May 22 Outdoor LIVE Member’s Meeting – Herring Cove, 5:30pm
Hobblebush – Viburnum lantanoides Photo Bob Kennedy
We will have our first in-person meeting of the year on Victoria Day, May 22 at 5:30pm. We will meet in the parking lot near the Naval Firefighting School (Fleet School) at 31 Fire Rd near Herring Cove. Once everyone has arrived, we will discuss business then decide where we wish to head to – depending on the turnout and the majority opinions. The options include going towards the Pine Island Ponds or towards the York Redoubt. The focus will be on what plants we find coming out, but the local birds will be giving their evening songs as we explore.
To get there, from the Armadale Roundabout take the Herring Cove exit. Head up the hill for about 200m then take the left fork onto Purcell’s Cove Rd. Highway 253. Stay on the road for 9 km (which at some point turns into John Brackett Dr.), then turn left onto Fire Rd. where you will see the large school building. There is parking just as you enter Fire Rd.
NSWFS Annual General Meeting – Apr 24 7:00PM
Beaked Hazel Corylus cornuta and Eastern Leatherwood Dirca palustris – Photos Bob Kennedy
Our 2022 AGM will take place Apr 24 at 7:00pm via Zoom.
If you are a NSWFS member, you should receive an email zoom invitation with attached agenda, financials and membership report. Please contact novascotiawildflora@gmail.com if you do not receive it.
Following the AGM, Burke Korol and Iain Crowell of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre will make a presentation of their most recent activities documenting the flora of the Maritimes.
Mar 27 Online Member’s Meeting – The Logic of Black Ash
Our next member’s meeting is on Monday March 27, 7:00pm via Zoom. If you are an NSWFS member, you should receive an email towards the end of the week with a Zoom link to the meeting. If you do not receive it, please contact paris2@ns.sympatico.ca
Many people have never seen a black ash tree. As Ecologist Nick Hill says “truth told, I was in my fourth decade of Nova Scotian botanical fieldwork before I noticed one. Why?”
The black ash, “wisqoq” of the Mi’kmaq, can be large bottomland trees in the Great Lake states and along the St John River but there is only a scattering in Nova Scotia and they are rarest in the acidic southern uplands. Nick will summarize and interpret the findings of the latest field research and try to answer:
Why is the black ash rare?
How can it survive?
Nick Hill PhD has worked Post-Doctorate and as an Associate Professor in Botany/Ecology. He is currently a self employed Consultant Ecologist and has Adjunct Status at Dalhousie and St. FX Universities
He has been Project Coordinator for: 1. Bog Restoration, Globally Imperilled Avens, 2. Wetland delineation and assessment, 2. Botanical inventories (rare plants), 3. Ecological assessments , Monitoring, Restoration analyses, 4. Wetland training courses
Feb 27 Online Members Meeting:
Botanical Tales and Climate Change in Nova Scotia
Our next member’s meeting will be via Zoom at 7:00pm on Feb 27. Invitations will be emailed to members closer to the date.
David Garbary is a Professor of Biology at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish. He will be giving a talk about climate change in Nova Scotia. This is from published work where Nick Hill and he looked at the temperature record for the province starting around 1960. He is then going to talk about wind and how storms have changed over the same period. This is new work that he is currently preparing for publication. He is then going to relate climate change to a couple of plant stories including late flowering plants, some changes in the seaweed flora, and the implications for Eastern Mountain Avens (Geum peckii).
