Dungeness crab in False Creek. Photo by Fernando Lessa https://sentinels.hakai.org/approaches/light-traps
Comox Valley Nature recently hosted the following presentation at our January general meeting:
Title: Community science for crabs: Tracking larval Dungeness crab across the Salish Sea Speaker: Heather Earle (Hakai Institute) Date: Sunday, January 26, 2025
If you missed this event or would like to see it again, a recording is available here (MP4, 90 MB if downloaded).
For more information about this talk, see the announcement in our earlier post.
The Botany Group enjoyed a field trip to Ruth Masters Greenway in Courtenay on January 7. Ruth Masters was a prominent local environmentalist and activist, and was a long-time member of CVN. In 2004, she donated this important property adjacent to the Puntledge River to the Comox Valley Regional District with protective covenants. Ruth died in 2017 at age 97.
The group focused on identifying trees and shrubs using characteristics like bark, branches and buds. Fungi, lichens, mosses and ferns were also a focus. There’s plenty to see even at this time of year. Some highlights included yellow-cedar, normally found at much higher elevations, and some cultivated trees remaining from the property’s use as an orchard—hazelnut, apple and cherry. The Greenway is also rich in fungi, some uncommon in this area.
Co-leader Véronique has produced another enlightening photographic guide to help us identify the species seen during this outing. In this case the guide comes in two parts which you can download:
Here’s a selection of photos from these guides [click a photo to see the whole image]:
Yellow-cedarBigleaf maple leaf scar and budBitter cherry alternate branchesCascara has no bud scalesOceanspray fruits in winterPacific ninebarkApple on Pacific crab apple rootstockBone lichenCrab’s beard lichenFlecked-flesh polyporeGolden jelly cone on conifer woodFalse lily-of-the-valley fruits
Comox Valley Nature recently hosted the following presentation at our November general meeting:
Title: Comox Valley Land Trust programs and the Puntledge Forest land protection project Speaker: David Stapley (Comox Valley Land Trust) Date: Sunday, November 24, 2024
If you missed this event or would like to see it again, a recording is available here (MP4, 164 MB if downloaded). Due to technical difficulties the two short video clips that were part of this presentation are not present in the main recording. Instead, at the designated points, you can pause the recording and separately watch the video clips here:
Comox Valley Nature members are invited to CVN’s online-only January general meeting. The keynote presentation will be as follows:
Title: Community science for crabs: Tracking larval Dungeness crab across the Salish Sea Speaker: Heather Earle (Hakai Institute) Date: Sunday, January 26, 2025 Time: 3:00 p.m. PT Location: Instructions for joining this Zoom meeting will be sent to members before the meeting.
Following the keynote presentation, the meeting will include brief reports from CVN interest groups and other activity leaders.
The keynote presentation will be recorded and later made available on CVN’s website.
Dungeness crab in False Creek. Photo by Fernando Lessa https://sentinels.hakai.org/approaches/light-traps
Driven by communities and led by the Hakai Institute, the Sentinels of Change Light Trap Network is a community science project that uses light traps to investigate the ecology and dynamics of a critically important species: Dungeness crab. Taking advantage of the crabs’ attraction to light (positive phototaxis) these floating traps allow the network to track the arrival and abundance of the larval crab, alongside many other interesting marine organisms.
Three years in, the network has grown to 30 sites operated by diverse community groups across the Salish Sea, including several sites within K’omoks Nation territory and in the Comox Valley. Join us to hear about what they are seeing and about how important community science is in our efforts to understand ecosystems and environmental change.
Heather Earle is a marine ecologist with the Hakai Institute and project lead of the Sentinels Light Trap Network. She says she is fortunate to work across the coast with many different communities and organizations to study marine ecosystems and how they are responding to anthropogenic induced changes. She has a master’s degree from the Coastal Marine Ecology and Conservation Lab at SFU.
On December 3, a large contingent of Botany Group members enjoyed a walk in Seal Bay Nature Park, following the Coupland Loop trail. The main themes of this late-autumn outing were mosses and fungi, and many interesting and beautiful specimens were observed, even on the logs bordering the parking lot. Other taxa that drew attention included a liverwort, lichens, slime molds, and a few herbaceous vascular plants.
Co-leader Véronique continues her practice of producing a photographic identification guide to many of these specimens using her own photographs. You can download the guide here (PDF, 6.4 MB).
Here’s a selection of photos from the guide [click a photo to see the whole image]:
I wish to thank all the volunteers who showed up in record numbers helping the project for its 29th year. Another hot dry summer required lots of watering the new plantings. We are looking forward to 2025 and starting to replace our native plant signage. A limited number of hard copies of the report are available from myself or Karen Cummins.
Thanks once again. Frank Hovenden
Posted inWetland Restoration|Comments Off on Restoration Project 2024 – Courtenay River Airpark
The Botany Group delved into the plentiful and diverse world of fungi in the Puntledge forest on their November field trip. Although walking only a short distance, it seemed the group saw specimens to examine every metre along the side of the trail. Examples from almost all the 14 morphological groups of fungi (gilled, toothed, etc.) were found.
Co-leader Véronique has provided us with another photographic guide to help us learn about these fungi. You can download the guide here (PDF, 4.5 MB).
