Meet Our Experts
Juliet Pendray
Juliet Pendray is a naturalist, educator, professional facilitator, and is known for engaging others with her enthusiasm for and knowledge of fungi and lichen. Since 2004, she has shared mycological & lichenological knowledge via walks, talks, courses, instructional media, theatre, species inventories, “bioblitzen” and online forums for 30+ organizations on Vancouver Island and the south coastal mainland of B.C. She is the instructor for lichen and fungi courses at Royal Roads University, a member of SVIMS, VMS, BC Nature and other regional nature organizations, and is a regular identification expert for local mushroom events.
Elora Adamson
Elora Adamson is an environmental educator, naturalist, graduate student and mycology enthusiast. She currently works for the BC Biodiversity Program, and as coordinator for MycoMap BC project which maps fungal biodiversity in the province with the support of DNA sequencing. Elora enjoys leading mushroom walks, looking for tiny or brightly coloured fungi and crawling around on a mossy forest floor.
Erin Feldman
I have been fascinated by fungi for as long as I can remember and I love learning about these impressive organisms and sharing my acquired knowledge with receptive minds of all ages. With a background in molecular biology and genetics, fungi were the fourth kingdom of life in my research career, and I recently left the world of academia to establish “Me, Mycelium & I”, a fungal cultivation and education business. I have had the pleasure of wandering in forests across North America talking passionately about local Funga for nearly 2 decades and, more recently, I’m often joined among the trees of Vancouver Island by my favorite little mycologist-in-training.
Thom O'Dell
Thom is a biologist specializing in plants, fungi and their interactions. He conducted field ecological studies in Olympic National Park as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and was Regional Mycologist for the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region. Thom is also the Northern Vancouver Island Regional Agrologist, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. In this role he helps farmers be more economically and environmentally sustainable and adapt to climate change.
Miss Bumble
Miss Bumble is an Illustrator, Painter, Textile & Felting Artist creating on the unceded territory of the K'ómoks First Nation, in the province known as BC, Canada. The artist takes large inspiration from local mycology (study of mushrooms) as well as west coast natural flora and fauna in her illustrations and fibre works. Creating works that have a deep representation of 2SLBGTQIA+ people, which the artist is a part of, comes from seeing a lack of representation in the small communities they were living in along the west coast. Her artwork has an air of whimsy but also carries a message of advocacy for underrepresented groups including bodies of all shapes, orientations and abilities. Each artwork has a story that people can connect to, and the artist hopes that some people also see themselves represented in their work.
Previous Experts
Andy MacKinnon
Andy MacKinnon is a forest ecologist who lives in Metchosin, BC. His recent research interests include ecology of BC’s ectomycorrhizal fungal species. He is co-author of six best-selling books about plants of western North America, and co-author of the Royal BC Museum Handbook “Mushrooms of British Columbia”. He has taught rainforest ecology field courses in Bamfield and Tofino (for the University of Victoria) and Haida Gwaii (for UBC). He has also taught mushroom identification courses in Tofino (for the Rainforest Education Society) and in Victoria. Andy is also a dedicated conservationist: he’s the Board Chair of Habitat Acquisition Trust (southern Vancouver Island’s regional land trust), and has been involved in the creation of protected areas on Vancouver Island, and along BC’s coast in Haida Gwaii and the Great Bear Rainforest. In August 2024 in Telluride, Colorado, Andy MacKinnon received the Lincoff Award for Significant Contributions to American Mycology. He is president of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society (SVIMS), and an enthusiastic participant, speaker and field trip leader for various mushroom festivals in southwestern BC and the US Pacific Northwest each autumn.
Candice Cullum
My name is Candice Cullum. I am a wild crafter and wild harvester based both in Edgewood BC and Kneehill County Alberta. Being a fourth generation farm kid, picking berries, harvesting and making use of what nature provided was a part of our daily life. I spend the warmer months volunteering as the Red Deer regional coordinator for the Alberta Mycological Society and leading fungi walks through my business Full Baskets. With a deep passion for wild fungi I carry a lot of baskets.. Which easily lead into my next passion, weaving wild willow! When the cold weather sets in and I can no longer harvest fungi, the willow beckons me. The lovely variations of colour and texture achieved through wild weaving means no matter how many I make, I can never make two the same! An art form that is slowly falling away made it difficult to find classes in my region so I began learning online and making tutorials where I saw they were lacking. The need for more sustainable compostable methods to shop and carry inspired me to begin teaching anyone who was willing. My mission is to inspire folks no matter their location, age or status in life to go outside and play with nature!
Kem Luther
Kem Luther, a naturalist and writer, moved from a home on Ontario’s Grand River to the southern tip of Vancouver Island in 2004. He grew up in the Nebraska Sandhills; studied at Loyola (Chicago), Cornell, the University of Chicago, York University and the University of Toronto; and taught at Eastern Mennonite University, Sheridan College, York University, and the University of Toronto. He is the author of several books including Mushrooms of British Columbia, the ultimate reference book for BC mushrooms. He is a member of the Southern Vancouver Mycological Society and the Pacific Northwest Key Council. Kem does frequent talks and guided walks for mushrooms clubs and groups in the Pacific Northwest.
Shannon Berch
Dr. Shannon Berch is Emerita Research Scientist with the BC Ministry of Environment, Associate Member, Botany, UBC, Adjunct Professor, Land and Food Systems, UBC and a Founding Member of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society and the Truffle Association of BC.