Mad Hatter Page 2

 

 

To help the GVRD better understand and
manage the park, university graduates
Abby Schwarz, PhD; Glen Porter, Msc; and
Heidi Sutherland, Bsc; along with Douglas
College biology student Vera Vukelich,
are conducting a biophysical inventory

of the park's vegetation.

Brainchild of Douglas College Instructors

The project is the brainchild of two
Douglas College biology instructors,

Dr. Adrienne Peacock and Val Schaeffer,
and is one of five proposals which the
pair received government funding for this
year.

"It's important that the educational
institutes are visible in the communities
they serve," says Peacock.

"This particular project, like the others
we're conducting, will provide a valuable
service for the users of Burnaby Lake
Park and the residents in the surrounding
area."

The most direct benefit from the study
will be a report, detailing the geogra-
phical location of the nearly 150 different
species of trees, flowers, mosses and
other plants in the park.

A brochure discussing the pollution in
the area will also give residents in the
lake's drainage area tips on how to con-
tribute to keeping Burnaby Lake a clean
natural environment.

From an inner ring of white and yellow
lilies on the water to the tall trees
throughout the park, the group says they
have discovered close to 30 distinct
plant communities in the region.

"There's great richness in the number

of species around Burnaby Lake," says
Porter, the designated supervisor of the
project. "Just about any kind of habitat
can be found here, as long as it's a

wet habitat."

By doing spot checks of the different
vegetation communities and combining the

 

information with transect data the team
should compile the most comprehensive
listing ever in Burnaby Lake Park.

"We started by looking at aerial photo-
graphs," says Sutherland. "From there
we ventured into the park to see how
closely the actual plant communities
resembled what we saw on the photos."

The transects the group are working on
involve a detailed survey of the plant
life in any specific area of the park,
usually taken in a straight line from
the lake shore out. This method of
survey gives a detailed description of
where the boundaries of the different
plant communities lie.

"| found a problem in going to places
where most people have never been in
to," says Vukelich. "While studying
the vegetation at one of the bogs, |
suddenly sunk up to my waist in mud and
water."

"Now we carry a rope whenever we go out,
and we always go in pairs along the
marsh areas."

Covered in Lilies

Another interesting aspect is the way
Burnaby Lake is almost completely covered
in different varieties of lilies. Without
the GVRD's dredging program, the entire
lake would have been covered over years
ago, the group says.

This type of information will be included
in the final, technical report that will
be used by the regional district and

the municipality of Burnaby for future

studies. Copies will also be made
available to local libraries.
"We'll also be including what the problem

areas of Burnaby Lake are," says Porter.
"Because of industrial waste some of

the streams feeding in have a water
temperature too high for plants to grow,
and other streams are visibly polluted
by oil."