Some folks are tired of parks named after dead white men. Kyla Tichkowsky? She’s railing against something different. We have parks named for: Elk. Wood Buffalo. Aspen Beach. Cypress Hills. Dinosaurs even! And yet, not one single lichen.

Why not? Lichen are, in fact, fantastically diverse and fascinating organisms. From a conservation standpoint, they are excellent bioindicators. So for conservation organizations, a lichen preserve would make a lot of sense.

Together with Kyla, we set out to understand more about lichens and their place in Edmonton’s conservation scene.

We met up with Kyla’s good friend, Diane Haughland, a lichenologist with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute.

And we were guided into the Larch Sanctuary by Meghan Jacklin, a conservation coordinator with the Edmonton and Area Land Trust.