If you have a taste for local seafood, or even just enjoy the vibe of Cowichan Bay, consider a trip to Vancouver Island this weekend. Thousands of local food enthusiasts will be converging there for the 4^th annual Cowichan Bay Spot Prawn Festival, which runs Saturday, May 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 13, noon to 4 p.m.  

Last year’s event drew more than 3,000 people, so organizers expanded festivities into two days of fun, including live music, face painting, cooking demonstrations (learn to make Spot Prawn Pasta with Nettle Pesto), sessions on pairing prawns with wine, and more.

A shuttle will be available to transport visitors from the free parking at South Cowichan Lawn Tennis Club to the festival site in Hecate Park. Consult the event website for more details on parking, shuttles, and events.

With your convenience in mind, she has cooked up an easy and thoughtful solution to the annual gift dilemma, a gift that will remind your mother of your generosity all year long. You guessed it! It’s a subscription to our magazine. Five print issues and a free calendar for just $19.95.  All the details are right here. Simply click, order–done!

This coming Saturday, April 28, 2012, will be the fourth annual Save the Frogs Day, as declared by environmentalists and nature lovers. And while it may not be as widely observed as, say, Earth Day, Groundhog Day, or Administrative Assistant’s Day, organizers confirm it’s gaining traction. More than 150 Save the Frog Day events are planned in 25 countries. Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson is among the leaders who have officially recognized the cause, having signed a proclamation in 2009.

According to Save the Frogs!, the California-based non-profit coordinating events, nearly one third of the world’s amphibians are threatened with extinction, due to such challenges as climate change, pollution, disease, habitat loss, invasive species, and overharvesting. “Frogs eat mosquitoes, provide us with medical advances, serve as food for birds, fish and monkeys, and their tadpoles filter our drinking water. There are lots of reasons to save them,” says founder Kerry Kriger in a release.

B.C. is home to eleven species of frogs. The Rocky Mountain tailed, northern leopard, and Oregon spotted frogs are classed as endangered; two others (Pacific tailed and northern red-legged) are of special concern.

What can you do to show Kermit you care? Aside from reducing your own environmental impact and supporting programs and organizations in place for protecting ecosystems, learn how to identify B.C.’s amphibians and report sightings to the B.C. Frogwatch Program. (While you’re at it, why not learn their language? Click here for recorded B.C. frog calls.)

And for more on the state of B.C.’s frogs, see “It’s not easy being green” in the Spring 2010 issue of British Columbia Magazine.

You may not always call or write, but there are many ways to remind Mother Earth you care—whether it’s by biking instead of driving, or joining in a community clean-up. This Sunday, April 22 is Earth Day, and the entire province will be saying  je t’aime to the Earth with a bounty of events to mark the occasion. Here are just a few:

In Greater Victoria as part of the Saanich Cycling Festival there’s the Family Bike Ride, which sees busy routes temporarily become car-free through rolling street closures that allow everyone to pedal on the road safely. There’s also a shorter route near the university just for kids. Festivities will follow the 11 a.m. ride. (My car-free family will likely be taking a hike in an area park using a vehicle from the Victoria Car Share Co-op. If you’re thinking of giving up your car, check out the co-op in your community.)

Up island in Nanaimo, volunteers will be cleaning up the Long Island freshwater beach from noon to 4 p.m. Contact organizer Erik Deplonty for details (250-739-1069).

In Summerland, meet at the Dale Meadows Sports Complex to help the Summerland Environmental Science Group restore Prairie Creek from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Contact organizer Lisa Scott at (250-404-0115).

Northern B.C. will also be keeping it clean with a week-long litter pick-up event in Prince George organized by The Recycling and Environmental Action Planning Society. Register online and order your bags from REAP: events@reaps.org.

In Vancouver, there will be a parade from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., organized by the Wilderness Committee. Meet under the Skytrain at Grandview Highway and Commercial Drive.

There are many more events around the province—check out the full list for British Columbia on the Earth Day Canada site.

Writer/photographer Shanna Baker wistfully remembers her first “serious” camera: a Minolta XTsi, a gift from her parents. After high school, she toted that film camera around for six months on her travels abroad. Wary of thieves, she slept with it tucked in her sleeping bag every night. Raised in the Okanagan, Baker has spent much of her free time over the past six years amassing passport stamps and fattening her portfolio of stock travel images—from tribal rites in Niger, to the riotous beauty of an Indian market.

