Ryan Regier’s enthusiasm for a leaf says it all. The UBC research librarian is offering to share his knowledge and passion for trees, forests and wildlife in a series of free walks this summer.
By Carol Volkart
If you love trees, stories and walking, you’ll really enjoy Ryan Regier.
When he showed up at the May 23 Salmonberry Days tree walk led by horticulturalist Allison Luke, nobody knew what to make of this guy who seemed to know almost as much as she did. His questions were knowledgeable, he had his own store of tree and nature tales, and he and Luke ended up trading scientific tree names like old colleagues.
Turns out Regier is a UBC research librarian who loves, loves, loves forests, trees and wildlife. Like any true enthusiast, he wants to share his passion with the world. So he keeps a research blog, writes about Pacific Spirit Park and leads free forest education walks.
Which is where you — the tree and nature lovers of Dunbar — come in. Regier has a list of scheduled walks beginning June 14 that will educate and entertain you throughout the summer.
They range from a sunset tree walk at Kits Beach to walks focused on beavers, crows and the cedar trees of Stanley Park, to two forest folklore and ethnobotany walks during the Folk Festival (outside the festival; no tickets involved.)
“My forest walks are high-energy events where we wonder together at forests being the greatest show on earth,” he writes on his website, where his articles reflect his enthusiasm for all things nature:
- ‘Lily’, the giant hollow Western RedCedar on the Lily of the Valley trail.
- How Pacific Spirit Park may have trees over a thousand years old.
- Why Pacific Spirit Park is a hotspot for Living Stumps.
Most of his walks are free, he says, because as a UBC faculty member, part of his job includes ‘scholarship and service’ to the university and surrounding community. “Instead of writing and publishing journal articles, I have chosen to do this!”
When there’s a request for a private walk, he will charge a group rate depending on the size and type of group, with the money donated to a local park society or another nature organization. If people want to tip him, that money will be donated as well.
His attachment to trees goes way, way back to early childhood. Growing up in Kitchener, Ont., he was devastated when his parents had a big old tree, likely an oak, cut down in the back yard because of fears it would fall on the house. “I loved that tree, would always play around it thinking I was Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest,” he says.
There were tears when it fell, but even more when it was replaced. “There is a photo of me crying in front of the very small and skinny tree that my parents planted in its place, a London Plane tree.”
But here’s the twist, along with a little botany: London Planes are a cross between American Sycamore and Oriental Plane trees, and the one his parents planted took after the Sycamore side of the family — it’s massive and the biggest tree on the block.
“It’s outshaded and killed a few trees around it. Seeing it and sitting under it is one of my favourite parts of going home.”
Tree walks are always popular during Salmonberry Days, and this year’s with Luke and Nina Shoroplova were both informative and appreciated. The festival is over for the year, but the pleasure of wandering through a forest with a storyteller like Regier is still to be had for months to come.