Mark Angelo, Chair Emeritus for the BCIT Rivers Institute and longtime BCIT instructor, is a river conservationist, speaker, teacher, writer, and paddler who has travelled more than 1,000 rivers throughout the globe. He is the Chair and Founder of World Rivers Day, now celebrated by millions of people in close to 100 countries. Among his many accolades, Mark is a recipient of the Order of Canada for his efforts to protect and restore rivers both locally and around the world. Most recently, Mark became the author of a new children’s book that features Guichon Creek: The Little Creek That Could.
For five decades, Mark has been trying to restore fish habitat in Guichon Creek. He remembers seeing Guichon Creek on the BCIT Burnaby Campus, where he taught during his early years as an educator, and feeling disappointed by how degraded, extensively polluted, and channelized it had been. The next day, Mark went back to Guichon Creek and met an elderly gentleman who lived nearby for 80 years. Mark heard about how beautiful the creek once was and embarked on a journey to make the creek healthy again.
Mark’s restoration efforts through the years have fully rejuvenated Guichon Creek. And now, The Little Creek That Could tells this remarkable and inspiring story about how a severely damaged stream was brought back to life.
Read about The Little Creek That Could in BC Business and Burnaby Now.
MORE: Mark Angelo talks about why it’s vital to protect and restore the natural features within our urban limits. Listen now on Fireeweed.