Awarded to the Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society to address declining critical habitat for western toad, blue heron, painted turtle, and other at-risk species that depend on ephemeral wetlands along the west arm of Kootenay Lake, while ensuring the wetland sustains essential habitat values in a changing climate.

PROPONENT: Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society

DESCRIPTION: The restoration site in Harrop’s Sunshine Bay Regional Park is a Kootenay Lake floodwater-fed ephemeral wetland that attracts breeding western toads, a COSEWIC species of Special Concern. This species has suffered population declines in southern BC due to habitat loss and disease. In low water years, the Sunshine Bay pools cause a population sink for Western toads as the pools dry up before tadpoles can develop. Additionally, increasingly hotter, drier summer climates increase evaporation and water temperatures at the site. To ensure climate resilience, the wetland must have a reliable water source and more shade cover to combat high temperatures and unpredictable lake levels.

The current project scales up the KLLCF-funded 2022 restoration of an adjacent pond within the wetland complex, leveraging existing data, methodology, and partnerships. The 2022 project addressed a critical population sink for western toads and has achieved all outlined goals to date. However, the extent of this restored wetland is small. It is critical that the wetland area be expanded to increase productive habitat, not only for breeding western toads, but for a diversity of wildlife species. The proposed project is a direct conservation action that will restore and protect 0.3 ha of degraded wetland habitat in Sunshine Bay Regional Park by restoring two small wetland basins located 50m and 15m from the initial restoration site, combating invasive reed canary grass monoculture, and installing habitat features for amphibians, reptiles and birds.

OBJECTIVE: The overall objective of this project is to restore 0.3 ha of wetland habitat, and to: 1) Increase the pond area within Sunshine Bay Regional Park that retains a minimum water depth of 15cm from May to October annually; 2) Expand habitat niche to include a diversity of additional species; and 3) Build long-term community investment to ensure wetland thrives for many generations.

PHOTO & VIDEO: Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society