Sage Whispers

Coming Events/Community Calendar Our Members - Joan Lyons Wells Gray Proposal 2017 Bluebird Report Membership Application

November 2017

INDEX What’s Inside

Newsletter of the Kamloops Naturalist Club

2 3 4 6 9

Wells Gray Proposal 2017 Bluebird Summary

Shumway Lake Photo by Rick Howie

KAMLOOPS NATURALIST CLUB

Page 2

KNC PROGRAMS

Thursday, Dec. 21, 7 pm Heritage House. This meeting will be our an-nual Christmas event where every-one brings their Christmas baking and mingles with their friends. Look for an interesting slide show and a nature quiz by Frank Ritcey.

Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. The KNC’s Annual General Meeting and Potluck Dinner will be held at 5:30 pm in the hall at St. Paul’s Cathedral Hall, 360 Nicola Street. Bring a pot-luck dish for the supper as well as your own dishes, cutlery and cup. If you wish to donate a nature-related raffle prize, please bring it along to the meeting. Frances and Alan Vyse will present slides of New Zealand. The business portion of the meeting will include the year-end financial report and election of officers.

FIELD TRIPS AND

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Sunday, December 10, 9 am - Win-ter Tracking Workshop along Tranquille Creek, led by Frank Ritcey. Meet at the parking lot at the south access to the trail. No dogs please. Sunday, December 17 - Christmas Bird Count - Participants in the an-nual Christmas Bird Count are asked to contact Rick Howie at 250-578-7542 or r.howie@shaw.ca for as-signment to teams and areas. Each team will determine their own meet-ing location at the start of the day. The pot luck dinner and tally will be held at the home of June and Kats Kitamura at 5:00 PM at 141 Bestwick Drive. Their phone number is 250-374-8734. Looking forward to anoth-er great day.

If you would like to participate in the Merritt Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 18, please contact Rick Howie as above and he will put you in touch with the count compiler, Alan Burger.

Sunday, January 14 - Swan and Eagle Count - We will meet at Riverside Park in the lot near the arena at 0800 hrs. Bring a lunch and we will cavalcade along East Shuswap Road to Chase for those who wish to go all the way. Bring warm clothes, mittens and hot drinks. Washroom facilities are non-existent and the bushes are low and sparse so we will make suitable allowances for privacy diver-sions. Looking forward to seeing a stalwart group. Participants should contact Rick by email or phone for any final details. Phone at 250-578-7542 or cell 250-371-2551or email him at r.howie@shaw.ca with any questions.

November 2017

Kamloops

Naturalist

Mailing Address:

PO Box 625,

Kamloops, B.C. V2C

5L7

MEETINGS

7:00 pm, the third

Thurs-day of the

Annual Membership

(Jan 1st to December

31st)

Family $35, Individual

$25, Student $20

ART CREDITS: All line

drawings in this issue

courtesy of the Artist,

Robert Savannah, for

the U.S. Fish & Wildlife

Service.

Coming Events

KNC Newsletter is pub-

lished every two months

except for July &

August.

Editor: Paul Johansen

kncnewslet-

ter@gmail.com

Telephone 250-377-

7742.

Kamloops

Naturalist

The Kamloops Naturalist Club was formed in 1971 and became a registered Society in 1981. It is a member of the Federation of British Columbia Natu-ralists <www.bcnature.ca> and Nature Canada <www.naturecanada.ca>.

Sage Whispers is pub-lished every two months except for July and August. Editor: Paul Johansen kncnewsletter@gmail.com

KNC Mailing Address PO Box 625 Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5L7 Meetings 7:00 pm, the third Thurs-day of the month from Sept. to June. Meet at Heritage House, 100 Lorne St., Kamloops, BC.

Annual Membership (Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st) Family $40, Individual $28, Student $23 Contact: Winnifred Fischer Tel: 250-376-3944

Photo by Kathy Hoch

Swainson’s Hawk

Trumpeter Swan

Photo by Norm Dougan

Page 3 Our Members

November 2017

Joan Lyons by Joan Best

What a fabulous view Joan has from her home in Ravenswood! Whenever I've been in such a home I've always wondered how the occupants ever get anything done around the place; I would spend all my time gazing out the win-dows! Joan, however, keeps the prem-ises in tip-top shape and I can vouch that she makes a mean chicken soup which we enjoyed as we chatted over lunch. Joan was born in Salmon Arm and en-joyed a wonderful childhood with sum-mers spent at Pierre’s (Perres) Point, learning to swim (without lessons) and experiencing the freedom to roam and explore with her friends with little adult intervention. She graduated in 1953 and I would be willing to bet that few, if any, other graduating girls anywhere can lay claim to having their grad dress dis-played many years later in a "Heritage Display" connected to the Haney Herit-age Village and Museum. High School behind her, she went on to attend Busi-ness School in Vernon where she trained in one of the very few occupa-tions open to women in those days. In 1955 she married her High School sweetheart and shortly afterwards moved to Kamloops. She quickly found work in the Forest Service office on Co-lumbia Street and worked there until the birth of her first son in 1958. Two more boys arrived to complete their family; life was busy. When all the children were in school, she began taking cours-es in Early Childhood Education, ulti-mately receiving her diploma. She then taught for twenty years in a parent-operated Co-op at the Kamloops United Church. As for outside interests, Joan, who re-tired in 1990, keeps busy with her many friends as well as spending time at the property she and her husband acquired on Shuswap lake. Sadly, her husband passed away but the cabin still evokes happy memories and many family reun-ions take place there. Farther afield, Joan and her husband, like many of our

