by Contributor on Friday April 16 2021
By Nicole Trigg, Kootenay Conservation Program
The Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society works to improve the health and stewardship of B.C.’s fifth largest lake, and although the COVID-19 pandemic has curtailed much of FoKLSS’ traditional outreach and education programs, Acting Program Manager Camille LeBlanc has been leading the charge on a number of initiatives that are helping keep Kootenay Lake at the forefront of people’s minds.
Camille joined the FoKLSS team in 2019 as the Environmental Manager Intern and hit the ground running planning and implementing education programs and public events such as the Youth Water Festival and the Kootenay Lake Summit. Both events allowed Camille to connect with a network of environmental leaders in the Kootenay Lake area, and learn the fundamentals of running successful community events. At the end of 2019, Camille moved into the Program Manager role.
Posted:
March 13, 2021
Faces & Places: Shannon McGinty
Kootenay Conservation Program
Lake Windermere is the most heavily used body of water in the entire Columbia. This shallow widening of the Columbia River stretching from near Fairmont Hot Springs to Invermere is a water recreation playground, local economic driver, and a source of drinking water while providing important habitat for plants, fish and wildlife, including at-risk and endangered waterbirds.
Balancing recreation with conservation is the role of the Lake Windermere Ambassadors (LWA), the water stewardship group that has been monitoring the ecological health of the lake since its inception in 2010, and LWA Program Coordinator Shannon McGinty couldn’t be more perfectly qualified for this challenge.
Posted:
March 10, 2021
By Nicole Trigg
Kootenay Conservation Program
Eight important local conservation projects were recently approved by the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) to receive funding from the Columbia Valley Local Conservation Fund (CVLCF) in 2021.
These projects will benefit Columbia Valley communities and local environment in a myriad of ways, and two of the projects were granted a new multi-year funding model to help guarantee their success in the years to come.
Electoral Area F Director Susan Clovechok
“I really appreciate the work of the Columbia Valley Local Conservation Fund ‘s Technical Review Committee (TRC) when it comes to reviewing and ranking the applications,” said RDEK Electoral Area F Director Susan Clovechok. “In particular, I am very pleased that this year we, the RDEK Columbia Valley directors, worked together with the TRC to update the terms of reference and included the addition of a multi- year funding option. Multi-year fun
Posted:
January 22, 2021
Faces & Places: Chad Hughes
Kootenay Conservation Program
A transplant from Australia, Chad Hughes is the new executive director for the Elk River Alliance and is keen to apply his diverse background as an ecologist and mining consultant to working collaboratively across sectors in the Elk Valley to preserve the watershed.
“The Elk River Alliance is not against industry,” he said. “Without resource extraction the Elk Valley and the economy would be very different, but at the same time we need to be aware that we do live in an environment that needs to be taken care of.”
Originally from Perth, Australia, Chad earned his Bachelor in Environmental Sciences from the University in Western Australia, majoring in land and water management and botany, then proceeded to work for a number of years as an environmental scientist and botanist throughout the Australian outback.
Posted:
December 19, 2020
Faces & Places: Kendal Benesh
Kootenay Conservation Program
An appreciation and love for the natural world is what led Kendal Benesh into the field of biology, but throughout her career she’s discovered a new, yet complementary, passion: bringing people together to solve problems and find efficiencies.
“My role with East Kootenay Invasive Species Council (EKISC) is hitting that straight on the head,” said Kendal, who stepped into the role of program manager for EKISC in March 2019. “Invasive species are going to be here forever. We’re always going to be dealing with new introductions and they will continue to impact people in a variety of ways, so there’s an endless amount of strategy and innovation that needs to be in place with invasive species management.”