Thought for the day:

Home is more than four walls of a house. Home is the connection to a place that comes from knowing its comings and goings, its smells and temperaments, its creatures great and small. Community is home. Wilderness is home. 

Tickets are selling like hotcakes. Make sure you get yours early so you don’t miss out on the Wild & Scenic Film Festival this Saturday, November 16th. We’re excited to share the specially selected lineup of short films with you all. They will transport you to places all over the world and you’ll meet some lively, passionate characters along the way. But this festival is so much more than great films! The festival hall will also be filled with people who share that same passion, that same care, and that drive to make the world better. Come and reconnect with old friends and make new connections over pizza (gluten-free and vegan available), popcorn, and a drink… or a friendly bidding rivalry! 

The festival’s silent auction showcases the generosity of our community’s businesses, artists, wellbeing practitioners and more, and you can bid for your favourite items from 5pm - 8:15pm in the Columbia Valley Centre hall on Nov 16th. 

Buying a ticket (or few) for the online 50/50 Raffle for the Wild is another way to support our fundraiser, and add a bit of excitement into your evening (responsibly, please) with half the jackpot up for grabs! As of writing, the jackpot is at $1,380 and our goal is to reach $5,000. The raffle winner will be drawn and announced at the festival, but you don’t need to be in the audience to win.

And for those who can’t make it to Invermere this Saturday, you can still enjoy these fantastic films with Online Film Access from Nov 16–20th, and contribute to our fundraiser. 

Everything we do for this event is to bring the community together and raise the funds to make Wildsight Invermere’s work in the coming year possible — from climate action and advocacy, to promoting responsibility in wilderness recreation, to creating experiences that foster a lifelong love for nature, and much more. 

Click below for festival tickets, film program, raffle tickets, and a sneak peek at the auction items.

Over the past 2 years, a small group of very dedicated Wildsight volunteers (thank you!) have been monitoring the bighorn sheep on the east side of Columbia Lake to understand their range, numbers, health and challenges. On Wednesday, November 20th, we’re hosting the Bighorn Bash at the Canal Flats Civic Centre, a FREE event for all local residents and anyone interested to learn more about these special animals. 

Come and join us from 6-9pm for delicious appetizers catered by From Scratch, kid-friendly activities all about bighorns, and the chance to talk with and learn from wildlife biologists, habitat ecologists, sheep hunters, Ktunaxa ʔa·knusti (guardians), and even domestic sheep farmers (what do they have to do with wild sheep, you ask? A lot actually! Come along and find out).

At 7pm we’ll have a discussion panel with several visiting experts answering any questions you want to raise, and at 7:30pm will screen the documentary film Transmission, about the threat of M.ovi disease to bighorn sheep. 

As a nice little incentive to join us on a fall evening, one gorgeous canvas print by talented local artist Leslie Cartwright will be given away as a door prize!

Registration is optional but helps us to plan. We look forward to seeing you there.

The Regional District of East Kootenay has been working on crafting its first formal climate action plan for its six electoral areas. The plan lays out a series of objectives and actions that can be taken to reduce emissions and increase resilience both in the region and in their corporate operations.

The draft climate action plan has just been completed and is now available for public comment prior to being taken to the RDEK Board for review at its December Board Meeting. The comment period deadline is Noon on Monday, December 2, 2024.

Here are the key links:

• DRAFT Climate Action Plan
• Link to Online Comment Form

We encourage you to read and submit feedback on the plan through the online comment form. If you have questions, you can contact Krista Gilbert at kgilbert@rdek.bc.ca or 250-489-0314.

If you were able to attend the Home Retrofit Fair last weekend in Invermere, you had a chance to hear some excellent presentations on everything from the renewable energy landscape to the ‘house-as-a-system’ approach to retrofits. If you want to keep learning or if you missed out, you can still join the Community Energy Association’s last two webinars in their ‘Retrofit Journey’ series. 

• Understanding and Managing Your Home's Electrical Load (Nov 13, 7:00pm MT)
• Heat Pumps: Everything you need to know for your home (Dec 4, 7:00pm MT)

Learn about steps you can take to make your home more comfortable, healthy, and energy efficient.