2024 Spring Tours

In May 2024, KCP hosted an East Kootenay Stewardship Committee meeting in Cranbrook, and a West Kootenay Stewardship Committee meeting in Salmo, with the option of remote attendance via Zoom for both.

Each of the attendees provided a short update on their organization’s activities using the following two questions as a guide: (1) What’s 1 item or activity that you are working on that you want to be sure others know about? (2) What’s 1 potential collaboration that you/your organization could offer or you would like to request from others? There was also the opportunity for open discussion on current stewardship topics.

Each morning meeting was followed by a local field tour in the afternoon. In the East Kootenay, we toured Spring Creek Ranch near Fort Steele. The tour was collaboratively led by our hosts Melinda & Brian Watson (Kootenay Livestock Association), Rachael Roussin (Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors), and Dave Zehnder (Farmland Advantage). Wildfire mitigation and conserving wildlife habitats and corridors were showcased, as we walked on elk trails through the forest. The tour also included a demonstration of a conservation dog with Dave. 

The West Kootenay field tour was held at Hidden Creek beside the Salmo River, where tour leader and host Gerry Nellestijn (Salmo Watershed Streamkeepers Society) engaged the group with an inspiring slideshow presentation and beautiful short film before showing us the recently created and restored wetlands nearby.