Newsletter

Okanagan/Shuswap Highlights
Debbie Sluggett (Educational Liaison: Bell Pole, Tolko, LP Canada, Downie, RCFC)
Jennifer Stewart (Educational Liaison: Tolko - Riverside)
Debbie Bazett (Forest Education Coordinator, COFI - Southern Operations)

Clarence Fulton Wetlands Centre of Excellence

When this school was built, it was situated beside Vernon Creek with the idea that the wetlands would become an important part of the school grounds. The cafeteria is situated with one of the most beautiful views that anyone could imagine for a school.

With this in mind, we started to plan for some ponds with walkways into the wetlands. Just before Christmas 2004, Ray Klinger donated his time and dug two ponds. In February of 2005, Tolko Industries Ltd. donated a load of cedar logs to build the boardwalks. Mr. Irving’s and Mr. Silver’s shop class students started milling the logs into lumber using the school district sawmill. Mr. Cummings and Ryan Hennebry went to a conference in Winnipeg, hosted by Ducks Unlimited, where they learned about other Wetlands projects by other schools across Canada. It turns out that our project is one of only six in Canada, and Green Street, through Ducks Unlimited, donated $4000 towards the project. Later on, we also had donations of $2000 from TD Friends of the Environment and $200 from CUPE. The money is going towards supplies such as hip waders, gloves, wheelbarrows, tools and seeds.

Fulton students plant grass around one of the ponds.

This spring, we had a visit from Dr. Rick Wishart of Ducks Unlimited. He worked with two Science 10 classes on wetlands education, made a presentation to the teachers, and worked with Mr. Iwanowskyj’s Forestry class to build nesting boxes for the wetlands. The Forestry students also did some seeding and tree planting in the wetlands. Ms. DeLangen’s Art students made toad houses, which will be placed in the wetlands. Ms. DeLangen is also designing a logo for the project. The Wetlands display by the Library is being designed, constructed and maintained by Mrs. Wallberg, Rachel Hoey and Courtney Berry. Mr. Ladner and some students from Mr. Downton’s and Mr. Anderson’s classes have been collecting pictures and are constructing a web site for the wetlands.

This spring we have 14 students who are donating their time after school on Wednesdays to do some restoration work, construct a pathway that will be wheelchair accessible, seed the disturbed ground, do garbage cleanup and so on. Some spin-offs from working on the project are happening already. There have been other opportunities for some of the volunteers: Jerin Hobbs went to Creston Wetlands with the support of Tri-Lakes Rotary and Mr. Gardner to learn about some of the wildlife programs there; a part-time job in the summer for one of our students will be offered by Summit Environmental Consulting Ltd. and Green Street, and a composting program for the cafeteria is being planned for next year with the help of Mr. Smith and Ms. Schroeder.

In the next school year, we should be constructing the boardwalks and we will also start running wetland studies for elementary schools with our students as tour guides and resource persons. Students can expect some of their teachers to take them out to the wetlands as part of their courses. If enough people sign up, we would like to have an Environmental Studies course as well.

The Wetlands are being developed as a place for wildlife to have a safe place to live and as a place for students and other people from our community to enjoy. It is our hope that this will be a place to visit for many years to come.

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