OkanaganLife – April 7, 2017
The Okanagan Basin Water Board has approved $300,000 in funding to 17 projects that will help conserve and improve the quality of water in the Okanagan Valley.
“This year we saw a lot of very strong applications focussed on action for conserving water or improving its quality,” says James Littley, Operations and Grants Manager.
Three projects were funded in the North Okanagan, including $15,427 to Sqilxw Apna, a local non-profit, to help protect and restore the lower reaches of N’sisooloxw (also known as Bradley Creek.) This innovative project combines traditional ecological knowledge of Okanagan Indian Band elders with scientific data gathered about the current health of the creek, located near the head of Okanagan Lake.
“This project is community-led, and proposes to work with volunteers to accomplish the goals of educating about the creek, conducting scientific sampling, protecting it from development pressures, and restoring a portion to a more natural state,” says Littley. “A lot of work we fund looks at streams that have already been significantly impacted by human activity, and that’s important. This project will be proactive in protecting a creek which has been altered, but not to as great an extent as others in more urbanized areas. We can protect what we have, and restore what has been lost.”