March 27, 2008

President’s Report

Annual General Meeting

The year 2007 saw the Society change and grow. More people are contacting the Society for information and participating in our events.

Four board members will not be returning. They are Cindy Packer, Frank Driscoll, Bob Hornal and Tyler Collie. Their advice and support has been invaluable. Tyler has agreed to serve on the Advisory Board so that we continue to consult with him on aboriginal issues. Two new members Grace Kreykenbohm and Amy Ghuman-Sara joined us this past year.

The South Fraser Perimeter Road continues to be a concern. The Provincial Environmental Assessment Office continues to delay making a submission to the government. More reports from the federal government and other sources are coming forward pointing out the concerns and problems relating the to the Conservation Covenant and mitigation of any impacts on Burns Bog.

Marcus Collier, Ph.D. candidate at the University College Dublin will be presenting a paper on Burns Bog at the Peatland Congress, in Ireland.

Field trips: The number of students is up by 600 for over 2000 students participating in the Society’s interpretive field trips. The comments from teachers are very positive.

Celebrating Women & the Spirit of the Cranes: attendance was up and the proceeds including sponsorships increased.

Summer Day Camps: attendance was up by 15 children. More disadvantaged children attended thanks to the sponsorship of Trinjan the Punjabi Folk.

Jog for the Bog Run/Walk: attendance increased here from 2006 by almost 100 participants. This was due to Firth Bateman’s work and help from Marty Wanless who provided us with excellent advice on marketing the Jog.

Haunted Halloween Garden: this was our first attempt to work with the Earthwise Society in cohosting this event. We learned a great deal from the event but it was not a financial success for either of us.

Direct mail campaigns: our tea bag campaign went well thanks to National Importers and Twinings tea for donating the tea bags.

We sent out more newsletters. Thanks to our very competent summer students. We get so much done in the summer thanks to their help.

This year we sent out our Annual Report to everyone on our mailing list.

Sponsorships: corporate sponsorships continue to improve. The real challenge again is to get out there, talk to people and present our case.

Welcome to Burns Bog Wetland Project: this is nearing completion. The signs need putting up and we need to set up a committee for the purpose of continuing the demonstration garden and the removal of invasive species. Vancity was our sponsor.

Delta Nature Reserve: the connector boardwalk is halfway completed. We need more funding for the balance of the boardwalk. In the meantime a very dedicated group of volunteers continue to maintain the boardwalk by replacing any broken boards.

An ongoing challenge is educating people about the relationship between dogs and wildlife and the need to leash their dogs and pick up after them.

The boardwalk is key to our ongoing field trips and summer day camps. We were carrying out field trips in December. This is the latest so far.

Education projects: two books have been produced for the primary grades with funding from Vancity and volunteers. These are Boglin Gets Lost and Boglin and the Birthday Party. These were funded by Vancity and written by two Douglas College Print Futures students, Pamela Findling and Nicole Skutelnik.

Challenges for the coming year:

• Strategic planning
• Staff to carry out our education programs and our special events
• South Fraser Perimeter Road
• Upgrading our website
• Funding sources for our programs
• Conveying the role of Burns Bog and other peatlands in climate change and global warming.

I look forward to a very positive year where we can build on our last year’s successes.

Our greatest achievement and success is that we are having our 20th anniversary this coming November 14 th.

Respectfully submitted

Eliza Olson

President