Paul Cipywnyk's Blog

Upcoming Community Cleanups in South Burnaby

There are a couple of community cleanups happening over the next two weeks in south Burnaby.

The first is sponsored by KINA (Kingsway Imperial Neighbourhood Association) and South Burnaby Neighbourhood House and will be held on Saturday, Sept. 20, from 10:00 - 12:00 at Windsor Elementary School, 6166 Imperial St.

Then two weeks later, the Edmonds Town Centre Business & Community Association is having its autumn Clean Sweep on Oct. 4 from 10:00 - 12:00, meeting at the Eastburn Community Centre, 7435 Edmonds St. For this event, Byrne Creek Streamkeepers will also have a registration booth in the parking lot of the Edmonds Skytrain Station.

Both events feature free refreshments for participants. Bags, buckets and tongs are also provided.

Come out and join the fun, and help make your community a more attractive, healthier place to live!

Mother Raccoon, Kit Killed on Burnaby's Southridge Dr.

A mother raccoon and a kit were killed by a vehicle on Southridge Dr. in southeast Burnaby recently. I came across their carcasses at the side of the road today. Thanks to the kind soul who moved them off the bloody pavement and placed them side by side on the grass.

It's high time people slowed down on Southridge -- the speed limit is 50kph but I'd say the average speed is around 70, with speeds of 80 and more not uncommon. It's a wide, four-lane road, but that is no excuse. When I drive the road I feel that I'm obstructing traffic if I'm moving at less than 60-65, and I am passed regularly at that speed. I often walk sections of the road and despite the wide sidewalks, find the roaring trucks, zooming cars, and screaming motorcycles intimidating at times. It would take only a split-second of distraction for a driver doing 70 or 80 to hop the curb and mow down a pedestrian.

I was going to use the headline "Mother, Child Killed on Southridge Speedway" but felt that would be too sensationalistic.

Yet it was a mother and her child...

But I guess we won't care until it is a Homo sapiens mother and child lying at the side of the road.

And perhaps not even then.

Life in the fast lane, eh?

Edmonds City Fair a Blast!

I was a "celebrity contestant" and a talent contest judge at the 2008 Edmonds City Fair in southeast Burnaby today. It was great fun! Somehow I managed to win the celebrity contest, which involved racing in a sack, carrying an egg in a spoon, putting on a dress and hat, and sprinting to the finish line. I didn't think I'd prevailed over MP Peter Julian, MLA Raj Chouhan, Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, and RCMP Superintendant Rick Taylor, but that's what the judges ruled :-).

How was I included in this cast, you may ask? One of my hats is president of the Edmonds Town Centre Business & Community Association.

I was blown away by the contestants in the music contest, most of them young female singers ranging in age from seven to seventeen or so. Most were too shy to say boo to the MC, but once the music started they soared. Amazing. (And I've got some cred to be a judge as I sang in a youth choir for ten years, and won an award or two for singing a loooong time ago :-).

My welcoming speech.

Ronald McD grilling the celebrity lineup.

The contestants at the end of the race.

Me, Bonnie in the blue T-shirt, and Archie Rose, last year's talent winner, were this year's judges.

Thanks to the committee chaired by Burnaby Parks Chair Paul McDonell for organizing the event, and to all of the business sponsors whose contributions made it free to the public!

Photos by my wife, Yumi, and the judges photo by Edmonds Scotiabank manager and event organizer Debbie Zurowski.

Touring Byrne Creek Watershed With MP, MLA

I had the pleasure of taking MP Peter Julian and BC MLA Raj Chouhan on a tour of the upper Byrne Creek watershed this afternoon. I appreciate the time these gentlemen took to listen to streamkeepers' concerns, learn about efforts to enhance the watershed, and view a couple of proposed project sites.

Peter and Raj have toured Byrne Creek ravine and the artificial spawning habitat previously, but this time we concentrated on the "creek beneath the streets" -- the upper part of Byrne Creek that has long been buried and piped into the storm drain system. I took the opportunity to talk about the possibility of daylighting (bringing the creek back up from pipes) in Ernie Winch Park, and creating a rain garden/biofiltration facility at the lower end of Southpoint Dr.

Thanks again, Peter and Raj!

Canoeing, Camping Lightning Lake

We finally got away for our first camping trip this year! I'm zonked so I'll add to this later, but here are a few photos....

Osprey on a perch.

Osprey in flight.

Loon in the morning mist.

The above shots were taken hand-held in a moving canoe at my Canon S5 IS's maximum telephoto of 432mm (35mm equivalent). Not bad, though I wouldn't want to blow them up to 8 X 10s :-). They were taken within about 30 minutes of each other, showing how fast the light can change in the morning in the mountains.

Byrne Creek Foliage

A refreshing walk along Byrne Creek in southeast Burnaby...

