Southern Interior Land Trust

Our History

Formed in 1988 to purchase land for wildlife in the Okanagan Region, the board of the Southern Interior Land Trust Society, (formerly, Okanagan Region Wildlife Heritage Fund Society) aims to conserve and restore wild land as habitat for wildlife, since it is under increasing pressure from development.

A rapidly growing population in the Okanagan Region threatens many remaining pockets of wilderness, and has already altered ecosystems in many areas.

The society was started by a group of B.C. Wildlife Federation members in the Okanagan.

The first executive was President Darrel Winser, vice-president George Traicheff, John Holdstock as treasurer, and directors: Frank Shannon, Clarence Schneider, Greg Norton, Al Peatt, Phil Stannard and Ron Taylor.

Projects & Properties

Currently, the society, renamed to the Southern Interior Land Trust (SILT) Society, owns a number of properties in the region, some purchased outright, while others were bought in collaboration with others.

Such partnerships have strengthened each group’s individual ability to achieve common goals to benefit wildlife.

Other Collaborative efforts have involved:

  • purchase of an easement to supply power to an aerator for Martins Lake near Princeton.
  • Mission Creek Greenway donation in 1997 that resulted in a regional linear park and pathway along the creek
  • participation in the first phase of a deer fencing project.
  • mitigation funds for some waterfront development, were held by the SILT for the Penticton Flyfishers’ Club toward a project to clean and replace kokanee spawning gravel in Penticton Creek, along with upgrading the fish ladder.
  • providing funds towards the creation of the John B. Holdstock Memorial Scholarship Award.
  • administration of grant funding for the Okanagan Nation Alliance Shuttleworth Fish Basin & Creek Intake and Penticton Channel Spawning Bed #3 projects.
  • administration of funds for the MOF Ecosystem Restoration Projects.

The society currently owns:

  • 15.5 acres in Cawston called Ginty’s Pond, which was purchased in 1990. The property is co-managed with the Ministry of Environment.
  • 50 acres of wetland and ponds purchased in 1991 in Grand Forks. The property is called Edward’s Pond.
  • 1.5-acre property overlooking Wards Lake in Grand Forks that was donated to the society in 1991.
  • 50 acres of Similkameen River frontage and access to steep upland Crown lands which are habitat for Bighorn sheep, goats, deer and many other animals and plants. It’s located on both sides of the highway, west of Keremeos and was purchased in 1998. Cold Creek runs through the property.
  • 4.9 hectares (12 acres) of seasonally-flooded mature water birch forest, on the banks of Keremeos Creek near Olalla, between Penticton and Keremeos. The property is called The R.E.Taylor Conservation Property.
  • 109 hectares (270 acres) of open, rolling hills of bunchgrass interspersed with patches of trembling aspen-rose thickets located just east of Grand Forks. The property is called DL492 Grasslands.
  • 35 hectares (86 acres) of open, rolling hills of bunchgrass located just east of Grand Forks. The property is called Lot A – DL493 Grasslands.
  • 16.6 hectares (41 acres) of steep, south-facing grasslands with rock outcrops and a year-round groundwater spring. The property is called Bourguiba Spring, Lot 16, Osoyoos.

Restoration of damage to wildlife habitat is another goal of the society, and it has already been involved in projects such as the Okanagan River Restoration Initiative, setting back the dykes along this river so its natural flows can be restored, re-creating acres of wildlife and fish habitat in the South Okanagan.

The society has also helped fund such efforts as kokanee enhancement work being done by a number of local fish and game clubs and the provincial environment ministry; deer fencing in the Grand Forks area; the South Okanagan sheep project; Vaseux Creek fishway; Trout Creek restoration; invasive weed eradication; wildlife inventories; environmental education; several lake aeration projects and a bat roost.

YOU CAN HELP

The Southern Interior Land Trust is a registered not-for-profit charitable organization and tax receipts can be issued for donations of cash or property or bequests from estates, so consider making a tax-deductible donation of money or land or including the society in your will, in order to further our common objectives of conserving habitat for wildlife. Learn more about how you can make a difference.

SILT has no paid staff, so all donations go directly to fulfilling the society’s mandate of purchasing and restoring habitat for fish and wildlife. It is operated by a volunteer board of directors.

