Lead organization: North Okanagan Watershed Stewards (NOWS)

About the event

We are planning an event at Marshal Fields, a popular, off leash, dog park, which boarders on Vernon Creek which flows into Okanagan Lake.

The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) has been releasing Sockeye Fry into the creek for the past four years and the hope is that adults will return to spawn after being blocked by dams on the Columbia System for over 100 years. Kokanee, which are genetically identical to sockeye also run up Vernon Creek to spawn in the fall of every year.

NOWS is working hard to raise awareness about the importance of Vernon Creek for fish and wild life AND humans in our watershed. Marshal Fields is property of the City of Vernon and the Manager of Parks and the City Climate Change specialist are on board with our event.

We are planning to have it on Monday, Sept. 28 rather than the official Rivers Day Sunday date, so we can involve local schools. We hope to have at least two classes of students paint wooden salmon silhouettes and hang them on a fence that helps protect part of the creek. We will also be creating temporary signage asking the public to keep dogs out of the creek at least during spawning season. Our plan is to provide a wooden fish silhouette to each student to creatively paint with acrylic paint and hang artistically on the fence. We want to include the arts community from Vernon to help the students. Keen teachers will also be teaching about the local watershed and water conservation issues we are facing. The general public will be invited as well as ONA and OKIB students and biologists.​