Click on the Title to see the MP4 Zoom Recording
Oct. 23/23 Presentation – Fires, Conservation and Fire Management in the Halifax Backlands
Online presentation by David Patriquin to the NS Wild Flora Society.
The “Backlands”, located only a few kilometers from from peninsular Halifax, NS, are a Thompsonesque urban wilderness of approximately 1350 hectares which include nine lakes, hills with spectacular views and dozens of kilometers of informal hiking and biking trails. Erratic blocks, whalebacks and boulder fields are prominent features of the glacially scoured rocky landscape. It is also one of the most fire-susceptible landscapes in Nova Scotia, with recurrent fires pre-dating European settlement. One result is the presence of highly fire-adapted plant communities including the globally rare ‘Jack Pine/Broom Crowberry Barrens’.
David will describe the plant communities, their fire ecology, and discuss what’s involved in managing fire to conserve these ecosystems while at the same time protecting structures and people at the Urban-Wildland Interface.
For more about the area, visit www.backlandscoalition.ca.
David Patriquin, Professor of Biology at Dalhousie University (retired 2008) is involved in conservation-oriented activities with several local natural history, trail and environmental organizations.
Sep 25, 2023 Laugavegur Trail, Iceland
Sean Haughian, the Curator of Botany at the Nova Scotia Museum, shares a slideshow about his 2017 trek along the world-famous Laugavegur trail in Iceland. Sean shows photos of many unfamiliar ecosystems, such as black deserts, high alpine glaciers, and jagged lava fields, as well as a few familiar ecosystems, such as riverside valleys and heathlands, while emphasizing the characteristic and exceptional plants throughout.
Unfortunately we had audio problems for the first 2 minutes but things got better, so hang in there.
Apr 24/23 Presentation – ACCDC Field Work in 2022
Burke Korol and Iain Crowell of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre give a presentation of their most recent activities documenting the flora of the Maritimes.
Mar 27/23 Presentation – The Logic of Black Ash
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 27/23 Presentation – Botanical Tales and Climate Change in Nova Scotia
David Garbary is a Professor of Biology at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish. He gives a talk to our members 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 then explored how wind and storms have changed over the same period. This is new work that he is currently preparing for publication. To conclude, David relates 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).
Jan 30/23 – Member’s Slide Night
1. Rosalyn Duffus – Gardening with Native Plants New and Old
Expanding an inventory of native plants already present in her Bedford gardens with additions from her travels to Polly’s Cove and Brier Island.
Also, Rosalyn has provided us with some additional photos of the garden about her house. Rosalyn Duffus Home Garden
2. Bethsheila Kent – Ericaceous plants – local subshrubs and shrubs in the Family Ericaceae
Bethsheila provides a detailed overview of the many Ericacous plants in Cape Breton. Unfortunately, the Zoom connection was poor, so the audio is often distorted – however the slides are well labelled and if you mute the audio, the video can skipped from picture to picture using the slider at the bottom if you prefer.
3. Suzanne Gauthier – Flora of Sicily, Feb 2018
A record of Suzanne’s trip to Sicily in 2018 highlighting the various plants she encountered and other sights of interest.
Due to technical problems, Suzanne was unable to present this during our Member’s Slide Night Zoom Meeting. She and Bob Kennedy later solved the problems and here she presents to him.
4. Bob Kennedy – NSWFS Field Trip to Scatarie Island Aug 2022
A walk through some of the most interesting finds of our two day trip to Scatarie Island.
5. Charles Cron – The Disappearance of Blood Root along the Meander River and Selected Photographs
6. Mary Macaulay P.Eng. – Salvage Eco-Archaeology in Nova Scotia Crown Lands
Hypotheses based on the data Mary has rediscovered in the field using the latest Lidar technology. Running time 1 Hr 15 Min
Nov 28/22 Presentation – The Diverse Bees of Nova Scotia:
Bees pollinate many flowers that are important for people. There are far more bees that share NS with us than most people appreciate. Alana Pindar explores what bees are in NS and how we can provide habitat and resources for bees to increase pollination.
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 24/22 Presentation – The Origin, Rationale and Results of the Last Hope Camp:
Nina Newington is a writer, gardener, carpenter and forest protector. She presents her experiences with The Last Hope camp – a protest camp established on a logging road in Annapolis County on 2nd December, 2021. The goal was to protect a 24ha forest.
Documentary on The Last Hope Camp
April 25/22 Presentation: AC CDC 2021 Botanical Finds in Nova Scotia
Executive Director Sean Blaney gives an overview of the activities of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre for 2021. There were several new finds and updates to the conservation status of many species.
March 28/22 Presentation: Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe in Nova Scotia.
Bob Guscott gives 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.
Feb 28/22 Presentation: An Introduction to iNaturalist and the City Nature Challenge.
iNaturalist is a recognized citizen science program. It is led by the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) along with Parks Canada, NatureServe Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), which collectively make up the iNaturalist Canada Steering Committee. The platform is managed by the steering committee in collaboration with iNaturalist.org which is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.
The primary objective of iNaturalist is to help people connect with Nature.
In 2019 to help introduce iNat to Nova Scotians HRM was registered to participate in the global City Nature Challenge. The following year three areas in NS were registered. In 2022 HRM, CBRM, and the Valley (Kings and Annapolis Counties) are once again registered to participate. This 4-day event is an excellent opportunity to encourage people to get outdoors, to explore, to observe nature, to share observations, and to have fun.
Prior to the 2022 CNC event local groups such as the WFS are encouraged to browse and review existing observations and provide feedback on ways to improve content. A quick review filtered for plants with locations in Nova Scotia shows 207,712 observations of 2,633 species from 7509 observers. Over 3000 members helped suggest names for these observations.
Use this presentation to learn how to explore content, how to create your own account, how to share observations (old and new), and how to comment on observations shared by others. Learn how to contribute to projects and how to provide feedback on how to improve content associated with wild flora.
Here is the text of the Chat that was ongoing during the presentation
Jan 24/22 – Member’s Slide Show
5 NSWFS Members – Charles Cron, Anne Mills, Jeff White, Bob Kennedy and Doug Van Heemsen present pictures of their memorable finds for 2021. Plus Mary Macauly presents a summary of all the work she has done trying to protect the new areas on the crown land being considered for clear cutting. She includes her discovery of historic remnants from ancient Mi’kmaq and Acadian settlements and trails.
Nov 22/21 Presentation – Finding Beauty and Diversity in our Mosses and Liverworts
A recording of the Nov 22 Zoom presentation by Biologist Anne Mills who has been interested in the field of Bryology since she retired.
The study of bryophytes; liverworts, mosses and hornworts, can be a daunting task to the beginner but she introduces you to some of the more common and familiar, small-sized wonders of the plant world that evolved more than 400 million years ago during the Paleozoic Era.
Includes question and answer session at end.
Oct 25/21 Presentation – Destination Botany (or What I did on my summer vacation)
A recording of Jeff White’s Zoom presentation on Oct 25.
Mainly in July of 2021, Jeff vacationed in a wide variety of locations in NS and NB. Day trips took him to many destinations: from well-known waterfalls to rare-plant locations to personal family visits. These provided opportunities for botanizing, of course. Jeff will show plenty of photos of the delightful flora he found in places like Pollet’s Cove in Cape Breton, Moose Island (Five Islands) and Oromocto, NB.
PowerPoint files of some previous presentations (without commentary) can be found here