Our team members

Al Peatt, RPBio, FAPB

Executive Director – 250-328-4699

Al Peatt, RPBio, FAPB

Executive Director – 250-328-4699

Judie Steeves

President

Judie Steeves

President

Lindsay Lalach

Vice President

Lindsay Lalach

Vice President

Gordon Wilson

Secretary / Treasurer

Gordon Wilson

Secretary / Treasurer

Sara Ashpole

Director

Sara Ashpole

Director

Bruce Hibbard

Director

Bruce Hibbard

Director

Kerry Rouck, RPF, M.Sc.

Director

Kerry Rouck, RPF, M.Sc.

Director

Melodie Lind

Director

Melodie Lind

Director

Ron Taylor

President Emeritus

Ron Taylor

President Emeritus

Al Peatt, RPBio, FAPB

Executive Director – 250-328-4699

    apeatt@siltrust.ca

    Al Peatt, RPBio, FAPB, has over 35 years’ experience in managing wildlife and habitat. In 1988, he was a founding director of the Okanagan Region Wildlife Heritage Fund Society, now known as the Southern Interior Land Trust.

    Al was the senior provincial wildlife/habitat biologist in the Okanagan from 1984 to 2000. He has been a manager of audits and investigations for the BC Forest Practices Board and, from 2013 to 2017, led the Okanagan Nation’s wildlife program.

    He is now executive director of the Southern Interior Land Trust and a consulting biologist. “Securing habitat for wildlife and people has been the most important and lasting aspect of my career—it’s very rewarding to see wildlife and people using and enjoying the natural places that SILT has worked so hard to acquire.”

Judie Steeves

President

    jsteeves@siltrust.ca

    Judie Steeves has been writing about the outdoors for nearly five decades, particularly in the Okanagan Valley and B.C.’s interior. She is the author of Okanagan Trips and Trails, with Murphy Shewchuk of Merritt. She wrote an outdoors column called Trailmix for the Kelowna Capital News for 20 years or so and continues to write about outdoors issues for B.C. Outdoors magazine and other publications.

    She grew up in the Penticton area rambling the hills and fishing with her Dad, before moving to the coast and later the Cariboo. She returned to the Central Okanagan in 1981 with her young family, and has been fishing, camping and hiking in the area much of her life. Her volunteer work has mostly involved outdoor-focussed projects as well, with three land trusts, the Peachland Sportsman’s Association, the Central Okanagan Naturalists’ Club and the Okanagan Xeriscape Association. She joined the board of SILT in 2009.

Lindsay Lalach

Vice President

    llalach@siltrust.ca
    Lindsay started her career in biology after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Geography from the University of Victoria. Born and raised in the Okanagan, Lindsay developed a deep appreciation for the unique ecosystems and biodiversity of the Southern Interior. Her interests and work experience relate to aquatic and riparian surveying, restoration, and species at risk work. Lindsay strives to build a career that supports the wildlife and ecosystems that she grew up appreciating and she is excited to support SILT in continuing to acquire and protect important habitats. Lindsay enjoys camping, cycling, birding and hiking in her spare time.

Gordon Wilson

Secretary / Treasurer

    gwilson@siltrust.ca

    Gord and his wife Shelley moved to the Okanagan in 1980 where they owned and operated a successful construction business for more than 37 years.

    Gord’s keen interest in the outdoors and the natural world led to his involvement as a director and treasurer with the Peachland Sportsmen’s Association for more than 30 years. Gord joined the Board of the Southern Interior Land Trust in 2011 and is currently the organization’s secretary / treasurer.

    He is now retired from the construction business and lives in the Vernon area.

Sara Ashpole

Director

    sashpole@siltrust.ca

    Sara Ashpole is a Restoration Ecologist at St. Lawrence University (NY) where she is Chair of the Environmental Studies Department. Sara informs international and national policy by providing scientific expertise as the Canadian co-chair for the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group (since 2015) and served as a member of the independent advisory panel for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada Amphibian and Reptile Subcommittee (2013-2021). Sara has had positions on numerous boards of directors, and is currently a coordinating editor for the journal Restoration Ecology.

