Anne and Jim Ginns land protected near Thetis Lake Park

An ecologically diverse 23 hectare parcel of land bordering Thetis Lake Regional Park is now officially protected by the Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT).

For nearly 50 years it was owned by Anne & Jim Ginns, who always wanted to see the land permanently protected.

The Ginns donated a significant portion of the value of the property to HAT to achieve this goal, the Trust said in the statement.

An article in the Times – Colonist adds further details. A few incorrect details in the article have been corrected above.
https://www.timescolonist.com/search-results-7.2864?q=ginns

Dr. Jim Ginns is a mycologist living in Penticton. He has made presentations to SVIMS several times and is a member of the Pacific Northwest Key Council. He is the author of numerous scientific publications including Polypores of British Columbia (Fungi: Basidiomycota).
https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/Docs/Tr/TR104.htm

Presentation / meeting with Jeff Chilton

Thursday, March 4, 2021 6:45 by Zoom
Jeff Chilton will talk about Mushroom Cultivation in China and elsewhere. The meeting will be available to SVIMS members who should receive a Zoom link within 24 hours of the meeting. An attempt will be made to provide longer term access to members eventually on this site. There will be 15-20 minutes meet-and-greet and then a short business meeting before the presentation. Learn more about Jeff Chilton below.

Jan/Feb NAMA Mycophile available

SVIMS is a member of The North American Mycological Association (NAMA), the collective that unites the mycological societies on this continent.  Six times a year NAMA publishes its newsletter, the Mycophile, and makes it available to members of all supporting clubs.  The January/February 2021 issue was recently released.  To read it, click on the picture of the cover. 

MycoMatch (MatchMaker) new version with beta iPhone app

MycoMatch (MatchMaker) Version 2.4 is now available at www.mycomatch.com.

New: MycoMatch Mobile for iPhone will join MycoMatch (MatchMaker). A menu item in MycoMatch (MatchMaker) will take you to its web pages which can also reached from the main download site above. Download the iPhone app 2.4 beta version and its future updates there.  MMM is designed to work on iPhones, covering over 1200 gilled mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. As in MycoMatch (MatchMaker), there are photographs and detailed descriptions, and a way of putting in characters to identify mushrooms.

The program is newly designed by Douglas Alder and Danny Miller.

The Mac version of MycoMatch (MatchMaker) has been discontinued due to difficulties with making it work with recent Mac operating systems.

About 75 species have been added and about 135 primary names have been changed in MycoMatch since the March 2019 version 2.3.1.

                                  —-  Ian Gibson, Danny Miller, and the rest of the MycoMatch Team

Mount Doug Illegal Picking

CTV did a video news piece on unauthorized mushroom collection on Mt. Doug. It can be viewed at:

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/saanich-residents-concerned-over-illegal-mushroom-picking-at-mt-douglas-park-1.5188750

It features an interview with SVIMS member and past-president Andy MacKinnon.

Fall 2020 Mushroom Show Cancelled

We will unfortunately have to break our long tradition of holding a SVIMS mushroom show this fall. While a certain virus was looking forward to the opportunity, SVIMS has decided that it would not be a good idea this year. We are hopeful about the fall of 2021.