B.C. Vegetation Working Group

A small group of vegetation specialists met at the Pacific Forestry Centre on 6 March 1986 to discuss the formation of a B.C. Vegetation Working Group. There was general agreement that such a group would be desirable, especially if the group dealt with more than just vegetation classification. One of the main objectives of the group would be:

• to foster communication among individuals involved in various aspects of the description and management of vegetation.

The group felt it important to hold an annual workshop that would bring vegetation specialists together in a field trip/annual meeting and possibly symposium format.

This small meeting was followed by an invitation to all B.C. vegetation specialists to attend a meeting at UVIC on 22^nd April 1986 to:

• discuss the formation of a working group
• go on a field trip to some local Garry oak and rocky shore communities

Nineteen ecologists from Victoria and Vancouver attended. Although individual interests in the formation of a group vary, communication with others was considered the most important role for such a group. This will be achieved by two methods:

1. the distribution of a newsletter (which started as the B.C. Vegetation Working Group Newletter, Vol. 1, No. 1, June 1986; and became the Botany B.C. Newsletter in 1987; edited by Del Meidinger)
2. the organization of an annual workshop (started as the B.C. Vegetation Workshop in 1986; became the Botany B.C. Meeting in 1987)

It was decided at the 1987 meeting to change the name of the group to Botany B.C., to avoid confusion of this group with the "B.C. Vegetation Management Committee". However, there was vocal opposition who felt that the ‘vegetation working group’ provided support for them to attend the meetings. Therefore, the official name change was tabled to the next meeting.