A Lewis Woodpecker, just one of the many species at risk that are in the proposed boundary for a new national park in the South Okanagan Similkameen (Photo courtesy of Paul Graham)

Talks ongoing about national park in South Okanagan Similkameen

November 29, 2022 // by Brennan Phillips

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Progress on the proposed national park between the Similkameen and South Okanagan is slowly being made, according to an update from Parks Canada.

Work on the park was hit by delays in 2020 due to the pandemic and in 2021 due to wildfires and floods that year. Since then, in-person meetings and negotiations between Parks Canada, the provincial government and the bands of the syilx Okanagan Nation have resumed.

In their latest update to the public, Parks Canada said that if approved by the three parties involved, the park would provide long-term opportunities for sustainable tourism and local jobs in the area, advance reconciliation and preserve the opportunities to continue Indigenous cultural practices, and would also maintain grazing.

One aspect being explored are the species at risk that would be within the proposed boundary of the park – around 270 square kilometres or 27,300 hectares of land around the Mount Kobau, Spotted Lake and Kilpoola areas.

Many areas within the working boundary have not been surveyed, which means the number of species at risk may be higher than currently known.

So far, 17 provincially listed species at risk are found in the region and 92 federally recognized species at risk, as well 36 ecological communities that are considered at risk.

Other species also present in the area have ecological, cultural and/or economic value, and part of the work being undertaken involves syilx Okanagan traditional ecological knowledge about the species.

The proposed park would also incorporate land currently in the BC Parks’ South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area.

The three parties involved signed a Memorandum of Understanding to negotiate toward a future park in 2019.

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