Arbor Vitae Apotheca
damelart way Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada

Pacific Northwest moss and fern laden tree trunk. Happy New Year's Eve everyone !

Pacific Northwest moss and fern laden tree trunk. Happy New Year's Eve everyone !

Magic in the autumn forest. Happy Halloween everyone !

Magic in the autumn forest. Happy Halloween everyone !

This is how my long weekend started - a winding trail through an alpine meadow. Where did your adventures take you?

A cool summer hike under the impressive canopy of these beauties today! Heritage Grove in Francis King park These trees are about 500 years old. Thanks for the shade

This is how my long weekend started - a winding trail through an alpine meadow. Where did your adventures take you?

Sometimes your path is full of unexpected twists and turns. You might feel like you're backtracking And sometimes you might feel you've completely lost your way. But then you come upon a sign that lets you know you've been on the right path all along

A cool summer hike under the impressive canopy of these beauties today! Heritage Grove in Francis King park These trees are about 500 years old. Thanks for the shade

Stunning Ocean Spray in full bloom overlooking the ocean What a gorgeous start to summer!

Beautiful patch of Nootka Roses along the shore at Mckenzie Bight! Hope you are enjoying some of your Saturday outdoors

Sometimes your path is full of unexpected twists and turns. You might feel like you're backtracking And sometimes you might feel you've completely lost your way. But then you come upon a sign that lets you know you've been on the right path all along

Stunning Ocean Spray in full bloom overlooking the ocean What a gorgeous start to summer!

A very lush and healthy patch of Skunk Cabbage, trail-side at Beaver Lake. Happy World Environment Day everyone!

Beautiful patch of Nootka Roses along the shore at Mckenzie Bight! Hope you are enjoying some of your Saturday outdoors

A very lush and healthy patch of Skunk Cabbage, trail-side at Beaver Lake. Happy World Environment Day everyone!

Just announced: Sealed bid auction for 2 night stay for two guests in one of Alpine Club of Canada's Backcountry Huts. Funds raised to support TLC's educationa...l programming in Clearwater. Auction winner to be announced at TLC Annual General Meeting. ***** TLC is auctioning off a two night stay for two guests at one of the Alpine Club of Canada’s Backcountry Huts. Valued at $160, the Backcountry Huts range from private family rooms in a Clubhouse in Canmore, Alberta, to a rock climbing and ice climbing hut near Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. For more details about the 36 huts available visit the Alpine Club of Canada’s website at www.alpineclubofcanada.ca. This sealed bid auction item is one of TLC’s featured pieces to be auctioned at the non-profit’s Annual General Meeting and Mad Hatter Tea Party on Saturday, September 22, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Windsor Park Pavilion at 2451 Windsor Road, Victoria. Other items, including spirit tasting tours and gorgeous gift baskets, will be available via silent auction at the event. Sealed bids for the Backcountry Hut stay can be emailed to [email protected] or made by phone at 1-877-485-2422 until 5 p.m. on Friday, September 21. Further sealed bids can be made in person at TLC’s Annual General Meeting and Mad Hatter Tea Party on Saturday, September 22. Funds raised will support the inaugural run of TLC’s experiential field program next spring. This innovative program will be based in the Clearwater River Valley, adjacent to and on TLC’s Clearwater Wetland & Wildlife Corridor. This ecologically diverse area, surrounded by the rugged beauty of Wells Gray Provincial Park, offers participants access to a one-of-a-kind wilderness setting. The intention of the program is to foster and hone a passion for nature and a fundamental understanding of how humans connect with and are part of the wild that surrounds us all. Having previously secured a portion of the wetland in the Valley through the combination of direct purchase and a donation made through the Ecological Gifts Program, TLC launched a fundraising campaign in the spring to protect a further 10 acres of wildlife corridor and has now reached more than 95% of its fundraising goal. Donations towards the project are still being accepted at www.conservancy.bc.ca or by calling 1-877-485-2422. The transfer is scheduled to close by the end of 2018.

Hungry and searching for that which sustains them, grizzly bears in the Clearwater River Valley are waking from a winter of hibernation. While grizzlies can spr...int up to 55 km/hr, they are slow moving after six months of living off their food stores. Young cubs are getting antsy and ready to feed; mothers without food won’t be able to provide enough milk for the one to four offspring that were born while they waited out the cold winter. Stretching their strong but tight limbs, they emerge from their earthen dens ready to begin their trek west towards Springwater Creek and the Clearwater River. Their urge to find food draws them down to lower elevations where the spring bloom of vegetation awaits them. Descending from the upland area surrounding Battle Mountain, the moist, warm Interior Cedar Hemlock (ICH) forest surrounds them. The fresh shoots of sedges and skunk cabbage provide roughage and crucial nutrients, beckoning the grizzlies ever closer to the riparian and swampy areas where they grow. The ICH zone boasts the most diversity of tree species in the province; many species of spruce and their hybrids, lodgepole pine, black cottonwood, trembling aspen and paper birch are among numerous western red cedar and hemlock trees found here. Later in the summer, berries from Oregon grape, huckleberry, blueberry and even devil’s club will help sustain the entire grizzly family, allowing them to put on the necessary weight to endure another long winter. Right now however, they must move in order to keep themselves and their young fed; in the lowlands along the Clearwater River grizzlies can forage and snack on the Valley’s wild strawberries. But in order to get to their summer range they must travel across the peninsula of privately owned land between the southern lobes of Wells Gray Provincial Park. Read more about how you can protect the wildlife corridor in the Clearwater River Valley for these migratory mammals at http://conservancy.bc.ca//help-protect-habitat-for-grizzl/

Happy #EarthDay 2018! This Earth Day, consider making an impact with a donation to protect 4 hectares of habitat in the Clearwater River Valley. The Clearwater... Wildlife Corridor will benefit the park’s large mammals moose, wolves, deer, cougars, black bears and grizzly bears that must currently travel across the Clearwater River Valley during spring and fall through unprotected private lands under significant development pressure. Looking to get your hands dirty and make a difference by donating your time? Register for TLC’s Passport to Nature: Malby Lake Broom Bash on Sunday, May 5th from 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Register online at conservancy.bc.ca or by calling 1-877-485-2422. http://conservancy.bc.ca//tlc-expands-protected-clearwate/

The Land Conservancy of B.C. (TLC) and Hollyhock are pleased to announce the protection of 4.1 acres of wetland and mature Douglas-fir and Western Red Cedar gro...ve. This ecologically significant area is part of a network of large, intact properties on the southern portion of Cortes Island including Siskin Lane, Siskin Forest Park, South Chains, Treedom Ventures and Hank’s Beach Forest Conservation Park, all of which are protected by conservation covenants. This connected wildlife corridor safeguards habitat for Columbia black-tailed deer, cougar and the coastal wolf. Learn more at http://conservancy.bc.ca//cortes-island-wetland-and-wildl/

Just in time for World Wildlife Day, The Land Conservancy of B.C. announces the protection of 11.2 hectares of wetland in the Clearwater River Valley and is lau...nching a fundraising campaign to protect a further 4 hectares of wildlife corridor. http://conservancy.bc.ca//tlc-expands-protected-clearwate/