~ The wild moves. Let yourself be moved by the sway of the trees, the migrations of animals and birds, the flow of the river. ~

Square Dance for the Wild is only 2 weeks away! Kick up your heels to kick off your Canada Day long weekend with a sashay, swing and a do-si-do. Our summer fundraiser is THE place to be on Friday evening June 28th, with food from Smokehouse 93, a cash bar, door prizes, 50/50 prize draw and LIVELY music from the Hip To Be Square Collective. 

“Square dancing was as much fun as fresh powder” - an enthusiastic 20-something guy after a past square dance event in Canmore. What more endorsement does it need?!

All dances are taught on the spot and all ages are welcome. If you can walk and count to 8 then you can square dance. Bring friends, bring a partner, or come on your own and you’ll make friends quickly! Legendary dance caller Lesley Gotfrit will guide us through the night with dances like ‘The Gnat Mixer’, ‘The Loon Dance’, ‘Chase that Rabbit Square’ and ‘Duck for the Oyster’, so we’re in for a wild evening.

Why dance for the wild? The wildlife that surrounds us in the Columbia Valley is in a constant dance, weaving in and out between predators and prey, sunshine and rain, mates and rivals, food and threat. Wildsight Invermere strives to protect wild places so that this intricate, amazing dance can continue and flourish forever. Let’s celebrate this dance of life and raise funds together to help preserve it.

Tickets for Wildsight Members only $25. General admission $30 or $25 for Under-30s. Columbia Valley Centre, Invermere. Doors open 6pm, dancing from 7.30–10pm.

EXTRA! We are looking for some volunteers to help out with the Square Dance. We need some ticket sellers, set up/clean up help, 50/50 ticket sellers. If you are able to help out please email Karen at invermere@wildsight.ca. Please put Square Dance Volunteer in the subject line. And don’t worry, if you volunteer you will still have time to kick up your heels!

We’re joining forces again with the East Kootenay Invasive Species Council (EKISC) for a weed pull in the bighorn sheep habitat around Canal Flats on Saturday, June 22nd. This is part of our Bighorn Sheep Conservation project, helping to preserve and enhance the ecology of the sheep’s habitat and winter foraging grounds.

Everyone is welcome, especially local residents and recreationalists who would like to learn how to identify and remove invasive plant species from the bighorn sheep habitat in your neighbourhood. Training will include identification and control methods, as well as understanding the impact of invasives and recreation on the sheep and other wildlife. We will spend around 2 hours out on the trails pulling up and bagging the weeds. Gloves and bags will be provided, or bring your own, and enjoy a complimentary barbeque afterwards from 12.30pm. Meet at the Canal Flats Village Office carpark on Grainger Road at 10am.

Registration for this year’s Columbia Basin-based 4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning Course is now open, and early bird registration closes on June 30th. This self-paced virtual course from CBEEN commences in October, and runs through to May. Wildsight Invermere members can receive a 10% discount; email us at invermere@wildsight.ca for the discount code. 

The course serves to support participants in deepening their understanding of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives while strengthening connections with the local land and supporting more respectful, reciprocal relationships. It comes highly recommended by past participants.

On May 14th a group of DTSS students presented to the District of Invermere their case for better public transit in the Columbia Valley. This was the culmination of several months of the students’ work mentored by Wildsight Invermere, including a survey of nearly 160 residents, talking with local politicians, and creating a short film to share residents’ views. Well done and thank you to everyone involved for highlighting this issue to Council, to improve our community's infrastructure for climate change.

This project was just one of the ways we’ve been ‘rethinking resilience’ in the past year. Funded through a ReDi Grant from the Columbia Basin Trust, we’ve also held a home retrofit fair, partnered with the Columbia Valley Cycling Society and STMS to expand their gear swap, learned about organic and sustainable food growing with Groundswell, Old Blue Truck Farm and Edible Acres, and shown students how to reduce waste by making their own products at home. And last weekend, families enjoyed a fantastic walk at Lake Enid to discover how to forage for wild plants safely and sustainably, with Kalista from Avalily Permaculture. 

What does community resilience mean to you? What do you think is needed to create a truly sustainable, thriving Columbia Valley? Do you have knowledge or skills for sustainability that you’d like to partner with us to share? Let us know!

Do you own or work for a local business and wonder what more you could be doing to make your business environmentally sustainable? We all know that nobody’s perfect, and navigating sustainability as a business can be complicated. But try taking some time to really consider what impacts your particular business activity has on the environment. This can spark ideas that not only reduce your ecological footprint but could also save you time or money or make you more appealing to customers. Businesses often have far greater environmental impact than individuals, so switching that impact from negative to positive makes a big difference.

Be inspired in our monthly newsletters by these actions from other locals, and take your next step.

Featured: Rosie Leigh Events

Celebratory events notoriously generate a lot of waste — from decorations to discarded goodie bags, from disposable foodware to uneaten food and empty bottles and cans. Rosie decided to tackle this head on by including an Environmental Impact Assessment in her planning sessions with clients. She’s helping to educate her clients, which will influence their decision-making right from the start, so that their special event can have sustainability embedded into it. Nice one Rosie!

Want to share what your business is doing to be environmentally sustainable? Email invermere@wildsight.ca and tell us about it.