Tracy Flynn was recently elected President of Wildsight Invermere, after holding the role of Vice President for one year, as well as being a Regional Board Director for four years. She is the 2024 winner of the Ellen Zimmerman Award, reflecting her dedication and ongoing efforts in conservation in the East Kootenay.
Tracy grew up in northeastern Alberta, where her love of the outdoors began. She lived near Lac La Biche and Christina Lakes as a child and loves outdoor pursuits from paddling to hiking to skiing.
After retiring and moving to the Columbia Valley in 2009, she began volunteering with a number of groups including the Summit Trail Makers Society, Fairmont Fire Department, and the Columbia Valley Recreation Planning Initiative as a member of the planning committee. Tracy founded the Columbia Lake Stewardship Society (CLSS) in 2013, despite not having a background in conservation or aquatic ecology. Living and recreating on Columbia Lake, she soon found herself conducting water sampling while getting various conservation projects off the ground. Tracy eventually handed the reins of CLSS over to Nancy Wilson about five years ago, and became more involved with Wildsight Invermere.
She highly values collaboration and recognizes the importance of working together and finding common ground with everyone, including people who have different points of view.
“I realize how valuable it is to get other people’s perspectives and to slow down and make sure the work’s done right and that everybody’s aligned and in agreement. Because if you go charging off on your own, you’re missing important perspectives and you’re not seeing all the values. None of us can work in a vacuum. If we’re applying for a grant, for example, it’s so crucial to show that we’ve partnered with other people including First Nations, community organizations, the provincial government, etc. Although I’m more of a ‘work hard and get it done’ person, and collaborating can be very complex, it is crucial in order to make long-lasting change. If you just do the work without the buy-in, it’s not going to last.”
A current Wildsight Invermere project is the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Conservation & Biodiversity Program, which has support through the Columbia Valley Local Conservation Fund. Wildsight is working with the relevant land managers as much as possible, including the Province of BC, and Ktunaxa and Shuswap First Nations. They are trying to get a better sense of the population and health of the Columbia Lake bighorn sheep herd, and learn where the sheep spend their time, what their habitat looks like, and whether there’s a possibility of enhancing that habitat. Volunteers are involved with doing the counts and surveys of the sheep herds.
“It’s great to involve people from local communities. We also have many education projects coming up, and we’re working with EKISC (East Kootenay Invasive Species Society) to do some weed pulls. These events promote awareness of invasive species and of sheep habitat and things we can do to better coexist with the wild sheep. For example, if you’re coming out onto a cliff and the sheep are below you, that stresses them out, so maybe avoid that area at certain times of the year, and keep your dogs on a leash.”
Wildsight Invermere has also done riparian restoration projects around Lake Enid, and they continue to maintain the fences and signage there. They have worked with the Ktunaxa and Shuswap First Nations to install signage at Wilmer Wetlands to keep people on the trails and raise awareness of how special that area is. The Invermere branch also hosts a river float annually in September, from Invermere down to Radium, focused on the ecology of the Columbia River.
Tracy says that the work that Kootenay Conservation Program has done through Kootenay Connect on landscape level planning and protection, such as the importance of protecting wildlife corridors, is having a big impact on her work with Wildsight. There is an increased awareness by the public of the need to shift recreation out of areas that are crucial for wildlife movement.
Tracy finds hope in the actions that she is taking in conservation as well as climate change advocacy. She is doing this volunteer work out of a real passion for the outdoors and nature.
“I love being outside. It’s so good for my mental health and I want the natural world to be intact for generations to come. It’s kind of in a scary situation right now. I was lucky to be able to retire early and I like to give back.”
Her wisdom for younger people or for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed or alone with the big challenges ahead of us is to “… pick something to focus your energy on. For example, start by signing one letter or petition a week, then maybe go to an in-person event. See what groups are out there to join so that you’re feeling supported, because that’s so important. You need support, and you need to take action; you need to feel that there is hope and that you’re a part of it. Find out what you’re passionate about and find a group that can help you and start doing something!”
