Wildsight

🎬 🌲 Invermere! On Saturday November 16 come check out the most awesome Columbia Valley grassroots gathering of the year (not that we’re biased)! It’s one BIG night of shared food and drink, story telling, films and friends. A night of 12 films from around the world sharing stories that will ignite your passion for our planet and for positive change. Can’t join us that night but want to watch the films? Go to https://lnkd.in/gVDpRErf to register for the Inveremere event, or learn how you can watch remotely online! Doors open at 5pm for pizza and drinks with a cash bar, and bidding in the silent auction. The films play from 6.30-9.30pm with an intermission and door prize draws! There will be a special draw prize for new Wildsight members. If you bought a membership with your ticket purchase, you’re automatically entered. Come together with your community and share in the Festival vibes, all in support of Wildsight Invermere’s work in conservation, climate action and community environmental education.

Dan Sliva was walking his dog near the railway tracks just south of Fernie earlier this year when he first saw them: small grains scattered between the ties and steel. Concerned about wildlife being drawn onto the tracks and into the path of trains, Dan called Wildsight’s Elk Valley Conservation Coordinator, Randal Macnair. Randal documented spilled grain at five sites along 27 kilometres of tracks. “As it is, the Elk Valley has the highest grizzly bear mortality rate in the country, and one third of those deaths are due to collisions on rails and roads. Nearly half of all B.C.’s train-killed grizzly bears occur in the Elk Valley. It’s an issue that needs immediate solutions, for the bears and many other wildlife too,” Dr. Clayton Lamb, wildlife scientist says. When it comes to preventing wildlife deaths due to attractants like grain on tracks, Randal says the answer is to prevent spills in the first place by ensuring Canadian Pacific upgrades and maintains its hopper cars. “We’re not going to see Canadian Pacific take action to better protect wildlife on its tracks until someone starts forcing them to do so,” Randal says. “For too long, our governments have given Canadian Pacific a free pass but it’s time this company started caring for the environments in which it operates.” Read the full story at: https://lnkd.in/gBnX-DnC Photo by John Marriott

We wanted to wish you a Happy Halloween with one of the spookiest feats of nature we’ve ever seen; this bleeding tooth fungus. The red blood-like substance is referred to as ‘guttation’ droplets. In plants, guttation is the release of sap, but scientists don’t fully understand what causes it in fungi. Spoooooky. These mushrooms aren’t edible, but apparently their red ‘blood’ has anti-coagulant properties. Ironic, huh? #fantasticfungi #bleedingtoothfungi #spookyfungi #hydnellumpeckii #fungiofbc #devilstoothfungi

🌱🎒 A generous donor has stepped forward and offered to match your gift for education in the wild, up to $5,000 — but only until November 5th! 🎒🌱 We’ve all had experiences during our youth that we look back on afterwards only to realise they played a formative role in making us who we are today. But for some young people, those experiences are harder to access than for others. We need your help to ensure all young people across the Columbia Basin can participate in wild experiences like our 15-day Columbia River Field School or the 24-week Beyond Recycling program, a journey into sustainability that our highly-skilled educators deliver directly to classrooms. Your gift will provide subsidies to families in need who can't afford outdoor experiences, and allow programs like Beyond Recycling to be offered for free to more than 750 kids across 30 schools. With your gift today, you could help change the course of a young person’s life. Visit https://lnkd.in/gKFnRpy8 to donate.

Don't worry, there's still time to sign up for the free online webinar happening October 29th, 4 pm Pacific. Join Wildsight and the @outdoorlearningschoolandstore to learn about FutureMakers, our newest education resource that inspires students to lead the way to a sustainable future. This online program is best suited for grades 4–7 classrooms. Register: https://lnkd.in/gUYkEntn

Today, we celebrate the magic of outdoor learning! At Wildsight, we believe that nature is the best classroom. Every day, we see the impact of taking students beyond four walls — into the forests, rivers, and mountains that surround us. It’s here, in the wild spaces, that curiosity grows, creativity thrives, and children connect more deeply with the world around them.⁠ ⁠ When students experience the natural beauty of their own backyards, they learn more than just facts and figures. They develop a sense of belonging and responsibility. And when kids learn in nature, they grow to care for it too.⁠ ⁠ On this @TakeMeOutsideDay, we are proud to be part of a movement that fosters love and stewardship for the Earth.

A small herd of bighorn sheep living in Golden’s Kicking Horse Canyon are getting by with a little help from some friends. A collaborative effort, led by the Golden Rod and Gun Club and the Ktunaxa Nation, is seeking to support the herd living near the busy highway by fencing key sections to reduce collisions, improving sight lines to allow sheep to detect predators, connecting low and high range habitats as well as restoring traditional bighorn sheep habitat away from the highway. The efforts were triggered by major highway expansion plans and included monitoring movement and behaviour of the herd through radio collars and camera traps set up through the herds’ traditional range. Project lead Brian Gustafson has been leading the charge and says they hope to continue the work with some larger-landscape habitat restoration projects to provide sheep with suitable habitat away from the highway. One of the concerns for bighorns here is the proliferation of invasive burdock, which get tangled in the sheep’s thick winter coats. This reduces their insulation and decreases their ability to survive harsh winters. Over the past two seasons, Wildsight’s Youth Climate Corps has removed burdock plants and seed heads from the sheep’s prime wintering grounds. The results have been encouraging — fewer sheep are covered in burrs, and their coats are more effective at keeping them warm, giving them a better chance to thrive through the winter and successfully birth lambs in the spring. These efforts are crucial for helping the bighorns thrive long-term, and the results are telling; the herd is showing signs of recovery, growing from just 11 sheep to 19 over the past few years. Photo: YCC crew on site at the Kicking Horse Canyon highway near Golden.

What a day for these lucky students! They explored a magnificent mycelium-rich forest with dozens of species identified and hundreds of individual fungi 🍄 ⁠ ⁠ Revelstoke Arrow Heights Elementary students visited the Mt Macpherson trail network through Wildsight's Classroom with Outdoors program, discovering magic and mystery hiding in their local wild backyard. 🌿

Revelstoke! Come and join our Conservation Specialist Eddie Petryshen for an evening all about one of the world’s rarest and most threatened ecosystems — right in your back yard. 🌲Wednesday, October 23rd at 7pm. Revelstoke Rec Centre.🌲 Admission is by donation. #revelstoke #seerevelstoke #revy #revelstokeevents #oldgrowth #bcoldgrowth #ITR #inlandtemperaterainforest #endangeredecosystems #saveouroldgrowth

‘4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning’ will not only deepen your understanding of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. It will help you strengthen connections with your local environment and community, foster respectful, reciprocal relationships with other cultures, and nurture a sense of interconnectedness in your day-to-day life. This virtual 15-20 hour course is offered in partnership with over 50 non-profit organizations. -Learn from a diversity of Indigenous people and perspectives -Have access to self-paced learning modules -View monthly virtual Indigenous presentations -Receive $25 towards excellent Indigenous Learning Resources -Acquire a Certificate of Completion Help bridge awareness and bring Indigenous knowledge to your daily life. Register at https://lnkd.in/gG4kWEjn