Kootenay Conservation Program (KCP) and the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area brought together diverse perspectives from the Creston Valley to discuss priority actions for stewardship of local fish and wildlife, and to identify partnerships moving forward.
At the Creston Valley Conservation Action Forum Check-in Meeting in mid-February, over 35 biologists and representatives from various local stewardship organizations, First Nations, and other agencies came together to review the progress being made on the five priority actions identified during a previous regional forum hosted in 2020.
The day began with presenters from 19 organizations providing updates on the results of conservation and stewardship projects occurring throughout the region. They shared information on local research and restoration projects benefiting fish and wildlife, connectivity, biodiversity, grizzly bears, and fire restoration, to name a few. Attendees spent the afternoon in breakout groups discussing next steps for key actions and potential collaborations.
“First Nations, other governments and stewardship organizations in the Creston Valley area are doing important conservation work by collectively planning and working on shared priorities to benefit the community,” said Juliet Craig, KCP’s Director of Strategic Priorities. “By bringing diverse organizations together to share knowledge, important collaborations can be fostered toward stewardship of the Creston Valley area’s unique ecology and biodiversity.”
Priority actions discussed at the forum included: enhancing landscape connectivity and corridors through a climate change lens; restoring floodplain connectivity of the Kootenay/Kootenai river system; conducting fire-maintained ecosystem restoration; expanding stewardship opportunities to protect habitats and biodiversity; and addressing elk and agricultural conflict.
“This forum provided an important opportunity for the Creston Valley conservation community to identify common goals and concrete actions going forward to increase the collective impact of everyone’s efforts,” added Craig.
To learn more, and to read the Summary Report, please go to https://kootenayconservation.ca/creston-valley-check-in-meeting/.
Lead image: In February, over 35 participants from local organizations provided updates on conservation and stewardship projects occurring throughout the Creston Valley area. KCP photo