KNC Executive

and Officers

President Julie Schooling Past President Jean Crowe Vice-President Frank Ritcey Secretary Adele Stapleton BC Nature Director Ken Lipinski Treasurer Jean Crowe Directors Justine Densmore-McCulloch Andy Raniseth Communications Margaret Graham marggraham@shaw.ca 250-554-1285 Membership Winnifred Fischer Newsletter Committee Paul Johansen Carrie Dougan Programs Justine Densmore-McCulloch Margaret Graham Bluebird Co-ordinator Susan Weilandt

KAMLOOPS NATURALIST CLUB

members, enjoyed back-packing and hiking. Some memorable trips were the West Coast Trail, Berg and Spruce lakes and Mount Assiniboine. Nordic walking, cross-country and downhill skiing were also popular pastimes. A bad fall in 2016 has somewhat curtailed these activities but the healing contin-ues. She enjoys Club field trips and wishes that she could participate in them more often. She is also impressed with the knowledge and dedication our members have and would like to attend Club meetings more often. By the way, does anyone know how the Overlander bridge got its name? We have a Club member who supplied it and that person was Joan! She related how the entries in a Name-the-Bridge contest in 1959, which was sponsored by a local newspaper, were mailed in. Eleven other entries also submitted "Overlander" as the name of the bridge but, as hers had the earliest postmark, she won the contest and was awarded a $50.00 prize! We look forward to seeing more of Joan when the injuries from her fall are com-pletely gone.

Mission Statement: To promote the study of the natural values of Wells Gray Provincial Park and adjacent lands. Directors: Lyn Baldwin, Tom Dickinson, Nancy Flood, Trevor Goward and Catherine Hickson PROPOSAL TO ADD WELLS GRAY PROVINCIAL PARK TO CANADA’S TENTATIVE LIST FOR UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE STATUS Early in 2017 the Wells Gray Wilderness Society (WGWS) prepared a detailed application to answer Parks Canada’s call for new properties to be added to Canada’s tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status. Placement on Canada’s “Tentative List” is sought-after for areas seeking World Heritage status; in fact it is the only way a property might eventually achieve coveted UNESCO World Heritage Site status. The list was closed in 2004 and has fi-nally been reopened to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday by adding newly nominated areas. This was not a chance to be missed! Trevor Goward and Catherine Hickson prepared a 45 page application that details the extra-ordinary value of Wells Gray Provincial Park (WGPP) and highlights the reasons why it de-serves to be added to Canada’s Tentative List for possible UNESCO World Heritage status. The application submitted can be viewed here: Tentative List application Wells Gray Provincial Park

Parks Canada laid out an exacting process and named a highly illustrious panel to review the applications. Sites accepted to the Tentative List will be announced in November 2017. If a site is selected for addition to the Tentative List, it is anticipated that a further two to four years of public consultation and preparation of a UNESCO nomination dossier will be required. It is a long process, but one that the WGWS is undertaking because it believes that UNESCO World Heritage designation for Wells Gray Provincial Park will highlight, protect, and enhance its world-class attributes, which include: The world’s two largest rivers (by volume) to occur entirely within a protected area. The valley of fire and ice: an internationally significant showcase of ice-contact volcanoes,

lava flows and canyons. Some of the lushest, most extensive subalpine flower meadows in North America. Large tracts of the globally rare inland temperate rainforest, ancient beyond reckoning. The world’s most diverse macrolichen flora, with 435 species. One of the world’s great whitewater kayak rivers, the Clearwater, known far and wide. A final southern stronghold for the endangered, uniquely Canadian, Mountain Caribou. The ‘waterfall park’ has more major waterfalls than any other locality in North America. Murtle Lake, the largest lake in North America out of bounds to motorboats: a paradise for

canoeists.

The WGWS believes that bringing global attention to this unique area will bring positive bene-fits to the region—including and extending outwards from the gateway communities of Blue River, Clearwater and 100 Mile House.

The Province of British Columbia has affirmed their support for attaining UNESCO World Herit-

Page 4

KAMLOOPS NATURALIST CLUB November 2017

Wells Gray Proposal

age Status for Wells Gray Provincial Park, and pointed out that the designation would be of sub-stantial benefit to residents and visitors. The preservation of the pristine environment found in Wells Gray Provincial Park is an important gift to current and future generations of Canadians and citizens of the globe. Many of you said so by writing letters backing the addition of Wells Gray to the Tentative List. Many thanks to you! Editor: Many thanks also to Dr. Catherine Hickson and Trevor Goward of the WGWS.

Clearwater Valley Photo by Trevor Goward

Trophy Mountain Flowers Kostal Volcano

Photo by Tourism Wells Gray

Page 5

KAMLOOPS NATURALIST CLUB November 2017

Wells Gray Proposal

Page 6

KAMLOOPS NATURALIST CLUB November 2017

BLUEBIRD SUMMARY - 2017

Page 7

KAMLOOPS NATURALIST CLUB November 2017

2017 Bluebird Trails Report

November 2017

Bluebird Summary 2007 - 2017 Page 8

Kamloops Naturalist Club