@nformer

Stream Keepers Workshops Keep
Hope Alive for Future Watersheds

\ \ Je all know, or should know, that

our watersheds are in deep trouble.
The planet is suffering daunting defeats
on all fronts. Therefore, it is encouraging
to know that a program in Sechelt is
directing hope toward a sustainable future
that must rely on fewer resources — doing
more with less.

This sounds like an oxymoron, but, in
fact, it is a reality. And the Stream Keepers
course offered through the Sechelt
campus is, as workshop instructor and
originator Dave Bates sees it, a necessity.

“With fewer fisheries officers available
to patrol our waterways, the onus is on
the people to take greater control of our
dwindling resources and help find
solutions to some of the problems,” Dave
says. “The public has not been well-
prepared to monitor streams. “This course
is designed so that people can develop
basic skills to oversee watersheds.

“The value of the Stream Keepers
workshops is in public awareness and
public participation in watershed
stewardship and watershed resource
awareness,” he continues. “It wa’
developed with money from the Fraser
River Green Plan and it is a partnership

Dave
Bates,

stream

Department of Fisheries and Oceans and
the Ministry of Environment, Lands and
Parks. The course was designed using the
United States Adopt a Stream model.”

The information students collect from
these watersheds is delivered to a data
base which is accessible by government
regulators as well as volunteer
organizations. The data base is housed
at Simon Fraser University in Kelowna.

The three-credit program targets
individuals who will take the information
and deliver it to other people.
Participants range from high school
students and college instructors, to
retirees and environmentalists.

“A lot of the students are already
actively involved in other environmental
programs,” Dave says. “We have trained
about 100 people since the workshops
began a year and a half ago and there
are people from all over the province
who are on a waiting list.”

The workshops will continue to be
part of the Sechelt campus curriculum,
although courses usually take place in
the middle of a stream somewhere in
the province of B.C. “There is only
one prerequisite,” Dave says,

violence. This is the major _

ee are being asked

deductible pledges from friends, —
‘colleazucs, businesses, etc. Fe

Reel Change:
Towards a
Day Without
Violence

Call for Participants

: > eel Change, the Women’s

Monument Filmathon, will be

_ an inspiring and provocative day of

films, videos and speakers
addressing the issue of women and

fundraiser for the Women’s ©

_ Monument, a national memorial to _
_be located in Vancouver’ ’s Thornton
Park, dedicated to all women who _

have been murdered. It will take

_ place on Saturday, December 2.

am oo at :

raise $500 a seat through tax

more. All consenting donors will be
named at the monument site.
For more information, contact

_ the Women’s Monument Filmathon
at 986-1911, local 2078. i

DECEMBER 6, 1989

between Capilano College, the “enthusiasm.” ‘i THE WOMEN'S MONUMENT
@ e@= Capilano Vol. XVII No. 9
Cax College October 20/95