Empowering communities in the defence of watersheds and land resilience.
We are the West Kootenay Watershed Collaborative.
We are cultivating a community-driven network of watershed stewards, empowered by sustainable government policies, to strengthen ecosystem resilience and ensure the long-term protection and responsible management of the West Kootenay’s water resources.
Why Watersheds Matter
Healthy intact watersheds provide many ecosystem services that are necessary for our social and economic well-being.
These services include water filtration and storage, air filtration, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, soil formation, recreation, food and timber.
Join us on the watershed protection mission
Become a member
By becoming a member, you help support community dialogue, watershed education, and collaboration among the many people and organizations working to protect our water.
PartnersThe West Kootenay Watershed Collaborative works with community organizations, researchers, and funders who share a commitment to protecting watersheds across the West Kootenay region.
We gratefully acknowledge the organizations and partners supporting the collaborative’s work.
Sitka Foundation
University of British Columbia researchers and collaborators
Friends of Kootenay Lake
Kootenay Lake Partnership
Regional stewardship organizations and community partners
Indigenous Acknowledgment
The West Kootenay Watershed Collaborative Board of Directors acknowledges that the watersheds and waterways we endeavour to defend are central to the Inheritance of the Regional First Nations. The Kootenay and Columbia Rivers and their watersheds nurture all of the traditional unceded and current territories of the sn̓ʕay̓ckstx (Lakes) and the Ktunaxa Yaqan Nukiy (Lower Kootenay Band) peoples.
We acknowledge interconnected systems of understanding and respect relationships that have existed here since time immemorial. We share dreams for the future. We must work together to understand and preserve relationships that make life so incredible in the Kootenays.
While protecting our shared watersheds, we also seek reconciliation based on reciprocity with regional Indigenous Nations, each other, the land, water and All Our Relations.
Join us as we actualize a commitment to continued education and empowerment. We are learning more about our shared responsibilities and possibilities regarding Truth And Reconciliation, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the B.C. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, First Nations priniciples of Ownership Control Access and Possession, and broad social justice.
Let’s meet up in real life to share in the beauty of the natural world.
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