Nine important 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 2025. A local government service that creates a dedicated fund for conservation, the CVLCF distributes funding each year to eligible projects taking place in the area between Spillimacheen and Canal Flats that are approved by the service areas’ RDEK Directors.
“First Nations and stewardship organizations in the Columbia Valley area are leading important conservation work,” said Kendal Benesh, Local Conservation Fund Manager for Kootenay Conservation Program, which partners with the RDEK to administer the fund. “The CVLCF supports a wide range of initiatives, from ecosystem restoration and wildlife habitat enhancement to water quality and quantity monitoring —all of which help sustain our environment and quality of life.”
Monitoring of local water bodies, like Lake Windermere and Columbia Lake for water quality and quantity and hydrologically vulnerable wetlands in the internationally recognized Columbia Wetlands, is especially important in the context of climate change and is an important component of several of the projects. The Columbia Lake Stewardship Society will receive funding for the second year of their project to monitor water quality and hydrometrics on Columbia Lake, including working with residents and volunteers to train citizen scientists and improve lake stewardship. The Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners (CWSP) is working to mitigate the loss of open water habitat in the Columbia Wetlands and bench land wetlands in the Valley. Living Lakes Canada will collaboratively develop a hydrological model of Wilmer and Boulder Creek watersheds to support sustainable water management decisions and conservation planning. Lake Windermere Ambassadors are protecting the ecological integrity of the lake by addressing immediate threats to its biodiversity and promoting long-term sustainability through monitoring and education. All these projects are critically important for our understanding of what is happening with our local water bodies and wetlands.
Projects supporting wildlife in the Columbia Valley include Wildlife Conservation Society Canada’s Bat Habitat Enhancement and Monitoring project to create roost sites for a variety of bat species. The Wild Sheep Society of BC is protecting bighorn sheep populations by testing and assessing the risk of M.ovi transmitting from domestic to wild sheep, informing farmers about the importance of sheep separation, and building connections to promote healthy domestic and wild sheep populations in the region. CWSP’s Conservation of Biodiversity project supports collaborative conservation at landscape, regional and local scales, including actions to enhance biodiversity hotspots in the Columbia Valley. All these projects support the conservation of local wildlife and their habitats including local bat species, Western painted turtles, American badgers, Lewis’s woodpeckers, and bighorn sheep.
Another project supporting local biodiversity is the East Kootenay Invasive Species Council’s project to contain and reduce the spread of leafy spurge, an aggressive invasive plant that displaces native vegetation, reduces biodiversity, and diminishes forage for livestock and wildlife.
A new recipient of CVLCF funding this year is Summit Trail Makers Society, who plan to restore the alpine meadow section of the popular Brewer Creek Trail by rerouting the trail away from a sensitive meadow to allow vegetation to regrow, and building a boardwalk on a short and steep section of the trail to prevent further erosion.
Also new this year is a project by the BC Wildlife Federation to restore habitat in the headwaters of the Kootenay River, on a tributary which has been impacted by industry and recreation. This project aims to enhance watershed resilience in the upper Columbia Valley by installing beaver dam analogues, planting willow and cottonwood live stakes along the floodplain, and monitoring the effectiveness of these actions on improving local hydrologic conditions and habitat complexity.
“Since the Conservation Fund was established, it has been our priority to see the funding directed toward projects that will make a positive impact on the ground. The projects approved for funding this year most certainly achieve that goal, and we look forward to seeing them unfold over the coming months,” says RDEK Columbia Valley Services Chair, Allen Miller.
The CVLCF was established by the RDEK in 2008 by referendum. Property owners in the service area pay an annual tax of $20 per parcel towards this dedicated fund, which provides financial support to local projects helping to conserve and restore the area’s wildlife and habitat.
To find out if your idea for a conservation project qualifies, or if you have any questions about the fund, contact Local Conservation Fund Manager Kendal Benesh at kendal@kootenayconservation.ca.
The application intake for 2026 projects will open this fall. For more information on the CVLCF, please visit https://kootenayconservation.ca/columbia-valley/.
Lead image: The Columbia Valley Local Conservation Fund is supporting water quality monitoring on Lake Windermere in 2025. Lake Windermere Ambassadors photo
