“ments to property: NV sanc ctuary celebrated in Sunday event BY MICHAEL BECKER NEWS EDITOR THE OSPREYS have lande Two of the birds came to Maplewood Flats on April 5 and began to build a nest. They're early this year. Wild Bird Trust of B.C. (WBT) director Patricia Banning-Lover sees the arrival as something of a minor miracle. They usually don't come back until about April 27. Banning-Lover is “major gener- al” ‘of the Retum of the Osprey Festival. The event takes place on Sunday at the Maplewood Flats, the North Shore’s sole ‘wildlife sanctu- Banning-Lover came across a sign in a shop the other day. It said “Behave like a duck, appear calm and unruffled on the top, and paddie _jike heck undemeath.” She's doing just that, Numerous volunteers are paddling hard to bring the festival together. a. The flats site is locaied in the 2600-block of “Dollarton Highway, about a mile east of the ' Second Narrows Bridge. The festival features a new play about artist and nature lover Emily. Carr, today and tomorrow at the Deep Cove Shaw Theatre. On Sunday, from !0 a.m. to 4 p.in.. people can go to the flats to. view the Nesting osprey, take in .. video and storytelling sessions and hourly guided “ «Mature, walks. Top North Shore hair stylists will ' cut ‘hair for $10. Proceeds go to support the restoration of the flats area. Dick Beard, Banning-Lover’s husband, is pres- ident of the. Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia. The group is bused in West Vancouver and was incorporated in November of 1993. Today the “trust numbers approximately 950 members. “7, Maplewood Flats. was the catalyst for the . group's founding. ot Said Beard, “Here was a patch of land that had been designated for wildlife conservation by the owners of the land, the Port of Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver, but they needed an ‘Operator’, Beard had a dental practice in Horseshoe Bay . until recently. : From page 3 ‘Wilson delivered the line near the end of his speech, during which he touched on a number of less humorous issues. ‘The fledgling party hopes to entice vot- ers with a tax-reform and relief policy’ that includes. proposals to make home-buying ; easier. Interest paid ona first mortgage: against a primary residence would be tax’ deductible. That would take about $1.2 billion from government coffers and save an average two-income family $5,000 to $8,000, said Wilson. To partially make that up. a surtax would be applied to bank profits on. mort- gages. He agrees the banks don’t like what he's “saying “but under this systeny the chartered banks wiil do very well in the province cf "~~ British Columbia.” Wilson called for changes to the forest tenure system to generate more revenue for government and and promote value-added , processing in B.C. He raked the NDP for offering a 1% cut in income tax that Wilson said would save a family earning $35,000 a meagre $25. “You're still going to be hammered and have Jess money to spend at the end of the month,” he told the audience members. He also catled for: Sa single graduated tax on income; - ; removal ‘of taxes on capital improve- & fixed election dates: ’ * four-year terms: B a single spending authority; @ a rental deduction of up to $10,000. In the 1991 election, then-Liberal leader Wilson gained a reputation as . a persuasive speaker, His performance in a televised leadership debate OKANAGAN EAST PDA MLA Judi Tyabji visited North Vancouver. He sold it to allow more time for the WBT. “I found that I was getting more and more involved and I needed more and more time to pur- sue wildlife conservation projects.” Beard now works as a dentist part-time in North Vancouver. “I got involved. because I’ve been watching natural habitats for birds decline. I just wanted to play a part in helping to preserve what we can, recognizing that birds and their natural habitat are 2 very important part of our lifestyle. It’s the rea- son a lot of us live here.” - ' Heading the trust is a full-time eb. The Maplewood Flats are the trust's first pro- ject. The group has eyes on other projects. The goal is to eventually have several sanctuaries throughout the province. The actual wildlife area at the site is foreshore property. It’s about half a mile of waterfront, about 80 acres in total. The sanctuary is really several kinds of habitat. There's a little fresh-water marsh in dire need of a some attention. Alder and cottonwood forest is growing up nicely with maturing trees. There's an open grassy meadow that abuts the salt marsh and mud flats. It's the largest mud fats and salt marsh system election was called. NEWS photo Bread Locwidge and was predicting