The Strathcona Wilderness Institute is offering a workshop this summer on identifying lichens in Strathcona Provincial Park: Title: Field Identification of Basic Lichens in Strathcona Provincial Park Date: July 27, 2024 Time: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Location: Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre, Paradise Meadows Cost: $65 – includes a copy of Field Guide to Basic Lichens of Strathcona Provincial Park Registration: Email strathconawilderness@gmail.com Limit: 15 participants Instructor: Loys Maingon Here is SWI’s description of the workshop: This event is one in a series of “Discovering our Biodiversi ..read more

Spotted coralroot (Photo: V. McIntyre) The Botany/Mycology Group’s June field trip took place on June 12 at the Puntledge forest with the goal of finding mycoheterotrophs. A mycoheterotroph is a plant that gets its nutrients from a fungus during at least part of its lifecycle. The group’s co-leader Véronique has created another very useful photographic identification guide to the mycoheterotroph species observed on this walk using her own photos and additional research. Below is a small selection of images from the guide. Download the guide here (PDF, 3.4 MB) [click a photo to see the uncroppe ..read more

Comox Valley Nature recently hosted the following presentation at our May general meeting: Title: Understanding our Watersheds “One Puzzle Piece at a Time” Speaker: Dave Weaver (Beaufort Watershed Stewards) Date: Sunday, May 26, 2024 If you missed this event or would like to see it again, a recording is available here (MP4, 100 MB if downloaded). For more information about this talk, see the announcement in our earlier post. The post Recording for talk on understanding watersheds appeared first on Comox Valley Nature ..read more

Beach plain in foreground, estuarine plain on opposite bank, wooded area with pond (not visible) in background. (Photo: V. McIntyre) The Botany/Mycology Group’s May field trip took place on May 14 at Little River Nature Park and was well-attended. This CVRD nature park has three special ecosystems which the group explored: the rare and sensitive beach plain the sensitive salt marsh estuarine plain the wetland and pond area. Many of the spring flowers on the beach plain were showing up on this trip. The group’s co-leader Véronique has created another very useful photographic identification gu ..read more

Comox Valley Nature is sponsoring a special all-day event at Steller Raven Ecological Farm that will highlight native plant gardening techniques and research into the potential of such gardens for carbon sequestration. The public is invited to attend this free event: Date: Saturday, June 15, 2024 Time: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PT Location: Steller Raven Ecological Farm, 3177 Kentwood Road, Courtenay Host: Dr. Royann Petrell Features Tour existing native plant gardens and new experimental gardens Speak with experienced gardeners Learn how to convert lawns into native gardens Learn about the ca ..read more

Surf Scoters (Photo: Sean Jenniskens) Comox Valley Nature is hosting a workshop by Birds Canada to promote interest in its Coastal Waterbird Survey and Beached Bird Survey citizen-science programs. CVN members and the general public are invited to this two-part workshop to be held on June 9 during World Oceans Weekend. You can attend either one or both parts of the workshop. Refresh your birding skills with a presentation + trivia about the local coastal waterbird species, and learn more about the coastal programs at Birds Canada, and how you can help monitor the health of our coasts! Part 1 ..read more

Comox Valley Nature members and the general public are invited to CVN’s May general meeting for the following keynote presentation: Title: Understanding our Watersheds “One Puzzle Piece at a Time” Speaker: Dave Weaver (Beaufort Watershed Stewards) Date: Sunday, May 26, 2024 Time: 7:00 p.m. PT Location: Main hall of Comox United Church, 250 Beach Drive, Comox This 45-minute information session will present what the Beaufort Watershed Stewards are all about—their intent, how they are structured, what activities they do and where, the processes they use and/or follow, and where they intend to go ..read more

Red-flowering currant in Mack Laing Park (Photo: V. McIntyre) The Botany/Mycology Group was privileged to have Marta Donovan lead the group in a very informative walk through MacDonald Wood Park and Mack Laing Nature Park in Comox on April 9. Marta is a professional botanist who recently retired after working for 26 years for the BC Conservation Data Centre, a program for the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. She compiled the provincial list of plants in BC, assessing their conservation status and mapped the locations of species at risk in the province. The two parks, while clo ..read more

At Comox Valley Nature’s general meeting on April 28, the keynote presentation by Royann Petrell on “Native Plant Gardening and Carbon Sequestration” was well-attended and stimulated an interesting discussion. Some audience members expressed an interest in seeing the slides again, and Royann has kindly allowed them to be distributed. You can download the presentation here (PDF, 16.5 MB). For more information about Royann’s work at her Steller Raven Ecological Farm and an event at the farm in June promoting native plant gardening, see this earlier post. The post Slides for native plant gardeni ..read more

Nominations for Trees of the Year 2024 ended March 31, and we’ve been busy planning tour routes to help you visit these 27 impressive trees efficiently. Maps of these routes are now available. You can access them using the links in the table below. For full descriptions of the individual trees, including location, a photo, size, and the tree’s story, see this page: Trees of the Year 2024. Please respect private property boundaries and owner privacy by viewing the trees from public land unless otherwise invited in. The maps We have three ways for you to access the route maps using the links in ..read more