Eastern Mountain Avens – Geum peckii Photo by Bob Kennedy
Born in Ireland, David arrived in Canada at the age of three. After brief stints in Toronto and Cape Breton David arrived in Wolfville where he completed high school (Wolfville and Horton District) and went on to both BSc and MSc degrees at Acadia University. With an aversion to animal dissection, he managed to complete his degrees without any animal biology courses. After mentoring by Darryl Grund (mycology), Sam Vander Kloet (plant taxonomy), and Jack McLachlan (phycology), David went to England to complete his doctorate at Liverpool University in seaweed taxonomy. This was followed by six years as a research associate at the University of British Columbia where he focused on the red algal flora. David arrived back in Nova Scotia in 1984 for a faculty position in plant biology at St. Francis Xavier University. Over his almost 50-year career he has taken up a wide range of topics including seaweed ecology, physiology, and cell biology, but with major departures into the evolution of land plants, flowering plant phenology, climate change, and seashore erosion. He has published over 200 papers and five books, and for six years was the editor of the international algal journal Phycologia. He enjoys mentoring students and introducing undergraduates to research. His favourite places in Nova Scotia are all seashores, especially Brier Island and Tor Bay. He enjoys collaborating with fellow botanist and wetland ecologist Nick Hill who inspired him to branch out to study rare species that grow in Nova Scotia wetlands.
Nov 28 Online Members Meeting:
The Diverse Bees of Nova Scotia
Our next member’s meeting will be via Zoom at 7:00pm on Nov 28. Invitations will be emailed to members closer to the date.
This is the talk that was cancelled in Sep due to hurricane Fiona. Bees pollinate many flowers that are important for people. There are far more bees that share NS with us than most people appreciate. We will explore what bees are in NS and how we can provide habitat and resources for bees to increase pollination.
Perplexing Bumble Bee – Bombus perplexus Photo Bob Kennedy
Alana Pindar, is an early career scientist and recently appointed Weston Family Visiting Professor in Ecosystem Health and Food Security at Cape Breton University. She has been studying changes in wild bee communities in Eastern Canada for over 15 years. In 2016, She led a provincial report on the Status and Trends for Pollinator Health in Ontario for the Ontario Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs was awarded the Webster Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Sciences for her work.
Oct 24 Online Members Meeting – The Origin, Rationale and Results of the Last Hope Camp:
Our next member’s meeting will be via Zoom at 7:00pm on Oct 24. Nina Newington will be our guest speaker.
The Last Hope camp was a protest camp established on a logging road in Annapolis County on 2nd December, 2021. The goal was to protect a 24ha forest. By the time we finally packed up and went home on 22 June, 2022, enough occurrences of Species At Risk lichens had been documented to put 60% of the forest off limits for cutting and make the remainder hard to access and uneconomical to cut. Nina will focus in particular on the crucial role that naturalists, notably lichenologists, played in protecting the forest.
As the climate and nature crises barrel down on us, and as governments continue to pledge action but permit business as usual, those who recognize the urgency of the situation must join forces. Activists willing to get in the way of what damages the earth need people whose love of nature takes the form of observing and learning about very specific life forms, and vice versa. The provincial government’s commitment to protecting 20% of Nova Scotia’s land and waters by 2030 is a starting point. By working together, we can identify and protect ecologically valuable forests before they are logged, not after as seems to be the current plan.
The talk will be accompanied by photographs and a 5 minute mini-documentary about the camp.
Nina Newington is a writer, gardener, carpenter and forest protector. Her second novel, Cardinal Divide, was published in 2020. She lives with her wife on the North Mountain in Kespukwitk, District One of the 7 traditional districts of Mi’kma’ki.
Members should have received a Zoom email invitation. Contact ocotillo8@gmail.com if you did not receive it.
Sep 26 Online Members Meeting Cancelled!
Due to our inability to predict how Hurricane Fiona will affect our ability to hold an online meeting, we are cancelling the member’s meeting scheduled for Monday Sep 26.
We will post more information on possibly rescheduling it after the storm is behind us.
Sep 26 Online Members Meeting:
The Diverse Bees of Nova Scotia
Our next member’s meeting will be via Zoom at 7:00pm on Sep 26. Invitations will be emailed to members closer to the date.
Bees pollinate many flowers that are important for people. There are far more bees that share NS with us than most people appreciate. We will explore what bees are in NS and how we can provide habitat and resources for bees to increase pollination.
