Mad Hatter Page 8 Deer Lake Project Deer Lake in Burnaby is a beautiful place to spend a relaxing spring or summer afternoon. Sec in an out of the way, but not inaccessible, corner of the municipality, people come from all over to visit the popular urban park. But recent plans to build a new housing development on the south side of the park could cause some major changes to the environment and natur- al wildlife of Deer Lake, says a group of students. The biology department at Douglas College has spent the past eight months studying and preparing a re- port on what changes to Deer Lake could adversely affect the plant, animal and underwater life. Funded by the Environment 2000 pro- gram of the federal government, instructos Val Schaefer and Adrienne Peacock of Douglas College chose six students from around the lower main- land to conduct the survey and report on the lake's environment. "It was also very easy to gain the Support of the Burnaby Health Depart- ment, in light of the proposed housing development, and the fact tha this was the first ever in-depth study of the natural life in Deer Lake," Peacock says. The Natural Environment of Deer Lake is the culmination of the work begun last June by Douglas College students, Rita Ciamnaichalla, Lee Beile, Mike Magee and Lorraine Andrusiak, plus a terasty of Victoria graduate Paul Johnson and the project supervisor Beth Scott from Simon Fraser niversity. lone final product, a 95 page report plus a short leaflet of recommenddiors are in circulation with the municipality and provide some very interesting highlights on Deer Lake’ uniqueness. Ft In almost every aspect, the environ- ment of the lake could easily be affected by changes to the human population living near the site, the report says. The report thoroughly catalogues every species and genus of all vege- tation, wildlife, macrophytes (plants that float), fish and plank- ton, and lists the possible changes to each if the development goes through. Beginning with the plant life, the students expressed surprise with the "incredible mix" of flora. Over 19 varieties of trees were spotted ranging from Cascara to Western Cedar plus another 21 species of shrubs, 49 herbaceous plants and five different types of ferns. Another area that deserves special attention is the abundance of water- fowl around the beach site, most specifically the Canada Goose and Mallards. With people continuing to feed the birds, they tend to congregate in greater numbers and pose serious health hazards for people trying to use the beach area, Peacock says. The summation of bird life around the lake points out seven species of waterfowl, four types of gulls, thre varieties of game birds plus four species of birds of prey including the sharp-shinned hawk, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl and osprey. The birds of prey probably face the greatest risk if the development is put through because they generally hunt in the grasslands near Oakalla. This is the same spot where the ~