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houses will be built, Peacock says.
Another sad light on the birds of
prey is that while four species live
near the lake today, as many as 15
species lived here as early as 1966,
the report says.

The largest grouping of birds around
the lake is, however, the passerine
species (songbirds). Up to 30
different varieties of these live in
the area, including the starling,
the belted kingfisher, Swanson's
thrush, and the rufous-sided towhee.

One area the students did not get
the information they wanted was in
an accurate count of mammals. Con-
stant interference from people
visiting the lake managed to thwart
all efforts to make live trappings.

While 10 species of mammals were
noticed, either through direct sit-
ting or from circumstantial evidence,
it is interesting to note that there
are no deer at Deer Lake.

Equally as difficult to count were
the reptiles and amphibians. The
students found one painted turtle
(assumed to have been left behind
by a disenchanted pet owner), snakes,
frogs and bullfrogs.

As far as the waterplants go, the
students were suprised to discover
how well the white lilies were
adapting to Deer Lake. Introduced
by humans, this species is rapidly
choking out the yellow lily grown
naturally at the lake, the report
says.

The rainbow trout could also be
running into difficulties because of
their direct competition for food
with the catfish. It is pointed out
that the trout would die off without
constant restocking by the Fish and
Wildlife Department.

Over the past year, the black crappid
has disappeared from the lake, the
report also says.

But while the average visitor to
Deer Lake may be most interested in
the above statistics, the students
and the municipality were watching
for changes in the plankton life.

Plankton, which are very, very small
organisms floating and swimming in
the lake are generally the first
creatures to be affected when any
changes do occur to a watery environ-:
ment.

The students wrote 18 pages on the
life of plankton in Deer Lake, in-
cluding studies of where the six
major varieties lived, what tempera-
ture of water they preferred and
their size.

The abundance of these tiny creatures
show the lake is teeming with nutri-
ents, but this may not necessarily be
a good thing for a popular swimming
area, says Peacock.

In total, the students discovered
Deer Lake could survivethe new housing
development in relatively the same
shape it currently is in, if the
municipality and area residents
follow certain guidelines.

The waterfowl should not be encowaed
to use the beach area for feeding,
pets should be controlled to prevent
their wastes from entering the water

system, and residents should absolute-
ly NEVER let household toxins, such
as car soap, oil, gas, antifreeze,

chlorinated swimming pool water,
pesticides or other poisons enter
storm drains.

Schaefer and Peacock are now looking
forward to working on a recently
approved project that will entail a
similar study of Burnaby Lake, and