN aims to build confidence to ensure the successful recovery of heritage collections. The formation of the network is based on two principles: establishing connections between institutions, and training individuals in these institutions on collections salvage procedures. Once staff are trained in salvage and recovery, their institutions will be incorporated into the growing number of response zones throughout the Province.