    Sara has a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the University of Guelph. Her research interests working for Environment Canada examining the impact of industrial persistent environmental contaminants and embryonic deformities in turtles was the basis of her Master’s of Science in Zoology & Toxicology, University of Guelph. Realizing the complexity of challenges to species survival in a highly modified landscape, Sara pursued a Ph.D. in Conservation Planning at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.

    Since 1999, Sara's research has been collaborative with non-governmental organizations, as well as governmental organizations from the regional to federal level. Her environmental research has also included working closely with Indigenous peoples and private landowners in the Great Lakes region and the Okanagan River Valley, British Columbia. Research Projects include long term amphibian population monitoring, wetland construction and rehabilitation, road ecology, alien vertebrate species eradication, agricultural eco-toxicology, landowner stewardship, community outreach, education, and citizen science.

Bruce Hibbard

Director

    bhibbard@siltrust.ca
    Bruce is the Director of Sales at Hester Creek Estate Winery in Oliver. He has an extensive background in community service, including volunteer work at Peach City Radio’s, Raise the Radio fundraiser and membership in the Oliver Rotary. Bruce also served on the board of the Okanagan Wine Festival Society for eight years, where he was the president from 2014 to 2016.
    He is a lifetime member of the Penticton Junior Chamber International and has worked for various non-profit golf clubs. Bruce resides in the Okanagan with his wife Margie, and their two children, Connor and Grace. In 2023, he joined the SILT board.

Kerry Rouck, RPF, M.Sc.

Director

    krouck@siltrust.ca
    After serving as the Chief Forester with the Gorman Group in West Kelowna, Kerry has recently retired. Throughout his 30-year career, he has been involved in land management and conservation initiatives spanning from the deserts of Osoyoos to the Rocky Mountains near Revelstoke. He has held various committee and director roles with the Okanagan Basin Water Board, the Charles Bloom High School Forestry Program, the CORD Environmental Advisory Committee, and has also served as a Councillor with the BC Forest Professionals.
    At the core, Kerry’s land ethic is grounded in his family roots of farming and small scale forestry operations.  This, combined with his open-minded and balanced approach to land management is key in bringing people together to build understanding and generate mutually beneficial, interest-based outcomes.
    Retirement for Kerry is his opportunity to re-focus his energy into forest management of non-forested / semi-forested ecosystems.  Especially exciting is the opportunity to work with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers to rehabilitate and restore degraded ecosystems.
    Kerry and his wife Lisa live, work, and play in West Kelowna - on the unceded territory of the Syilx people of the Okanagan.  When they’re not working, you’ll find them on the family woodlot near Lumby, on Gambier Island, travelling to the sunbelt, hiking or snow-shoeing in the mountains, paddleboarding on a lake or river, or simply enjoying all the Okanagan has to offer.

Melodie Lind

Director

    mlind@siltrust.ca

    Melodie Lind is a lawyer with Pushor Mitchell LLP, practicing in the area of tax law, with a focus on estate and trust planning, family-owned business succession planning, planning for persons with disabilities and tax-driven corporate reorganizations.

    She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Criminology at Simon Fraser University before obtaining her Bachelor of Laws (with distinction) from the University of Alberta. She has the internationally recognized Trust and Estate Practitioner designation through the Society of Estate and Trust Practitioners and has also completed advanced tax training through both the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Canadian Bar Association. She has been published in a leading Canadian legal periodical, the Real Property Reports, and is co-author of a chapter in a book on the protection of First Nations cultural heritage.

    Melodie was raised in West Kelowna and spent much of her youth hiking and riding horses in the forest above Glenrosa. Once she completed law school in Edmonton, she happily returned home to the Okanagan where she has continued to enjoy the Okanagan outdoors with her family.

Ron Taylor

President Emeritus

    Ron Taylor is a founding member of the Southern Interior Land Trust (formerly the Okanagan Region Wildlife Heritage Fund). He has enjoyed hunting, fishing, hiking and enjoying the outdoors. Ron’s dedication and commitment to wildlife conservation in B.C. has spanned more than half a century. Ron helped to create SILT over 30 years ago, served as its president for many years, and has been on the board of directors since the society was formed in 1988.

     

HELP US BY DONATION

Consider the following ways you can contribute to the Southern Interior Land Trust Society. Your contribution will help make a difference towards conserving land and habitat for fish and wildlife in the Southern Interior. Let’s work together to conserve and protect habitat for present and future generations.

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