The Puntledge forest is currently the subject of a campaign by the Comox Valley Land Trust to save this special forest by purchasing the logging rights. David Stapley of CVLT was recently the keynote speaker at CVN’s November general meeting, where he described the forest and this campaign. To learn more about it and how you can contribute, visit CVLT’s website here.
Here’s a selection of photos from the guide [click a thumbnail to see the whole image]:
Comox Valley Nature members and the general public are invited to CVN’s November general meeting for the following keynote presentation:
Title: Comox Valley Land Trust (CVLT) programs and the Puntledge Forest land protection project Speaker: David Stapley (CVLT) Date: Sunday, November 24, 2024 Time: 3:00 p.m. PT Location: Main hall of Comox United Church, 250 Beach Drive, Comox
David will provide an overview of CVLT programs with a special focus on the “Save the Puntledge Forest” land protection project. He will outline the ecological characteristics and benefits of protecting this 100 to 120 year-old naturally regenerating forest. The history of human disturbance and current risks, from mining to hydro power generation and logging, will be presented. The complicated story of protecting this area due to the unique challenges posed through land ownership and a private timber reservation registered on title will be shared.
David Stapley is currently the treasurer on the board of the CVLT. He is a retired organizational development consultant and group facilitator. He worked as a contract facilitator for the CVLT from 2009 to 2018. Over this time, he established the Comox Valley Conservation Partnership program. In his roles with CVLT he has advocated for better protection of local forests, wetlands and watersheds by local governments. Since retiring in 2018, David has continued to promote the benefits of conservation in the community and to develop resources to grow the capacity of the CVLT to conserve lands.
More about the meeting
Following the keynote presentation, the meeting will include brief reports from CVN interest groups and other activity leaders.
This will be a hybrid meeting (in-person and videoconference). We encourage members and the general public to attend the in-person meeting. Members who cannot attend can participate via videoconference. The link to join the Zoom meeting will be sent to members by email before the meeting.
Now that the flowering season is over, the Botany Group returned to Paradise Meadows on October 8 to learn to identify the plants there by their other characteristics—growth habit, leaves, seeds and other clues. And, of course, to enjoy the beautiful fall colours in the meadows.
The focus plants on this fall trip included subalpine fir, amabilis fir, partridge-foot, queen’s cup, black huckleberry, white-flowered rhododendron, false azalea, spleenwort-leaved goldthread, western bog-laurel, western tea-berry, and Pacific soft rush. These all occur only above 300 m elevation.
Once again, co-leader Véronique has provided us with a photographic identification guide to plants observed on this trip. You can download the guide here (PDF, 5.3 MB).
Here’s a selection of photos from the guide [click a thumbnail to see the whole image]:
Alaskan bunchberryBog blueberryBuds on oval-leaved blueberryGreen false-helleboreSeed head of hooded ladies’ tressesSeed capsules of Jeffrey’s shootingstarLong-styled sedgeNagoonberryNorthern bedstraw leaf whorlPacific soft rushValley wolf lichenWhite-flowered rhododendron
We have revived a former website feature—a calendar of CVN activities—for the convenience of members who want to know about upcoming activities. See it here, or navigate to it anytime via the About menu.
One benefit of this calendar is that it enables activity leaders to know about the scheduling of the activities of other groups to help them avoid conflicts.
Here, the calendar is view-only. Activity leaders who need to add entries to the calendar should contact the secretary for instructions.
Note that this calendar is distinct from the Events page of this website which provides details and registration (where needed) for CVN’s public events.
Posted inMiscellaneous, News|Comments Off on CVN activities calendar
It has been a while since I've posted photos from the CVN photo group monthly meetings. Here are 10 shots from one of our meetings late last year. We have another meeting coming up next week so look for some soon after.Give a like if you are enjoying them and want to see them continue.Photographer details given within each photo. ... See MoreSee Less
Happy World Wetlands Day! Learn more about the importance of wetlands and Birds Canada's Marsh Monitoring Program at the link below ... See MoreSee Less
Important words from Jackie Hildering ...keep putting good into the world...Helpful? I've been struggling for words in light of developments in the world. I had some of my own recently sent back to me. __________From an email I received yesterday: "I recently listened to the episode of Whale Tales that you were featured on, and a quote by you made me incredibly emotional.[From the podcast] "We are capable of incredible change. (...) We can change, we should change, but there are forces that try to make us believe that we can't, because overwhelm, fear, and despair work really well to make sure that there isn't the change that disempowers those who have enjoyed power for a very long time. (...) You are part of the positive wave, and we may not disappear into despair."It really impacted me so strongly in a way I wasn't expecting while driving home from work. People will still do good regardless of daily politics and the failures of our governments, every choice towards sustainability makes a difference and it was very refreshing to be reminded of this sentiment. The sense of community evoked in that quote is very powerful."__________So grateful to the person who wrote that email and gave me permission to share it. How they helped me. Just keep putting good into the world and understand that overwhelm, despair, and fear are the blunt tools used to beat down positive change and empowerment. I will not disappear. I will not be silent. I will NOT give my oxygen to the vampires that thrive on negative attention and inhumanity. ... See MoreSee Less