Tales from the Underground with Andy Mackinnon

More species live underground than live aboveground. There’s more life, and more living, in the soil, than there is above it. And everything that happens in our world is dependent on, and to some extent determined by, what happens in the subterranean world. Our land use and management have profound, and mostly unknown, effects on this underground world. This presentation will dig into west coast soils and see who lives there, what they’re up to, and what effect their activities have in our aboveground world.

Presenter: Forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon (MSc, DSc) is the co-author of six best-selling guidebooks to BC plants, and the Royal BC Museum Handbook “Mushrooms of British Columbia”. Through his 30-year career with the BC Forest Service, Andy was involved in defining and implementing ecosystem-based management in Haida Gwaii and the Great Bear Rainforest. He has co-taught rainforest ecology field courses in Bamfield and Tofino (for UVic) and Haida Gwaii (for UBC). Andy is a retired BC Professional Forester and Professional Biologist, President of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society, and Board Chair for our regional land trust, Habitat Acquisition Trust. He is an enthusiastic advocate for conservation and responsible resource management.