Winter 2022

eNews

President's Message

After a long, warm fall we strode into November, leaves clinging to the trees, their fall colour not fully developed. Roses were blooming, cosmos were abuzz with a myriad of pollinators all going about their business preparing for the impending winter. A cool, extended, spring had slowed growth, blossom and crops. Harvest was late and growers grappled with labour shortages and delayed maturity. A kind November gave time to get the harvest off, to put food away, to prepare for winter.

We rejoiced. Smoke-free skies, a treat after the smoke-laden atmosphere of past summers; however, heat and drought created ideal conditions for combustion. The bubble broke and on July 29 a lightening strike started the Keremeos Creek wildfire forcing the evacuation of more than 500 homes in the Olalla, Apex area. Other fires burned but this one had the most direct impact on us. My encounter with fire was up close and personal. At 12:45 AM, August 12, the Richter Mountain fire ignited after an accident on Hwy 3, 25 km east of Osoyoos. The unfortunate driver of a powerful truck pulling a huge crane fell asleep and, fortunately for us, drifted across the road to roll into a ditch on the uphill side of the highway. I woke to shouting and then one explosion after another, causing the truck to burst into flames, hungry flames, which quickly found the dry bunchgrass and galloped up Richter Mountain. We, below the highway, watched in thankful awe. Had the truck rolled to the west, down onto us, we would have been fleeing from the flames. Miraculously, the driver was able to walk away from the accident.

Our already high appreciation for firefighters increased by leaps and bounds. Out they came, up onto the rugged terrain, built a fire break with pick and shovel, headlamps supplementing the fire light, water tank set up, filled, hoses out, stop the fire from crossing the highway, houses and people down there, stop the fire from reaching the adjacent vineyard, let it burn up and up, into wild virgin land. About 4 am we felt secure and fell asleep as those men and women fought on. 

For days we watched the skilled helicopter pilots suck up water from the Similkameen River, right below my house. Three to five minutes turn around, fly in, drop, hover, suck, lift, fly out, dump, and repeat. As this fire moved quickly across the landscape, thanks to Fire Smart, wildlife was able to move out beyond the fire.

While these dramas were unfolding visitors to the Osoyoos Desert Centre kept coming. The new boardwalk was a big hit. The native plants from tiny spring beauties to antelope brush thrived, nurtured by the extra moisture from June’s rainfalls. Bluebirds filled the nest boxes and hummingbirds lined up at the feeders, chitter chattering as they queued up to eat. These tiny, mighty, feathered friends delight us and leave no doubt that the Centre provides habitat to nest and rear a family. A variety of activities at the Centre enticed locals and visitors to learn new skills, informative signage and knowledgeable staff educated visitors, and volunteers and staff made everyone welcome. 

The Board joins me in expressing a special appreciation for the volunteers who enable us to fulfill our mandate. I also reflect on the Society’s Founders and past Boards who paved the way to what the Osoyoos Desert Centre has become.

As the shortest day approaches, we all slow down and enjoy the winter wonderland, snow and all. Just think of that shoveling as a fresh air, outdoor gym.

Each of you will have your own special way of celebrating the season. May there be many lovely surprises, happy times and periods of quiet reflection. May the less fortunate find comfort from some of the many initiatives geared to their needs, providing in the true spirit of the season.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and may we all have a warm and joyous Festival of Light.

Lee

Lee McFadyen

President, Osoyoos Desert Society

While we recover from an international pandemic that rocked so many individuals, businesses and non-profits to their core, we are grateful this season to have glimpsed a much-needed light at the end of a long tunnel.

Without a doubt, the highlight of our year was our brand new boardwalk. From our ground breaking celebration at our 2021 AGM to our Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony held in April this year, it truly has been a labour of love for everyone involved. A huge accomplishment and a huge success.



Nature Talks and More

Taking in the awe of our new boardwalk was a record number of visitors touring the ODC and taking part in some great summer workshops and lectures. With the help of our terrific Conservation Guides Connor Baerg and Larissa Thelin as well as our Desert Centre Manager Leor Oren we covered topics like a spadefoot's life, climate change impacts, understanding badgers and bat identification. We also brought in a couple of guests to give some great talks including long-time gardener Eva Durance, Lauren Meads and Pluto from the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society and Lindsay Whitehead from Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre who told us all about the snakes of the South Okanagan.