Alternative Sidewalk in White Rock

I ran across a SEA (street edge alternative) street in White Rock today, but on taking a closer look, it appeared to be more of an alternative sidewalk. SEA streets do away with curbs and gutters, and replace them with vegetated swales to reduce the impact of rain into storm drain systems and filter out pollution. This street had small swales but it still had a curb... Hmm... There were openings cut into the curb here and there, with small guides to let street runoff in, but I don't think they would accomplish much.

As you can see, the regular storm drain is still in place, and the teeny street diversion would not move much water into the swale.

I'm not an engineer, and I'm scratching my head on this one :-). Most such projects attempt to capture the polluted water from streets... Not nearly as much pollution on the sidewalks...

The Volunteer Blues

While talking to a friend today I made the foreboding observation that summer was over, and rather than heading into the autumn season feeling refreshed, we were both struggling with volunteer burnout.

I look at my September calendar and see that I already have 14 meetings and events lined up with groups that I volunteer with -- or nearly one volunteer item every two days. They range anywhere from an hour to four or more hours each. This is nuts!

I'm not independently wealthy, I have a business to run so that I can pay the mortgage, eat, and set aside a bit for retirement. It's time to reassess my ratio of billable to volunteer hours.

While I get great satisfaction from volunteering and helping to make my community and my city a better place, I need to take a serious look at my priorities.

Canoeing Deer Lake

We didn't get away this Labour Day weekend, but today we did at least get the canoe over to Deer Lake, just a ten-minute drive from our place in Burnaby. As we were paddling along something was bothering me, and it wasn't until we got to the far end that I figured it out -- we'd forgotten our life jackets! Dangerous and illegal....

We got back to the beach, and I zipped home to pick up the jackets. Then we did two more laps of the small lake -- I guess it was good we hadn't gone too far from home :-).

The lillies were covered with thousands of little insects.

Byrne Creek Sediment Pond Profiling

The sediment pond upstream of the Byrne Creek artificial spawning habitat is to be cleaned out next week, and streamkeepers decided to do a depth profile of the accumulated silt and gravel, so that we can learn how fast the pond fills after it's been cleaned.

Streamkeeper John W. told me about a method using a transverse line knotted at 1-meter intervals, from which a weighted line is dropped with tabs at 10cm intervals. The method worked like a charm; however, my wife Yumi had to go through some contortions to anchor the line on the side of the pond with a lot of growth next to it!

Yumi setting up the ropes.

Me checking out the drop line.

Streamkeeper John G. helps collect data.

Yumi burrowing through the bush.

Whistler, Lillooet, Lytton Loop

Itchy feet and an itchy trigger finger put me on the road today to get out into the mountains and shoot some photos. I went north up the 99 to Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, carried on past Duffey Lake and over to Lillooet. Then it was back south to Lytton, Hope, and home to Burnaby. It never ceases to amaze me how varied the landscape is in BC, and how quickly you can transition from one ecological zone to another. The weather also changes by the hour as you travel, and today I encountered everything from hot sun to torrential rain.

On the 99 north.

Near the Joffre Lakes parking lot.

Near the Joffre Lakes parking lot.

Cayoosh Creek.

Duffey Lake.

Setton Lake, just west of Lillooet.

I've stopped at this spot perhaps four or five times over the last ten years, and I have never seen this lake calm. Powerful winds funnel down between the mountains, raising whitecaps and making boats tied to the dock buck like broncos mad at being tethered.

Heading south on highway 12.

North of Lytton.

Spider Lunches On Fly

This spider had already wrapped up this fly on our balcony when I came across the scene. The spider withdrew at my presence, but when it figured I wasn't a threat, it descended back onto the fly to continue its lunch.

Taken with my new Nikon D300 with the 18-200 zoom at its maximum of 200mm. Shots taken at various ISOs from 200 - 800, resulting in exposures of around 1/250 at F stops of 6.3 - 9. The difference in background colours resulted from using the flash in some shots.

Nikon D300

I've added a Nikon D300 with a Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200mm zoom (27-300mm equivalent on a 35mm camera) to my arsenal. It was a major, and expensive, step to get back into SLR photography after over a decade of sticking to digital point-and-shoot cameras. The D300 is a big, heavy beast, but a DSLR has much greater potential creative control and image quality. It'll be fun going through the manual and playing around with all the menus and functions!

I have several old 35mm film Nikons and a bunch of Nikkor lenses that are basically worthless now -- no trade-in value at all, though I paid several thousand dollars for the gear (in mid-1970s to early 1980s dollars!). While these old, magnificent, optics can still be used on high-end digital Nikons like the D300, it's a bit of a hassle, and when you have a super-zoom that pretty much covers the range of four or five of the old lenses....

But I guess it all worked out -- though I've never been a professional photographer, I made enough money using that old equipment to pay for it, and I hope to do the same with the big investment in the D300 and lens...

The "worthless" collection...

The hefty new D300.

