Comox Valley Nature

Comox Valley Nature hosted the following presentation at our May 2025 general meeting:

Title: Growing Old Growth: The relationships that define the future of our forests
Speaker: Tal Engel (WolfTree Integrative Forest Rehabilitation)
Date: Sunday, May 25, 2025

Our own recording of this talk is not available because of an error in our equipment setup. However, Tal has kindly provided a previous recording he had made of the same presentation. If you missed this talk or would like to see it again, you can access the recording here.

For more information about this talk, see the announcement in our earlier post.

Comox Valley Nature members and the general public are invited to CVN’s May general meeting. where you can hear the following keynote presentation by our guest speaker:

Title: Growing Old Growth: The relationships that define the future of our forests
Speaker: Tal Engel (WolfTree Integrative Forest Rehabilitation)
Date: Sunday, May 25, 2025
Time: 3:00 p.m. PT
Location: Main hall of Comox United Church, 250 Beach Drive, Comox

Members, please also take note of the special resolution to be voted upon, detailed below.

Tal’s talk presents an integrative and regenerative forestry approach to foster fire-resilience, moisture retention, and overall ecological integrity so that degraded forest ecosystems may endure the ever-increasing anthropogenic pressures to one day become old growth forests. He will present evidence that for old growth forests to develop, far more than just time is required.

Tal holds workshops for community groups in which he first explores how industrial forestry has radically altered the structure, composition, function, and relationships essential for the growth of a resilient and healthy forest. The second part of the workshops covers methods he has developed to help dense young forests recover from a century of industrial forestry.

This talk is based on the first part of Tal’s workshops. He will focus on his theories relating to succession, pathology, and cultural relationships in forests and will include an overview of forest ecosystems in crisis from other parts of the world.

Tal has kindly offered to conduct the second, field-trip, part of his workshop for CVN members later at his farm in Merville where he puts his methods into practice. Watch this website and our social media accounts for details when they are confirmed in the near future.

About the speaker

Tal Engel is a forest restoration practitioner and regenerative farmer who lives in the Merville area. On his family’s farm, Honey Grove, he researches and develops forest restoration methods and models that his organization, WolfTree Integrative Forest Rehabilitation, applies throughout eastern Vancouver Island.

Tal is currently working on his master’s thesis in restoration ecology.

More about the meeting

This will be a hybrid meeting (in-person and videoconference). We encourage members and the general public to attend the in-person meeting. Members (only) who cannot attend can participate via videoconference. The link to join the Zoom meeting will be sent to members by email before the meeting.

The business part of the meeting will follow the main presentation after a break with coffee/tea and goodies. Members please note the following important item for the business meeting.

Proposed change to CVN bylaws

One change to the current CVN Bylaws, which were approved on February 23, 2025, is proposed. The affected section is bylaw 2.4 which concerns who can vote at CVN meetings.

The current bylaw 2.4 states, in its entirety:

2.4 Only adults can vote.

The board has listened to a few members who felt this bylaw is too restrictive and now agrees that CVN should allow for the possibility that interested youth can become voting members.

Therefore, the following special resolution will be proposed at the May general meeting:

Be it resolved that Bylaw 2.4 be repealed.

If you are new to Comox Valley Nature, find out more about us here.