South Vancouver Island Mycological Society
CTV reports on the appearance and removal of the 2024 crop of Death Cap mushrooms in Oak Bay. The video features SVIMS ex-president Andy MacKinnon.
For a more extensive interview with Andy about this issue, listen to the recent CFAX 1070 radio broadcast of the August 26 Mornings with Al Farraby show.
Michael Beug’s second edition of his illustrated key to mushrooms in our area, Mushrooms of Cascadia, is now available. Unlike his first edition, which we had trouble getting in Canada, this volume should show up in some of our bookstores. It can also be purchased online in Canadian dollars.
It is a much more handsome volume than Michael’s first edition, with better typesetting and layout. He has also added two sample walkthroughs of his key at the front to show people how to use the book.
The coverage continues to be impressive. The index of scientific names at the back has about 1700 species names. There are now 1100 photographs. All but 3 of the photos are by Michael himself or from the photographs of Harley and Kim Scates Barnhart, which Michael curates.
Michael has brought the scientific names up to date and has done a thorough rewrite of the text. This time he has included location information, so we can tell whether the mushrooms are found North America, Europe, Asia, and/or Africa.
— Kem Luther
Breaking news! In Telluride, Colorado, on Sunday, August 18, 2024, SVIMS ex-president Andy MacKinnon received the Lincoff Award for Significant Contributions to American Mycology.
Previous receipients of this award include David Nichols and Paul Stamets.
(Accompanying photos are from the 2024 Telluride festival parade.)
Mushroom Identification workshop with the iNaturalist program and website.
Sunday, July 21st, 2024
10am-12pm
Sign up link and Victoria location is in an email to members from SVIMS President on Friday, July 19.
2. Special General Meeting
your vote counts, as we are a membership-driven club:
JULY 22nd, Monday
at 7pm
ZOOM ONLY – 15 minutes, max
The link to the meeting is in an email to members from SVIMS President on Friday, July 19.
Just one week left to submit your photos for the 2025 SVIMS Calendar.
Send your photos to Jaz Grenier email link . (This link is live, but the email address in the poster below is not.)
SVIMS is sad to hear of the passing of mycologist Dr. Jim Ginns. He died on April 29, 2024.
Jim and his wife Anne retired to Penticton, BC in 1997. He has made presentations to SVIMS several times and was a member of the Pacific Northwest Key Council. He is the author of numerous scientific publications including Polypores of British Columbia.
Anne died in January of this year. The South Okanagan Naturalist’s Club has published a tribute to Anne and her work.
Jim and Anne were also noted conservationists. For nearly 50 years they owned an ecologically diverse 23-hectare parcel of land bordering Thetis Lake Regional Park. It was their goal to see the land permanently protected. The Ginns donated a significant portion of the value of the property to our regional land trust Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) to achieve this goal.
In 2018, they also donated their 42-hectare property in Gatineau, Quebec to the municipality of Cantley as a nature reserve, now called Parc écologique Ginns.
The beautiful 2024 SVIMS Calendar is now available (see front cover below). SVIMS members have contributed their photographs and graphic art for each month. The calendars can be purchased by either members or non-members.
The calendars are $20 each. They make a great gift to family and friends.
If you require shipping, please add $5 per calendar for shipping and handling.
See Payment Options on Merch menu.
If you would like to contribute to the 2025 calendar, see the lower part of Merch menu.
