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Roberts Bank Terminal 2 – Update

Roberts Bank Terminal 2 – Update

Submitted by Adele Liu Roger Emsley, Executive Director of Against Port Expansion Community Group, has sent out the following message to the group: An article written by Colin Laughlan, largely critical of Robin Silvester and the manner in which the Port of Vancouver is pushing for approval of the RBT2 project, has just been published in the Maritime Magazine. You can read the article from this LINK. Conservation groups from Canada and elsewhere, scientists expert in wetland ecology, citizen scientists, the…

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Acoustic Survey of Bats in Ambleside Park

Acoustic Survey of Bats in Ambleside Park

Submitted by John Martin Survey Date: July 29 2022; Revised: August 01 2022 Disclaimer: Due to the potential overlap and limitations in auto-id software, the listed species detected during this survey may not be fully accurate. For more accurate identification, the bat calls should be analyzed using more sophisticated bat acoustic software. Detection Survey Information Type of Detection Survey: Bat Survey Survey Site: South side of Ambleside Pond from the west bend towards the east end of the pond. Recording Device: Echo Touch…

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Bird Friendly Coffee

Bird Friendly Coffee

Submitted by Colin Clasen For information about the definition, and the importance of buying Bird Friendly Coffee, please see the web pages of Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center from the following links: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/about-bird-friendly-coffee https://global.si.edu/success-stories/smithsonian-migratory-bird-center-bird-friendly-coffee Also please see an article by Birds Canada about switching to Bird Friendly Coffee: https://www.birdscanada.org/making-the-switch-to-bird-friendly-coffee/ Bird Friendly Coffee Sellers in Metro Vancouver Other Official Certifications: FT (Fair Trade), O (Organic)   COMPANY (in alphabetical order) BIRD-FRIENDLYCOFFEEBRANDS 1. Buy Low Foods#200 – 370 East Broadway, Vancouver Balzac’s ATWOOD Blend 2. Café by TAO210 – 150 Esplanade West, North Vancouver Paradise Mountain 3. Chapters-Indigo2505 Granville St., Vancouver Balzac’s ATWOOD Blend 4. City Avenue Market2279 Commercial Dr., Vancouver Balzac’s ATWOOD BlendParadise Mountain 5. City Avenue Market#130 – 910 Quayside Drive, New Westminster Balzac’s ATWOOD BlendParadise Mountain 6….

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The Soul of the Fraser – A Documentary

The Soul of the Fraser – A Documentary

Submitted by Adele Liu A local documentary producer – NERV Productions takes you on a journey of the Fraser Estuary.  See the trailer below. The full documentary will be made available free of charge on Youtube in August.  Where millions of birds and billions of fish once thrived, now mere thousands struggle to co-exist with the unregulated growth of Metro-Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Local filmmakers Brendan Chu and Chris Jenkins explore the Fraser Estuary, the original river delta beneath…

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The Season for Bird Song

The Season for Bird Song

By Peter Ward This time of the year is the best season for listening to birdsong.  Pick a patch in your favourite forest, park, or an open grassland, or even better a water’s edge with cattails and you’ll be rewarded with the rich experience of multiple male birds singing to defend their territories. These apps help amateur bird watchers and ornithologists know what they are listening to. They are immensely helpful with identification of species and work even if multiple…

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Intertidal Exploration at Centennial Beach

Intertidal Exploration at Centennial Beach

Report by Cathy Walker On July 2, 2022, I participated in the Marine Biology field trip, led by Sheila Byers, to the intertidal zone at Centennial Beach in Delta.  Sheila focused primarily on eelgrass, lugworms and bivalves. I learned a lot. The native eelgrass, Zostera marina, has the wider, longer leaves while the introduced species, Zostera japonica, has the narrower, shorter leaves. There is a lot of Z. japonica on the sandy mudflats of Centennial Beach. The native eelgrass prefers to be immersed in…

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Cats & Birds: Making Communities Safer for Pets, Wildlife & People

Cats & Birds: Making Communities Safer for Pets, Wildlife & People

Submitted by Bryna Turk Cats and Birds is a project of the non-profit Stewardship Centre for BC that helps make British Columbia a safer place for cats, birds, other wildlife, and people. After habitat loss, outdoor roaming cats are the #1 source of human-related wild bird mortality, killing as many as 350 million wild birds every year in Canada alone. Of these, about one-sixth, or over 58 million bird deaths per year are by owned pet cats who are allowed…

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Cheakamus Lake Backpacking Trip

Cheakamus Lake Backpacking Trip

Trip report by Christine Thuring From Thursday to Saturday (June 16-18), a small group of five backpackers enjoyed the trials and tribulations of early summer in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The wildflowers were quite behind schedule, there were 5 active bears in the area and the snow line was surprisingly low. Still, we had a fantastic time.  Our home base was the Cheakamus Lake Campground (at 850m elevation), where we occupied two sites, separated by a thicket of dogwood and hawthorn….

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Roberts Bank Terminal 2 – Petition To Sign

Roberts Bank Terminal 2 – Petition To Sign

Submitted by Adele Liu, NV Treasurer I have been working with James Casey at Birds Canada and Nature Canada after participating in the ‘Nature on the Hill’ week (Nature Canada led environment lobbying) to draft a paper petition for MP Don Davies to present to the House of Commons and deliver to the government. Now MP Davies has reviewed and approved the document and it’s good to go. You can download the PDF file from the link below: Following MP Davies’ advice,…

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Diez Vistas Loop Trip (Buntzen Lake)

Diez Vistas Loop Trip (Buntzen Lake)

Report by Adele Tremblay On May 30 a half-dozen hardy hikers tackled the Diez Vistas, fully expecting a showery day and a longer-than-usual return along the west side of the lake. Amazingly, though, skies were brightening up by 9 a.m., and a passerby informed us that the suspension bridge had reopened, both promising omens for our day. At our first stop near the floating bridge, Elena provided some interesting history about the original Lake Beautiful and development of hydroelectric power…

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