On June 29th, TLC’s covenant manager Torrey spent the afternoon at a first-year environmental geography course held at Vancouver Island University (VIU), training students in TLC’s ecological data collection methods. This was a short primer for a far more enjoyable adventure they would take together on July 15th – hiking the magnificent Mt. Benson situated nearby.
“Mount Benson is a small mountain by West Coast standards; its summit is a modest 3,350 ft (approximately 1,000 meters) above sea level. But, for the residents of Nanaimo and the surrounding area, this mountain is important. It is situated just west of the City, and is an important backdrop and recreational destination. Just as the timber was re-establishing itself, a forest fire razed the mountain in 1951. Long-time residents say that re-growth of the forest has only really happened in the past 20-25 years and some say there are patches that have never re-grown.
“In the summer of 2003, new logging began to appear near the summit on the front slope of the mountain, and community response was immediate and urgent. It suddenly became apparent to everyone that the natural green backdrop to the City of Nanaimo and surrounding area was about to disappear for another generation, or longer.” (Excerpt from Nanaimo Area Land Trust’s August 2015 newsletter).
The community sprang to action and the Nanaimo Area Land Trust (NALT) made it its mission to protect this locally revered area.
Mt. Benson is now protected as a Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) Park, which was facilitated by years of work and public outreach by NALT, the RDN and the Mt. Benson Legacy Group. A conservation covenant is also registered on the land title, co-held by NALT and the Cowichan Community Land Trust (CCLT). The Mt. Benson Regional Park (MBRP) is comprised of 212 hectares or 523 acres of land on the upper northeast slope of Mt. Benson. The park itself is owned by the RDN but is managed by NALT and the two groups, together with community consultation, created a 10 year management plan for the area in 2009. Having a protected, ecologically diverse area in Nanaimo’s (and VIU’s) backyard gave NALT and TLC an excellent opportunity to use it as a training ground for ecologically-focused students.
Mt. Benson underwent baseline documentation in 2006, which included photopoint monitoring and ecological data collection. Ten years later, NALT and TLC repeated these efforts to determine if conditions had changed – were plant and tree species the same? Had their compositions changed? Had the area been subject to flooding, forest fire, or changes in soil types? These were the kinds of questions that NALT and TLC posed to the students while they carefully observed their surroundings.
Fortunately, it was a beautiful day to be hiking outside. Even though it was mid-summer, there was more than enough moisture deep in the forest that many mushroom species were fruiting, including coral, oyster and bolete mushrooms, as well as a mycoheterotrophic species known as woodland pinedrops (Pterospora andromedea).
Mycoheterotrophs are plants that derive their nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that are attached to the roots of vascular plants (which include trees). Essentially, there is a fungus that is exchanging nutrients with a tree or plant, and then another plant is exchanging nutrients with the fungus! This perfectly exemplifies the notion of everything is connected. As the famous quote by John Muir goes, “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” If you are interested in the topic of nutrient exchange by fungi and vascular plants, a fascinating podcast by RadioLab speaks to this and more on their episode “From Tree to Shining Tree”. The more we unravel the mysteries of our natural world, the more we realize we are nature – we don’t just visit it, use it or live in it, we are it. Thankfully there are groups like NALT, CCLT, TLC and many more who champion the cause of those entities that cannot speak for themselves.
TLC is eternally grateful for the efforts that went into protecting Mt. Benson in perpetuity and we highly encourage our readers to go experience the astounding views for themselves! Trail maps can be found on the NALT website.
