South Vancouver Island Mycological Society
Britt Bunyard, who was at SVIMS this spring and did a presentation on his work on Amanitas, reports:
We hope you will share this announcement to your members–an exciting and beautiful new book on all the Amanitas of North America. And all pre-orders received before June 1 will get a major discount (33% off the cover price)! Orders can be placed at the fungimag.com website and questions can be posted there or sent directly to me at fungimag@gmail.com.
Message from SVIMS President David Walde: There are no further meetings or events for the SVIMS summer 2019 to summer 2020 program year. The membership general meeting for May 7th has been cancelled. The Annual President`s Picnic that had been planned for early June has also been cancelled.
We have been looking at alternative approaches to our monthly speaker presentations, but for a number of reasons we have had to hold off with these plans for now.
Other PNW mycology clubs have moved their presentations online and SVIMS members may want to take advantage of these. The Oregon Mycological Society’s event for April (on powdery mildews) is now online here. The Cascade Mycological Society is also going to do a live feed of their speaker for April 22nd. The Webinar is by Trent Blizzard of Modern Forager in Colorado and will be on Oregon Burn Morels. Please follow this link for details on his presentation and instructions on how to access his talk.
Britt Bunyard, editor of Fungi Magazine, made another visit to SVIMS in March. Britt gave an amazing presentation on Amanitas (his book on North American Amanitas will be out in 2 months and his beginner’s guide to mushrooms in the fall.) A version of his talk is available on YouTube.
On Saturday, March 7, 2002, about 30 SVIMS members joined Britt and Andy for a fungal walk through Metchosin’s Blinkhorn Park. The group found over 30 species. These were entered into the Metchosin Biodiversity Project database of observations and species. You can view the species and pictures at the Project’s iNaturalist site.
The new (March-April 2020) edition of the NAMA Mycophile has been sent to SVIMS for its members to read.
We have a not-to-be missed presentation coming up on Thursday, Mar 5, 2020, 7:00pm. Britt Bunyard, editor of Fungi Magazine, will be here for a presentation and foray. His talk will be “From Lowly Saprobe to Mycorrhizal Masters: Amanitas (A Tale Told in the DNA).”
See poster below for more information.
Those of you who have heard Britt before (he was here three years ago) will know how good his talks are. For many years, Britt has been a roving ambassador for serious (and sometimes funny) mycology.
The foray, led by Britt and Andy, will be at Metchosin’s Blinkhorn Lake, which is on Kangaroo Road. Note the time–it will be on Saturday, March 7, from 1 to 3 pm.
SVIMS Log Inoculation Workshop
This will be run by Steve Fischer.
Members only.
Dates and Time:
Saturday March 14th.
The first at 9:00, the second at 13:30
Sunday March 15th.
Depending on the number of registrations on the 14th, an extra class a consideration at 13:30.
Cost: by donation.
Registration: Contact Steve by email. The location/address and details of the event will be provided by him upon registering.
Help document biodiversity in BC’s parks with the BC Parks iNaturalist Project
Date: Sunday March 8th, 2020
Time: 3:15pm – 5:30 pm
Place: Swan Lake Nature House
Cost: by donation
iNaturalist is used worldwide to crowdsource and share biodiversity observations: users take photos of flora, fauna, and fungi using their mobile phones or cameras and upload those images to inaturalist.ca, and iNaturalist’s image recognition software and user community can help identify the organism. Kelly Fretwell and Naomi Salie from the BC Parks Foundation will guide you through the process of using iNaturalist to make great citizen science observations of the fascinating fungi, lichens, and slime moulds you come across while out exploring, and to share your own species identification expertise.
Learn about how SVIMS members can get involved in citizen science through the BC Parks iNaturalist Project. This project now has more than 116,000 observations of 5,000 species, thanks to the photo and identification contributions of over 2,700 citizen scientists. By contributing to this project you can create an interactive record of your outdoor explorations while also generating data that helps researchers develop a deeper understanding of what our parks are protecting.
Those with expertise can also share their knowledge and help others identify what they found: the skills and knowledge of SVIMS members would be particularly valuable in determining the often more elusive identities of fungi, lichens, and slime moulds found by other observers.
The afternoon will include a guided stroll in Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary to find and photograph species, so be sure to bring a smart phone or camera to take photos.
Recommendations & optional equipment to prepare for this event: