Harvest Time

 

Many birds were enjoying the wetlands below our building here on Wildlife Road this past month, and I could hear them chattering on my walks. Others have now left on their journeys for the winter months, including the Osprey I have enjoyed watching during the summer. I wish them happy travels and look forward to seeing them again next year!

A BIG thank you to volunteer power! On Oct 19th  a class from JL Crowe Secondary School in Trail BC, joined the Kootenay-Columbia Discovery centre’s Carla Ahern, along with Julia Shewan and myself from CVWMA for a work bee on the turtle fencing along the West Creston Road. The students did a great job and got so much accomplished. A big shout out to these hard-working students!

 

Our staff have been busy still working in the field and winding down the summer projects, now starting to work through some of their data collected. Jacob Ewashen updated our readers on the Predator Deterrents on Swallow Nest Boxes in Corn Creek Marsh in our last eNews and has now completed his work on the installation on the boxes towards the Summit Creek Trail. We will have an update from Julia in our coming eNews regarding the Swallow hotel in Corn Creek Marsh and how the birds made out this year! The Six Mile Slough Restoration project work also went well and has wrapped up recently. Below, Marc-Andre Beaucher has provided an update for us, and will compile more details to be included in our wetlander newsletter which will come out before the new year.

 

On Oct 27th, Summit Creek (near the bridge crossing in CVWMA) was the location of a Kokanee egg release, part of the 'Return of the Kokanee' project. With grant funding from The Province of BC though the Destination Development Fund, The Creston Valley Rod & Gun Club, in partnership with the Ministry of Forests, the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, and the Lower Kootenay Band, organized the event. See the details from the Creston Valley Advance in this link 

 

 

 

The two new water controls that were installed on the East Channel of the Kootenay River will give the ability to continue to let water in or out of Six Mile Slough and maintain water levels for wetland habitat (approx. 1000 ha) and wildlife use. The six water controls that were removed were originally installed in the 1970’s and were no longer functional.

 

Thank you to all of the individuals who were involved in making this project happen on the ground: Columbia Basin Trust, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Graham Marine Construction, IronTek Land Developments Ltd., Hansen’s Excavating & Developments, Masse Environmental Consultants Ltd., GeoVerra, Lower Kootenay Band, and the Duck Lake Diking District.