Perplexing Bumble Bee – Bombus perplexus Photo Bob Kennedy
Alana Pindar, is an early career scientist and recently appointed Weston Family Visiting Professor in Ecosystem Health and Food Security at Cape Breton University. She has been studying changes in wild bee communities in Eastern Canada for over 15 years. In 2016, She led a provincial report on the Status and Trends for Pollinator Health in Ontario for the Ontario Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs was awarded the Webster Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Sciences for her work.
David McCorquodale, biology professor at Cape Breton University for more than 30 years. A naturalist who has monitored bird populations, recorded long-horned beetles and lady beetles in eastern Canada and is currently teaching plant taxonomy. Service roles have included Chair of Science Atlantic and currently Co-Chair of COSEWIC Arthropods and the NS Insect Recovery Team.
Members are sent notices about upcoming events and field trips. They are also announced on our Facebook Page (Private group) and usually we make a post about them on this website.
Recent Field Trips
Monday, June 27th, 1:30pm-4:30pm
Nature Conservancy Canada, in conjunction with the Atlantic Conservation Data Centre, has generously offered to join with us on a field trip in and around some of the NCC wilderness properties on the Chignecto Isthmus. The trip will start in New Brunswick and we will head into Nova Scotia.
This trip was originally scheduled for June 27, but because of conflicts, it has been moved to July 4.
The Chignecto Isthmus is recognized for its importance to wildlife for connectivity between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It has been identified as a linkage point for the typical movements of plant and animal species as well as critical for northward migration of species in response to climate change.
Rose pogonia – Pogonia ophioglossoides, Photo Bob Kennedy
Join us for an afternoon of learning more about some of the rare plant species that grow in the area. A representative from the ACCDC will be leading the 3km hike and participants will explore forest and wetland habitats and the wide variety of flora and fauna within them.
Habitats visited would be mixed forest (locally wet), maybe some open wetland and pond, and disturbed forest edge. The latter has most of the more interesting species, with a lot of orchids, especially Grass-Pink (Calopogon tuberosus) and Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides). There are some local areas of more calcareous disturbed soils that have uncommon to rare species like Rufous Bulrush (Scirpus pendulus), Loesel’s Twayblade (Liparis loeselii), Dudley’s Rush (Juncus dudleyi), Slender Spikerush (Eleocharis nitida), Variegated Horsetail (Equisetum variegatum), but I’m not sure if we are able to reach them.
Meet just before 1:30 pm at Parson Road, at the corner of NB Highway 16 (45.939880, -64.209108) From there we will carpool to the laneway that takes us to the property, then walk in once the road becomes difficult for smaller cars.
Please contact nswildflora@yahoo.ca to register for the trip.
What to Bring: Water, snacks, close-toed walking shoes, rain gear (just in case!), layers of clothing, bug spray, sunscreen, hat.
Trail difficulty: Difficulty of the walk would be moderate – old logging roads that are very flat, sometimes fairly shrubby or mucky-wet in places. Rubber boots would be important if you want to stay dry and the mosquitos can be extreme, so long sleeves and pants plus repellent are essential and a hat would be recommended.
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Mar 28 Online Members Meeting:
Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe, Identification, Distribution and Ecology in Nova Scotia
Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe Male Staminate Flowers – Photo by Bob Guscott
Bob Guscott will be giving a talk on the identification, biology, distribution and ecology of Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe at our member’s Zoom meeting on March 28. Bob is retired after 30 years with the Nova Scotia Dept. of Natural Resources as a Chief Technician and GIS Analyst. He lives in Wellington and remains an active volunteer and a keen naturalist
Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe Arceuthobium pusillum, is a little known and often overlooked, native, parasitic plant. It is found primarily on spruce trees throughout Nova Scotia, often along the coasts and in treed bogs. It is tiny but it can have a huge impact on the health of spruce forests in Nova Scotia.
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