Construction has started on the Kanaka Creek Watershed Stewardship Centre in Kanaka Creek Regional Park thanks to support of Metro Vancouver and its funding partners.The Stewardship Centre will include the George Ross Learning Room, named after the generous donor who left $2.8 million in his estate to ensure that generations to come will enjoy Metro Vancouver Regional Parks as he did. Mr. Ross’s bequest provided $300,000 to help make the nature-focused learning facility a reality. Washrooms and a separate resource building are also included in this phase of the Kanaka Creek Watershed Stewardship Centre, which includes the recently rebuilt Bell-Irving Hatchery. A roof-to-creek learning landscape will manage stormwater at the site and provide hands-on educational experiences. Together, these features will provide outstanding facilities for education, stewardship, fish enhancement, and community engagement.“We are so pleased that construction of the Learning Room is underway, which when completed will realize the full vision of the Centre,” said Heather Deal, Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Regional Parks Committee. “We know that our park partner, Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society (KEEPS), has especially been waiting to see construction of the new buildings underway, which we anticipate should be completed by year’s end.”The Pacific Parklands Foundation provided $200,000 towards this phase of the Centre, obtaining a $100,000 grant from the Pacific Salmon Foundation, and $100,000 from the Shell ‘FuellingChange’ campaign.The Foundation was also successful in obtaining a $10,000 grant from the Pacific Salmon Foundation for interior equipment to support educational programming at the Stewardship Centre.Kanaka Creek Regional Park hosts many sustainability education events, including the annual ‘Goodbye Chums’ celebration to release Chum fry from the Bell-Irving Hatchery into Kanaka Creek. This year’s event, co-presented by Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society (KEEPS), is on Sunday, April 24 from 11 am to 3 pm.