When looking at healthy river systems, complexity is very important. Having different sections to a river will provide different habitat and functions. Here are some complexities that we look for in rivers: Riffles: The shallowest part where water is usually running over rocks. This is where water is the fastest and there is the most oxygen. Sometimes fish will wait downstream from riffles to wait for food to flow their way. Runs: This is when water flows at a more uniform pa

Did you know that Silky lupines are part of the legume family? Legumes are a special family of plants that are well know for their nitrogen fixing abilities. On Earth, around 80% of our atmosphere is made up of nitrogen gas. However, nitrogen in this form is unusable to people and many other living things. That's where the legumes come it. These plants have a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria that will live on the plants roots in little nodules. The bacteri

Everyone grab some gloves and a shovel, it's time to plant a flower! But before you pick a flower, know that some plants and flowers are harder to plant than other. One example is Arrow-leaved balsamroot which is notoriously hard to plant. Trying to plant this flower from seed or pot is near impossible. They prefer to be planted on slopes and to be ignored, but even if you plant this flower it might take years before you see any signs of growth. This is because the plant is g

It can fly, walk and swim, and they live all over Canada. While that may sound like a aquatic bird, what we're describing is actually Predaceous Diving beetles. These beetles are commonly seen in many ponds and slow moving streams. While they are proficient swimmers, they can still use their wings to fly between ponds. Like their name suggest, they are dangerous predators to other insects and small fish. They are quite adept in the water, swimming akin to a frog with both bac

This year the theme for World Wildlife Day is “Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Conserving Health, Heritage and Livelihoods", so we want to recognize all our amazing native plants in the area that do much more than look good and provide excellent habitat. The Syilx People in the region have and still use many of our native plants for medicine, food, technology and much more. Here are examples of some uses for these plants along with their Nsyilxcen names: Pearly Everlasting / t

We have a couple of invasive tree species here in the Okanagan and Similkameen and one is the frustrating Tree of Heaven. Tree of Heaven is believed to be the fastest growing tree in North America, making it outcompete many of our native species. It is also allelopathic, meaning that it can make the soil around itself toxic to other plants. This tree can easily establish itself into disturbed areas and is quite tricky to get rid of. Cutting the tree can just trigger the plant

When trying to manage invasive plants mechanically, a popular strategy is to try to cut down or mow the plant before it goes to seed. However, this can be hard for plants that go to seed early in the year. Cheat grass is one such plant. This grass will continue to grow throughout the winter so when the spring rains end, cheat grass has already gone to seed. This means you have to cut this grass super early in the year. Because cheat grass goes to seed so early, it dies early

We can't go through Invasive Species week without talking about one of the biggest threats in terms of invasives, Zebra, Quagga and other invasive mussels. These mussels are know for attaching themselves to every hard surface they can. Because of this they can damage infrastructure like irrigation pipes and municipal water systems which could cost millions to fix. These mussels also alter the food web, by outcompeting native species like salmon and Rocky Mountain Ridged musse

Not all invasives can be dealt with in the same way, it is really dependent on the species and how it grows. The most common ways to control invasives are mechanically, chemically, or through bio-controls. Mechanical is through brute force, usually by digging or pulling, and chemically is through the use of pesticides and herbicides. Bio-control are when you introduce a species, usually an insect, that would naturally predate on this plant where it originated from. This requi