To the Editor:
I was very pleased to read that Vancouver's Mayor Campbell has officially
declared September "Wild Salmon Month". This is entirely apropos and will
hopefully spawn events that will remind us how truly fortunate we are on the
West Coast to have this precious natural resource. It often seems that we
humans take for granted the things we value most - until they are gone. We
only have to look to this year's salmon returns on the Fraser and other
coastal rivers to realize how sensitive this resource is. Our commitment to
ensuring healthy rivers must be as relentless and heroic as that of the
salmon returning home to spawn.
Since Vancouver was once so rich in salmon bearing streams, Salmon Month is a
great opportunity to, in the words of the proclamation " celebrate the
lifecycle of wild salmon in September, encourage connection to and
appreciation for our local environment and waters and ..preserve and nurture
what we have left." I encourage you to join in an event that connects humans
with salmon such as the "Salmon Cultural Afternoon" at the Roundhouse
Community Centre on Sept 10th (
www.roundhouse.ca)
or the Public Dreams event "The Salmon Celebration" in Vancouver on BC Rivers
Day, Sept. 25th
(
www.publicdreams.org). Check out
the other Rivers Day events in the Lower Mainland (
www.orcbc.ca),
or the North Shore Coho Festival
(
www.westvancouver.com) on Sept
11th. Or start your own community project! Do your part to make sure our
salmon don't go the way of the East Coast cod!
Dave Palidwor
Chair, Rivershed Society of BC
www.rivershed.com
