World-renowned conservationist, Burnaby’s Mark Angelo will present a special in-person storytime and book signing for his children’s book The Little Creek That Could on Saturday, May 28 at Indigo Metrotown.
The children’s book is based on the true story of the 50-year restoration effort to revive Burnaby’s Guichon Creek, which runs through the BCIT campus.
Angelo, who spent his youth playing along creeks and streams looking for critters like birds and crayfish, said the book speaks to the fact nature can heal itself, if only given a chance.
When he first saw Guichon Creek 50 years ago, it was polluted – dredged and stripped of streamside vegetation.
“It was in terrible shape; it was literally a dead stream. It was totally lifeless,” Angelo said.
But the next day he went back to the creek and met a gentleman who had lived in Burnaby for 80 years.
“He told me how beautiful the stream once was in his youth, and how productive it was, and, you know, the fish he would see and catch, and the animals he would see.”
From there, Angelo embarked on a major undertaking with students and community members to restore Guichon Creek, cleaning up tonnes of debris and planting thousands of trees and shrubs.
The creek came back to life.
A trout fishery was re-established in the upper river, and more recently salmon have returned to the lower creek.
Angelo said the book is both a tribute to those who work to clean up damaged rivers, and a means to raise awareness among children about the values of local waterways.
He said he hopes the book will inspire young environmentalists.
“There are a lot of environmental issues, a lot of environmental problems out there that have to be dealt with,” Angelo told the NOW. “The upcoming generation, the children that will go on to become our environmental citizens of the future will play a key role in rectifying some of those problems.”
When: Saturday, May 28 at 11 a.m.
Where: Indigo at Metrotown, 4700 Kingsway
Cost: Free
