women © t.v. listings ° r

% +

RE

By CAROLE STAFFORD

oa Y
: * q
‘

“Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part; Do
thou but. thine,” John Milton wrote three ‘cen-
turies ago. Nestled in the verdant splendor of one
of nature’s most gracious tontributions, staff at
the Lynn Valley Ecology Centre are quietly

heeding Milton's admonition.

“We try to maintain the
impetus of an ecology centre
rather than a nature house
— we want to offer practical
information as well as foster
an appreciation of nature,”
says 26-year-old Leslie
Ansell Shepherd. recently
appointed chief naturalist at
the Centre

Shepherd would like to
see the Centre develop a

Pa

resource bank, of = in-
formation on ecological
problems. She'd like to
expose people to the use of
new or alternate
technologies — things like
organic pesticides or the
more efficient use of existing
ones.

Questions such as how
best to deal with = $ ant
problems and plant pests,

SOURCE BANK 61 information on ecological problems is how. Leslie Ansell Shepherd (right) views the role of
the Lynn Valley Ecology centre where she was recently appointed chief naturalist. It is believed to be the only true
ecology centre, as distinct from a nature house, in western Canada. (Carole Stafford photo)

Ba

ing new perspectives
to ecolog

nn Valley

whether and how to keep a
bee's nest to pollinate your
treca, how to keep skunks
and raccoons out of your
basement; if the Centre.can't
actually help you, they'll try
to direct you to someone
who can.

As far as Shepherd knows,
the Lynn Valley enterprise is
the only ecology centre in
western Canada."*Most
places deal strictly with the
natural history of a par-
ticular region,” she says.

The Lynn Valley Ecology
Centre began as the B.C
centennial projeot, of the
District of North Vancouver
It opened in the fall of 1971
but the next spring the entire

display section burned to the
ground. Vandalism’ was
suspected, but the culprits
were never ‘caught. The,
dogwood-shaped building
was reconstructed 9 and
opened again in the spring of
1974.

George Walton served as
chief naturalist from the
summer of °72 until last
Christmas and was
responsible for developing
the many displays exhibited
at thé Centre. It was Walton,
with strong backing from
Parks supervisor Dirk
Ostined, who insisted on the
name Ecology Centre.

CONTINUED ON PAGE C2

Startoeg
@ be
22; ind