Oct 17: Maple Ridge Watershed Project Receives...

Maple Ridge, October 17, 2001 - The Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society (KEEPS) in Maple Ridge has received a $10,000 EnviroFund award from Vancity Credit Union to support its Kanaka Creek Watershed Restoration project.

Under the watershed restoration project, volunteers will engage young people from local schools, Scout and Brownie troops in riparian, or creek bank planting activities. Students will work with community volunteers to learn about ecological concepts, urban impacts on watersheds, species identification, and planting techniques.

The goal of the project is to help community members recognize the importance of riparian areas to fish, wildlife and the overall health of a watershed area. Since salmon depend on urban waterways to support them through the early stages of their life cycle, the planting of riparian vegetation for shelter and bank stability is important for the health of rivers and streams.

Project participants will study the human impact on creek banks and surrounding areas, and raise public awareness through presentations and websites. The one-year project will start this fall.

Vancity's EnviroFund was established in 1990 to support local community initiatives which address specific environmental concerns and has awarded more than $802,000 since then. All three of Vancity's VISA cards (the Vancity EnviroFund VISA, Vancity Travel VISA and the Vancity Gold VISA) support the EnviroFund, with a minimum of five per cent of VISA card profits donated to the fund each year.

Vancity is Canada's largest credit union with $7.3 billion in assets, 271,000 members, and 39 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Victoria. Vancity owns Citizens Bank of Canada, serving members across the country by telephone, ATM, and the Internet. Both Vancity and Citizens Bank are guided by a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work.