Show your community spirit ~ join the Flower Count March 5 - 11
High-tech sewing
Stitching and crafting show goes digital Page A3
flowercount.com
NEWS: Council pushes back on budget increases /A7 DRIVEWAY: The joys of driving emission-free /A10 ARTS: Beer Week kicks off with cycling jaunt /A18
SAANICHNEWS Friday, March 6, 2015
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On Women’s Day, pioneering science work remembered Groundbreaking scientists left lasting legacy in plant pathology Travis Paterson News staff
Studying a dying leaf of an arbutus tree on the edge of Francis-King Park in Saanich, Dr. Brenda Callan points out the different patterns of fungi that turn the iconic tree’s green leaves brown during winter. “It’s winter distress and it’s pretty common as the arbutus are on the northernmost edge of their territory here,” says the research scientist with the Pacific Forestry Centre. “It doesn’t mean they’re dying, though they certainly are vulnerable.” Callan, whose work focuses on fungi and trees, has fielded calls for the past 25 years from residents concerned about the health of arbutus trees in Greater Victoria. She’s also a local mush-
room specialist, on call to emergency rooms where she identifies poisonous mushrooms eaten by unsuspecting victims. Under her arm, Callan carries three reference books – two from the 1920s and one from the 1940s. All are originals produced by female scientists and still relevant today, but from a time when women were rarely recognized as leaders in their field. The demographics of the science field today look starkly different on the eve of International Women’s Day (March 8), but the anniversary holds special significance for Callan. She relies regularly on the work of four Canadian women who were pioneers in the field of fungi and their effect on trees and wood: Dr. Irene Mounce (1894-1987) of Cumberland, Dr. Clara Fritz (1889-1974), Dr. Ruth Macrae (1903-1993) and Dr. Mildred Nobles (19031993). PlEASE SEE: International, Page A5
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Claremont’s golden child Claremont secondary Grade 10 students cheer on their teacher assistant, Nolan Mitchell, as the student poses with all four gold medals he won as the school’s only athlete at the B.C. High School Wrestling Championships. Mitchell also won bronze for Claremont as a Grade 8 student while attending a nearby middle school, before winning four straight golds in Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12, including last Saturday’s championship win in Abbotsford. See the full story on Page A16.
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