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- Monday - May 13, 2024 - Experts look to protect local fish
Monday - May 13, 2024 - Experts look to protect local fish
Grace Kennedy
May 13, 2024
⛅ High 20C
Good morning!
It’s not often the city builds your own personal playground.
Right across the street from us is a small triangle of grass largely used by kids queuing for the school bus. Now, however, it is a mini construction site—and soon it will be a playground, complete with some sort of climbing structure, and what I can only assume will be a slide. My kids are thrilled for their city-funded jungle gym, and I know it will make at least a few school bus waits a little more enjoyable.
In our first FVC Perspectives call out, a third of you said more parks would help families who are raising their kids in townhouses and apartments, and develop an important sense of community. From what I can see out my office window, you are absolutely right.
We’ll have another FVC Perspectives call out in our newsletter soon, so keep your eyes out for that. We can’t wait to hear what you have to say about life in the Fraser Valley.
– Grace
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Traffic & Weather
🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope
🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.
🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.
NEWS
Bird flu killed 1/3 of laying hens last year
Avian influenza outbreaks in 2023 destroyed a third of all egg-producing chickens in BC. 📷 Daphnusia Images/Shutterstock
Avian influenza killed one-third of BC's egg-laying chickens last year. The industry's newest annual report shows exactly what that meant for farmers.
In 2023, BC's egg production plunged, leaving BC with 85.2 million fewer eggs than the previous year and production at its lowest point since at least 2017.
There is hope for 2024. If BC can avoid any more major outbreaks of bird flu, then egg production will rebound. But with migratory birds returning for the summer, chickens—and your egg supply—aren’t out of the woods yet.
Related
Need to Know
✈ A private jet operator has opened a new facility at Abbotsford International Airport [Abbotsford News]
🔎 A new homicide team will be focused on investigating gang murders in the Lower Mainland [Vancouver Sun]
💻 The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford has launched a new website that mimics Grand Theft Auto to teach about colonialism [The Reach]
👄 A Langley dental hygienist who worked for four years without a licence has promised to never practice again [Langley Advance Times]
🚔 A Chilliwack driver fled from police but ended up driving his vehicle into a ditch [Chilliwack Progress]
🚁 A Hope helicopter company is the first private company in Canada to own a specific kind of emergency-support helicopter [Hope Standard]
🌲 Friday’s northern lights led to spectacular photos [CBC/Chilliwack Progress]
👍 Beloved downtown Chilliwack street-cleaner Harold Zinke was honoured for his 25 years on the job [Chilliwack Progress]
👷♀️ Two women-led companies are working to build modular child-care spaces that put the needs of educators and kids first [The Tyee]
🎙 Former Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun’s report to Kamloops council was so scathing it drew a comparison to a rap battle from one Kamloops journalist [CFJC Today]
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SPONSORED BY THE CITY OF ABBOTSFORD
Stage 1 restrictions are now in effect for Abbotsford and Mission
Conserving water early means we will have enough when the weather gets hot! Residential lawn watering is allowed one morning per week in Abbotsford and Mission.
Even-number addresses water on Saturday and odd-number addresses water on Sunday. Manual watering is permitted between 6-9 am and automatic watering between 5-7 am.
The Agenda
Brassy minnows aren’t endangered yet, but a committee of wildlife experts thinks rules are needed to conserve them for the future. 📷 Alexis Desmarais/iNaturalist
Brassy Minnow of ‘special concern,’ committee says
A small fish found in the Fraser Valley could become endangered if precautions aren’t taken, a committee of environmental experts has said.
The brassy minnow is a small, freshwater fish found in calm waters across North America. It feeds on plants and typically lives in ponds and streams with few other fish. In BC, it lives mostly around Prince George, Williams Lake, and in streams around Chilliwack.
In May 2022, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) decided that these pacific brassy minnows should be classified as a species of special concern, not because they are threatened, but because they could be in the future. Brassy minnows are easily eaten by invasive fish, and their habitats can be affected by agriculture, urbanization, pollution, and climate change.
Although COSEWIC has said the fish should be listed as a species of special concern, nothing legislative has yet been done. The federal government is now asking British Columbians for their input on whether the brassy minnow should be officially included in the Species at Risk Act. If they are included, people will still be able to catch the minnows. But federal scientists would be given the go-ahead to create a management plan that would look at potential conservation measures for the fish.
The survey is open to everyone, and closes tomorrow.
CORRECTION: In a recent FVC Agenda item about the 2021 Sumas Prairie flood class lawsuit filed against the City of Abbotsford, we reported that the Fraser Valley Regional District was also being sued. While the original lawsuit had named the FVRD, the regional district has since been released from the suit.
Community journalism needs the entire community for it to succeed.
As part of a membership, you get our special weekend roundup of all the things you might’ve missed each week!
🤝 Now hiring
• Mail carrier at Canada Post in Hope
• Animal control patroller at the FVRD in Chilliwack
• Punjabi-language transcript co-ordinator at the Abbotsford Police Department
• Warehouseperson at Dead Frog Brewery in Langley
• Fruit farmworker at MSB Farm Ltd. in Mission
Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!
🗓 Things to do
Knitting: Knitters are invited to the Stitch Happens knitting club every Monday at the Muriel Arnason Library in Langley. Details online.
Healing: Habitat Healers is hosting a two-hour information session in Mission on Wednesday to teach people how to "heal" unhealthy habitats. Details online.
Seniors meeting: Langley Seniors in Action holds its monthly hub meeting, plus its AGM, from 10am to noon at the Langley Senior Resources Society. A guest speaker will share information on the Canadian Dental Care Plan for Seniors. Details online.
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