Botany Class 2

Next in the series, two flowers named for their 'stellar' characteristics:

Botany Class

While the weather is dreary, I have been going through some summer photos in preparation for a photo guide to the plants of Paradise Meadows. To start, here are a couple of common early flowers of the meadows, and a tip on how to tell them apart.

Notes on Climate

Several interesting notes from the 1954 report on the Natural History of Forbidden Plateau Area related to 'Climate':

Notably, it mentions snow from end September to end May - lately, the range has been more like from end October to end June or even July!

A question that recurred a few times from hikers, was about the 'hanging ponds' in areas like the meadows: where surface water remains in ponds that are higher than the surroundings. A possible explanation is given in the last sentence of this paragraph:

The explanation of the 'elbowed' trees I was aware of though!

Winter 2011/12 - First snowshoe trip

Winter has definitely started in Strathcona Park. I did my first snowshoe trip of the 2011/2012 season yesterday and was able to walk almost the length of Battleship Lake on the ice, albeit along the very edge. Lake Helen Mackenzie is now iced over, but certainly not thick enough to walk on.

The SWI building looks nice in the virgin snow. Remember that it was completely buried last winter,  so we have a long way to go to break that record.

Strathcona Park Reserve

The 1954 report on the Natural History of the Forbidden Plateau Area gives a description of the area:

A quick map of the area described as the Strathcona Park Reserve is shown below:



You can see that most of the present Forbidden Plateau area of Strathcona Park is within the Reserve boundary described in 1929. On the other hand, at some point in time, a great part of the original Reserve area reverted back to private land.

Natural History of Forbidden Plateau Area

Recently a valuable historical document came into my hands - 'The Natural History of the Forbidden Plateau Area' , dated 1954, by George A. Hardy, Botanist and Entomologist of the Provincial Museum - now the Royal BC Museum - in Victoria.

This fascinating report starts with the topography, climate and geology of the area and then compiles information on the plants, invertebrates, insects, and vertebrates known to the area at that time. Several evocative photographs are included.

At the back, a fold-out map shows the area surveyed including  the 'Strathcona Park Reserve' - described as being much of the Forbidden Plateau area.

I will be looking through this document & posting some interesting excerpts over the next while.
One bit of trivia - did you know that other than the Royal Ontario Museum (established in 1912), the other Provincial Museums received the designation of 'Royal' as part of their name only after Queen Elizabeth II visited them - the Royal BC Museum in 1987, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in 1993,  the Royal Alberta Museum in 2005.

Nature Viewing Guide

Paradise Meadows is one of the special sites featured on a new Nature Viewing Guide brochure being produced by the Comox Valley Naturalists Society.

The brochure will be available at the next CVNS meeting on Sunday Nov. 20 - check their website for time & location. After that, the brochure will be available at the Comox Valley Visitors Centre and at other locations around the Valley.

An on-line version of the Comox Valley Nature Viewing Guide is already available - the website has much more detail & many more sites of interest around the Valley. Check out the Paradise Meadows page here.  There are links to photo galleries, bird & plant checklists, geology info & many more resources.

While it will be many months till spring & summer comes again to the meadows, there are many other nature viewing site to explore in the Valley in the meantime!

Snowy Sunset

Mount Albert Edward at twilight:

4:30 today, with a bit of snow at 1100 m., and temperature at about 4 degrees C.

Time Change & Time for a Change

As the time changes back from Daylight Savings Time, the seasons have definitely changed also, as new snow has fallen at Paradise Meadows at the 1100 m. elevation.
And, photographer Tim Penney has joined as a new blogger! Tim is a frequent winter explorer of Strathcona Park.