Waneta Sunshine Rotary

Be who you are and say what you feel; because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
Bernard Baruch

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.
Bertrand Russell

link to the Golden Rotary community bingo

The meeting was held on zoom with 6 members and 2 guests (Joan Cooke and Karen Iwachow) present.

Music, Rasputin

• Business:
• Rotary community online bingo sold out on Wednesday for play today. You need to buy tickets early in the week
• Maddy attended the Eclub rotary meeting hosted by the Eclub of Chenai in India. there were over 450 Rotarians present representing more than 60 eclubs. RI president, Holger Knack, gave a speech about the internationality of Rotary.
• We already received the cheque for $300 US for our tree planting project
• Program
• Viktor introduced Karen Iwachow from The Land Conservancy BC (TLC). This is a provincially based, non-profit land trust founded in 1997. they own 9 properties and manage many more.
• Their mandate is conservation, education and outreach and acquisition. A conservation covenant is a way for a family to have their land protected and managed by TLC without any purchase.
• Fort Shepherd conservation area is on Sinixt first nations territory. It is on the Dewdney Trail. A Hudson’s bay fort was built in 1852 and burned down in 1872. Teck metals acquired the land and donated it to TLC in 2008. This was spearheaded by the Trail Wildlife association who help manage it.
• Fort Shepherd is significant because it is ecologically unique and has a rich cultural history. It is impacted by pollution and use especially by ATVs. It is home to 29 endangered species.
• TLC intends to keep improving it with a number of projects
  • bringing in engineered wildlife trees with fungus that helps promote their breakdown. so far they have inoculated 40 trees.
  • birdhouses for wood ducks and Lewis’s woodpeckers
  • planting native species. Collecting seeds from bear pooh is one way to get the diversity of seeds. Pollinator plants such as milkweed are important for this area.
  • Monitoring wildlife health is critical. Moose, bobcat, white tailed deer and elk are present together with a rare albino racoon. They are trying to get mule deer.
• Volunteers and partners are critical to the property.
• Plans for 2021 include a study of critical winter habitat for ungulates, planting of native species, and removal of invasive species.
• Visiting is allowed may 1 to Oct 31 with no motorized vehicles allowed. Membership is encouraged.
• Our project would fit in with planting native species. they want indigenous trees perhaps cottonwood or crab apple.
• More club business
• Christmas meetings; Dec 25th and January 1st both cancelled. December 18th we will have a discussion on books instead of our usual Christmas book exchange.
• donation to salvation army – we would like to find a family to donate to. Pat mentioned one and so did Maddy. We will look into details of what they need.
• Pat asked about Rotary membership cards. We have not typically given them out but Maddy will look into downloading some.
• Happy and sad bucks (not) collected. Meeting adjourned at 8.15am