An evening with Andy MacKinnon, author of a new book with Kem Luther on The Mushrooms of British Columbia.
Join Andy MacKinnon as he shares his love of mushrooms and fungi! His new book is a unique field guide brimming with detailed descriptions, vibrant photos and fascinating facts about British Columbia’s most common—and most distinctive—mushroom species.
With more species of fungi than any other region in Canada, British Columbia is a rich playground for mushroom hunters. This is the go-to guidebook for anyone, amateur or expert, who loves to study, draw, photograph and eat BC mushrooms.
Hosted jointly by the Yellow Point Ecological Society and the Ecoforestry Institute. Free. To Register, click here.
Full up!
Free. To register, click here
Alexandra Morton has been called “the Jane Goodall of Canada” because of her passionate thirty-year fight to save British Columbia’s wild salmon. Her book Not on My Watch: How a renegade whale biologist took on governments and industry to save wild salmon is an inspiring roadmap of resistance.
Alexandra came north from California in the early 1980s, following her first love–the northern resident orca. In remote Echo Bay, in the Broughton Archipelago, she found the perfect place to settle into all she had ever dreamed of: a lifetime of observing and learning what these big-brained mammals are saying to each other. She was lucky enough to get there just in time to witness a place of true natural abundance, and learned how to thrive in the wilderness as a scientist and a single mother.
Then, in 1989, industrial aquaculture moved into the region, chasing the whales away. Her fisherman neighbours asked her if she would write letters on their behalf to government explaining the damage the farms were doing to the fisheries, and one thing led to another. Soon Alex had shifted her scientific focus to documenting the infectious diseases and parasites that pour from the ocean farm pens of Atlantic salmon into the migration routes of wild Pacific salmon, and then to proving their disastrous impact on wild salmon and the entire ecosystem of the coast.
Alex stood against the farms, first representing her community, then alone, and at last as part of an uprising that built around her as ancient Indigenous governance resisted a province and a country that wouldn’t obey their own court rulings. She has used her science, many acts of protest and the legal system in her unrelenting efforts to save wild salmon and ultimately the whales — a story that reveals her own doggedness and bravery but also shines a bright light on the ways other humans doggedly resist the truth. Here, she brilliantly calls those humans to account for the sake of us all.
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Wild About Gardening with Wildlife
View Claudia’s talk here on YouTube
Having a garden that welcomes wildlife is easy! Claudia Copley will describe the various ways you can make a difference to populations of birds, butterflies, and bees through your landscape choices. With just a few simple changes, your garden will be a haven for you, native pollinators, beautiful birds, gorgeous butterflies, and beneficial insects
Claudia has been a collection manager at the Royal BC Museum since 2004. She is responsible for maintaining the entomology collection, which includes insects, arachnids and myriapods, a collection with more than half a million specimens.
Claudia’s graduate degree was focused on the spider fauna of the ancient forests in the Carmanah Valley, but her interests include everything biological. Each year, during the summer field season, you will find Claudia exploring an area of British Columbia with collecting equipment in hand.
Her current area of collection focus at RBCM is an attempt to document the spider fauna in the province, especially at high elevations. Approximately 1,000 species are expected to be found, and the final product of these surveys will be a handbook to the spiders of British Columbia.
Here is the video (above) of our AGM on Thursday January 28th with Briony Penn:
How Can We Protect the Forest on Private Land?
It’s a difficult challenge, for the forest has almost zero legal protection, except around creeks, lakes and wetlands. Ruben is a lawyer who worked with the Environmental Law Centre at UVic and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation to write a recent report on Legal Measures to Protect the Gulf Islands Coastal Douglas-fir Zone.
Elke Wind has 20 years experience studying amphibian populations, and has built or restored more than 20 wetlands. Here is the theYouTube LINK to her presentation.
Welcome to the Yellow Point Ecological Society
Our purpose is to understand, appreciate, protect and restore the ecosystems and watersheds in the Yellow Point area of Vancouver Island, and to inspire and support local residents and visitors to do the same. We honour the Snuneymuxw and Stz’uminus First Nations, who have stewarded these lands and the waters of the Salish Sea for thousands of years.