jit would have candidates in every riding before an Friday, takes oft off | NEWS photo Paui McGrath | WILD BIRD Trust of B.C. president Dick Beard looks for winged visitors to the Maplewood Flats site in North Vancouver. Volunteers builit the viewing blind at the wildtife sanctuary. remaining in Burrard Inlet. By Beard’s count the place has attracted 209 species of birds. The mud flats are crucial as feeding grounds for over-wintering and migrating birds. For exam- ple, sandpipers arriving from breeding grounds in the arctic can lose 40% of their body weight in between stops. They lose all of their fat reserves. The birds are down to their last fraction of a gram of fat by the time they land at Maplewood. They winter here and then move on to South America. The birds eat shrimp and other food picked from the rich mud. A cubic metre of mud will hold thousands of tasty little organisms. The mud flat system once stretched from Cates Park to Ambleside. The piece at Maplewood represents about 5% of the remaining foreshore network. It was the site of intense industrial use. Now birds call it home Bay. It’s part of a route called the Pacific Flyway. This is the seventh year that the osprey will have returned. Bird watching is recognized as’ the second most popular: past-time’ to gardening in North America. ; ‘To join the Wild Bird Trust call 922-1550. ires proposed captured a large number of centre and right- wing voters desperately seeking a free-market alternative to the scandal- plagued Social Credit. The surging Liberals went on to win 17 seats and official opposition status. Wilson hopes for a similar performance for the PDA this month. He said huge surprises are in store during the election. “and we’re going to be right at the top.” On Thursday, a Vancouver daily news- paper declared Wilson the clear winner in a radio debate against leaders of the three major parties Wednesday, but rated him last for his opening remarks. The shallow-pocketed PDA must , overcome a number of hurdles in the next month, not the feast of which appears to’ be haphazard organization and candidate selection. , On Tuesday night, one young man introduced himself to Wilson as someone Wilson had talked to at a graduation din- ner. The man then asked whether he would be running in Vancouver Langara or Vancouver-Quilchena, adding he was under the initial understanding he would ‘be running in Quilchena. Wilson, who has the power to appoint candidates, told the man they would talk about it later. Wilson acknowledged his party candi- dates’ lack political experience. Six wecks ago, the party had 3] candidates He believes the party won't be hampered by his highly publicized divorce and relationship with Tyabji and the stormy controversy it set off within the Liberal caucus after he appointed her house leader. cerned,” he said. “Tho only place | ever hear it is if it's raised by some Liberals. They are the only people for who its ever been an issue as far us Pm con- and go from it.to Burnaby Lake and Boundary Search for diver resumes . A SEARCH for. a_ missing diver in waters off Whytectiff Park will resume again today. A remotely — operated machine used to search deep: water had not fecated David Nikkel’s body during an extensive search on Tuesday. Nikkel’s diving compan- ions Dale Lione! Benjamin, 44, of Surrey, and Andrew Peters, 23, of Langley, died in the diving. mishap last Sunday. . Peters’ body was located : by the remotely. operated. machine the next day. The only survivor of ‘tragic “outing was Stefan Shubin, 48, of Vancouver. ‘ Shubin swam with, Benjamin's. lifeless. body. to’ shore. Police say. Benjamin died during a quic ‘ascent to the surface. Nikkel, 24, of: ‘Surré not resurface. y : a Lautens!.... sesbeaneanentan 6 S Neighborhoods... “te BN. Shore Alert. . i] Talking Personais..28. Bt Listings. sesinaes VS" opi nion & FORMER INDEPENDENT. West Vancouver-Garibaldi MIA David Mitchell begins a series of News columns today . (see Page a as part of the : newspaper's Election ‘96 news ‘ coverage. Mitchell, 4 long-time North Shore resident, will provide News readers with the insights and expe- rience he has gained during his tenure as a maverick West Vancouver MLA. In addi- tion to his political car zt, Mitchell is an author and. historian, His books include the highly regarded W.A.C.: Bennett and the Rise of British Columbia. Mitchell was first elected to the provincial iegislature in 199) and has been an outspo- ken representative for the North Shore on such issues as the need for an upgraded First Narrows crossing and the ; preservation of Cypress provin- - oh: Mitchell column starts today on - Page 7. with,”