What's Happening

Photo Contest: Do you have a great photo showing a person or people admiring, using, sampling, studying, or otherwise interacting with lichens? Enter the 2017 NWL "Lichens and People Photo Contest". To enter, submit your photo and a caption to the NWL website. Post your photo on the Photo Gallery page: http://northwest-lichenologists.wildapricot.org/page-1816539

Your caption should begin, "Lichens and People:... " (so that we know it is a contest entry)

Note that you must be signed up as a NWL participant in order to post a photo to the gallery.

The contest runs from January 15 through March 15.  Photo resolution should be sufficient for full-screen viewing (about 10 x 14 inches at 150 dpi -- note that this is much lower resolution than most cameras these days).  Please include the photographer/organization to be credited. By submission you agree to give permission for your photo to be used for educational and nonprofit purposes beyond this contest. Winner(s) will be announced on March 15 and will receive an official NWL hat and patch.

Maximum of two submissions per participant.

Announcing Eagle Hill Institute seminars on lichenology in 2017
On the coast of Eastern Maine, just east of Acadia National Park

May 21-27 ... Crustose Lichens of the Acadian Forest ... Stephen Clayden

Jun 4-10 ... Undergraduate Field Studies: Introduction to Bryophytes and Lichens ... Fred Olday
Jul 2-8 ... Lichens and Lichen Ecology ... David Richardson and Mark Seaward

Jul 23-19 ... Lichens, Biofilms, and Stone ... Judy Jacob and Michaela Schmull

Aug 6-12 ... Independent Studies: Interesting and Challenging Saxicolous Lichens of North America ... Alan Fryday

The following general flyer has links to individual lichen seminar flyers ... https://madmimi.com/p/d8c219?fe=1&pact=172217-135615528-7501261478-65168e2c176d0f9cc0d25d34eb92acbf7db1ae05

For general information … https://www.eaglehill.us/programs/nhs/nhs-calendar.shtml
office@eaglehill.us

The NW Lichenologists calendar for next year is now available.

The coming year's calendar highlights the spectacular photography of Richard Droker.

This 11 x 8.5 inch wall calendar, opening to 11 x 17 inches, has one month per page and a photo of a charismatic lichen on the facing page. This is a limited edition, first come, first serve. A list of lichens included is given on the NWL website's calendar page.

You can order this online from the NWL store

Cost: $12 per calendar.

Shipping & handling: within U.S. 1 to 10 calendars ship for $3, flat rate (USD). 
Shipping & handling outside of U.S. 1 to 10 calendars ship for $20, flat rate (USD).

If you will be in Corvallis, you can buy one directly from me (Bruce) with no shipping costs.

Please support NW Lichenologists and help to educate the world about the beauty of lichens by purchasing this calendar.

         This fall a four-day, intermediate level bryophyte identification workshop will be offered at the Andrews Experimental Forest, Blue River, Oregon. The class will meet Monday through Thursday, September 25—30. Assembly will start Sunday evening by checking into a room at the Andrews Experimental Forest and setting up in the classroom. This workshop is designed for participants with a strong botany background and a general knowledge of the basics of bryophyte structure and life cycles. Folks who have some experience identifying bryophytes can expect to kick their level of competence with the regional flora up a notch or two. 

     The class involves four days of integrated lectures, field study and lab practice. A classroom with good microscope bench space for all students is available. Students are asked to bring their own microscopes and critical dissecting tools.

     The focus of this workshop will be an intensive training in using the contemporary identification keys pertinent to our area.  Primary attention will be directed to mastering Contributions Toward a Bryoflora of California: II A Key to the Mosses  (D. Norris and J. Shevock, Madroño 2004) with attention also given to Elva Lawton's 1971 Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest. The two moss volumes of the Flora of North America will be on hand as well as other texts. Identification of liverworts and hornworts will emphasize Contributions toward a Bryoflora of California: III Keys …for Liverworts and Hornworts ( W. Doyle and R. Stotler, Madroño 2006) and the just formally published Guide to the Liverworts of Oregon (D.H. Wagner, Northwest Botanical Institute 2014). Using electronic keys will be demonstrated with time for in-class practice by students with laptop computers.

      Participants will receive a generous selection of valuable, mostly unpublished material, both printed and in digital format. They will get a comprehensive review of online resources and the most useful current literature from other parts of the world, too. An ample selection of study specimens will be provided. Participants will be taught lab techniques needed to observe the features used in keying with supervised practice of these techniques. More advanced students are encouraged to bring challenging or critical specimens for supervised study. 

There are apartments for students on site. Cost is very reasonable: $25 per night with your own linens and sleeping bag. Linens (sheets and towels) are only $10 for the duration. The stay will involve five nights, arriving Sunday, September 25 and leaving on Friday morning, September 30. Staying on site means we can have evening sessions in the classroom and socialize in the apartment common area. You will need to be able to feed yourself. The apartment kitchen is furnished with pots and pans and utensils. We’ll work together and eat together.

