Category: Wetland Restoration

Update on KLO Middle School: Painted Turtles and Fish Will Soon Settle Into a New naturalized Creek and Wetland Complex

In 2010, students at K.L.O. Middle School in Kelowna discovered nesting Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) in their long jump sandbox. Michelle—a science teacher, the school’s Eco Club leader, and a past participant of the Wetlands Institute in Kamloops 2010—recognized the importance of protecting and enhancing this habitat, as Painted Turtles are a blue-listed species at…
Hunters Build a Fence to Protect Wetland From Cattle and Mud Boggers

Some of these hunters may be retired, but they continue to work hard to preserve their local wetland. McLachlan Lake (unofficially named) is located in the Garnet Valley, not far west of Peachland, BC. This site was brought to attention by Bryn White of the South Okanagan-Similkameen Conservation Program as she observed changes in the…
Building a Schoolyard Wetland: Kinnaird Elementary, Castlegar

The BCWF’s Wetlands Education Program headed to the West Kootenays to build a schoolyard wetland at Kinnaird Elementary in Castlegar. With the help of the Grade 7 students, we constructed a liner wetland over two sunny days last week! There were several steps involved in building a liner wetland: The Kinnaird Elementary students and teachers…
Harrop Wetland — A Family Connection

Having the blood of Ernest Harrop himself flowing through her veins, Jennifer Dehnel has a long-time connection with the Harrop area. Like a storybook romance, Jenn’s husband Kurt grew up on the opposite side of Kootenay Lake, leading to their eventual meeting in their early teens. Being in the area for most of their lives…
Wetland Institute Alumni Restores Wetland in Fraser Valley

Why did the farmer restore a wetland? Because it mud perfect sense. Terrible puns aside, Celia Serrano probably didn’t anticipate how deep she would wade into B.C.’s wetland culture when she boarded her plane from Spain to start her internship with Balance Ecological in the Lower Mainland. She spent numerous weeks monitoring the endangered Oregon Spotted…
Kelowna Students Lead the Charge to Protect Endangered Painted Turtles

In 2010, students at KLO Middle School in Kelowna discovered baby Western Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) nesting in their long jump sandbox. Although this species is the most widespread turtle in North America, it is considered endangered in parts of British Columbia. These turtles enjoy basking in the sun and burrowing into the muddy bottoms…
Stud’s Pasture Wetland, Kamloops

The Stud’s Pasture Wetland on the Tk’emlups Indian Reserve near Kamloops, BC was restored as part of the Wetlands Institute in the summer of 2010. It is currently being monitored by enthusiastic past participants of that institute, Sue Huddart & Diane James. They have since been featured as wetland stewards in our article for Womens Outdoor World Magazine: “When Sue & Diane completed…