By: Metro
Stanley Park’s wildlife and aquatic ecosystems will get a much-needed boost thanks to an eco-donation.
The Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) announced Wednesday its HSBC Freshwater Initiatives in Stanley Park through the financial institution’s $50,000 donation.
“One of the areas that we knew from the (2010) State of the Park report was that the aquatic systems of Stanley Park are in fairly deep need of some extra attention and some help,” said SPES executive director Patricia Thomson Wednesday at a plaza overlooking the Lost Lagoon.
“(This new initiative) is going to help us accomplish a lot of quick actions that will make some long-lasting positive impacts for the park,” she added.
The funding will help SPES to remove invasive species from riparian habitats, enhance habitat for birds by installing nest boxes, maintain water levels from Beaver Lake and Beaver Creek, and protect existing trees from beaver damage through a tree wire-wrapping project.
Robyn Worcester and Brian Titaro from SPES’ conservation team anchored seven-foot-long logs into Lost Lagoon in a rowing boat to create “floating islands” for ducks and migratory birds.
“People walk by and see the ducks here but they don’t always realize that this is a place where birds from all over B.C. and as far away as Alberta and even the Northwest Territories,” Worcester said.