Recognizing Spirit of Edmonds Volunteers

As president of the Edmonds Town Centre Business and Community Association I would like to thank Monica Mueller and Doug Harder for taking the lead on producing the third Spirit of Edmonds Car Show and Street Festival this summer. Last night was the volunteer appreciation event that wrapped up this year's cycle, and it was great to recognize all of the people who contributed.

I want to thank all of the businesses that supported the event in so many ways -- through lead and secondary sponsorships, with prizes, with products for the gift bags, with volunteer time, etc. You stepped up to the plate to make this third Spirit of Edmonds bigger and better.

I would also like to thank the dozens of volunteers who gave freely of their time. Without such volunteer effort, events like this would never get off the ground. You truly deserve this recognition.

Thanks to MLA Raj Chouhan, who represented the provincial legislature at the volunteer evening tonight, and who passed on regrets from MP Peter Julian who was unable to attend. Peter did sign several dozen recognition certificates that were awarded tonight -- thanks! Raj and Peter also spent several hours at the event on July 27.

The City of Burnaby provided generous in-kind assistance for the Spirit of Edmonds, and Mayor Derek Corrigan attended the festival to help promote the neighbourhood and to personally choose the Mayor's Award winner. Thanks! Kudos also to the hardworking Parks, Recreation and Culture staff at Eastburn Community Centre who provided so much assistance, not to mention the use of their facility and its assets. And did you get a load of that dragster eco-sculpture? Wow!

Thanks too, to the RCMP and auxiliary members who help so much to make everything go smoothly.

I also greatly enjoyed meeting this year's Spirit ambassadors, the Digneys -- a family with an amazing history in Burnaby. I loved watching Joyce and Ernie after they had cut the cake celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Digney Speedway, as people walked up to them, and they would light up and glow to see folks they may not have been in touch with for decades. It was heartwarming....

So now the challenge is preparing for the fourth Spirit of Edmonds. Monica is stepping down as festival chair after an overachieving three-year run, and she certainly deserves to take a break. I admire her drive and stamina! How will our association fill her shoes?

We will need a larger, stronger Spirit committee with more people taking on smaller pieces of the organizing pie to share the load. Ideas and suggestions are welcome!

Fish-Friendly Car Wash Kits

Having a car wash fundraiser? Make sure you're not polluting your local creek while you're at it -- all street drains lead directly to local waterways with no treatment. So what's the solution? A salmon-friendly car wash kit. I picked this up from the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation bulletin board and think it's a great idea.

Check out this info on the kits from our neighbours to the south in King County, Washington.

It would be great if the City of Burnaby would get a few of these kits and make them available at community centres!

My Multicultural Olympics

Well, the Beijing Olympics are underway, and despite my early aloofness, I'm getting caught up in the action. It's easier when you can cheer for five countries :-). I'm Canadian of Ukrainian descent, my wife is Japanese, and my sister is married to an American of Korean descent.

So I'm happy if Canada, Japan, Ukraine, South Korea or the US win an event. The trouble comes when representatives of some or all of these countries are in the same event. I guess I just revealed my order of preference, but I'm happiest if Canada comes first and any of the others follow. The main reason the US comes last in my top five faves is because it's such a powerhouse, and all of the other four are somewhat underdogs.

Blame Mother Nature?

People on a mailing list were discussing the damage humans do to the environment, and the "damage" that Mother Nature does. Here was my two cents:

I suppose it depends on one's definition of "damage." A lot of what Mother Nature does could also be called "renewal" or "ecosystem change or development" or.... Nature is not static by nature :-).

The kind of damage that humans do is very different from the kind of damage that Mother Nature does. Our damage tends to be more permanent. Once we've changed something, we are loath to see nature reclaim or reuse it in any shape, manner or form.

As a streamkeeper, I like to use the example of rivers. In their natural, healthy state, rivers are alive. They shift, they move, they're full of snags that provide habitat, they carry and turn over gravel that fish need to spawn in. They are constantly changing. They flood, and floods are good because the silt and accompanying biota renew the land.

Then people come along and choose to build in the flood plain. Now suddenly for one species -- us -- the annual flooding isn't all that pleasant, so then comes the channeling, the diking, the building of dams. Those snags and other woody debris are dangerous for boaters, so they're pulled out. The river is dredged to provide safe passage. The spawning gravel is mined for more construction. The river is a shackled shadow of its former self.

In addition, we choose to take our bodily and manufacturing wastes and pipe them into rivers, often with little or no treatment.

And the irony is that it is we who make rivers "dangerous" through all of our construction. The forests are gone, the meadows are gone, the wetlands are gone, so when it rains the water has nowhere to go but into the storm-drain system and then directly into the river, instead of soaking into the ground. And all that diking and channeling ends up just collecting all the force that would have dissipated in a natural flood plain. So when the levee breaks and we suffer damage.... whose fault is it? Can we blame Mother Nature?