by Lu Wuthrich, 13 August 2016. On a sunny Saturday eleven of the Naturalists went up to Mount Washington for a second Marmot tour, led by Andrew Bryant. We were on the chair lift early in the morning and had a sunny, clear day to view the wonderful vistas around the top of Mount Washington.   … Continue reading Marmots at Mount Washington

  by Tom Koleszar, 19 July 2016. On July 19 the Malaspina Naturalists made the annual trip out to Mitlenatch Island, departing from Lund once again aboard the Misty Isles with Captain Mike Moore. The weather was a bit cooler and windier that we are used to in mid-July – but at least the wind meant … Continue reading Mitlenatch Island

  by Laurette Hamoline, 26 June 2016. A small gaggle of enthusiastic naturalists (about 10-12 of us) gathered in Willingdon Park on Sunday to learn about plant classification.  Ioni Wais was our charming and knowledgeable guide as we wandered around the grounds learning about strange “relations” in the plant kingdom.  There are numerous ways in which … Continue reading Plant Walk with Ioni Wais

  by Julia Young, 5 June 2016. On a calm sunny morning the Misty Isles, captained by Mike, left Lund with 12 passengers.   En route to the reef, Mike used his navigational maps to illustrate the uplifting of peaks around us, the carving of deep channels by ice, and the effects of tides, currents and water … Continue reading Hernando Reef with Rick Harbo

by Heather Harbord, 26 May 2016.  Ten members boarded the schooner, Misty Isles, at Lund on May 26th bound for Mitlenatch and Twin Islands.  It was great to have extra time on Mitlenatch especially as the Tiger Lilies were coming into bloom in the meadow and the Glaucous-winged gulls were beginning to sit on eggs.  The … Continue reading Twin Islands and Mitlenatch

by Andrew Bryant, 30 April 2016 Both Pierre Geoffray and I thought it a bit strange that nobody had showed at the Italian Hall by 8:00 AM – so we hung around for a bit, and decided to go birding anyway. Thus I was horrified to later learn that I’d mis-remembered the time – our advertised … Continue reading Birding by Ear Part VI

by Heather Harbord, 7 May 2016 Eighteen members attended the May 7th, 2016 field trip following Judith Williams’ talk on Clam Gardens.  Since Judith was unable to walk far, most of us did not go down onto Westview Beach which is mapped on pages 110-111 of her 2006 book Clam Gardens; Aboriginal Mariculture on Canada’s West … Continue reading Clam Gardens with Judith Williams

by Heather Harbord, 18 March 2016.  Ten members accompanied Art Martell to Willingdon Beach and Sliammon on Friday. On the way down to the creek mouth at Willingdon, we stopped to look at a lone Mew Gull with magnificent mirrors on its tail feathers.  At the creek, we found three mature California Gulls which loomed clear … Continue reading Gulls with Art Martell

by Barbara Sherriff and David Bedry, 27 February 2016.  No, it’s not the title of  bad movie.  Rather, because our members gain so much from having such a wonderful network of local trails, we thought it time to give something back. So on a misty February morning, seven intrepid Malaspina Naturalists set out to clear the … Continue reading Trail-busting with ORUG

by Barbara Sherriff, 23 January 2015. Bert Finnegan of the Powell River Hisorical Museum and Archives gave us a slide show of magnificent photographs and explanations of early logging operations in and around Powell River. He began by putting things in context, that is by stressing with the fact that the First Nation Sliammon people had been … Continue reading Early Logging Practices

by Tom Koleszar, 17 October 2015. Twelve Naturalists participated in the forest ecosystems field trip.  The goal of this trip was to examine forest soils and plants at different elevations near Powell River. Lead by our guide, Nancy Pezel of Western Forest Products, we looked at 4 sites along A Branch between 500 and 1100m elevation. … Continue reading Forest Ecosystems

by David Bedry, 10 October 2015. Ten hardy people braved the miserable weather to see the Sliammon hatchery. Lee George, the hatchery manager, talked to us about the returning salmon, the harvesting of eggs, rearing the fish and their final release back into the river. We also saw the rebuilt weir over the stream. Besides seeing chum salmon in the … Continue reading Salmon at Sliammon

by Barbara Sherriff, 26 September 2015.  Seven Malaspina Naturalists met with 3 other intrepid adventurers and boatman John at Lund. We had a fast 2 hour boat trip on Homolka 1 to Bute Inlet.  We just missed seeing a humpback whale as it headed up the Hole in the Wall channel just before we arrived there. … Continue reading Orford River grizzlies

by Tammy Siddall, 22 July 2015.  It was a perfect July day in Lund when 12 naturalists boarded the Misty Isles in search of rocks. Captain Mike and crewmate Amy had planned an exciting two-day circumnavigation of Cortes Island for us.  From Lund Harbour we first headed north towards the Twin Islands. As we travelled, … Continue reading Cortes Island geology

by Andrew Bryant, 14 June 2015.  David Bedry, Heidi Rohard and I arranged (led is too strong a word)  a leisurely stroll out to Myrtle Rocks on a fine Sunday morning. Fifteen club members and a few interested passers-by participated. Together we braved the bright sun, quiet winds, noticeably low tide conditions, and still waters  to … Continue reading A low-tide stroll out to Myrtle Rocks

