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  • Gillian Steele, 2021 recipient of the John B. Holdstock Scholarship

    Gillian Steele, 2021 recipient of the John B. Holdstock Scholarship

    July 19, 2021

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    gwilson_admin

    SILT is part of the coalition of non-profits involved in awarding the John Holdstock Scholarship annually, and this year’s recipient is Gillian Steele. Angling and a love for British Columbia’s fish species has always been a passion for Gillian. Since birth, Gillian learned to appreciate and respect the natural resources of British Columbia. “My…

    Read more: Gillian Steele, 2021 recipient of the John B. Holdstock Scholarship
  • Learn to protect your lake

    Learn to protect your lake

    June 11, 2021

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    gwilson_admin

    Trained crews from the Southern Interior Land Trust will be conducting shoreline assessments on Tuc-el-nuit Lake in June as part of the ongoing Love Your Lake program, aiming to help lakeside property owners learn how to protect water health and quality. Read the full story on Castanet

    Read more: Learn to protect your lake
  • SILT Supports Conservation of Sickle Point on Skaha Lake

    SILT Supports Conservation of Sickle Point on Skaha Lake

    March 25, 2021

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    gwilson_admin

    Sickle Point, south of Penticton on Skaha Lake, must be conserved for its value as wildlife habitat. It has the highest conservation ranking (Class 1) by the Southern Okanagan Similkameen Biodiversity Conservation Strategy (Keeping Nature in Our Future). Sickle Point’s water birch and wild rose communities support endangered wildlife such as the Yellow-breasted Chat,…

    Read more: SILT Supports Conservation of Sickle Point on Skaha Lake
  • Restoring Ginty’s Pond

    Restoring Ginty’s Pond

    December 13, 2020

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    gwilson_admin

    SILT’s Ginty’s Pond wetland at Cawston BC is receiving some great collaborative management attention! Thank you to the dedicated team working to maintain this amazing natural space as productive habitat for wildlife and people! For the complete story see the BCWF Blog COMMUNITY COLLABORATION FOR RESTORING GINTY’S POND

    Read more: Restoring Ginty’s Pond
  • SILT Builds Artificial Snake Den

    SILT Builds Artificial Snake Den

    December 12, 2020

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    gwilson_admin

    The aim of this project was to remove and clean up debris piles at the entrance of SILT’s Taylor property, the debris consisted of concrete scraps and abandoned water main fittings encased in concrete. As the existing material held some wildlife habitat quality, it provided an opportunity for a habitat enhancement project to support…

    Read more: SILT Builds Artificial Snake Den
  • Social Distance Planting

    Social Distance Planting

    November 29, 2020

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    gwilson_admin

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Following all provincial health orders, SILT volunteers worked on Saturday at the R.E. Taylor Conservation property to perform reclamation work on the land where safety improvements were made to the access onto the property and also where we recently constructed a winter den for snakes. Pictured from left to right in the photo above…

    Read more: Social Distance Planting
  • More Grassland Habitat Conserved

    More Grassland Habitat Conserved

    November 17, 2020

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    gwilson_admin

    Wildlife habitat protected by SILT purchase A further 35 hectares (86 acres) of grassland habitat two kilometres east of Grand Forks on Morrissey Creek Road has been purchased for wildlife conservation by the Southern Interior Land Trust (SILT). Purchase of these open, south-facing bunchgrass slopes with patches of deciduous shrub thickets provide habitat for…

    Read more: More Grassland Habitat Conserved
  • Badger Sighting – DL492 – 493

    Badger Sighting – DL492 – 493

    August 27, 2020

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    gwilson_admin

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Earlier this week, Brad Siemens (of Grand Forks Wildlife Association and WSSBC) encountered a badger (SARA Endangered) just inside of the SILT-owned DL 492, a few tens of meters from the eastern boundary of Lot A DL493 that SILT is currently fundraising to purchase. [/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3059″ img_size=”medium” title=”Badger on DL492″][vc_column_text]Badgers are carnivorous mammals…

    Read more: Badger Sighting – DL492 – 493
  • Volunteers Clean up DL492

    Volunteers Clean up DL492

    August 12, 2020

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    gwilson_admin

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Volunteers Clean Up Wildlife Habitat Near Grand Forks Armed with garbage bags, shovels, gloves and a backhoe, volunteers last weekend removed everything from appliances and bedsprings to glass and tiles from a grassland near Grand Forks which was purchased earlier this year by the Southern Interior Land Trust (SILT). The cleanup improves habitat…

    Read more: Volunteers Clean up DL492
  • Angler wins Holdstock Scholarship

    Angler wins Holdstock Scholarship

    August 4, 2020

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    S1ltrust@dm1n123

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As one of the sponsors of the John B. Holdstock Scholarship, the Southern Interior Land Trust is pleased to announce that Katie Zinn is the 2020 recipient, chosen from a field of six this summer by a group of judges representing a variety of organizations. Zinn is a fly fisher who has recently completed…

    Read more: Angler wins Holdstock Scholarship
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Southern Interior Land Trust Society

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.

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Copyright © 2026 | Southern Interior Land Trust Society

Gordon Wilson – Treasurer

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.

Lindsay Lalach, RPBio – Vice President

Lindsay began her career in biology after completing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Geography at the University of Victoria. She later earned a Master of Science in Biology from Simon Fraser University, where her research focused on seabird ecology. Growing up in the Okanagan, she developed a deep appreciation for the region’s unique ecosystems and biodiversity, which continues to guide her work today.

She has been involved with the Southern Interior Land Trust (SILT) since 2020. Her experience includes aquatic and riparian surveying, habitat restoration, species at risk work, and ecological research. She is excited to continue contributing to SILT’s efforts to acquire, steward, and protect important habitats across the region.

Judie Steeves – President

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-focused 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.

Al Peatt, RPBio, FAPB, – Executive Director

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.”

Sara Ashpole – Voting Member

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.

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.

Carlo Carbajal – Director

Carlo Carbajal is the Director of Innovation at Cascadia Credit Union in Summerland and brings a background in finance and accounting. His experience includes governance, financial oversight, and strategic planning. He also has a long history of community service, most notably with JCI Penticton, where he was awarded a Senatorship in recognition of his contributions.

Carlo was born and raised in the South Okanagan and has spent much of his life camping and fishing throughout the region. He and his wife are raising their two children in Penticton, maintaining a connection to the local outdoors and community.

Payton Maffioli – Director

Payton Maffioli is from Grand Forks, BC, and she graduated with Honours from Selkirk College in 2024 with a Technical Diploma in Recreation, Fish and Wildlife. Currently, she is studying Natural Resource Management at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and aspires to become an environmental lawyer. 

She uses her voice to promote wildlife and ecosystem conservation through photography, as well as educating the public and visiting schools to share her knowledge about wildlife safety and ecosystem restoration. One of her favourite places to visit is Edward’s Pond in Grand Forks. 

Melodie Lind – Director

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.

Bruce Hibbard – Director

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.