Join Julia for a tour of the native and ornamental trees and shrubs that make up the story of our urban landscape at Deer Lake Park. We will look at common plants that live in our urban parks, observe their unique features and discuss how to identify them. Meet at the Royal Oak trailhead for the Deer Lake Park Trails. Please dress for the weather.

Julia Alards-Tomalin is an instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), in Burnaby, Canada. She studied Forestry and Ecological Restoration at BCIT and recently completed a Master of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her background is diverse, including horticulture, arboriculture, invasive species management and ecological restoration, but is united by a common theme of plants. Starting in 2019, Julia began to work with her students to create an Open Education textbook focusing on the winter identification of plants entitled Buds, Branches and Bark: A Guide to Winter ID in the Pacific Northwest. Buds, Branches and Bark is free to download, and the 3rd edition is currently available on the BCIT website. In 2022 Julia was awarded the Teaching Excellence in Open Education Employee Excellence Award at BCIT for her involvement in this Open Education Resource and several others. In 2023 the 2nd edition of Buds, Branches and Bark was awarded the Open EducationGlobal Award for Excellence in the Open Pedagogy category and the BCcampus Award for Excellence in Open Education.

Presented as part of Connect Fest Burnaby.