It wasn't until he stood at the front of the conference room that Eric Peterson was struck by the magnitude of what he'd done.

In a packed meeting hall in Sidney, near Victoria, some 200 scientists and researchers had gathered to talk about the more than 80 projects they were undertaking on British Columbia's central coast.

All of the work was connected in two ways – it focused on the West Coast, and it had been made possible by Dr. Peterson and his wife, artist Christina Munck.

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The researchers had been collecting hair samples from coastal bears to obtain DNA, studying the complex ecosystems of sea otters and using digital technology to illuminate ancient rock art so faded it can no longer be seen by the naked eye. It was a dazzling array of scientific inquiry and Dr. Peterson said he was stunned by it all.

"Standing up in front of the room, I was completely blown away when I saw the scope of what's been created here," he said in an interview during a break at the conference.

The conference involved researchers from the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C.

What was perhaps most remarkable about the conference was that, without Dr. Peterson and the Tula Foundation, which he established with Ms. Munck, none of the research projects would likely have ever taken place.

After making a fortune in 2001 selling a medical imaging company he'd helped build, Dr. Peterson decided to direct a lot of the money into a non-profit society. But since there wasn't one doing what he was most interested in, he created Tula, naming it after a pet dog who had a "bit of a mean streak" when it came to protecting the family farm.

He has since poured about $70-million into the enterprise, not only funding research directly, but perhaps more importantly by creating field stations in relatively remote areas so that science teams have a place to live and work.

The Hakai Institute, on Calvert Island in the Great Bear Rainforest, is a former sport-fishing lodge that has been repurposed as a luxurious base camp for science teams.

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Meals, accommodation, boats for transportation, WiFi and lab space are provided.

This year, a second, smaller field operation was started on Quadra Island at the north end of Georgia Strait, where research is focusing initially on archeology and the migration patterns of salmon.

Mr. Peterson was born in Port Alberni and, as a young man, fell in love with the rugged and beautiful central coast.

After selling Mitra Imaging Inc., an Ontario-based company that pioneered the integration of image and information systems for hospitals, Dr. Peterson returned to live in B.C.

He wanted to fund science, but wasn't sure where or how to do it.

"When we went up to the central coast [on a boat cruise], we realized there was very little happening when it came to science, conservation and projects," he said.

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"We tried to find out why, and the typical thing we were told is, 'It's so difficult to work up here. There's no support, there's no resources.' So we decided to create a venue … so people would have a place to work."

The bases on Quadra and Calvert Islands, he said, provide a stimulating environment for researchers because scientists from different disciplines are thrust together, instead of being separated in isolated field camps.

"It's like putting a lot of plutonium together. You get that critical mass and you get an explosion [of energy]," he said.

Dr. Peterson says that although the Tula Foundation is non-profit, running it feels to him very much like running a business, in terms of setting goals and assembling teams.

"I don't feel like a philanthropist. I feel like a technology entrepreneur in the same way that I did before," he said.

"Only now the mission is a little bit different."