Wildsight

Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM Golden Branch Location: Golden Civic Center Save the date! October 17, Golden Civic Centre. Doors open 6PM, program begins 7PM. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is an internationally recognized event that showcases inspiring environmental and adventure films from around the world. Beyond entertainment, it serves as a powerful tool to spark dialogue, raise awareness, and engage communities in protecting the natural world.

Last week, Wildsight Golden welcomed professors from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry for a collaborative visit focused on the unique forest management challenges facing the Golden region. The visit, organized by Wildsight Golden board chair Mathew Zaleski, brought together representatives from the forestry industry, woodlot and community forest sectors, environmental groups, and wildfire risk reduction experts.

In 1983, the Tent Mountain coal mine, just east of the B.C.-Alberta border, ceased operations after more than three decades of open-cut mining. The site was never reclaimed, leaving a gaping pit and piles of waste rock open to the elements. More than four decades later, weathering of that waste rock continues to leach naturally-occurring pollutants into nearby waters. Those pollutants come in many forms, but the levels of one in particular are cause for great concern.

We’ve known that coal mining has been causing increasingly severe water pollution in the Elk Valley since the early 90s, but action has only really been taken in the last decade or so. In 2014 the BC government approved the industry-created Elk Valley Area Based Management Plan (ABMP), a document used to guide long-term planning and regulation on how to handle this pollution.

As we approach summer, Wildsight is keeping a close eye on hydrological conditions and dam operations in our region. While poring over graphs, maps and statistics from B.C.’s May 1 Snow Surveys and Water Supply Bulletin, I was reminded of a favourite poem by Rita Wong called Declaration of Intent.

When you first set eyes on Kimberley artist Sam Millard’s vibrant painting of the Elk Valley, it looks to be one of joy. A technicolour elk bays at the rising sun, a moose wanders through the Elk River, and in the distance, a bear meanders across a mountainside that’s teeming with life. But look more closely at the scene and you’ll realize there’s more to it than initially meets the eye.

Warm spring days have us dreaming of summertime in the Kootenays. But before you head out on your local waterways this year, Wildsight is urging you to consider the impact of your activity. The slow swirls of water coupled with shallow depths and easy access make the Fairmont Hot Springs-to-Golden stretch of the Columbia River a popular destination in British Columbia’s Columbia Valley.

Since 2022, Shuswap Wildlife Monitors have been out on highways to alert drivers when bighorn sheep are on the road, ultimately reducing the number of hits. They may be achieving that goal. From 2023 to 2024, an average of 6 bighorn sheep were killed each year, compared to an average of 10.5 sheep killed annually from 2011 to 2020.

When you imagine a perfect summer day on Lake Windermere or Columbia Lake, you might picture sparkling water, sunshine, and boats cruising by. But beneath the surface — literally — these beloved lakes are feeling the strain of growing boating activity. Watching boats slice through the water, the visual impact appears as a simple billow of white trailing behind the watercraft as waves push towards the shore then break and recede back into calm waters.