On August 16 2021, six members hiked from Buntzen Lake to Sugar Mountain (South of Diez Vistas trail). It’s a beautiful forest, with most of the trip on easy to follow pleasant trails. After 2 months of hot dry weather, we were delighted to get some much needed rain.
Trip Report and Photos by Caroline Penn Fifteen members of Nature Vancouver enjoyed a day hike to Echo Lake near Harrison Mills on 21 August 2021. Access was graciously granted by owners of this privately owned land which is in the traditional territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation. Echo lake is circled by old forests. On the South side, 60% were protected in a 2012 campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance group as an Old Growth Management Area (see protectecholake.com), but the West…
Text and Photos by Caroline Penn On July 10th, 2021, I photographed a beautiful mallow flower that I found growing on a rocky area that extends out from the beach area on Southern Salt Spring Island. I was curious about what type of mallow it was and so did some searching and discovered it was a Henderson’s Checker-mallow (Sidalcea hendersonii), also known as Marsh Hollyhock. It is currently quite rare and is blue-listed. See species summary on BC Conservation Data Centre…
Trip Report & Photos by Denis Laplante and Teresa Gagné Five members (including two Board members) joined Teresa and Denis for 7 hours of walking (9.5km), botanizing and birdwatching. Our route included a mix of steep climbs (Tantalus Viewpoint, and Cheakamus Loop trails) and gentler strolls through beautiful mixed conifer-deciduous forest around the lake (Bridge Trail, Brohm Lake Trail) – see Brohm Lake Interpretive Forest. We met at 8:30 to reduce our exposure to the predicted 27 C afternoon temperature, and…
N V Member, Nina Shoroplova’s Book Shortlisted for 2021 The stories of the trees in Stanley Park by Nina Shoroplova, Legacy of Trees: Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, is a finalist for the 38th Annual British Columbia Historical Federation Lieutenant Governor’s Historical Writing Competition. Shoroplova is a historian, researcher, photographer, and author living in Vancouver’s West End. Heritage House Publishing released Shoroplova’s book in June 2020, describing it as an “engaging, informative, and visually stunning tour of the numerous…
Report & Photos by Doug Cooper The summer months of June, July and August were much quieter at the Hastings Park Sanctuary. From eBird, my species count at the sanctuary for June was 25, for July 21, and for August a grand total of 17. But there were some highlights. In general birding news of local interest was about the two species of crows – American and the Northwestern. In June 2020, following a recent study on the genetics of…
Report and Photos by Doug Cooper Time seems to have, both dragged and flown by in the last few months. I thought it was time to give an update on what has been happening at the sanctuary at Hastings Park, at least from my perspective. May seemed to have been the busiest month, so I’ll devote this report to that period. In May this year, 60 species were reported to eBird from Hastings Park Sanctuary. I ran into more fellow birders…
History and its impact on our local flora and fauna Here is an interesting article published in The Tyee about the Himalayan Blackberry. The article discusses at length the history of introduction of this invasive plant and its impact on our environment. Read the article from the link below: How Blackberries Took Over. It’s a Juicy Story
Shoroplova, Nina. 2020. Heritage House Publishing. 278 pp. $ 29.95. Paperback. Note: Nina Shoroplova is a member of Nature Vancouver Book review by Terry Taylor If you live in the Lower Mainland, you have probably been to Stanley Park. If you live in Vancouver, you probably think you know Stanley Park. Once you read this book, you will realize that you really do not know Stanley Park. It is a book that is difficult to classify. Is it a tree…
The two of us drove out Monday to Elk Mountain, South of Chilliwack. The easy to follow trail starts out in a beautiful conifer woods and after 800 metres of climb over 4.5km arrives at beautiful sub-alpine meadows with views of nearby Mt Baker and other mountains. The trail was somewhat muddy in patches but we didn’t sink in. And the bugs kept away. What a wonderful day! We identified 58 species of plants, and one toad. Get species list…