Our early bird tours took place each Thursday throughout the summer. Many folks joined us at 7 am to have a walk around the boardwalk and see which critters were up and about at the start of the day. This year we also resumed our Night Tours where participants went out on the boardwalk in the cover of darkness with a UV flashlight in hand to see what was out there. Unfortunately no scorpions were spotted (their exoskeletons glow in the dark under the UV light!) but participants did spot a deer, bat, bear and owl, and the night sky was incredible! Other events included two bluebird nest box building workshops, one in conjunction with the Meadowlark Nature Festival, and a pollinator event with bee expert Lincoln Best.

NatureBus Stop

We were very happy to host Nature Canada’s NatureBus this November as it was making its way across Canada to raise awareness of the upcoming COP15 Nature Conference. Supporters gathered to sign letters and postcards encouraging politicians to protect global biodiversity. Nature Canada then made its way to the conference in Montreal and delivered the messages to Prime Minister Trudeau. Thanks to everyone that came out to support the event and special thanks to organizer Doreen Olson! Read more about COP15 agreement here.

Robust Research

In addition to our ongoing monitoring of spadefoots and bluebirds, this past season was one of the most active seasons for research at ODC. Conservation Guide Connor Baerg continued research on the endangered Behr’s hairstreak. The numbers have dropped substantially from 208 Behr’s Hairstreak detected at ODC in 2003, to 173 in 2004, to 3 in 2021, and finally to 0 in 2022. Many factors may be attributed to this. We can hypothesize that it's related to the increasing distances between antelope brush habitats, it could be related to pesticides, or it could be caused by climate change. More research is needed to determine the cause.

Former ODC Conservation Guide Andres Mancera Barreto returned to conduct bio control agent surveys for invasive knapweed as part of his new job at the Summerland Agriculture Research Centre. While the team is not yet finished their work they have found many species of bio control agents controlling the knapweed. They will continue to investigate the effect of this species in the future.

Using a bat detector purchased through a grant from Parks Canada, ODC conducted ongoing bat auditory recordings this summer. In BC there are 16 species of bats, 15 that live in the south Okanagan. This summer we detected the pallid bat among others and will analyze the data over the winter to see exactly which species of bats frequent the Desert Centre.

School Visits and Educational Activities

Educational programming is at the heart of what we do. FortisBC has been supporting school fieldtrips to the ODC for many years now. In January 2020 we received a FortisBC grant for our school programs but because of the pandemic we were not able to offer programs of any kind in the years 2020 and 2021. This year however, with the FortisBC funding we received in 2020, we were very pleased to be able to host some 462 elementary, middle, secondary school students from both SD 67 (Okanagan Skaha) and SD 53 (Okanagan Similkameen) as well as UBC students and home schoolers who took part in complimentary school programs at the Osoyoos Desert Centre!

Our school programs are more than a stroll along our boardwalk. These immersive place-based educational programs tie directly to the BC educational curriculum and teach concepts and big ideas like ecosystems, adaptation, energy pyramid, biodiversity, connectivity, and more. This type of outdoor education has been shown to provide extraordinary benefits to students, and the feedback we get from both teachers and students is very positive.

ODC is also part of a multi-year project funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada, Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and South Okanagan Conservation Fund to create an updated Antelope-brush conservation, restoration and management plan for the South Okanagan valley. The project is a collaboration among several south Okanagan conservation groups and is being led by retired biologist Orville Dyer who's been studying and researching the Antelope-brush ecosystem for over 20 years. In conjunction with that project, science teacher and environmental advocate Allison Deitrich put together a hands-on educational field program. Students from SD67 and SD53 took part in boots-on-the-ground field work on three Nature Trust Antelope-brush properties near Vaseux Lake as well as a private property outside Oliver. The students planted approximately 150 Antelope-brush seedlings and continue to care for them to ensure they flourish. This program involves several South Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Program partners working together including Nature Trust of BC, Okanagan and Similkameen Invasive Species Society, Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship, Penticton Museum, Anona Kampe - Penticton Indian Band knowledge-keeper and Osoyoos Desert Centre. We are thrilled that FortisBC has committed to fund an expanded program next spring and fall of 2023!

Community Fundraisers

HBC Community Fundraiser

Once again Osoyoos Home Building Centre made us a part of their Community Fundraisers this summer. HBC spotlights the Traeger Grill throughout the summer smoking up a delicious bite for patrons to enjoy. With donations from the bbqs, HBC makes a donation to a worthy cause. Thank you HBC for your donations over the years!

Elks Club Bingo

Many thanks to our board member Birgit Arnstein who arranged for us to take part in the Elks Bingo program. Each month the Elks Club donates to a non-profit in our community whose volunteers join in and help out at bingo night. Thank you to our volunteers and to Elks!

United Church Thrift Shop

This year we were one of the lucky recipients of a much-appreciated donation from the United Church Thrift Shop. Thank you!

