Very distinct sounds come from a healthy wetland, from the noisy quacking of ducks and geese communicating, to the background noise of frogs and the whir of insects such as dragonflies.
And, all depend on each other and their habitat to complete their life cycle and to keep it all healthy—each in their own way.
The most knowledgeable among humans don’t fully understand all the vital interconnections that keep a healthy swamp or bog, fen, pond or riparian area healthy, so once you begin to meddle in it, you could easily be destroying a link that will destroy it all in the end.
Such webs of life occur on land as well, but the most-used and most vital habitat tends to be where land and water meet, because it’s a particularly valuable mix of land and water, sometimes varying from one to the other seasonally.
Turtles, for instance, require land on which to lay their eggs, yet they live in the water, so they must have exactly the right sort of edge habitat to survive.
Frogs, on the other hand, require water in which to spawn and for tadpoles to grow, but once they morph into adults, land near water is needed.
Preserving wetlands is protecting biodiversity, from mosquitos to moose, sedges to spruce, ducks to damselflies.
In the central Okanagan a number of wetlands have been given some protection in different ways: Rose Valley Pond in West Kelowna was purchased with the collaboration of a number of non-profit and government organizations at the insistence of the grassroots community and it is now part of a regional park; while Munson’s Pond in Kelowna is wholly-owned by the city as a future park and Redlich Pond is already a city park.
Sibell Maude Roxby Bird Sanctuary was restored as a wetland in Kelowna, as was Rotary Marshes, and both are well-used by both humans and wetland plants and critters along the city’s lakeshore.
However, there are many wetlands that have been identified as sensitive areas, but other than that, they have no specific protection.
Because the Okanagan climate is so dry, wetlands are particularly valuable yet they have been filled in and built on at an unprecedented rate in the past. Estimates are that as much as 90 per cent of the valley’s wetlands are gone.
In an effort to turn this around, the Okanagan Basin Water Board, B.C. Wildlife Federation and Central Okanagan Regional District are collaborating with a number of other partners on an Okanagan Wetlands Strategy that involves you in helping to identify wetlands throughout the valley.
Take just a few minutes to complete the survey: surveymonkey.com/s/okanagan_wetlands_strategy_phase1
A public meeting has also been tentatively set for Thurs., Nov. 28, at a location yet to be determined, and meetings are being held by the consultants, Ecoscape Environmental, with local naturalists’ clubs, fish and game clubs and land trusts.
Do your bit to help staunch the flow of blood from injured and threatened Okanagan wetlands.
Judie Steeves writes about outdoors issues for the Capital News.
jsteeves@kelownacapnews.com
