THURSDAY APRIL 19, 2018 VOL. 44, NO. 15
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COMORANT TURNS 40
Local water taxi celebrates four decades of meeting passengers’ transportation needs
WILDLIFE WOES
CAWES presents a free event on dos and don’ts for helping injured animals in need
BOWEN BEAT
Bowen Island Garden Club learns how to grow climbers and vines with Su Rickett
Roll up your sleeves on Earth Day CHANTAL EUSTACE EDITOR
This Earth Day weekend, it’s time to clean out your junk, hug a tree and help out some bees. Stumped? Here’s three ways to join in. It’s Bowen Island Municipality’s “dump day” on April 21, a chance to clear away the big, awkward clutter. Bowen Waste Service provides large containers, available at the Bowen Island Recycling Depot (BIRD) for the drop off of residential waste. “We accept household items such as appliances, metals, rimless tires and car batteries, and objects considered too large for weekly garbage pick-up. Please place loose items in bags, neat and tidy,” says the municipality’s website, bowenislandmunicipality.ca/clean-up-days. Drywall is not accepted, it says, and fees must be paid in advance to
drop off household waste. Also on April 21, put on your walking shoes and roll up your sleeves. Join in on the island-wide, Clean Up Bowen, a chance to rid the ditches of trash. Organizer Karen Munro encourages people to pitch in, either around your neighbourhood or by meeting at the Legion, 9 a.m. on Saturday. “We need a lot more people to do a lot more of the island,” she told The Undercurrent. Email her karen@bowendogranch.com or just get down there and help out. You can also get into the spirit by learning all about helping mason bees with a free workshop on “the most effective pollinator,” at Davies Heritage Orchard at 11 a.m. Participants can enter to win one of six mason bee houses. More information here: tourismbowenisland.com/event/mason-bee-workshop.
Island scuba diver Adam Taylor’s short film, Howe Sound’s Glass Sea Sponges, was featured as part of last year’s Bowen Island Adventure Film Festival. The festival is putting out a call for submissions for the 2018 version. Filmmakers have until April 30 to do their final edits.
Local adventurers on screen CHANTAL EUSTACE EDITOR
RCMP looking for SeaBus hero BRENT RICHTER NORTH SHORE NEWS
North Vancouver RCMP are looking for a local hero. Shortly after the 8:45 a.m. sailing of the SeaBus from Waterfront Station on April 12, police say a passenger suffered a seizure and went into cardiac arrest. “Witnesses stated his eyes rolled backwards... He stopped breath-
ing basically,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. “The unknown Good Samaritan jumped in and performed CPR, which ultimately saved the man’s life.” Paramedics were ready and waiting when the SeaBus arrived on the North Shore, and the victim did survive, De Jong said. “As in the movies, the Good Samaritan slipped away.” Continued page 9
DEE ELLIOT; 3.417 in; Process color; -; R0011554465
Next time you’re about to hang off a cliff at Cape Roger Curtis or kayak to Keats Island, consider documenting it. The third annual, Bowen Island Adventure Film Festival is accepting submissions, through to April 30. “The focus is amateur athletes. It really is about everyday adventurers,” says Kiley Redhead, one of the festival’s co-founders. She says simply: “This is not about professional film making. This is about locals on Bowen, doing cool things on Bowen.”
That means anyone with a story and a camera (and some editing know-how) can submit a short film or slideshow to the festival for consideration. “What are we looking for? We just want somebody who wants to share their story on what they get up to on the weekends,” she says. “What do they do? How do they get outside and play? What does that look like for them?” There are already nine films accepted for this year’s event — to be held Saturday, May 26, at the Bowen Island Lodge — but she says, there’s room for more. “It really is just meant to be a
platform for people to share their stories of adventures on Bowen,” says Redhead. The past two festivals really showcased the island’s diversity, she says, with short films on everything from scuba diving to rock climbing to foraging. “The thing that we learned, that is so cool about Bowen, is how much diversity there is here in terms of activity,” she says. “People are up to really cool things.” For more information on this year’s event, and details on how to submit a film, go to http://biaff.ca/ submit.