Editorials

Creston BC Rivers Day Paddle

Well part the willow and wild rose bushes to slip our boats into the silt laden water of the east fork of the Kootenay River. Paddles will thump the gun whales of the canoes and decks of the kayaks as crews get their sea legs back again during the launch. Heading south for twenty minutes, we will buck the slow moving current till we turn west and go with the current down the west fork.

Carla Ahern, from the Creston Valley Management Area staff will treat us to a glimpse of one of the remote Leach Lake units and then well portage the boats up over a dike and paddle through Six Mile Slough #5. Here well see evidence of marsh cultivation the technique for keeping the marshes open for waterfowl. September is migration time so well check the skies for flocks of Canada geese and other waterfowl heading south. Among the cinammon and blue-winged teal, wood ducks, scaups, coots and mallards we could see trumpeter swans, white pelicans, double-crested cormorants or the newly released short-eared owls.

Last year Crestons BC Rivers Day Paddle attracted over thirty canoes and kayaks the largest turnout of paddlers in any non-competitive event in the Kootenays.

So if you want to spend three hours on a pleasant flatwater trip among the waterfowl and wildlife of one of BCs only world class wetlands, join us on Sunday, September 19, 10 am at the Creston Valley Wildlife Areas Interpretation Centre parking lot. For more information, contact Carla Ahern at 250-402-6905.