ID Walk at Pacific Spirit Park with Leah Mycelia
September 9th @ 11 am
Next week, before our monthly meeting, we will be having a guided walk in the forest to look at the fungi of Pacific Spirit Park, which is home to a vast and diverse fungal community. Our special guest mycologist, Leah Bendlin will help to identify the specimens we encounter and talk about the fungal associations within our local ecosystem.

Please join us at the parking area (4915 W 16th Ave) at 11 am sharp on Tuesday. The walk will be on the paths only and solely for educational purposes, leaving as little impact on the public space as possible. Feel free to bring your family, friends, kids, and leashed dogs. You don’t wanna miss out on this!
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Correction for our September 9th meeting!
Our speaker, Leah Bendlin will be presenting a talk on mycoheterotrophic plants instead of common Fall fungi. Not to worry! We will have plenty of opportunities to learn about Fall fungi in our upcoming meetings. Talk description:

Marvelous Mycoheterotrophs: The Beauty and Science of Floral-Fungal Freeloaders
If you’ve ever been fascinated by a waxy, alien looking plant without green parts in the woods that doesn’t even seem like it should be real, you may have been enchanted by a marvelous mycoheterotroph! In this talk, we’ll discuss the biology and associations of these strange looking plants that depend upon fungi for survival, as well as some of the scientific discoveries that lead to the current understanding of how they function. Leah will also help you get to know and recognize some local species and learn how they might help us in successful mushroom hunting!

For more information on Tuesday’s talk, please see our homepage!
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Announcing MycoMap BC!
In collaboration with other naturalist societies across the province, the VMS is pleased to announce the launch of a new citizen science project for BC slime molds and fungi. MycoMap BC is a project aimed at documenting fungal biodiversity in British Columbia in partnership with Mycota Lab. This initiative will allow free, year-round DNA sequencing for mushroom and slime mould collections available to anyone in BC. Your contributions will help us better understand the unique biodiversity of our province.

How to Participate
We invite mushroom enthusiasts, backyard collectors, and mycologists to help us collect thousands of specimens from all regions of BC. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
– A collection box
– An iNaturalist account and a camera or phone
– A food dehydrator

Once your collections are dried, you’ll ship them to our Victoria, BC collection point. We are currently accepting all collections made in 2025.

For detailed protocols, FAQs, and shipping instructions, please visit MycoMapBC.org You can also find a link to our iNaturalist project and a form to receive the mailing address for your specimens.

Launch Event
Join us for a virtual launch event and celebration on September 16th at 7 PM via Zoom. The event will feature guest speakers including Stephen Russell of Mycota Lab and Andy Mackinnon and Kem Luther, authors of Mushrooms of BC. They will discuss the importance of DNA sequencing, followed by an overview of the collection protocol. There will also be a Q&A session.

Register for the event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/l0L8ztPTQjGI4cvxq17-fA

We will also be hosting an online mycoblitz from September 17th-24th in hopes of hitting our first 1000 specimens! Join our iNaturalist project (linked on website below), and start making collections to join our leaderboard.

Project Support & Contact

This project is supported by the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society, the BC Biodiversity Program, the Metchosin Foundation, Whistler Naturalists, SERAL (Society for Education, Research and Arts on the Land), and the Vancouver Mycological Society.
For any questions or to offer support, please contact project coordinators Elora Adamson (elora.adamson@svims.club) or Ann McCall (ann.mccall@svims.club).