by Heather Harbord, 11 June 2015.   Twelve of us went on Captain Mike Moore’s schooner, Misty Isles, to check out the entrance to Bute Inlet and circumnavigate Maurelle Island. After the compulsory visit to Nancy’s Bakery, we left Lund at 10am, and powered up Thulin Passage to see the pictograph.   It was nice to … Continue reading Bute Inlet and Maurelle Island

by Tom Koleszar, 30 May 2015.  Sixteen  Naturalists traveled to Vancouver Island to visit the Horne Lake Caves. Lead by our guide, Sarah, we had a 1/2 hour walk (uphill!), complete with interpretive stops, to the entrance of the Riverbend Cave. From there, with helmets and lights on, all 16 of us descended (steeply!) into … Continue reading Underground! Horne Lake Caves

by Cindy Dalcourt, 9 May 2015.  On a beautiful, sunny morning 12 members carpooled to Lund where we met Captain Mike Moore aboard the Misty Isles for a trip to the B.C. Park nature preserve Mitlenatch Island. The very personable Captain briefed us on what the trip would consist of and shared his vast knowledge … Continue reading A day on Mitlenatch

by Andrew Bryant, 25 April 2015. Pierre Geoffray and Neil Hughes led eight of us on a leisurely ear-birding expedition along along the muddy trails behind the Italian Hall.  We started at the crack of eight and walked neither fast nor far. The rains held off, but the woods were relatively quiet.  There were a … Continue reading Birding by ear Part V

by Barbara Sherriff, 21 March 2015. Diana Rosburgh and Suzan Roos led nineteen of us on a gentle walk along the forest trails at the rear of the Recreational Complex.  They not only identified many plants, they also explained which ones were edible and which would make us very sick.  Among the plants that they described were trailing blackberry, … Continue reading Edible plants, mosses and ferns

by Andrew Bryant, 28 February 2015. Saturday was sunny and calm as nine of us gathered for a low-key birdwatching excursion with Neil Hughes and myself. We began at Palm Beach Regional Park, where we saw a hundred or more Surf Scoters, together with smaller numbers of the “usual suspects” (Horned Grebes, Harlequin ducks, Buffleheads, … Continue reading Casual birdwalk

by Andrew Bryant, 23 January 2015. As somewhat of a non sequitur to his talk about Madagascar the previous evening, Bill Merilees followed up with  a more informal discussion of his garden in Nanaimo and the mysteries of plant phenology.   “Phenology”, by the way, is just a scientific buzzword to describe the study of … Continue reading Plant phenology workshop

by Heather Harbord, 21 January 2015.  7 Jan 2015 trip:  The fog horn sounded every 2 minutes as nine of us crossed over to Egmont and then drove to Secret Cove where the fog began to lift. From there John Dafoe on the HiBaller II, a small landing craft, took us over smooth seas to Jedediah Island.  En … Continue reading Two landings on Jedediah Island

by Tom Koleszar, 22 November 2014. As a follow-up to the talk on Thursday, on Saturday twelve of us, led by Rod Tysdal (Director) and Al Barker (Operations Manager) of the Powell River Community Forest, toured parts of the Community Forest area, stopping at five sites to discuss various aspects of forest ecology and site … Continue reading Sustainable Forests field-trip

by David Bedry, 17 October 2014.  Twenty adults and three children headed into the woods for a follow-up field trip after our monthly meeting. Brian Lee, the previous nights speaker, led a great trip into the forest at Squirrel Crossing. Despite a forecast of heavy rain and strong winds the weatherman cooperated for our field … Continue reading Mushroom cook-out

by Barbara Sherriff and others, 9-10 August 2014. Twelve of us took a two-day voyage up Homfray Channel, Desolation Sound, and Toba Inlet aboard the trusty Misty Isles, with Captain Mike Moore at the helm. I asked everyone what their personal highlights were.  Here’s what I learned… Jane Lying in the bowsprit the colour of the water … Continue reading Toba Inlet

by Tom Koleszar, 26 July 2014. Twelve naturalists, led by our own Barbara Sherriff, boarded the Misty Isles with Captain Mike Moore for a day-long geological tour of Hernando, Twin, and Cortes Islands. We first cruised past Hernando Island before landing at Iron Point at the south end of Twin Islands, where we had ample opportunity … Continue reading Cortez Island Geology

by Lu Wuthrich, 13 July 2014. Eleven of the naturalists group had the pleasure of exploring the intertidal zone at Limekiln Bay on Sunday, July 13th. The weather was wonderful and a low tide provided an opportunity for three hours of fun turning over rocks and digging bivalves on the sandy part of the beach. The rock formations … Continue reading Texada Tidepools

by Heidi Rohard, 7 June 2014. This Saturday was a perfect day for a stroll in the woods: big, beautiful sunshine! Five of us joined our plant expert, Shirley Cole, for a follow-up field trip to Squirrel Crossing to see the bushes, trees and other flora which we had visited earlier this year and are now in their … Continue reading Twigs and more Part II

  by nobody, 31 May 2014.