Cost is $350 plus Andrews apartment fees. Space is limited; early inquiry is recommended. Please contact me directly at davidwagner@mac.com.

David H. Wagner, Ph.D.

Northwest Botanical Institute

P.O. Box 30064

Eugene, OR 97403-1064

Lichens are a vital yet overlooked part of the ecology in our urban areas.  Seattle has its very own lichenologist, Dr. Katherine Glew, who has researched lichens in Norway, the Russian Far East, and throughout Washington State.  She will discuss lichens; explain what they are, how they grow, and the common types found in the urban ecosystem.  She will also address common lichens found in Seattle and discuss what their existence tells us about your plants and air quality.  Bring your hand lens if you have one, since there will be plenty of lichens to find. We will spend part of the day in Washington Park Arboretum/UW Botanical Garden.

Offered through the North Cascades Institute.

www.ncascaces.org/signup

Here is the new address for the 2016 WA heritage program rare lists. I expect that Bruce will put this address in the resources list when he has time.

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/NHPlists

It is hard to stop sending updates about  the Portland moss study but the PNWRS Donavan, Jovan et al.  did a beautiful job with the supplementary report and interactive page.  Their website about this study is a very nice example of colorful, attractive communications and easy data access to promote a science-based understanding of urban air quality.   Check out the interactive Web map of metal profiles in Portland.   I understand Rick Graw (R6 air program) provided a timely review, nice!

Regards,

The Cedar River Watershed is offering a course in lichens, taught by Katherine Glew. This course will take place on Sunday, June 5. The course will cover a description of lichens, where they occur and time in the watershed to view the lichens in their natural habitat.

There is a lot of lichen diversity in the watershed, being further out from urban pollution.

Details to be posted as we get closer to June.

A real bargain at $20 for 5 hours of fun lichen time!

Hello Northwest Lichenologists and enthusiasts,

It is that time of year again – the call for contributions to the 2016 Northwest Lichenologists Newsletter!

We would like to see contributions from the following areas:

Personals
Recent publications and web sites
Results from forays and field trips
Upcoming workshops/courses offered
New and interesting lichen species
Project descriptions and results – current and proposed
Short communications, articles

Short biographies

Lichen jobs being advertised for the upcoming year

We encourage interesting photos or links to web sites. If you would like to submit a short paper, keep in mind that it must already be edited for spelling and punctuation. As editors, we work on the formatting of submissions for the newsletter. We cannot accept papers that need grammatical revising.

Besides the above suggestions, we will consider anything relating to northwest lichenology that you can think of – including artwork, poetry, photography, etc.

Please send your submissions to Scot Loring <gniroltocs@hotmail.com> 

Submissions will generally be placed in their applicable section of the newsletter in the order received.  Please pass this e-mail on if you know of someone who is interested but does not receive postings on the NWL server. We would like to receive any submissions by March 3, 2016.  Any entries received after that date will likely be placed in the 2017 newsletter.  Apologies for any multiple copies of this email, as we use multiple mailing lists.

Sincerely,

Scot Loring

Editor

http://northwest-lichenologists.wildapricot.org/

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From Chris Lauver, of NPS:

2016 is the Centennial of the National Park Service!  In celebration, NPS is teaming up with the National Geographic Society to conduct BioBlitzes and Biodiversity celebrations at more than 100 National Parks across the country on May 20-21, 2016. 

You may already be aware that a BioBlitz is a biological inventory where teams of volunteers, each led by a subject matter expert, find and identify as many species as possible within a 24-hour period.

In the Pacific Northwest, NPS is holding BioBlitzes at 8 units of the National Park Service: San Juan Island National Historical Park, Olympic National Park, North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, Mount Rainier National Park, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, and Klondike Goldrush - Seattle Unit National Historical Park. We hope you can be part of the Pacific Northwest BioBlitz. 

We are currently recruiting field biologists and naturalists to participate in the Pacific Northwest BioBlitz, and we invite you to join us! We are excited to have your help in documenting the park’s biodiversity and in sharing your knowledge about and enthusiasm for nature with students, teachers, and the general public.

Sign up now (before February 15) at: 

https://nationalgeographic.formstack.com/forms/bioblitz_pacific_northwest_scientist_registration_form)

If you want a little more information about BioBlitzes, or need help convincing your friends and colleagues to join, here’s a short video explaining why the National Park Service is conducting them: What is your Niche?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgYcIAsQaI&feature=youtu.be

Thank you for your consideration. We hope you will be a part of the National Parks BioBlitz!

Sincerely,

Chris Lauver, PhD

Senior Science Advisor, Pacific West Region, National Park Service

Pacific Northwest CESU & Great Basin CESU

Affiliate Associate Professor, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

Box 352100, University of Washington

Seattle, WA  98195

Email:    Chris_Lauver@nps.gov

Phone:   206-685-7404

Web sites:  http://coenv.washington.edu/faculty/chris-lauver/

http://www.cfr.washington.edu/research.cesu/