Our Water BC

We have only 2 days left before the day of action on September 18. Let’s come together and defend our old growth trees!

Spotlight time! The Ecoforestry Institute Society (EIS) is a registered non-profit, charitable society ecoforestry that advocates for balancing harvesting with preserving the other ecological values of forests. Wildwood Ecoforest, https://www.ecoforestry.ca/who-we-are

OWBC is celebrating our partner Arrowsmith Groundwater Alliance! Thanks for protecting our water!

Time to celebrate another OWBC partner! The Greater Twin Lakes Area Stewardship Society works to protect and advocate for the gem that is the Twin Lakes Watershed, the lakes and the aquifer. Read about them here: https://www.freshwateralliance.ca/twin_lakes

Super partners means a super spotlight. Lake Windermere Ambassadors are a diverse group involved in directing lake water quality monitoring and conducting education and stewardship programs within the community as well as the implementation of policies & guidelines in the Lake Windermere Management Plan. Woohoo! Check out their page!

Today’s spotlight is Watershed Watch Salmon Society! They are an advocacy group grounded in science and work to tackle the complex issues facing wild salmon through collaboration with other organizations and community groups. Their initiatives include salmon safe flood control, sustainable fishing practices and management, and suitable habitat for fish.

It's Sunday, it's September, and its time for another spotlight! Rivershed Society of BC is a non-profit charity dedicated to improving the health of BC’s longest river, the Fraser, and its rivershed through education, community initiatives and advocacy.

OWBC partner Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition is a non-partisan multi-community organization that works to guide and support members in lobbying all levels of government, and to inform citizens of the dangers of privatizing the water and the watersheds that sustain our communities. https://www.vancouverislandwaterwatchcoalition.ca/

It's the first spotlight of September! BC Coalition for Forestry Reform - BCCFR is a grassroots alliance of BC communities advocating for culturally and ecologically sustainable forestry practices. They support data-driven, long term stewardship of BC’s forests with long-term landscape level planning, shared decision making processes, and recognition of the multifaceted values of forests.

Can you believe its September!? Our first September spotlight is CV Land Trust & Conservation Strategy. The Comox Valley Land Trust is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that works to protect and conserve the ecologically significant land and wildlife habitat of the Comox Valley region. They engage in education and outreach, coordination between stewardship groups, provide input for local government in land use, policy and regulations, and provide conservation science.

"In March, when the COVID-19 pandemic began sending our Canadian cities into quarantine, grocery store queues lengthened and the shelves emptied. Leading us to question our food security." Freshwater conservation conserves food security and sovereignty. The fact that watershed security funding made it in the Budget 2021 recommendations, is a win for water and food. https://www.freshwateralliance.ca/water_security_resilient_ Canadian Freshwater Alliance

Spotlight sunday! Cowichan Stewardship Roundtable is an open and collaborative group based in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, BC with the aim to protect their watershed. They have been able to ensure resident water supply during the Cowichan Basin 2003 drought, relocated spawning salmon during the low flows of 2006, and remediated areas of the Cowichan River.

These threats have all accumulated and here we are today with a collapse of our fisheries, she said. How many years do we have to hear this is the lowest number we’ve seen up to this point? Reasons: 1. Lice 2. Climate change 3. Government Inaction 4. Landslide https://thenarwhal.ca/low-fraser-river-sockeye-salmon-bc/

Spotlight time! This time we are shining it on B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union.

I don’t think it’s too late, but we’re at five minutes to midnight. https://thenarwhal.ca/newsletter-fish-salmon-declines-bc-y/

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY FOR RIPARIAN/WETLAND PROJECTS https://fwcp.ca/apply-for-funding/

Spotlight time! This time we are shining it on Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region! One of over 700 biospheres worldwide, and 18 in Canada, The Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region is our own local UNESCO biosphere.

It’s the dogggg days of summer! BC Whitewater is keeping it cool! Whitewater is a non-profit whose goal is to provide a unified voice for whitewater paddlers in British Columbia, advocating for publicly accessible, free flowing rivers and speaking in support of river conservation.