Pitch-in for a Healthy Lake Windermere

Lake Windermere Project Organizes 14th Annual Lakeshore Cleanup

Invermere, B.C. — Wildsight, a leading force for conservation in Canada’s Columbia and Southern Rocky Mountains, invites area residents to lend a helping hand with this year’s Lake Windermere Shoreline Cleanup.

The event is held in conjunction with the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup Week and will take place on Saturday, September 19th from 10:00am – 1:00pm. The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, and involves more than just removing litter. Participants also collect data on the types of debris found along their shoreline and the activities that produce this debris.  By joining the TD Canada Trust Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, a Vancouver Aquarium Conservation Program, valley residents will be contributing to an international effort to reduce the amount of litter that enters our rivers, lakes, and oceans.  More than 40,000 Canadians are expected to cleanup shorelines at over 1,050 sites across the country!

In 2006, at the request of local resident and long time shoreline cleanup coordinator Bill Ayrton, the Lake Windermere Project took over the organization of this successful event, which is now heading into its 14th consecutive year. All materials will be provided, and the Lake Windermere Project will arrange the disposal of collected garbage. Community groups, businesses, school groups, families and friends are all welcome to join in on this rewarding event.

Shoreline litter comes in many forms and sizes and poses unique problems to our environment.  It can be plastic, metal, glass, cloth or paper.  It can be as small as a cigarette butt or as large as a shopping cart.  Whether discarded accidentally or deliberately, all of the shoreline litter we encounter in Canada is the result of human activities.  Did you know most shoreline litter actually originates from land-based activities?  Every time it rains and the wind blows, litter on land makes its way into our storm sewers, creek and rivers, and eventually into the lake.  Litter makes our natural spaces less healthy, less safe and less enjoyable.

Did you know that cigarette butts are the world’s greatest environmental litter problem?  It is estimated that one in three cigarettes end up as litter, and once tossed aside, they can leach chemicals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic into our environment within an hour of contact with water.  Last year alone, cleanup efforts removed over 320,000 cigarette butts from Canadian shorelines.

To sign up and help our shorelines contact the Lake Windermere Project at 341-6898 or visit the project office located in the old District of Invermere office beside the Invermere Community Centre.  You can also drop in at the cleanup base station at Kinsmen Beach on September 19th.

The annual shoreline cleanup is made possible by generous assistance from the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, District of Invermere, Regional District of East Kootenay, Invermere Sobey’s, Columbia Valley Sign Artists, and Waste Management.

The Lake Windermere Project is a long-term, comprehensive stewardship program dedicated to safeguarding the health of our lake. The Lake Windermere Project is made possible by gen¬erous support from Wildsight, Environ¬ment Canada, Columbia Basin Trust, the Real Estate Foundation of B.C. and Lake Windermere Ambassadors.

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Contact:

Heather Leschied, Wildsight program manager, Lake Windermere Project
250.341.6898 • heather@wildsight.ca

About Wildsight

Wildsight works locally, regionally and globally to protect biodiversity and encourage sustainable communities in Canada's Columbia and Southern Rocky Mountain region. This area is internationally recognized as a keystone to conservation in western North America. Wildsight received the 2005 Canadian Environmental Award for Conservation in recognition of its successful work to protect the region's wildlife and wildlands. For more information, please visit www.wildsight.ca.