Comox Valley Naturalists Society

May

Sunday, May 18, 2008
7:00 p.m. at the Florence Filberg Centre
The Four Storey Forest: As Grows the Forest, So Too Does the Heart

The regular Monthly Meeting of the Comox Valley Naturalists Society will be held May 18 2008, at 7:00 pm at the Florence Filberg Centre, 411 Anderton Avenue, Courtenay. The featured speaker will be Mr. H. Macy. This May meeting will not have a Society business component, members are invited to email any concerns to the CVNS Executive.

We hear a great deal about three or four “BIG forestry companies”, and various environmental issues. There are also 826 Woodlot Licenses in BC, they employ approximately 12,000, and on average each produce about 30 logging truck loads a year. These small operations are usually very community minded, and environmentally conscious. Headquarters Creek Woodlot License W1677, managed by Harold Macy is one of these. He practices single-tree selection thinning and small patch cuts, shares his woodlot in many ways with his community, and is also instrumental in the Vancouver Island Sapsucker Project, producing maple syrup and other products from Broadleaf Maple sap.

For many years he was the Forestry Manager at UBC Oyster River Research Farm, where he developed concepts and practical applications for integrating agriculture and woodland management. He calls his new approach to stewardship “The Four Storey Forest” and it is the basis for a book he is writing.

Working in the forest for more than thirty years has given him the opportunity to learn far more than he expected, about both the woodlands and his role in it. He sees the role of faith as lacking in many of our land management activities. His own Quaker/Mennonite spiritual community has greatly influenced his attitude toward the trees.

Click on a link below to view descriptions of previous guest speakers.