Wildsight

06/23/2026

06/22/2026

When most people think of rainforests, they picture tropical or coastal jungles. But more than 500 kilometres from the sea (and nowhere near the tropics) sits BC’s Inland Temperate Rainforest — one of the rarest ecosystems on earth.

The ITR spans over a thousand kilometres from central Idaho to Prince George, and boasts species that evolved specifically to thrive within its wet Cedar-Hemlock forests — and don’t exist anywhere else.

Here, you can still walk the well-worn paths of B.C.’s Southern Mountain Caribou, which evolved to survive in the deep snows that are key to the rainforest’s year-round moisture. It’s also home to Flying Squirrels, Bull Trout, rare and unique lichens, Wolverines, Grizzly Bears and birds, like the migratory Vaux’s swift, that depend on old-growth hollows.

It’s the last ecosystem of its kind that remains somewhat intact, and yet thousands of hectares of its globally unique forests are cut every year.

Today, on World Rainforest Day, you can make a difference by asking our elected officials to cease logging in our extremely rare Inland Temperate Rainforest:
https://secure.wildsight.ca/ITR?source=RainforestDay+-+FB+-+Post


Photos by Bailey Repp & Siobhan Williams

06/21/2026

Today, on National Indigenous People's Day, we give our thanks to the people who've so carefully stewarded these lands for millennia — and who continue to generously share their knowledge and stories with us.

We're grateful for the relationships we've forged over the years with leaders like respected Ktunaxa Elder Alfred Joseph, pictured here sharing the Ktunaxa Creation Story with teenagers on one of Wildsight's 15-day Columbia River Field Schools.

“Through hearing the Ktunaxa Creation Story, I hope students learn a lesson: Before humans, animal spirits watched over the Earth. When people came, it became our job to look after this place,” says Alfred.

📸s by Bailey Repp

06/18/2026

YCC spent 2 days in Kimberley Nature Park last week, completing an inventory of invasive plant species alongside East Kootenay Invasive Species Council - EKISC. An environmental enhancement project is planned for the area, and this inventory was an important precursor!

The crews worked together to identify and plot invasive species such as Sulphur Cinquefoil, Blue W**d and Dalmation Toadflax. Youth Climate Corps Kimberley Nature Park Society

06/17/2026

"Major projects come with major risks… Environmental laws exist to protect us and nature and the climate from those risks… Our environmental laws are not red tape, they're a safety net."

You have just over a month left to speak up about the proposed rollback of Canada's environmental laws before the government's July 22 deadline.

Have you say here by sending a pre-written letter, or edit it for more impact: https://secure.wildsight.ca/major-projects?source=Facebook+-+Post

06/16/2026

These vibrant birds are just one more species that capitalize on burned forests post-wildfire.

Mountain Bluebirds are secondary cavity-nesters — they build their nests in cavities created by other birds (woodpeckers). These cavity nests are abundant in burned forests, and so are grasshoppers (which move in shortly after wildfire due to the hot, dry conditions that aid in their reproduction).

Competition is fierce for these nesting cavities. Mountain Bluebirds must vie against House Wrens, Nuthatches, Western Bluebirds and a whole host of other birds, highlighting why it’s so important to leave burned trees standing.

Burned forests can support many species — and are even essential to the survival of some. At a time when BC is pushing to increase timber harvesting, it's important to remember the ecological value of burned forests — not just the value in the volume of lumber they hold.

Read our blog about Life in a Burned Forest: https://wildsight.ca/life-in-a-burned-forest/


Photos by

06/15/2026

Wasa Lake needs our help!

A recent study on water quality gave recommendations to enhance the health of this beautiful East Kootenay lake. Join a public meeting this Wednsday, June 17 at 7 pm (either in-person at the Wasa Hall or online).

Use your voice to speak up for Wasa’s future and support improved water quality!

• Read the report:
https://wasalake.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Wasa-Lake-Water-and-Sediment-Quality-Assessment-2025-2026-1.pdf

• Join the session: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YjQ3YTlmYTYtNDg4ZS00OGJjLTllMGQtOTc4NGZkZWEwYzA4%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2240de877f-18d0-464c-949e-101040223714%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22d095a3ad-1e7a-4ac1-b86b-b4ba1a48fedd%22%7d

06/12/2026

We are deeply disappointed and disheartened by these comments.

B.C.'s Forests Minister was in Revelstoke this week and gave an interview to the local paper. In that interview, Ravi Parmar insinuated that caribou populations are declining, in part, because they are dumb: "Not the smartest animal, that’s for sure,” he said.

Caribou are not to blame for the continued logging of their core habitat: old-growth forests.

COSEWIC has recommended that the deep-snow caribou unique to this part of B.C. be listed as endangered under Canada's Species at Risk Act. The sustained clearcutting of the old-growth forests they rely on has decimated their populations, and the scientific evidence agrees that clearcutting and road building remain the primary threats to their survival and recovery.

Many people, including First Nations representatives, government biologists and conservation organizations, have spent their lives trying to save Mountain Caribou. First Nations continue to lead recovery efforts, protecting this culturally significant species — a species they have relied on for millennia — from extinction.

There's nothing dumb about an animal that adapted over thousands of years to survive this region's long, harsh winters. There's nothing dumb about an animal that evolved to evade predators and find food in dense, old-growth ecosystems.

Blaming caribou will not save them; if there's any party that deserves criticism here, it's a government that expects Southern Mountain Caribou populations to recover while the primary threats to their survival remain unaddressed.

06/12/2026

This Monarch Butterfly waystation in Nelson is flourishing in its second season! Our Youth Climate Corps returned this week alongside Native Plant Society to maintain and upkeep the same Monarch butterfly safehaven crews constructed in the fall of 2024.

These waystations provide sanctuary to Monarchs as they migrate through the region — connecting fragmented habitat and supplying them with hundreds of native plants they require for nectar and egg-laying.

As you can see, these waystations don't discriminate — harbouring a plethora of other beneficial insects as well!

Climate Corps

06/10/2026

Black-backed Woodpeckers evolved to thrive in burned forests, and Canada boasts 90% of the world's population of these amazingly specialized birds.

A 2018 study projected an overall decline of 81-92% in Black-backed Woodpecker productivity by 2100 due to climate change and commercial logging.

Salvage logging burned forests after wildfire destroys the habitat these birds need to forage, nest and survive. At a time when B.C. is pushing to increase timber harvesting, including through salvage logging, it's important to remember the ecological value that burned forests hold.

https://wildsight.ca/life-in-a-burned-forest/


Photos by