Greetings!
We know that everyone’s holiday celebrations are being severely limited by the Omicron variant of the virus, so that’s all the more reason to pour some love into your family’s stocking.
The Twelve Days of a Yellow Point Christmas
Here’s a sing-along for your family over the holidays, compiled by members of the Yellow Point Ecological Society:
On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, a raven in an ancient cedar tree.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, two clear streams, and a raven in an ancient cedar tree.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, three winter wrens
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, four hooting owls
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, five forests green
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, six frogs a-hopping
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, seven salmon spawning
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, eight hummers humming
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, nine seals a swimming
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, ten eagles swooping
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, eleven hikers hiking
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, whales a-breaching …
- We are exploring the possibility that a VIU master’s student could do a practicum project to look into the feasibility of purchasing forested land before it’s logged, to establish the forest as a Yellow Point Green Burial and Memorial Park.
- We are exploring ways to stop the frogs from being squashed as they cross Tiesu Road.
- At our suggestion, the Nanaimo Area Land Trust is looking into ways to make Conservation Covenants on forested lands cheaper and easier to implement.
- We are making good progress on The Yellow Point Trail – we have been awarded $400,000 from the Area H gas tax, and a feasibility study will be done by BOCA Engineering in 2022, with construction scheduled to start on the first portion of the trail in 2023.
- YES has been asked to become a Project Champion for Active Transportation for BC. We’ll find out what that means in due course!
- The Harmonized OCP for the CVRD has been approved by our Regional Directors, and the process of creating a new Modernized OCP will now begin, for which YES has been invited to form a Community Circle to gather your ideas. https://www.planyourcowichan.ca
- We are holding our AGM on Thursday January 27th at 7pm, with guest speaker Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia, author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. Suzanne is one of the world’s leading forest ecologists, who has forever changed how people view trees, their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest–a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery. https://suzannesimard.com Registration details to follow.
- Our presentation by the wonderful Alexandra Morton on The Joy of Wild Salmon can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JUQmbS6Tso She has been called “the Jane Goodall of Canada” because of her passionate thirty-year fight to save British Columbia’s wild salmon. Her account of that fight in Not on My Watch: How a renegade whale biologist took on governments and industry to save wild salmon is an inspiring roadmap of resistance.
- Our presentation on Save the Cable Bay Trail Area – What’s Happening? can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x81H58hJK_A
- Our presentation on What’s Happening at Fairy Creek? with Elder Bill Jones, Kathy Code, and David Suzuki chiming in, can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7e6vcpPbE
- Our presentation on The Mushrooms of British Columbia, with Andy MacKinnon and Kem Luther, can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECYsLIjuZTE, and their new book can be found here: https://publications.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/product/mushrooms-of-british-columbia/
Wildwood wants your help to repatriate six acres to Wildwood
From The Ecoforestry Institute Society: Right next to Wildwood, there are 6 acres of old growth forest that are are critical to save – and we have limited time! Once brought back, the old growth trees will be safe for the rest of their natural lives. The Ecoforestry Institute will implement the same extensive covenants as they do in their other Wildwood Trust protections. The land is a biodiverse, ancient forest with trees older than 500 years, in a very precarious landscape which is becoming increasingly rare on Vancouver Island. Your donation, if you can help us, will be matched up to $30,000 by other generous donors. https://www.ecoforestry.ca/save-the-6-acres
The Hidden Life of Trees – The Movie
Based on forester Peter Wohlleben’s bestselling book The Hidden Life of Trees, the film follows Wohlleben through forests in Europe and BC as he contends that trees are social beings who share food through their root systems, protect each other from insects and time their blossoming for bumper years that will outstrip animals’ ability to eat all the seeds. Wohlleben is not opposed to all logging, but points out that monoculture plantations are unhealthy; clear-cutting destroys the potential of young trees and heavy machinery does irreversible damage by compacting the soil. There are alternative approaches. A walk in the woods will never be the same after watching this film. The film is full of lovely images, macro close-ups and time-lapse photography. To watch on-line on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play or Vudu, click here: https://thestreamable.com/movies/the-hidden-life-of-trees-2020 Here’s the trailer: https://youtu.be/k_xKhHwqeW8
Monday December 27 The Nanaimo Christmas Bird Count
From Nature Nanaimo: Do you love watching birds? Then this is your chance! Here’s the map, stretching from Cedar to North Nanaimo: https://www.birdscanada.org/download/cbc/maps/BCNN.pdf
Last year a few people were startled by people appearing to be looking at their houses with binoculars, but don’t worry – they are just interested in your bird feeder! Field observers cover a portion of the circle, counting all birds they find. Feeder watchers count birds at their feeders for a portion of the day. Bird species missed on the count day may be recorded during the count week, which is 3 days either side of count day. These may be rare birds or just something that was missed due to bad weather etc. Owl surveys are particularly valuable. They consist of early morning or evening surveys by listening for owls inside the count circle. Contact Heidi Vanvliet heidi.vanvliet@hotmail.ca, cc to Bryan Vroom bvroom@gmail.com
Here’s some Peaceful Winter Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N68Ous_DSfc
And to wrap things up, here’s a jolly Holiday Party Song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX9EAavxrus
We wish you a warm, peaceful and happy holiday, from all of us in the Yellow Point Ecological Society
Yellow Point Ecological Society 