Volunteers Cleanup Alice Lake

BC Parks volunteer Henry Wang has been involved in marine and ocean conservancy for the past 7 years. Recently he has dedicated his time and energy towards cleaning up underwater environments. His latest endeavor is the Divers for Cleaner Lakes and Oceans initiative, where he and other dive volunteers venture into the lakes around the Lower Mainland where there is a lot of garbage accumulation from the high levels of use over the summer.

On January 23, 2014 Henry and some volunteer divers went to Alice Lake Park to see what kind of garbage they could gather from the bottom of the lake. Once they were in the water they realised that it was not going to be an easy task to find garbage. The water was so murky that they had to use their hands to feel for the garbage opposed to using their eyes. Despite the challenging factors they still managed to blindly extract 50lbs of garbage from the lake. Henry has plans go back to Alice Lake when the ice thaws to see what else they can fish out.

While actively moving forward with the Divers for Cleaner Lakes and Oceans initiative, Henry and his diving partners have found large amounts of garbage during their cleanups – one day they filled a ¾ tonne truck with ease, and there was still so much more to be picked up. To support his cleanup efforts, Henry is currently raising funds for a trailer that can carry 2,220 kilograms (5000 pounds) at a time.

            If anyone is looking for an opportunity to get some diving practise or would be interested in cleaning up ocean shorelines and lakes in the Lower Mainland for the next generation to enjoy you can contact him at northshorehenry@gmail.com to see when the next time he is going out. And don’t worry; they have lots of fun out there, too.