Pursuing the most diverse yet under celebrated wildlife has become an interesting past time for some. Up to a dozen species of this family of wildlife can sometimes be found on one tree. Looking for lichens can be an adventure for all seasons in Nova Scotia.

Because of their diversity and spread amongst the local landscape they are a perfect tool for teaching in an outside classroom. What better way to get students outside and active than having a scavenger hunt for lichen species. Lichens are a wonderful subject for wildlife photography with a large palette of colour, and they cannot run away!

Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park is now offering an introduction to Nova Scotian lichens as part of our curriculum-linked educational programs. Find “enlichenment” for students in such subjects as food chains, habitat, diversity, interactions of ecosystems, species at risk and classification systems. Using simple lichen identification brochures and resource books, we will explore our wetland trail and build on a knowledge base that can continue back in the school classrooms.

Nova Scotia has many species of lichen but one in particular has been getting attention. Commonly called Boreal Felt lichen, Erioderma pedicellatum, is endangered in Nova Scotia and Canada. This rare lichen has been found in several places in Nova Scotia, but always with mature fir trees, bogs covered with sphagnum mosses and within 25 km of the coast. There are several lichens that are called indicator lichens because they are always found in the same area as the Boreal Felt lichen.

The following is a tale of a Boreal Felt lichen hike at Ecum Secum, NS. After driving two hours to get to Ecum Secum, we met up with the lichen specialists. There were 12 of us in total. We drove for another 45 minutes down logging roads with many turn-offs, to the point that I would never have been able to find my way home. Once we arrived at the destination by car, the hike began. Boreal Felt lichen prefers a specific habitat and the conditions were ideal. After scrambling across a cut-over area and through bogs we reached the zone where the specialist had already found five fir trees with the elusive Boreal Felt lichen growing on the trees’ north sides. We had our magnifiers in hand which we used to identify the fruiting bodies on the lichen. This differentiates it from the other felt lichen. Identifying lichen involves close up encounters, keys must be followed and even simple chemical analysis used.

We tramped around in the woods for a couple of hours locating the trees that had been found before and tagged with orange tape. It was interesting to see a dozen excited people examining the trees so closely. A specialist in the group even found one more tree with the rarest Boreal Felt lichen. Now there are 6 trees identified in that area. We found Ghost Antler, Pseudevernia cladonia, another rare lichen, which can be an indicator species for the Boreal Felt lichen.
One of the hikers identified moose scat so the lichens are not the only species at risk in this wet mossy area.

It is a thrill to accumulate the tools and knowledge to identify specific parts of an ecosystem. It was brought home to me that all the earth works together and no small part can be taken away without consequences. Sometimes we only look at the forest and not the trees or even the array of life on the trees.
Check out our up-coming events or book an educational program at http://wildlifepark.gov.ns.ca. Email: legacycentre@gov.ns.ca Telephone: 902-758-5315