Aquatics Program Photos
A special thank you to Columbia Power, Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, and FortisBC for their support of our Invasive Mussel Defense Program in 2025!
Thanks to their collaboration, we monitored lakes across the Kootenays for zebra and quagga mussels, collecting lab samples to monitor for larvae. This work is essential as these invasive mussels can take over fish spawning areas, clog water intake lines, impact swimming conditions, and increase the potential for algae bloom. By monitored water quality, and initiatives like Clean Drain Dry, we can protect our lakes from these invaders! Thank you very much to everyone who stops at Watercraft Inspection Stations and takes extra care when cleaning, draining, and drying their boats. This effort makes all the difference!
Engagement Program Photos
We want to say thank you to FortisBC for supporting us in our Clean, Drain, Dry program in 2025!
With their generous support, we completed the following work:
– Recorded a radio advert for busy summer weekends to educate the public on responsible watercraft use
– Promoted Clean, Drain, Dry through through our outreach booth at 20 community events
– Shared important program info over social media
– Created new Clean, Drain, Dry signs to be placed in high traffic boating areas.
Thank you again to FortisBC for helping us promote this important program! With your support, we are protecting our local waterways from aquatic invasives!
We would like to give a huge thank you to BC Parks for their support in our community education initiatives in 2025 through the Community Park Enhancement Funding!
With their support, we conducted some awesome events. A highlight was the Games Night at Kokanee Creek Provincial Park, where we played Jeopardy to test public knowledge on invasive species. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful place to spend the evening. We were also able to conduct multiple youth invasive plant pull events, such as the ones in Summit Lake Provincial Park and Beaver Creek Provincial Park.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Environment and Parks and the BC Parks License Plate Program!
We are incredibly grateful to Columbia Basin Trust for their generous support in 2025. This funding helped us make a meaningful impact on invasive species education and action across the Central Kootenays.
Because of their support, we delivered:
• Outreach booths at markets and community events
• Communities Pulling Together invasive plant removal events
• Youth field trips connecting kids with hands-on invasive species learning
• In-person presentations and workshops, plus a free virtual workshop series
• Native seed collection and native planting events
• Ongoing public updates and communications through our CKISS n’ Tell newsletter, website and social media
2025 outreach events at a glance:
53 education activities delivered
2,200 people directly engaged
4,420 people reached indirectly
Thank you, Columbia Basin Trust, for helping empower our communities to learn, connect, and take action for healthier ecosystems.
We’re incredibly grateful to the Province of BC for their support through the BC Gaming Grant, a core funder of our Engagement Program. Thanks to this funding, CKISS was able to connect with communities, municipalities, industries, and youth through a variety of outreach and restoration events this year!
2025 Engagement Highlights:
• Outreach booth at 20 events
• 17 Community/Youth Invasive Plant Pull events
• 3 youth field trips, 6 presentations, 4 workshops
• 2 native planting and seed collection events
Communications Highlights:
• Over 250 new followers on social media!
• CKISS n Tell newsletter: +65 subscribers
• Website visits: 45,053 to date
With their support, we’ve been able to inspire hands-on learning, foster environmental stewardship, and take action against invasive species. Thank you for helping us make a difference!
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the BC Gaming Grant!
Thank you to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary and Columbia Basin Trust through the Resident Directed Grant for our Youth Pulling Together Program!
This program empowers local youth and communities to take action against invasive species while fostering education and stewardship. With their support, we completed the following youth stewarship events this year:
– Youth Puling Together invasive species removal event at Beaver Creek with J.L. Crowe Secondary School
– Youth Puling Together invasive species removal event at Nancy Green Summit with École Des Sept-Sommets
– City of Rossland native seed collection field trip with Rossland Summit Students
Thank you again to RDKB and CBT through this grant funding. You’re making our dreams come true by inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards!
Scotch broom is one of BC’s most aggressive invasive plants, but together, our region is stepping up in a big way to protect native ecosystems, wildlife habitat, and community safety.
In 2025, the Kootenay Broom Bashers made incredible progress. With hands-on training, tool lending, and disposal support from CKISS, volunteers built the skills and confidence needed to take action on both public and private lands. This year:
– 30 volunteers joined CKISS-led events
– 10,433 m² of Scotch broom was cleared
– Community members independently organized 7 additional broom bashes — a huge sign of growing grassroots leadership!
We also piloted Crowdsorsa, a mobile game that rewards players for completing real-world environmental challenges. Participants earned cash for reporting anywhere within the game area and for removing Scotch broom along Johnston Road, and landowners were able to register their properties for financial support.
These combined efforts are reducing infestations, boosting participation, and strengthening long-term stewardship across the RDCK.
