How can a tiny fish help to save all of Canada's endangered species?
You can learn the answer by attending the next meeting on the Burke Mountain Naturalists (BMN), to be held next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Como Lake United Church.
The topic at the Nov. 8 meeting will be the Nooksack dace, a small but highly endangered fish. The guest speaker will be Mike Pearson, who has spent much of his career as a biologist identifying where these small fish are found. Pearson will describe the remaining four streams in B.C. that provide critical habitat for the Nooksack dace. One of these is the Brunette River, which flows along the eastern boundary of Coquitlam for a short distance before it discharges into the Fraser River.
Habitat for the dace continues to be threatened by urban development, agricultural practices and degradation of water quality from pollution, according to a BMN press release. The fate of the Nooksack dace became an issue in an important court case in 2009, when it was ruled the federal government had failed to meet is obligations under Canada's Species at Risk Act to identify critical habitat for the endangered dace. This ruling was greeted as a significant victory which has implications for all species at risk in Canada.
After Pearson's presentation, there will be a refreshment break followed by announcements about the group's upcoming activities. The meeting is free and members of the public are invited to attend. For more information, visit www.bmn.bc.ca or phone 604-937-3483.
