Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[chris gadsden]

Dear River Advocates,

Some great news for rivers! 

A new "Rivers Institute" has been established in British Columbia, Canada --- and given its unique mandate, the first of its kind in the world.

View the story on Global TV News (link below), and read the press release below for more detail.

Link:  Rivers Institute on Global TV News

You can also visit the new Rivers Institute Web site at www.riversinstitute.ca

 


BCIT NEWS RELEASE
The Rivers Institute at BCIT - a first of its kind in British Columbia

For immediate release: Tuesday, February 24, 2009

BURNABY, BC:  It will unite the public in an effort to protect the worlds rivers; increase public awareness about the importance of our waterways; conduct state-of-the-art river-related research; provide financial support to students; and will be led by world-renowned conservationist Mark Angelo. Its also the first entity of its kind in British Columbia. It is the Rivers Institute at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and its establishment is intended to pave the way for a better ecological future for British Columbia and beyond.

Through a generous one million dollar donation from environmental philanthropist Rudy North, the new Rivers Institute at BCIT will play a leadership and science-based role in key management issues while partnering with existing BCIT programs such as Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation, Environmental Engineering, and Canadas first Ecological Restoration degree.

This couldnt come at a better time. BCs natural heritage is arguably one of the greatest of any economically developed regions in the world, says Rudy North, president and founder of North Growth Management Ltd., who generously donated one million dollars to the cause. We are becoming aware of how much our population growth is compromising its future existence. I am confident that todays announcement of a River Ecology Chair and a Rivers Institute at BCIT will become a driving force for keeping BC a natural wonder of the developed world.

The Rivers Institute will celebrate Order of Canada recipient Mark Angelo as the Rudy North Chair in River Ecology, the first such position in Canada. As program head of the BCIT Fish, Wildlife and Recreation program, Angelo has brought attention to the critical importance of healthy waterways, founded both BC and World Rivers Day, and inspired thousands of BCIT students and stakeholders throughout his 35 years at BCIT.

The Rivers Institute will help to develop and support future river leaders; a part of the Institutes mandate that Im particularly excited about, says Angelo, a member of the Order of Canada and an inaugural recipient of a United Nations Award for Science, Education and Conservation. While the Institute will be very active in BC, it will also have an international reach, and will be involved in efforts to protect healthy rivers and streams while trying to restore those waterways that have been damaged in past.

Among others, local examples of initial projects will range from efforts to protect key riverside habitats along the Heart of the Fraser between Hope and Mission and major restoration initiatives on Guichon Creek and Still Creek in Burnaby.

To arrange for interviews or photographs, please contact Mark Angelo at  mark_angelo@bcit.ca .



For further information, media can contact:

Kelly Angelo
Media Relations Manager
kelly_angelo@bcit.ca

[Athezone]

Great news Chris and a Huge thank you to the donater Mr. Rudy North and a step in the right direction. Hopefully this is just the beginning of the turnaround we've all been waiting for. Thank you Mr. North.

[chris gadsden]

Great news Chris and a Huge thank you to the donater Mr. Rudy North and a step in the right direction. Hopefully this is just the beginning of the turnaround we've all been waiting for. Thank you Mr. North.

Yes it is certainly refreshing to see people like Mr. North and Mark get involved and this is some serious money to hopefully get things done.

Unfortunately some of our governments are not looking after our waters and the fish that swim in these same waters.
I hate to keep bringing up this gravel removal projects on the Fraser as an example but I have learned if I did not know before this I am ashamed the way the government appears to stonewall you and make information hard to get when asked. They want you to go through the Freedom of Information Act to get some information and in once case it appears they want $800 to do it for us.

Very disturbing and of course they just hope you will give up and disappear. Then there is so many citizens that really do not care or do any thing to try and correct things. This is what the governments and their bureaucrats love as they can continue to get their way no matter what it costs the environment.

Then there is the Fish Farm issue, Run of the River Projects as the list goes on and grows. Hopefully this new initiative will gather lots of supporters and those that we placed  in power will finally listen to our concerns.

[yamadirt 426]

Thank you very much Mr North for your investment.  This is positive for sure.