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If you have ever dreamed of a lichen species with your namesake, now’s your chance to achieve immortality. Naming rights for two recently discovered species of lichen are up for grabs to the highest bidder. It’s all part of a fundraiser for The Land Conservancy of B.C., a non-profit habitat protection group, and the Ancient Forest Alliance, which focuses on saving B.C.’s old-growth forests.

Botanical researcher Trevor Goward discovered the two species of lichen in recent years. The organizations have auctions running on their websites, and as of press time, the going bid for TLC’s lichen was $3,000.

Lichens are often mistaken for plants, but they are actually small organisms born of a symbiotic relationship between alga and fungus. They usually grow on trees and rocks. The Ancient Forest Alliance is auctioning off a horsehair lichen, which (according to a rather poetic press release) “forms elegant black tresses on the branches of old growth forests,” while The Land Conservancy is selling a type of crottle lichen, which consists of “strap-like lobes, pale grayish above and black below.”

As Goward points out, the modern system of classification has been around for three centuries, and the names of those attached to plants are still with us today.

“With any luck, your name will endure as long as our civilization does. Not even Shakespeare could hope for more than that,” says the internationally acclaimed lichenologist.

To make a bid, call the TLC office at 1-877-485-2422 or visit the Ancient Forest Alliance website at www.staging.ancientforestalliance.org.

The auction closes on Sept. 10, 2011. Let’s hope some botanical enthusiasts win, so these lichens are not left with names like Exxon helveticum or Microsoftus sulcata for all eternity.

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Ever wanted your name permanently associated with a stationary life form that is part algae and part fungi and wholly underappreciated?

Now is your chance. The naming rights to two new species of lichen are being auctioned online, with the proceeds going to the Ancient Forest Alliance and The Land Conservancy of B.C.

Trevor Goward, curator of lichens at the University of British Columbia and author of several books, said in an interview Friday he discovered a new species of horsehair lichen in the mid-1990s in the Hazelton-Kispiox area and a new species of crottle lichen in the Clearwater Valley two years ago, both of them in old-growth B.C. forests.

With help from molecular lichenologists at the University of Helsinki in Finland and the University of Madrid in Spain, both species have been recently confirmed as unique, he said.

Goward has been studying lichens since the late 1970s and has already found about 20 new species.

“It’s like working in the Amazonian rainforest,” he said.

“So few people have looked at these things. What we don’t know is overwhelming.”

Scientific protocol dictates that the rights to name a new species go to the person who describes it, and in this case Goward is allowing those rights to be sold to the highest bidder.

The genus would remain unchanged, and the species name would have to be put into Latin form, he said.

For example, if the crottle lichen was named after someone named Smith, it would be formally Parmelia smithii.

“It’s like being present at a irth,” Goward said.

“We know the surname. What we’re deciding is what this baby will be called. The point is that the baby will last 70 or 80 years whereas this name will last for as long as civilization.”

Goward doesn’t care whether an individual or a multinational corporation wins, saying it’s all about raising money for conservation.

“Call it a gimmick or whatever. We’re a species that likes to name things. Very little money is going into conservation.”

To make a bid on naming the new species of horsehair lichen, visit www.ancient forestalliance.org The deadline is Oct. 2.

If you’d prefer to name the crottle lichen, visit conservancy.bc.ca

That deadline is Sept. 10.

One month ago, six Orca whales -black and white, beautiful, and in the mood to show off their swimming skills -showed up in Burrard Inlet. Two weeks ago I saw a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs emerge from the woods to forage beside a gorgeous northern river. These sorts of experiences make B.C. special -they are but dreams for most of the world.

Orcas vacation here. Grizzlies live their lives here. I find myself trekking into B.C.’s wilderness when I’m not foraging in the fresh-food aisle at the grocery store or tied to my desk. Why? Because British Columbia has everything a mammal could want: clean water, air fit to breathe, fish, and forests.

Ensuring that vibrant communities and a diverse economy develop harmoniously with this incredible biological diversity should be central to our vision for the 21st century, but that is not the track our province is on.

It’s useful to remember that what we have here in B.C. has vanished from much of the continent. Over the last 200 years, the amount of quality habitat for North American mammals has shrunk dramatically.

Worldwide, 20,000 to 30,000 species die off each year due to deforestation, climate change, sea pollution and poaching.

Meanwhile, British Columbians have made some strides to be an exception to the downward global trend: the Great Bear Rainforest agreement of 2006 and the Mountain Caribou agreements of 2007, for example, should be cornerstones for building a B.C. for the 21st century that recognizes the importance of our old forests as immense carbon storehouses; as well as the living room, dining room and workplace for a multitude of species, including us.

While there have been impressive achievements toward implementing the terms of these agreements, there are still important elements that need to be hammered out -with vocal public support -in order to keep that family of grizzlies and those mountain caribou happy and alive.

But we also need to zoom out, and take a look at the province as a whole. Less than 10 per cent of B.C. is covered by the Great Bear and Mountain Caribou agreements. Outside of these areas, most of the laws, regulations and policies still favour a level of forest degradation that undermines the very aspects of the province that make it special. In spite of this reality, we saw industry taking to the pages of this newspaper on World Environment Day to pat themselves on the back for “the world’s most stringent legislative and regulatory framework.”

I beg to differ.

The current provincial system for deciding how much forest is allowed to be cut each year is risky: it gambles on tree-growth projections far into the future in order to overcut old growth forests now. Outdated and inflated data are used to justify letting big companies take extreme volumes of timber from the province.

From plans to clear carbon-rich forests for biofuel plantations, to excessive raw-log exports to China, B.C.’s current approach to its forests panders to distant economic interests whose insatiable demand for resources threaten the foundations of the province -if we try to supply it.

British Columbians value the natural wonders of our province. It is the provincial governments’ role to see beyond the short-term spreadsheet projections of corporate interests and to use accurate information to develop policy that serves our values.

The science on forest conservation recommends much greater amounts of forest be protected, and I have confidence that B.C. can meet the challenge. We can produce more jobs and value per cubic metre of forest cut while conserving much more of the forests themselves.

Carbon-rich forests keep the planet cool and the local rivers cool. That’s why the salmon spawn here, which draws the orcas, and others, to call this home.

It’s our home too, so let’s remind our politicians that there really is no place like it, and to keep it that way.

Valerie Langer is the director of ForestEthics’ B.C. forests campaign.

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