The Kootenay Broom Basher Program is made possible with funding by the Regional District of Central Kootenay through the Local Conservation Fund, and support from Columbia Basin Trust and the Province of B.C. 💚
Thank you to our funders, partners, and every volunteer who rolled up their sleeves to help keep our region healthy and resilient!
Thank you to the Regional District of Central Kootenay and Columbia Basin Trust through the Resident Directed Grant for our Communities Pulling Together Program!
This program empowers local youth and communities to take action against invasive species while fostering education and stewardship. In 2025, we completed the following invasive plant removal pull events through this program:
– Summit Lake Provincial Park with the Nakusp Elementary School
– Kays Road in Blewett to pull common tansy
Thanks to this funding we have secured funds to run 2026 Communities Pulling Events in Kaslo, the East Shore of Kootenay Lake and at the Pulpit Rock Trail. Stay tuned for event details and come out and volunteer. With events like these, we are having a huge impact on our regions invasive species populations! Thank you again for your support RDCK and CBT!
Thank you to the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund for their Action Grant in 2025! This grant allowed us to fund our Poison Hemlock Patrol program in its initial year. This program gave finacial rewards to people in the Creston area to safely mechanically treat poison hemlock on participating public and private land. This program ran through the Crowdsorsa app that encourages players to complete real-world environmental challenges. Private land owners were able to sign up their property to get the poison hemlock on it treated! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to us!
Not only is poison hemlock an aggressive invasive species, but it can poison humans and animals if ingested. For this reason and more, it is so important to remove it from our region. Thank you again to HCTF for the Action Grant this year! The CKISS recognizes the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation for making a significant financial contribution to support the Poison Hemlock Patrol. Partnerships are key to conserving BC’s wildlife, fish, and their habitats. Additional support has been provided by Columbia Basin Trust and the Province of B.C. Thank you for your support!
We are thankful for the Columbia Basin Trust through their Small Ecosystem Grant funding in 2025. With this funding, we were able to continue restoring the Jubilee Wetland in Rossland.
This year, with the help of several amazing Rossland classes, we tackled invasive species in our local wetland by digging, clipping, and laying down a benthic membrane to stop invasive creeping buttercup, vetch and perenial sow thislte from spreading.
In the fall, we pulled up the membrane, planted native species, and collected and spread native seeds that will provide essential food and shelter for wildlife. We’re excited to watch this restored wetland flourish — and to get back out there for more work in 2026!
This wetland is now also an outdoor classroom, giving students the chance to learn through hands-on experience and build lifelong stewardship skills.
Thank you again to Columbia Basin Trust for the Small Ecosystem grant this year! Not only are we helping wildlife, but we’re instilling a sense of responsibility of the health of the outdoors in youth!
Thank you to the Fish and Wildlife compensation fund for support Whirling disease education in our region in 2025!
This education program is imporant since Whirling disesse was discovered in Kootenay Lake in late 2024! With FWCP’s support, we were able to promote the prevention of Whirling Disease in our region. To do this, we installed new boat launch signs describing the dangers of whirling disease and how to decontainmate your gear, held webinars, conducted public and busines feedback surveys, hosted outreach booths and posted education info on how to deconmatinamat your gear on social media.
Whirling disease is a parasite that affects the brain stem of aquatic species that causes skeletal deformities that create “whirling” swimming patterns. This severely impacts a fish’s ability to survive and forage for food. Prevention is absolutely key to avoid spreading this disease to new waterbodies, which is why we’re so grateful for the opportunity to educate the public on this issue.
Thank you again to FWCP for the support this past year! Whirling Disease Prevention was managed and delivered with
financial support from the Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program. www.fwcp.ca
Field Operations Program Photos
We want to give a huge shout out to FortisBC for their generous support in the fight against invasive species this past year!
With their help, we completed a variety of important management tasks this year. One notable project is a poison hemlock site located in Erickson, where crews suited up to safely dig out or chemically treat poison hemlock. As this plant is extremely toxic when ingested and irritates the skin, we are grateful for the opportunity to manage it effectively and keep the community safe!
Thank you so much FortisBC for your support and we look forward to future projects!
A huge thank you to BC Hydro for their support in 2025! This year we inventoried a big section of the BC Hydro transmission line corridor in the Pend D’Oreille Valley, which provided vital baseline info on what invasive species are currently growing on site. This ensures we can manage them accordingly and track our progress over the years. Another important subject of this year’s work was North Africa grass. We both mechanically and chemically controlled this aggressive species at multiple sites in the Pend d’Oreille Valley, ensuring native species are not outcompeted.
Thank you again for your continued support over the years, BC Hydro!
Thank you to Columbia Power for their support in 2025!
With their support we:
Inventoried a great length of transmission line corridor, mapping the density and distributions of priority invasive species.
Monitored and chemically treated existing and new sites
Mechanically treated cutleaf blackberry, Scotch broom, and rush skeletonweed
Seeded restoration areas with a site-specific native grass seed mix.
