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.

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.

Thursday September 30th, 7pm Save the Cable Bay Trail Area – What’s Happening? 

More than 17,000 people have signed the petition urging protection for the lands around the Cable Bay Trail and Joan Park. So what’s happening? Jain Alcock-White, Guy Dauncey and Laura Augustine will bring you up to date, and explain the complicated story around land ownership, the City of Nanaimo and the Regional District of Nanaimo. Hosted by the Yellow Point Ecological Society. We recognize that Thursday is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and we will open our meeting with a focus on this. To register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/save-the-cable-bay-trail-area-tickets-177516024207

Thursday October 14, 7pm: What’s Happening at Fairy Creek?

An evening with Kathy Code, who has been involved at the Fairy Creek blockades to save the old growth forest all summer. Hosted by YES. By Zoom.To register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/whats-happening-at-fairy-creek-tickets-177456867267

Thursday October 28, 7pm: The Mushrooms of British Columbia, with Andy MacKinnon

An evening with Andy MacKinnon, author of a new book with Kem Luther on The Mushrooms of British Columbia. Hosted by YES. By Zoom. To register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-mushrooms-of-british-columbia-tickets-177430809327

Friday October 29, 10am: Mushroom-Hunting in Yellow Point

A field trip with Andy MacKinnon, somewhere in Yellow Point, location to be announced. Hosted by YES. In person. To register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mushrooms-in-yellow-point-a-field-trip-tickets-177443868387

Previous Events

Due to COVID-19, our in-person events and hikes have been cancelled. We are now offering free presentations by Zoom.

Zoom here to join (free): https://www.facebook.com/events/3005074962892475/

How much do you know about the plants in your landscape beyond their names and uses? Jain will share her knowledge of the benefits of nature immersion and plant communication, and discuss 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   

February 20th, A New Way to Protect the Forest?

An evening discussion with Peter Grove from Salt Spring about planning tools that can maybe be used to protect the Coastal Douglas Fir on private land on Vancouver Island. Yellow Point Ecological Society. 13651 Barney Road, Yellow Point.

January 30th, Area H OCP: What’s Our Future?

In preparation for the CVRD Official Community Plan (OCP) Modernization process, which starts locally on February 8th (North Oyster Hall, 1-4pm), we invite you to an evening to share ideas for ways in which our new OCP can protect the forest, protect biodiversity, protect the Yellow Point watershed, address the climate crisis, and anything else that you care about. 13561 Barney Road, off Yellow Point Road. Here’s the CVRD’s description of what’s about to happen: https://www.cvrd.bc.ca/DocumentCenter/View/94949/Official-Community-Plan-Modernization-Backgrounder- Please RSVP if you want to come, for numbers. yellowpoint2020@gmail.com

How Can We Save BC’s Last Remaining Old Growth Forests? An Evening with Erik Piikkila

Thursday December 5th, 7pm

How can we save BC’s last remaining oldgrowth forests and end the clearcutting that commits such savagery in our forest ecosystems? Erik Piikkila is a forest and watershed ecologist who has recently returned from the Forest Summit and Convergence in Nelson BC, which was organized to motivate citizens and communities to tackle the climate crisis, protect forests and water, preserve species biodiversity, and influence government legislation, policy and action.

13561 Barney Road, off Yellow Point Road. Tasty refreshments for all to enjoy! Please RSVP yellowpoint2020@gmail.com if you want to attend. Coming from the north, once you have passed Yellow Point Lodge, Barney Road is first on the right. From the west, it’s first on the left after YP Park. On Barney, go up and down the hill, and ours is the white house at the bottom. Turn left and park on the road. http://bit.ly/1CCRIDQ