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Central Okanagan Naturalist Club (CONC) News and Events |
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Central Okanagan Naturalist Club (CONC) News and Events |
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Monthly Meeting Notices
Meeetings are at 7:00 p.m. at Evangel Church, 3261 Gordon Street, just south of KLO Road, Kelowna. For further information call Fiona Flook 860-9751.
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Events at the EECO Center: The Forest Story. Go Natural Gardening |
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| As reported in the November Newsletter, CONC is spearheading the Kelowna Golf & Country Club's "managing wildlife habitat on Golf Courses" project. | |||||
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The focus this year is on Bird Conservation. |
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November 29. CONC birders joined members of the golf club to document birds seen on the course that day. |
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| December 15. Christmas bird Count. Another count took place and the golf course property was included in the overall count. | |||||
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Wetlands in the Kelowna Area |
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Within the boundaries of the City of Kelowna there are over 80 known wetlands which are identified and designated in the City Official Community Plan (OCP). All known wetlands may not be accurately delineated in the current City mapping system and numerous unknown wetlands (estimated to be over 50) need to be investigated and identified for future designation. Therefore, the main goal of this project is to ensure accurate delineations of all wetlands within the City of Kelowna. The geo-referenced wetlands will subsequently be designated as Natural Environment Development Permit Areas.
In 1998 the City of Kelowna contracted Urban Systems to complete the Wetland Habitat Management Strategy which identified and mapped 81 wetlands in the City of Kelowna boundaries. While the report did identify a significant number of wetland ecosystems, not all wetland ecosystems were inventoried and mapped. As a result the City would like to build on this strategy by completing the inventory as outlined in the recommendations of the Wetland Habitat Management Strategy. Subsequently, the wetlands need to be integrated into a GIS database which will be an important tool to help City Council make informed decisions to protect, improve and/or enhance remaining wetland ecosystems.
In July 2007 the City of Kelowna awarded the Wetland Habitat Inventory and Mapping Project to Ecoscape Environmental Consultants Ltd. The project will be completed by December 1, 2007.
The public is encouraged to provide information on area wetlands that will be used to assist in the preservation of these important ecosystems. Send e-mails to the Environment Division; please include the address of the wetland and any pertinent details.
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Why are wetlands important? Wetlands provide habitat to a wealth of species of plants, fish and wildlife and are home to may endanged species that directly depend on wetlands for their survival. Wetland ecosystems are extremely rare; it is estimated that they occupy only 0.2% of the Central Okanagan land base. Wetlands were historically filled in or their hydrology altered resulting in a loss of approximately 85-90% of large wetlands in the Okanagan Valley.
Why does this information need to be gathered? Many urban and smaller wetlands remain unknown, are poorly understood, and therefore suffer from the impact of human activity. The Wetland Habitat Inventory and Mapping Project will strive to promote awareness and protection of these wetlands by mapping their location and providing an inventory of their attributes. |
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When will this information be gathered? Wetland information will be identified, gathered and subsequently mapped between August and December 2007. Funding for this project was made available through the Okanagan Basin Water Board, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the City of Kelowna Environment and Drainage Divisions. |
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Parks Canada: National Park Reserve Feasibility Study South Okanagan Lower Similkameen |
for information and sign petition see |
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Protect Vancouver Island's last ancient rainforests. www.viforest.org |
Would you like to see Vancouver Island's spectacular old-growth forests protected? If so, please PHONE and WRITE your own provincial Liberal or NDP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) who represents you in your BC riding. It is vital that every BC MLA, including the NDP Opposition, hear from you if we are going to move this issue forward before it is too late. Also write and phone Premier Gordon Campbell. |
See the NEW Vancouver Island old-growth newsletter (with great photos and maps) at www.wcwcvictoria.org. It is the very FIRST LINK under "Featured Campaign". The link is entitled: "Save Vancouver Island's Remaining Old-Growth Forests - educational Newsletter" |
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Visit to find the contact information for your MLA
For more information check:
www.wildernesscommitteevictoria.org also www.viforest.org, then click on March 2007 Newsletter
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Make sure you let the BC provincial politicians (or their assistants), know your name and home mailing address for your input to be valid. Simply let them know whether or not you believe that the BC government should end the logging of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island, of which almost 75% of the original productive forests have already been logged, including 90% of the valley-bottoms. Ensure that the Vancouver Island timber industry shifts into only logging second-growth forests at a slower, more sustainable rate of cut. To protect timber industry jobs, the BC government should ban raw log exports and help assist the development of mills that process second-growth logs. |
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CONC mail address:
P.O. Box #21128 CONC email
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CONC Monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, September to June, at 7:00 p.m. at Evangel Church, 3261 Gordon Drive, Kelowna, just south of KLO Road. all are welcome
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