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Renowned naturalist Glenn Ryder to be remembered on Sunday

He had been making detailed observations and making field notes of B.C. wildlife since the age of five.
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Glenn Ryder kept field notes of his observations of the natural world from the age of five. His work as a naturalist has been recounted in a new publication

A gathering of friends of renowned Langley naturalist Glenn Roderick Ryder will take place this Sunday.

It comes as a special publication honouring his life and work as a naturalist has been published.

Mr. Ryder, who lived in Aldergrove, passed away at the age of 75 in October, 2013.

The gathering of friends will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at Campbell Valley Regional Park, at the  Rowlatt Farmstead, near the south end of  200 Street. All who knew him or are interested or familiar with his work are invited.

Copies of the recently-published 177-page book An Old-School Naturalist: Glenn Roderick Ryder (1938-2013) will be available for sale.The publication is actually a special edition of Wildlife Afield, the biannual publication of the Biodiversity Centre for Wildlife Studies (http://www.wildlifebc.org/).

Written by R. Wayne Campbell and Phillip S. Henderson, it gives a great deal of detail about Mr. Ryder’s life work and his devotion to the natural world.

It gives much information about and context to the volumes of field notes  that Mr. Ryder took over a 70-year period.

His 44 feet of detailed and descriptive field notes are unparalleled in B.C. and quite possibly anywhere. He was also an accomplished artist.

Campbell is the lead author of the outstanding four volume Birds of B.C. (1987-1991) and, most recently, one of the authors of the life of UBC zoologist Ian McTaggart-Cowan (Harbour Publishing 2015).

He was a friend of Mr. Ryder’s for 49 years and helped him throughout this period, to allow him to carry on with his naturalist endeavours.

Henderson also knew and accompanied him on many outings over the last 14 years of his life, but like many people in the biology and natural history world knew of him long before meeting him.

The two worked on this project over the last year because they wanted to see his legacy live on and to see that he receives the recognition he deserves.

He was a remarkable individual and one of the greatest naturalists anywhere, they say.

He explored much of Langley over the years and provided natural history information important in defining ecological value and preserving lands.

He assisted with a report contributed to conserving the Gray Pit properties (Blaauw Forest) along with the efforts of others.