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Walk through the Washington Park Arboretum and learn all about lichens and their growth!

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Looking for a Fall activity for those shorter days in Seattle? Why not consider lichens as an alternative? They grow on trees, shrubs and rocks in botanic gardens and can tell us about air quality and the make-up of plants and geology. Botanic gardens can take on new meaning as a *fun* place to observe a symbiotic organism made up of a fungus and algae. You will also learn about common lichens found in an urban environment and take home a user-friendly chart that lists lichens found in your neighborhood.

Join Dr. Katherine Glew for two hours at the Washington Park Arboretum on Sunday, November 16, to get a head start on learning lichens from one of Seattle’s botanic gardens. You can enjoy the late fall season by looking for lichens, rather than staying inside and missing out on the excitement of being outside. We will be walking about 1 mile.

Fee: $45

Bring a hand lens or cell phone with a magnifier to view lichen details. Consider "Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest." 2023. McCune & Geiser. 3rd Edition.

Wear clothing appropriate for the weather & water to drink.

Friday November 7, 2025

Looking for a Fall activity for those shorter days in the Seattle & Bellevue area?

Why not consider lichens as an alternative? They grow on trees, shrubs and rocks in botanic gardens and can tell us about air quality and the make-up of plants and geology.  Botanic gardens can take on new meaning as a *fun* place to observe a symbiotic organism made up of a fungus and algae.  You will also learn about common lichens found in an urban environment and take home a user-friendly chart that lists lichens found in your neighborhood.

Always wondered about what lichens are and why they are found on your trees, fences, Rhododendrons and Azaleas? Lichens are harmless to your plants and add aesthetic value to trees and shrubs. We can actually use them as indicators of air pollution!  Join Dr. Katherine Glew for two hours at the Bellevue Botanic Gardens on Friday, November 7 to get a head start on learning lichens from one of the Seattle areas botanic gardens.  

We will be walking about 1 mile.

Registration: Lichen Walk - Bellevue Botanical Garden

Fee: $24.50 - $35

Bring a hand lens, if you have one, water & McCune & Geiser 2023, "Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest".

Wear clothing appropriate for the weather.

Cemetery Lichens - Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Seattle

Katherine Glew, PhD

​

Saturday, October 25, 2025

Ghosts and Goblins in a cemetery for Hallowe'en?
Why not consider lichens as an alternative?  Lichens are friendly and
interesting organisms that love to grow on headstones and old trees.
Cemeteries can take on new meaning as a *fun* place to observe a symbiotic
organism made up of a fungus and algae.  You will also learn about common
lichens found in an urban environment and take home a user-friendly chart
that lists lichens found in your neighborhood.

Always wondered about what lichens are and why they are found on your trees
and Rhododendrons?  Lichens are harmless to your plants and add aesthetic
value to trees and shrubs. We can actually use them as indicators of air
pollution!  Join Dr. Katherine Glew and the Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Saturday, October 25 to get a head start on learning lichens from your local
cemetery.  You can enjoy Hallowe'en looking for lichens rather than scary
witches and pumpkin heads.

Dr. Katherine Glew is offering a 2 hour lichen experience at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Queen Anne in Seattle, Saturday, October 25 from 10:00am to noon. This offering will occur - rain, shine, wind, snow.........

To sign up for the course and read a description, go to the following link:

Classes & Workshops | University of Washington Botanic Gardens (uw.edu)

Bring a hand lens or cell phone with a magnifier to view lichen details. Consider "Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest", 2023 McCune & Geiser. 3rd Edition.

Wear appropriate clothing for the weather & water to drink.

FALL LICHEN WALK at the BELLEVUE BOTANIC GARDENS 

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Looking for a Fall activity for those shorter days in the Seattle & Bellevue area?

Why not consider lichens as an alternative? They grow on trees, shrubs and rocks in botanic gardens and can tell us about air quality and the make-up of plants and geology.  Botanic gardens can take on new meaning as a *fun* place to observe a symbiotic organism made up of a fungus and algae.  You will also learn about common lichens found in an urban environment and take home a user-friendly chart that lists lichens found in your neighborhood.

Always wondered about what lichens are and why they are found on your trees, fences, Rhododendrons and Azaleas? Lichens are harmless to your plants and add aesthetic value to trees and shrubs. We can actually use them as indicators of air pollution!  Join Dr. Katherine Glew for two hours at the Bellevue Botanic Gardens on Tuesday, October 14 to get a head start on learning lichens from one of the Seattle areas botanic gardens.  

We will be walking about a mile.

Registration: Lichen Walk - Bellevue Botanical Garden

Fee: $24.50 - $35

Bring a hand lens, if you have one & a copy of "Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest" 2023, McCune & Geiser. 3rd Edition.

