{"id":35389,"date":"2021-01-28T12:59:31","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T17:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=35389"},"modified":"2021-01-28T12:59:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T17:59:31","slug":"forest-trust-for-the-children-of-cortes-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/forest-trust-for-the-children-of-cortes-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales<\/p>\n

One of the advantages of virtual AGM is that people from Vancouver, Calgary, and select locations on both the West and East Coast can also attend. Most were in houses, but one was in a parked car and another on a sandy beach somewhere in Washington state. The\u00a0Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island (FTCCIS)<\/a> reviewed significant accomplishments of the past year at a ZOOM conference on Jan 23, 2021.<\/p>\n

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Mycoblitz in the Children\u2019s Forest<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe did our first\u00a0COVID<\/a>\u00a0compliant Mycoblitz in the Children\u2019s Forest\u2026 We identified 66 species and added 23 new species \u2026 We build these lists over time and will clearly get into several hundred species on\u00a0Cortes<\/a>. I would guesstimate\u00a0 there are more than 2,000 species on Cortes, so this is just the very beginning, \u201c explained\u00a0mycologist Paul Stamets<\/a>, who co-led the team with Cortes Island biologist\u00a0Sabina Leader-Mense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took one day to focus on research and mentorship, which Sabina organized in the field with six youth. Then we had a day of education and public participation. Those youth mentored and guided us through those interpretive mycostations,\u201d said Christine Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started a whole new vocabulary. I just added mycoknots to it. Mycoblitz, mycostations, mycothanks, mycomerriment, and mycowonder came out of that week-end and now I am adding mycoknots \u2013 so the vocabularly continues to expand,\u201d added Leader-Mense.<\/p>\n

Paul Stamets presentation<\/h2>\n

Stamets\u2019 presentation was the main feature of the AGM and will be posted on the\u00a0Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was filled with illustrations like that of a woodpecker that inoculates a healthy tree with fungi. As the\u00a0mycelium<\/a>\u00a0grows, it attracts the beetles which woodpeckers feed on.<\/p>\n

\u201cParasitic fungi kill the trees, but with a few exceptions, most parasitic fungi take advantage of trees that already have a weakened immune system because of habitat stress, pollution, malnutrition or other things that have happened to it,\u201d said Stamets.<\/p>\n

He made the analogy of wolves cutting out the weakest elk, so that the herd was actually strengthened.<\/p>\n

Stamets added that many of the medicinal properties attributed to plants are actually derived from the endophytic fungi inside of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a consortia inside of a plant, or inside of a tree, that give the plant or tree a strong state of health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to mycologist Suzanne Simard<\/a>, \u2019Mother trees\u2019 communicate and send nutrients to their offspring through the mycorrhizal network.<\/p>\n

There is much more in Stamets\u2019 lecture: the latin names of numerous species; common mushrooms; edible mushrooms; poisonous mushrooms and their effects; a mushroom that kills trees; a fungi used for dyes; mushrooms that help clear up toxic waste; medicinal properties of numerous species; a mushroom that could help against COVID; edible mushrooms; poisonous mushrooms and their effects; mushrooms that regrow after they are picked.\u00a0 etc.<\/p>\n

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\"Cortes<\/a>

Fungi labelled during the Mycoblitz \u2013 courtesy Chris Dragseth<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Focus for 2021<\/h2>\n

The AGM turned to regular business after Stamet\u2019s presentation.<\/p>\n

Board Chair Chris Dragseth<\/a>\u00a0gave an overview of the focus for 2021:<\/p>\n

\u201cRefreshing our strategic plan; redesigning some of our programs; partnerships; building on in situ forest events that are all COVID friendly; fund raising, again COVID friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a longer term perspective, I want to reemphasize the ongoing work we are doing with\u00a0Mosaic<\/a>, in fostering a sound relationship and exploring all options that would provide the necessary preservation and protection of the Children\u2019s Forest. We have been meeting with them for two years and \u2026 are moving forward with a sound understanding of what our relationship looks like and are also pursuing some options that we really can\u2019t talk about in this discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that this involved a win-win solution for both parties.<\/p>\n

The Trust\u2019s Volunteers<\/h2>\n

Dragseth ended his report with an invitation to members of the community who to help out in the Children\u2019s Forest, have suggestions for improvement, or specific areas where they would like to participate.<\/p>\n

Robinson repeated the invitation.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong>he also mentioned future ventures with the\u00a0Friends of Cortes island (FOCI)<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Cortes Museum\u2019s Wild Cortes exhibit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Trust\u2019s treasurer,\u00a0Andrew Smyth<\/a>, added that \u201cVolunteerism is the engine of our program. Most of our effort is educational activities for children in the forest and, of course, all of those activities are led by volunteers. It doesn\u2019t show up in the accounts. If you looked at it slightly differently and counted up all the volunteer hours, which we do have to report on \u2026 we estimate you would see maybe 1,000 volunteer hours, typically 1,500 to 1,000 hours. If we were to treat that as a cash donation, you would see an extra $20,000 of income \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone working for the\u00a0Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island Society is a volunteer.<\/p>\n

There was not much to report about finances, except that the Society ended the fiscal year 2020 with a deficit of $1,200.<\/p>\n

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\"mushroom

Another fungi identified during the Mycoblitz \u2013 courtesy Chris Dragseth<\/p><\/div>

Another fungi identified during the Mycoblitz \u2013 courtesy Chris Dragseth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Youth Programming<\/h2>\n

Christine Robinson<\/a>\u00a0explained, \u201cWhen the pandemic hit this Spring, our board took the opportunity to reemphasize the message that the natural world is calling us. So as we all know on Cortes and it has now been substantiated by medical research and the teaching profession, the value of mucking about in nature is really important whether you are a child or an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FTCCIS partnered with\u00a0Cortes Island Family Support<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Cortes Community Health Association<\/a>\u00a0to offer a series of thematic activities followed by a ZOOM chat.<\/p>\n

Robinson continued, \u201cI do not think any of us on the board anticipated using technology to support connections to nature, but it worked and filled a social need that many of the children were looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shared a haiku that one of the children wrote after \u2018Frog and Tadpole\u2019 week:<\/p>\n