We are so grateful for Columbia Powers enthusiasm to support our local ecosystems through invasive species management!
In 2025, CKISS partnered with BC Parks on some amazing projects across the Central Kootenays!
We managed invasive species from Goat Range all the way down to Beaver Creek Provincial Park. Boating into Pilot Bay Provincial Park is always a highlight and we dug out 70 kg of cutleaf blackberry! Kokanee Creek Provincial Park is also a treat to visit, a site where we mechanically treated Himalayan blackberry and greater celandine.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Environment and Parks and the BC Parks Licence Plate Program!
We worked with the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Forests and their wildfire division to complete some awesome invasive species work in 2025!
This funding has allowed us to inventory new areas to identify the effects of wildfire mitigation on invasive species, control high-priority species like yellow flag iris and field scabious, and many more important activities that protect our local ecosystems.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Forests.
A big thank you to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit for their support in our 2025 season!
This funding allowed for management of countless knotweed patches along roadways where we installed “No Mow” signs to prevent the spread of knotweed. We also chemically controlled many invasive species and monitored existing patches. Many small actions add up to a big positive impact on the environment.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Transportation and Transit
Thank you to the Nature Conservancy of Canada for their generous support in 2025!
Through this collaboration, we conducted important invasive species work in their nature conservancy properties. One project that stands out is monitoring the permanent plots in their Darkwoods property. Every year, we inventory invasives in the same location to analyze the increase or decrease in invasive populations, showing us the efficacy of chemical treatment.
Thanks again to the Nature Conservancy of Canada for their support this year!
The Nature Trust of British Columbia was another amazing project partner in 2025, and we were able to complete important invasive species management work thanks to their support!
A fan favourite among our Invasive Species Technicians was visiting the Shoreacres rush skeletonweed site. Working alongside the beautiful Slocan River is always a treat, especially in the hot summer sun. A great view combined with a satisfying rush skeletonweed treatment is a match made in heaven for our techs.
Thank you again to the Nature Trust of BC for their generosity and willingness to protect our natural spaces through invasive species management!
A huge shoutout to the Regional District of Central Kootenay for their support in our 2025 field season!
With this support we were able to manage invasive species at 12 landfills and transfer stations across the region. Invasive species are commonly found at these locations as people bring in yard waste or garbage with pieces of invasive plants. We are very grateful that the RDCK sees the importance of this work and together, we can limit the spread of invasive species!
Thank you so much to the RDCK for their support over the years. Together, we are making a big difference
We want to give a big thank you to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary for another year of support on managing invasive species in this region!
In 2025, we coordinated invasive plant inventory and management efforts on 37 eligible properties in the “Area A” region. Providing information to landowners was a crucial part of this work and we are so grateful for all the landowner collaboration that occurred! Managing invasive species on private land is just as important as public land in the battle against these invaders.
Thanks again to RDKB for their continued support in this important work.
We want to give a big shoutout to the City of Nelson for their support of invasive species management work this past year!
Through their support, we conducted a bunch of important work this year, including:
Mechanical treatment of high-priority species like cutleaf blackberry, garlic mustard, and North Africa grass
Chemical control of aggressive invasives on city land
Landowner outreach to ensure homeowners had the resources they need to manage invasives on their property
Restoration activities, like spreading native grass seed where invasives had been treated.
Thank you, City of Nelson, for your continued support! This work wouldn’t be possible without generous funders like you!
Thank you very much to Teck Metals for their generous support in 2025. This support is integral for the management of invasive species!
This year we controlled invasive plants at several Teck properties. We had a few notable days inventorying their Shoreacres property, where we found beautiful views AND yellow flag iris, purple loosestrife, and cutleaf blackberry. Inventory information like this is invaluable for guiding future management efforts!
We are so grateful for our partnership with Teck this year and we look forward to what the future brings!
Staff Funding Programs
We want to give a huge shout out to Canada Summer Jobs! With their continued support, it was possible to bring on an amazing group of Invasive Species Technicians over the 2025 field season to assist in our work. Over the summer, the techs mechanically treated numerous invasive species, surveyed hectares of land, conducted outreach events, and collected crucial invasive species data.
With Canada Summer Job’s support, these young professionals have gained important skills and paid employment in their field. We are so grateful to this program’s dedication to empowering youth and supporting community based initiatives!
We would like to give a big thank you to the ECO Canada Wage Subsidy for their generous support in helping CKISS grow our team and expand our impact! With their wage funding, we were able to onboard a talented young professional who played a vital role in protecting the environment this season. This support allowed CKISS to hire a summer field technician who conducted surveys and manual removal of invasive plants across the Kootenays. The ECO Canada Wage Subsidy not only helps create jobs in the natural resource sector but also supports positive environmental impacts. Thank you for empowering young professionals and supporting environmental stewardship in our community!