Category: Wetland Restoration

Quadra Island community comes together to install 500 native plants at new B.C. wetland

When COVID-19 hit, elementary school teacher Sheldon Etheridge shifted to outdoor learning, guiding his students to a nearby forested area for immersive education. But as the weather turned wet, he noticed that a muddy, unused section of the sports field was trying to return to its former life as a functioning wetland. He decided to…
Quadra Island Schoolyard Given New Life with Wetland Build

A schoolyard on Quadra Island is being given new life as the B.C. Wildlife Federation, Quadra Island Elementary School, and School District 72 restore a historic wetland to provide habitat for native plants and animals, while also creating an outdoor classroom for students. At first glance, the school’s large sports field surrounded by towering trees…
Watershed Renewal Project in Partnership With B.C. First Nation Bearing Fruit as Wildlife Return

When water began to gather and flow again in the Yaqan Nukiy Wetland in British Columbia’s Creston Valley after decades of aridity, word spread quickly among the region’s wild creatures. We are just five years into a project that will restore 517 hectares of floodplains, streams and rivers, and the sandhill cranes and blue…
A Mini Documentary — Wetlands Conservation through Private Land Stewardship in the Kootenays

Last summer, the WEP team travelled to the Kootenay Region to visit and interview several of the private landowners who had worked with the B.C. Wildlife Federation in the past to create and restore wetlands on their property. We met and interviewed the people behind four incredible wetlands conservation projects on private land to share…
The Yaqan Nukiy Wetland Project

Over the last three years, the B.C. Wildlife Federation’s Wetlands Education Program has been working in partnership with the Lower Kootenay Band on two landscape-scale restoration projects on traditional Yaqan Nukiy territory. The project site is well over 517 hectares in size.
Conservation in the Kootenays: Restoring Wetlands for Wildlife

This past autumn, the BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF) had the unique opportunity to provide additional support at two previously restored wetlands and assist with the construction of a new wetland complex. On a whirlwind journey of close to 2,500 km, the Wetlands Education Program (WEP) team, along with two volunteer interns from the Canadian Wildlife…
Restoring Xwaaqw’um: Wetland Restoration at Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park

On September 16 – 20, 2019, the BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF) sent two volunteer interns from the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Canadian Conservation Corps (CCC) to take part in a collaborative wetland restoration project on Salt Spring Island. The restoration took place at Xwaaqw’um (Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park), which means “Place of the Female Merganser Duck” in Hul’qumi’num and contains sites…
Reconnecting with Nature — Wetland Construction at Morfee Elementary School

On June 6-7, 2019, the B.C. Wildlife Federation led a wetland construction project at Morfee Elementary school in Mackenzie, B.C. With the help of over 348 students, a 130 m2 wetland was created in a modest stand of trees behind the school. One of the goals of the project was to provide students with an outdoor learning…
A Plan for Action — Restoring Moberly Marsh

Last week, the BCWF’s Wetlands Education Program (WEP) had the opportunity to take part in a planning session for the enhancement of Moberly Marsh located in Burges James Gadsden Provincial Park just west of Golden, BC. Moberly Marsh was previously managed by Ducks Unlimited Conservation (DUC). DUC has deemed that it is no longer cost effective to…
If You Build It, They Will Come: Sandhill Cranes Spotted In Wetland Restoration Site

Today the BCWF’s Wetlands Education Program (WEP) team is celebrating a big win! A restoration project completed in Meadow Creek, in the Lardeau Valley at the north end of Kootenay Lake, is now home to a family of sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis), a species listed as vulnerable by the Province of British Columbia. The final…