Camosun Bog Pro-D

Despite dire predictions the night before, the weather was cooperative for the first Pro-D hosted in Camosun Bog. Around 25 teachers from around the district attended the session. Presentations were given by Pat, Susan, and Vanessa that were both informative and interactive. Hopefully this spring we will be seeing classes from schools around the city visiting the bog.

Vanessa and Shelly cooking up a bog.

Grand Opening of the Camosun Bog Nature Walk

After 13 years of effort our nature walk is finally complete (more or less!)

Ed and Susan showing Labrador tea to visitors

An Unusual Lichen

Lichenomphalina umbellifera

Yes. This is a lichen. It is a symbiotic relationship between a blue-green alga and a fungus. This symbiosis is inconspicuous and probably can only be seen under the microscope (thin filaments of hyphae woven around balls of algae). However you can see the algae in this photo as it is the green stuff covering the yellowish coloured sphagnum moss. The fruiting body of the fungus is the white (or cream-coloured) mushroom. It fruits every spring and fall on the ground or on rotting logs. It is my belief that it grows in nutrient rich areas of the bog, such as those near the edges, or in newly restored plots that still contain nutrients from the layer of top soil that was removed.