A renowned conservationist in the Tri-Cities is profiled in a video this month for his work as a longtime volunteer with Metro Vancouver.
Kiyoshi Takahashi, a member of the Burke Mountain Naturalists (BMN) who’s been honoured by the cities of Coquitlam and Port Moody and is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, was featured for his work in Metro parks.
Metro Vancouver spokesperson Sarah Lusk said the parks division marked its 50th year last year and highlighted some of its regional helpers. The video of Takahashi “is a continuation of that and we have more coming out this year,” she said.
The five-minute production puts the spotlight on Takahashi’s life passion to preserve bats, owls and purple martins and to photograph the featured creatures.
Trina Sakata of Metro Vancouver Parks and Elaine Golds, a Tri-City News columnist and acting president of Burke Mountain Naturalists, are interviewed in the video to tout Takahashi’s efforts.
“I loved the video,” Golds said. “Kiyoshi deserves some recognition for all his hard work. A group of BMNers cleaned the nest boxes for the purple martins last weekend…. Kiyoshi helped, of course.”
Takahashi, who will be 86 next month, is credited for building 500 bat boxes around the region and for being instrumental in the return of the purple martins — after a 25-year absence — with monitoring nesting boxes off Rocky Point Park.
