A BORN NATURALIST

July 19, 1940 – 18 June, 2025 

by Margaret Bear

Bill was among Nature Vancouver’s most distinguished naturalists, constantly adding to our knowledge of the natural world. He was also among our most prolific writers contributing many articles to the Discovery Journal, for various newsletters, as well as writing several reference books published for a wider audience. He wrote about a great variety of subjects including mammals, botany, marine biology – and of course birds – where it ostensibly all began. But did it?

In fact, Bill’s recollections clearly show that he was a born explorer from his earliest years. Growing up in Vancouver near the North Arm of the Fraser River, Bill had easy access to the nearby flatlands – a natural history laboratory in itself. The quickest route from home to those flatlands was across private properties through openings in fences and hedges, to a wonderland of trickles of water, ponds and ditches. Frogs and salamanders in ponds abounded; so too Bonaparte Gulls which announced the eulachon spawning season, followed by a procession of birds, seals and sea lions to claim their portion of the mobile feast. Various fish provided fishing opportunities, or if that was unsuccessful, attempts to catch those elusive hares (Discovery 2008, Vol 37(1), pp. 41-43). 

Bill’s interest in clams and snails started early and the marine mollusc fauna of coastal BC continued to be one of his main areas of interest throughout his life. Ultimately, in 2022, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum was the gracious recipient of Bill’s generous donation comprising his entire, massive mollusc collection – a significant addition to the museum. See a brief article by Sheila Byers – A Celebration of the Bill Merilees’ Mollusc Donation to the Beaty Museum (Discovery 2022, Vol 50, pp. 30-31).

In his early teens, and in the course of prowling along a dyke one day, Bill met his time-honoured mentor, William Marsden (Bill) Hughes, bedecked with binoculars, who was busy with a Christmas bird count for the Vancouver Natural History Society (VNHS) – now Nature Vancouver (NV). Bill claimed to have “cut his teeth” as a birder under the tutorship of Bill Hughes, whose enduring legacy was to instill the enjoyment and knowledge of nature, especially birds, in others (Discovery 2003, Vol 32(2), pp. 44-46). This happy connection led to Bill Merilees becoming actively involved with Boy Scouts where he later became a Scout leader. His prize for earning his Naturalist badge was an Honorary Associate membership in the VNHS. Bill remained a proud and passionate member for over 70 years!

As Bill grew older those flatlands grew smaller in physical and mental dimensions, so he sought to explore a larger world. After graduating from University of British Columbia he set off travelling for nearly two years, with a one-way ticket to Australia. It was there that a serendipitous introduction led to a three-year stint in Antarctica as a field biologist, from 1966-1968. Some of that time was spent on Macquarie Island conducting research focused on the Wandering Albatross, Royal Penguin and the elephant seal. Archaeology took him to Kenya where he worked with the famous paleoanthropologist, Dr. Louis Leakey, assisting with a project on the osteology of monkeys. Travel, and leading excursions to various countries around the world including Borneo, India and Madagascar, were all opportunities to indulge his love of learning and to share his vast knowledge with others.

Much later, as President of VNHS (1988-1990), he had a vision of a new direction for the Society which involved publications, field trips and the purchase of land for conservation purposes. These three goals were funded by the Special Projects Fund – another of Bill’s ideas – created from profits generated by the nature tours he initiated. Those tours ventured far and wide, both in and beyond Canadian borders, over a period of at least twelve years. Bill was the principal naturalist on most of the trips, with Kelly Sekhon and Audrey Viken his able assistants.  Whether as a teacher at the Selkirk Regional College in the West Kootenays, working for Parks Canada and then Parks BC, he was always volunteering with nature organizations that had a strong emphasis on educating and sharing.

In keeping with his dictum of “paying it forward”, about twenty-five years ago Bill helped me – a Girl Guide leader at the time – to provide Vancouver Guides with a day of opportunities to earn various bird badges at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. Around one hundred guides attended, accompanied by many members from the VNHS birding section who voluntarily conducted bird walks around the Sanctuary, for the girls.  What an educational, fun-filled event!  Bill pulled it all together, one of many acts of his extreme generosity, coming especially from Nanaimo for the day to help me.  

In later years, Bill took on the role of memorialist for VNHS. The history of our Society, along with other places with which he’d been associated, was of as much interest to him as that of his beloved natural history topics. This dedication in recording the history of people and places was apparent even during their Castlegar years when he became interested in the history of the Doukhobors, and an active participant in their Historical Society (Discovery 2003, Vol 32(2), pp. 8-13). Who could guess that his research includes papers on the Kootenay Ornithologists who contributed historically to the understanding of the myriad bird species in the area, between 1892-2015. Those reports are now housed in the archives at Selkirk College.

Similarly, by resuscitating the early publications of VNHS, and writing articles about members and their doings from an earlier era, Bill did his part to enable the greater BC natural history to be treasured and not forgotten. In 2005, Bill published Selected Excerpts from the Vancouver Natural History Society “Bulletin” (With Notes and an Index) (Number 1, September, 1943 to Number 153, December 1971) https://naturevancouver.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/VNHS_Bulletin_1943-1971.pdf. 

Bill acknowledged that “slipping through a hole in a fence to see what might be found on the other side” has had a lifelong appeal. It clearly provided the stimulus for endless curiosity and exploration. However, most meaningful to Bill are the words which reflect the sentiments of Robert Louis Stevenson, and were always repeated by Bill on nature outings – “The joy of a beautiful thing is the happiness sharing it can bring”. 

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day -blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

NOTE:

Margaret Bear wrote a profile of Bill Merilees that was published in the Fall 2023 issue of Discovery. You can read the article from THIS LINK. For all the other Discovery issues mentioned above, please see PAST ISSUES OF DISCOVERY. Read an obituary from THIS LINK.