Category Archives: Community Outreach

Support the BLPA in the Park Partner’s Challenge!

This holiday season, the Burnaby Lake Park Association and Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Foundation have teamed up to double your donation’s impact for our programming in Burnaby Lake Regional Park.

Your donations have a significant impact. Funds from the Foundation and
supporters like you have funded work to:

Your donation to Burnaby Lake Regional Park will be doubled by Metro Vancouver
Regional Parks Foundation’s Park Partners Challenge!

Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Foundation has up to $1,000 in matching funds available for our park projects. That means if we raise $1,000 within our community, $2,000 goes into programming in our beautiful regional park!

The BLPA Board of Directors would like to raise funds to purchase our own full set of binoculars so we do not have to borrow them from another park association. The ability to provide binoculars on bird or nature outings in the park helps people get close and connect to nature. The study of birds and their habitat can provide a deeper understanding of ecology, biodiversity and the environment. People starting out birding may not have invested in a pair of their own binoculars yet. Also, the price of binoculars can be the singular financial barrier of entry into the birding community. We want to be able to lend a high quality pair to anyone who would not be able to afford it otherwise because we know how important these connections to nature are.

Participants enjoying a BLPA led bird outing at our Birds of Burnaby Lake event, May 29, 2022.
Photo credit: Lindsay Marsh

Help us unlock the full potential of these funds by donating before December
31st, 2022.

Every dollar raised has double the impact on tomorrow and is appreciated today.
THANK YOU!

Earth Day – Educational Walk

 A case of adapting to Nature!

We originally planned a stewardship event to remove invasive species for Earth Day. However, we discovered nesting birds in the area. Working too close to the nests can stress out the parents and have them spend energy trying to scare us away from their nest. To avoid stressing out the birds, we have changed our event to a nature walk and opened this activity up to the community, and potentially future volunteers!

At this event, BLPA Coordinator Natasha will teach the group how they can help out nature in many different ways. Topics include native and invasive plants, birds,wildlife, pollinators, trees “talking” to each other, bats and more!

Please note exisitng volunteers: We will now meet at the Nature House and NOT at Lenson. Map is below.

More information:

The BLPA will continue with our Safety Best Practices. Participants are required to bring and wear a mask when physical distancing is not possible, regardless if they are vaccinated or not. Everyone is going at their own pace and we ask that people be kind and respectful.

At this time, this event is limited to those aged 16+ (or 12+ with an adult)

This event will be limited to 15 participants.

The BLPA limits the number of participants to ensure adequate distancing and that other COVID-19 safety measures can be applied. You are required to bring a face mask to the event.

Click here to register!

Join the BLPA in the City Nature Challenge!

The Burnaby Lake Park Association is attending this year’s Burnaby Blooms and offering you an opportunity to learn how to use iNaturalist during this year’s City Nature Challenge (CNC), April 29-May 8, 2022.

What is the CNC? It’s an annual citizen science event that gets people outside to enjoy nature in their city as well as create a living record of urban wildlife. Participants are asked to get outside and take photos of wildlife (this includes both plants and animals!) using the free iNaturalist app or iNaturalist.ca. More than 400 cities took part in 2021 from around the world, 25 of which were right here in Canada.

While the City of Burnaby is not officially participating in the CNC this year, the BLPA wants to introduce the community to how fun an easy it is to use the iNaturalist app and website – simply snap a photo, share what you have seen and learn about the nature around you!

Join the BLPA at Burnaby Blooms for a workshop a guided walk to use the app:

  • DATE: Saturday, May 7
  • TIME: 2:30 – 3:30 pm. (2:30-3:00 – workshop, 3:00-3:30 walk to use the app
  • LOCATION: Deer Lake Park – see map below for meeting location
  • REGISTRATION: City of Burnaby registration link
  • COST: $5 – The City of Burnaby will accept Drop in fee on-site!

To get the most out of the workshop, please download the iNaturalist app ahead of time and set up your account.

You can put your iNaturalist app to use year-round, tracking biodiversity wherever and whenever you’re in the mood to observe nature. Many nature groups host projects like the CNC through the year. The BLPA will have a project this fall that you can join.

Go to iNaturalist.ca or download the iNaturalist app on your smartphone and set up an account.

If you’re new to iNaturalist, check out these tutorials on how iNaturalist works:

From the iNaturalist phone app: How to make an observation on iNaturalist

From the iNaturalist website: How to use iNaturalist’s Photo and Sound uploader