For our cover photo, and our Spring 2012 feature “Focus Group,” she raised her photography to a new level—high in the Bugaboos at a photo school with esteemed nature photographer John Marriott. Baker, our Associate Editor, was eager to learn the nuances of landscape photography, which she describes as a “different skill set.” Marriott’s class did not disappoint.

“It was a phenomenal experience to be in this jaw-dropping alpine environment and do nothing for three days but shoot it. It was a photographer’s dream trip.”

The Spring 2012 edition of British Columbia Magazine is on newsstands now, or download a digital copy instantly by clicking here.

Did you know?

• British Columbia produces about 30% of the apples grown in Canada–that’s more than one billion pieces of the juicy red-skinned fruit each year.
• About 98% of B.C. apples are produced in the Okanagan-Similkameen valleys, though there orchards in the Gulf Islands as well.
• British Columbians consume about 75 to 100 B.C. apples a year, per person.
• The varieties grown for commercial production include red and gold delicious, McIntosh, Spartan, Jonagold, Gala, Braeburn, and Fuji.

A promotional photo from the Penticton area, circa 1910. (Courtesy Kelowna Public Archives, No. 824)

By the late 1920s, trucks were being used to haul produce to the packinghouses. This photo of Fred Day and his team shows that horse and wagon rigs were still in use as well (Kelowna Public Archives, No. 6432)

The Pridam family in Kelowna takes a break in their apple picking day. (Kelowna Public Archives, No. 3750)

This packing crew from the late 1920s has their shipment of apples ready for transport to the rail station. The “OK” brand indicated “O” for the Okanagan and “K” for Kootenay. (Kelowna Public Archives, No. 3803)

Kong hai fat choy and welcome to the Year of the Dragon.

The Winter 2011 issue of British Columbia Magazine marks the occasion with a rich, behind-the-scenes perspective on Chinese New Year celebrations in the Lower Mainland. See “Behind the lion’s mask” in your copy of the magazine to witness the preparations and determine how you, too, might please the gods and improve your fortune this year.

Are you a dragon person? According to Chinese mythology, those born during a dragon year (2012, 2000, 1988 and backwards in 12-year increments) are powerful, stubborn, intelligent, sexual, and have magical powers. To learn what other special attributes dragons possess, see our online article “The Year of the Dragon.” 

And for more on Chinese New Year, see Jane Nahirny’s “A wok through Chinatown” to read about her experience preparing a traditional dish for the festivities (complete with recipe).

Please note that our subscription department will be open December 28 and 29 (full days) and December 30 (morning only), but will otherwise be closed for the holidays until January 3, 2012. Contact: 800-663-7611, 604-713-0400; cs@bcmag.ca

The two species of lichens were discovered by researcher Trevor Goward who has donated his dibs on naming rights (which, under scientific protocol, usually go to the person who describes it). Instead, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia and the Ancient Forest Alliance are holding online auctions for the public to bid for the right to name the lichens. All proceeds will go to the two environmental groups. Goward refers to the auction of the naming rights as “taxonomic tithing,” and encourages other researchers to do the same.

Make a bid on the respective lichen species by visiting the websites of The Land Conservancy (1-877-485-2422) or the Ancient Forest Alliance (250-896-4007).

To contributing editor Larry Pynn, this grainy colour slide from 1986, taken in remote northwestern British Columbia’s Mount Edziza Provincial Park, is proof that outdoor equipment has come a long way, baby.

“I’m shown wearing a tasteless yellow-and-white baseball hat, bold-striped shirt, wool army-surplus pants and, gather ’round kids, an external-frame backpack.” With every step he took, that aluminum frame knocked against his head.

“I remember a lot about the first big hiking trip,” he adds. “My sleeping bag rolling down into a crater, a July snowstorm so thick we had to make camp where we stood, and wading through a chest-high swamp because we took the wrong valley coming down off the Mount Edziza plateau. But you know, I can’t remember a thing about that crappy little external frame backpack [aside from the head bumping]. Maybe gear isn’t the be-all and end-all of a great hiking trip, after all.”

Agreed. Though dare I suggest that our intrepid “Outdoor Advisor” might have looked just a bit happier in this photo had he been sporting a modern internal frame pack with cushy straps, ventilated panels, and weight-transfer technology?

Larry examines such modern features as applied to the day pack–which has evolved alongside multi-day packs–in the Fall 2011 issue. See “Day pack buying basics” for his tips on choosing size, panel configuration, hydration compatibility, material, and more.