This event is part of The Burnaby Festival of Learning a free, multi-day celebration of lifelong learning by community, May 5-9th, 2023

We will walk  Guichon Creek on the BCIT campus from the bridge located just at the top end of the pond near the Rec Centre (SE-16)  and then slowly head upstream to the parkway at the south end of campus, and discuss the multitude of deleterious impacts that urbanization has had on the ecology of Guichon Creek, including blockage of salmon migration, invasive plants, destruction of riparian vegetation, contamination with urban runoff, excessive sediment delivery and simplification of the stream channel. The tour will describe some of the mitigation measures that have been attempted at Guichon Creek over the past few decades to restore this once vibrant urban stream.  

Presenter Bio:

Mark Angelo hails from Burnaby and is an internationally celebrated river conservationist, speaker, writer, teacher and paddler. He is founder and chair of both BC and World Rivers Day, an event now celebrated by millions of people in more than 100 countries. Mark is the Chair Emeritus of the Rivers Institute at BCIT and was the long time head of BCIT's Fish and Wildlife Program prior to his retirement.

Mark has received both the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada in recognition of his river conservation efforts over the past five decades. Among his many other awards are the inaugural United Nations Stewardship Award and the National River Conservation Award.

As an avid paddler, Mark has traveled on more than 1000 rivers in well over 100 countries, perhaps more than any other.

Mark was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Simon Fraser University in 2009 in recognition of his river conservation efforts both locally and globally. In 2019, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Trent University for his life-long efforts to protect waterways. He also received a special lifetime achievement award from the BCIT Alumni.

In 2016, Mark completed the award-winning film, RiverBlue, which chronicled his unprecedented three year around-the world journey by river, an expedition that documented the extensive freshwater impacts of the gobal fashion industry. In 2018, Mark led a team down the Tijuana River through both Mexico and California documenting cross border pollution as part of what became an Emmy Award winning news segment for ABC. Mark's work was also the subject of the acclaimed 2021 feature film, Last Paddle: 100 Rivers, 1 Life.

Mark has played leadership roles in numerous river restoration initiatives including the 50 year effort to restore Guichon Creek, the subject of his acclaimed book, The Little Creek that Could. He is also included in the BC Almanac of the 100 Greatest British Columbians and was named by Canadian Geographic as one of Canada's greatest modern-day explorers. Mark continues to mentor river-related and environmental organizations around the world as well as young people with an interest in water related issues.