The Wildflowers of Yellow Point
Here is the video from Jain’s talk
How much do you know about the plants in your landscape, beyond their names and uses? Jain shares her knowledge of the benefits of nature immersion and plant communication, and discusses how you can improve your knowledge of plants to reduce stress and anxiety, and harvest the foods and medicines your body needs.
Jain Alcock-White is a student of Nature who has spent most of her career working for environmentally-related branches of government, with advanced education in Recreation, Fish and Wildlife Management Technologies and Environmental Management. She is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and is currently studying Vitalist Herbalism. She owns Champagne Hill Botanicals, a small-batch herbalism shop in Cedar, BC, where she offers locally wildcrafted and garden-grown herbal medicines and skin care products, seasonal workshops and events. She has come back to her love of the natural world, and her belief in the importance of holistic wellness.
Facebook @champagnehillbotanicals www.champagnehillbotanicals.ca
For Love of the Forest: Our New YES Video
Twelve Ways to Protect The Forest: Click here
The Forest Landowner’s Handbook: Coming in 2021
Common Yard Birds of Yellow Point: Click here.
Previous Speakers and Activities
Saturday November 2nd, 2019, Cedar Community Hall
On Saturday April 6th we joined the BC-wide Forest March BC in Nanaimo and locally in Blue Heron Park.
Chloe and Finn Unger spoke at our 2018 AGM about Project HOWL – Help Our Wolves Live.
Janet is head of the DFO Dive Fisheries Program, and oversees BC’s stock assessment programs for Green Sea Urchins, Red Sea Urchins, Giant Red Sea Cucumbers and Pacific Geoduck Clams.
Sunday June 3rd – a bash when we eliminated a good chunk of of the broom on Yellow Point Road, near the Lodge. A single plant can produce 18,000 seeds that live in the soil for 30 to 40 years. Thanks to Broombusters for their practical advice and support. www.broombusters.org
Ted Leischner has kept bees for 30 years, including 10 years as a commercial beekeeper with 500 hives. He taught beekeeping for 15 years at an agricultural college in Alberta.
After observing the importance of bees to our agricultural economy, and noting the serious nature of bee decline, Ted became engaged in bee pollinator conservation outreach on Vancouver Island through Bee Plan Now to save both our honey bees and our 400 species of native bees, to ensure our local capacity for pollination and seed set for flowers, fruits and nuts for decades to come. Come and join us for another great evening! www.planbeenow.ca
Bruce Whittington is an acclaimed naturalist, birder, author and wildlife photographer. He will be sharing insights into our local Yellow Point birds, and inviting us to engage as citizen-scientists, watching and noting the many birds who are our fellow-residents.
Bruce is the author of Seasons with Birds, The Field Naturalist, and Wildlife Watch on an Alaska Cruise, and founder and former Executive Director of the Habitat Acquisition Trust. With Wanda Dombrowski he operates Bayview Framing and Art on First Avenue in Ladysmith.
Genevieve is a volunteer with the Cowichan Valley Naturalists. She is a mother of four, a nature interpreter, biologist, ecological reserve warden and women’s counselor. She has shared her passion for nature with children and adults for many years, including in BC Parks, School District #79, Girl Guides and with the Bring Back the Bluebirds Project. In 2016 she was honoured as BC Parks Volunteer of the Year. She works closely with her husband Dave Polster, a highly-respected restoration biologist.
Geraldine Manson is a member of the Snuneymuxw First Nation and is married to Earl Manson. She has worked for her community since 1980 gives credit for her cultural wisdom and education to her Elders, present, and Elders who have passed on.
As the Elders’ Coordinator at VIU for Snuneymuxw First Nations, she carries many responsibilities that relate to culture and traditions in the community. Geraldine has served her community as elected council-member. She continues to be mentored by Dr. Ellen White (Kwulasulwut) in the traditional cultural practices of the Snuneymuxw people.
Yellow Point Ecological Society 