Vancouver’s East Side Games join cause to protect bald eagle habitat

East Side Games CEO Jason Bailey announced Wednesday that the company has given a “significant” cash donation and will provide online social media support for the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA).

The social and mobile gaming company, founded in July 2011, is Canada’s largest independent game developer with one million fans on Facebook.

In the past year, Bailey said, more than seven million people have played their games.

AFA is trying to save a 50-hectare old-growth forest at Echo Lake, east of Mission, that is home to hundreds of roosting eagles.

He said even though they do not have plans to specifically build a themed game around Echo Lake, they are integrating parts of the campaign into their games.

“There is a plan … to take one of the trees or an eagle character and put it directly into the games … and make it one of the awesome items in the game that you really want to have, which will increase awareness of this campaign,” Bailey added.

AFA’s executive director Ken Wu said Echo Lake is one of the last lowland old-growth forests remaining in the entire Lower Mainland.

The B.C. government’s newly proposed old-growth management area, Wu said, would protect a portion of Echo Lake, but would exclude areas containing some of the lake’s old-growth trees.

A 60-day public review into the proposed management plan ends Nov. 5.

Read more:  https://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/407366/vancouvers-east-side-games-join-cause-to-protect-bald-eagle-habitat/#