Category Archives: Streamkeeping

Business, Nature, Photography, Society, Streamkeeping, Sustainability

Last Day Exhibiting with Stream of Dreams at EcoCity 2019

It was yet another gorgeous day in downtown Vancouver at the EcoCity 2019 event (@ecocity2019). It was my second day helping staff the Stream of Dreams Murals Society booth @StreamofDreams . I’ve been doing some PT work this year helping deliver the Stream of Dreams watershed education and community art program in schools.

I really enjoyed this event. Talked to lots of folks over the two days, collected a bunch of biz cards, and will be following up with many.

There was a serendipitous moment as I was chatting with a conference goer who didn’t seem all that impressed with our watershed education and community art program. Just then another woman walked by and squealed “Oh my gosh, Stream of Dreams! I love your program, my kids got so much out it, and teachers at her school were raving about it!”

No, I’d never met the second woman, and no cash was exchanged under any table : – ).

It’s very rewarding to get such unsolicited positive feedback.

stream of dreams founder Louise Towell Manager Krystal Brennan
L-R: Project Manager Krystal, Co-Founder Lu. Great people to work with!

stream of dreams murals ecocity 2019 vancouver

Business, Nature, Photography, Society, Streamkeeping, Sustainability, Technology

Stream of Dreams Booth at Vancouver EcoCity 2019

Lovely day in downtown Vancouver at the EcoCity 2019 event (@ecocity2019). I was helping staff the Stream of Dreams Murals Society booth. I’ve been doing some PT work this year helping deliver the Stream of Dreams watershed education and community art program in schools.

Had fun chatting with lots of other exhibitors and visitors, and also enjoyed meeting the folks from Royal Roads University where I did my MA, and University of Saskatchewan where I got my BA and BEd, and the University of Victoria, where I did a year of writing.

Great to see all the environmental programs coming out of these unis, and others!


While the multi-hundred-million dollar buildings are impressive, what really stands out to me is the tree. It outshines them all.

Business, Food, Nature, Photography, Streamkeeping

Ag Journalists Tour Byrne Creek with Someone Very Special

It was a pleasure to meet Cathy Glover today and get a photo taken with her at the monument to her late father Ken, who was instrumental in leading initial cleanups of Byrne Creek and the ravine decades ago.

A group of agriculture journalists toured the lower ravine with us. We talked salmon, invasive species, water quality and quantity. I feel there are common concerns about such issues across BC and Canada.

Glover monument Byrne Creek

Nature, Photography, Society, Streamkeeping, Sustainability

Super Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver Fall Forum 2019

Great day at the Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver (@iscmv) Fall Forum today in Maple Ridge. I’ve been active on the ISCMV board for a few years.

Interesting speakers, and several educational tours. I chose to visit ARMS, the Alouette River Management Society (@AlouetteRiverMS) to see their hatchery and education center. Got to see a chum salmon dissection, and learn about coexisting with black bears and cougars.


ISCMV invasive species council vancouver ARMS

Nature, Photography, Society, Streamkeeping, Sustainability

Soggy Burnaby Rivers Day

Leave a comment

It was a very soggy BC/World Rivers Day at the Burnaby Village Museum today. Thanks to all the volunteers!


Our Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society booth


Byrne Creek Streamkeepers volunteers with Rivers Day founder Mark Angelo


Great chatting with Dannie, the Co-Existing with Coyotes Coordinator with the Stanley Park Ecology Society, who was in the booth next to ours.


Entertainment rain or shine!


Burnaby Councillor Joe Keithley on the left, Svend Robinson (former Canadian MP, running again in the upcoming election) to the right, and environmentalist, photographer, and First Nations educator John Preissl in the middle.


Sav Dhaliwal City of Burnaby councilor and chair of Metro Vancouver


Burnaby Mayor Michael Hurley


BC and World Rivers Day founder Mark Angelo

world rivers day burnaby bc


American Kestrel that cannot be released back into the wild due to effects of injuries


Barred Owl that cannot be released back into the wild due to effects of injuries

Fishing, Nature, Photography, Streamkeeping

SEHAB Site Visit to Bonaparte Fishway

SEHAB site visit to see the repairs being done to the damaged Bonaparte Fishway in the BC interior.

Quite the project in a difficult area to access and work in! The fishway enables passage for fish to about 120 kilometers of river upstream of these rapids.

SEHAB is the Salmonid Enhancement and Habitat Advisory Board to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. These volunteers meet three times a year to gather comments and advice from stewardship groups across BC and share them with DFO Regional HQ.

sehab site visit bonaparte fishway bc

Business, Nature, Society, Streamkeeping, Sustainability

Poor BC Forestry Practices Damage Streams, Communities

These Google Earth images are of the approximate area in BC (near Logan Lake) that I saw in a recent presentation. When you think of the impacts of losing all that forest cover on watersheds and downstream communities. . .

Same area, one shot from 1984 the other 2016.

before and after logging air photos BC

The presenter was adamant that flooding in interior communities was not mostly due to climate change as some claim, but mostly due to poor forestry practices.

When you take all the trees, there’s no transpiration of precipitation, and nothing to slow down runoff.

Yes we need forestry jobs, but this does not appear to be a good way to save either the environment or the economy.