Wear appropriate clothing for the weather & water to drink.

Hi Lichen folks,

I just got this essay from a friend and liked it so much I thought it a good thing to share. I hope you, too, enjoy it.

https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/the-triumph-of-the-book-in-nature?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1191940&post_id=173088515&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=oemlj&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Would you like to learn to identify lichens of the Pacific Northwest and hear the stories they tell? Please join me for one of my fall lichen workshops!

I will be leading a lichen workshop in Seattle on the University of Washington campus with Dr. Katherine Glew October 4-5. 

I will also lead a lichen workshop in Portland at Reed College with Dr. Hannah Prather on October 25-26.

Both workshops will consist of a combination of lectures and discussions, laboratory sessions with dissecting microscopes, and field trips. For a more detailed description of the workshops, see the event pages linked above.

No previous lichen experience is needed, and after attending a workshop you should be able to recognize numerous common macrolichen genera of our region.

Symbiotically yours,

Jesse

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is set to close the US Forest Service’s 9 regional offices in the USA. Other reorganizational changes are happening as well within the USDA.  If you care to comment to the USDA, public comments are being accepted until August 26^th. 

 Comments on USDA Reorganization due Aug 26, 2025 https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/08/01/usda-opens-public-comment-period-department-reorganization-plan [usda.gov] Feel free to share this! We appreciate your support.

Just one part of the plan:

• The National Agricultural Statistics Service will consolidate its 12 existing regions into five USDA Hubs over a multi-year period.

• The Food and Nutrition Service will reduce its number of regions from seven to five and align locations with the USDA Hubs and Service Centers over a two-year period

• The Forest Service will phase out the nine Regional Offices over the next year and implementation activities will take into consideration the ongoing fire season.

 The Forest Service will maintain a reduced state office in Juneau, Alaska and an eastern service center in Athens, Georgia. The current stand-alone Research Stations will be consolidated into a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Forest Service will retain the Fire Sciences Lab and Forest Products Lab - the former, vital for protection from forest fires and the latter, critical for assessing market development opportunities for timber and other forest products and related industries.

Open until October 3, 2025: Blue Mountains Tri Forest plan comment period. Please review Species of Conservation Concern lists and associated changes from Regional Forester's Sensitive list. This new SCC list only includes species documented and considered rare for each forest as opposed to RFSS list which had included suspected species. If you have documented site data that was overlooked please comment.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umatilla/planning/blue-mountains-forest-plan-revision

Walk through the Washington Park Arboretum and learn all about lichens and their growth!

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Looking for a Winter activity for those shorter days in Seattle? Why not consider lichens as an alternative? They grow on trees, shrubs and rocks in botanic gardens and can tell us about air quality and the make-up of plants and geology. Botanic gardens can take on new meaning as a *fun* place to observe a symbiotic organism made up of a fungus and algae. You will also learn about common lichens found in an urban environment and take home a user-friendly chart that lists lichens found in your neighborhood.

Join Dr. Katherine Glew for two hours at the Washington Park Arboretum on Saturday, March 8, to get a head start on learning lichens from one of Seattle’s botanic gardens. You can enjoy the late winter/early spring season by looking for lichens, rather than staying inside and missing out on the excitement of being outside.

The walk will cover about 1 mile.

Registration: 

Scroll down to March 8 Lichen Walk.

A second date offered will be February 8.

Bring a hand lens or cell phone with a magnifier to view lichen details. A great field book is: "Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest" by McCune & Geiser. There are lots of lichen photos to use for identification. The book can be purchased through Amazon or The University Bookstore.

Registration Fee: $45

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Looking for a winter activity for those shorter days in the Seattle & Bellevue area?

Why not consider lichens as an alternative? They grow on trees, shrubs and rocks in botanic gardens and can tell us about air quality and the make-up of plants and geology.  Botanic gardens can take on new meaning as a *fun* place to observe a symbiotic organism made up of a fungus and algae.  You will also learn about common lichens found in an urban environment and take home a user-friendly chart that lists lichens found in your neighborhood.

Always wondered about what lichens are and why they are found on your trees, fences, Rhododendrons and Azaleas? Lichens are harmless to your plants and add aesthetic value to trees and shrubs. We can actually use them as indicators of air pollution!  Join Dr. Katherine Glew for two hours at the Bellevue Botanic Gardens on Tuesday, March 4 to get a head start on learning lichens from one of the Seattle areas botanic gardens. The walk around the gardens is just over 1 mile.

Registration: Lichen Walk - Bellevue Botanical Garden

Fee: $24.50 - $35

Bring a hand lens & a copy of McCune/Geiser "Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest". The Lichen book can be purchased through Amazon or the University Book Store.