2022 Raffle

Thanks to everyone who supported our 2022 raffle and helped raise $7000! Congratulations to our winners Deirdre Holmes, Laura Childerson and Michele Nehring. Many thanks to our sponsors Westjet Airlines, Watermark Resort, Osoyoos Golf Club, Transwest Helicopters and Burrowing Owl Estate Winery.

New HLM Inductees

Osoyoos Desert Society President Lee McFadyen was pleased to present Mat Hassen, Kathie and Ernie Westphal and Larry Stone (missing from photo) with Honorary Lifetime Memberships at our AGM in October. Mat has been involved with the Osoyoos Desert Society since he moved here in 2005 acting in various capacities over the years including President. Ernie and Kathie are not only dedicated volunteers – Ernie helping on our maintenance crew for many years and Kathie helping at our admissions desk – they are also substantial financial supporters of the Society. Larry Stone has played a significant and invaluable role over the past couple of years on our new boardwalk build acting as our volunteer project manager. Congratulations to all of you and thank you for your outstanding contributions and dedication!

In the News!

We are so grateful to the many media outlets that support us throughout the year and help promote the Centre as well as our activities and events. Here are some highlights from 2022:

Osoyoos Desert Centre celebrates brand new boardwalk By Don Urquhart

Okanagan Parks and Places With Travis Lowe

The Cactus That Came Back from the Dead By Amir Aziz

Can We End this Endangered Butterfly’s Losing Streak? By Amir Aziz

12 Underrated Wine Regions to Visit This Fall, According to the Experts By Nicole Kliest

Special thanks to the Destination Osoyoos team who work throughout the year promoting Osoyoos Desert Centre to international travel writers and bloggers.

Big Shout Out to Our Volunteers

Volunteers are the heart and soul of our organization. We are so fortunate to have a team of dedicated individuals helping out in all aspects of our day-to-day operations from weeding and caring for our demonstration garden and habitat, to maintaining our buildings, decks and machinery, to working at our admissions desk, greeting visitors from all over the world that come through the Centre.

Our sincere appreciation goes to our gardening volunteers Angela Huxham, Cheryl Place, Dan and Phyllis Nieman, Julie King, Paul and Mary Doyle, Roger Horton, Shirley Boyle, Trevor Reeves, Verna Pakay, Fred Hamilton and members of the Osoyoos Rotary Club; to our building committee members and maintenance crew Peter Becket, Roger Horton, Trevor Reeves, Larry Stone, Ernie Westphal, Mat Hassen and James Friedt; and to our admissions desk volunteers Alice Partridge, Alicia Osland, Angela Huxham, Cheryl Place, Isla Petreny-Mackenzie, JoAnne Birch, Judith Steffler, Julie King, Kathie Westphal, Saran Kanda, Shirley Boyle, Verna Pakay, and Vriti Bakshi.

Thank you all! Your commitment and contribution is invaluable! 

Welcome New Board Members

Joining the Osoyoos Desert Society board of directors this year are Jodi Norrison and Angela Huxham. After spending summer holidays here for many years, Jodi made Osoyoos her permanent home in 2020. She has extensive experience working with non-profit organizations and is eager to introduce people to the area and its unique desert landscape. Angela has over 30 years of financial management experience and joins the board as our new treasurer. An outdoor enthusiast, Angela has experienced nature at its wildest from sailing across the South Pacific, to camping safaris in Botswana and Namibia. She loves hiking the hills above Osoyoos, birding, and trail running. Welcome Jodi and Angela! Thank you to outgoing board members Jordan Carbery and Laurie Watt. We truly appreciate your guidance over the years!

Finally, without a doubt, we simply wouldn't be able to thrive without the unwavering support of our volunteer Board of Directors. Enormous thanks to Birgit Arnstein, Peter Beckett, Roger Horton, Angela Huxham, Lee McFadyen, Joanne Muirhead, Jodi Norrison, Trevor Reeves, and Deb Sherwood. Your dedication to the Osoyoos Desert Centre is very much appreciated!

Thank you to you all! We look forward to an exciting 2023 season and we'll see you in the spring!

KUDOS TO OUR FUNDERS!

Grants, donations and sponsorship from individuals, foundations, government and corporate funders are our lifeblood. We would not exist without them. As fellow champions of conservation, we ask that you please support them, in turn, when you can.

Government, Foundation and Major Corporate Funders

Individual and Corporate Donors

Osoyoos Desert Society Members

OSOYOOS DESERT CENTRE  |  BOX 123 OSOYOOS BC VOH 1V0

250.495.2470 | mail@desert.org | WEBSITE