Columbia Headwaters Legacy

The beginning of a truly great river...

The Columbia River starts its rugged journey calmly, in the slow-flowing waters of Columbia Lake, Lake Windermere, and the Columbia Wetlands. With the B.C. Rockies on the east side, and the Purcell Mountains on the west, these headwaters are spectacular to visit.

By the time the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon, it has flowed 2,000-kilometres through B.C., Oregon, and Washington state. It has given freshwater to millions of people. It has provided habitat to millions more birds, fish and wild animals.

And it all starts here, in the southeastern corner of British Columbia.

Wildsight’s Columbia Headwaters Legacy is delivered through several Wildsight programs: the Lake Windermere Project, Education in the Wild; the Columbia Wetlands Invasive Plant Species Program; and Pesticide Reduction. It also includes water stewardship initiatives in the Columbia Wetlands and the upper Columbia Valley.

Wildsight stewardship programs in the Columbia Headwaters

Lake Windermere Project
• Community water stewardship — Lake Windermere and Columbia Lake (includes measuring water quality and quantity)
• Tributary Streamkeepers — Lake Windermere, Columbia Lake, Kicking Horse River (Upper Columbia Valley)
• Shoreline mapping and development guidelines — Lake Windermere
• Lake Windermere Ambassadors
• International Living Lakes Network
• LakeKeepers

Invasive Plant Species
• Finding and removing invasive plant infestations from the Columbia Wetlands — the area’s most sensitive ecosystem. Educating the public about invasive plants.

Pesticide Reduction
• Working with partner groups, such as the Canadian Cancer Society, to create the Pesticide Free Columbia Basin Coalition, raise awareness of the dangers of cosmetic pesticide use, and lobby for local bylaws banning cosmetic pesticides.

Columbia Wetlands
• Various work on issues of concern in this sensitive ecosystem: motorized boating regulations, shoreline development, pollution and habitat values.

Education in the Wild
Wetland ecology field trips for Grades 4 to Grade 7. Thousands of students visit the Columbia Wetlands every year.

Why build this legacy?

Wildsight’s Columbia Headwaters Legacy is building a community-supported system of water stewardship in the Columbia Headwaters region. This is benefiting—and will continue to benefit—the upper Columbia River, the Columbia Wetlands and the Windermere and Columbia lake areas. It will benefit the ecosystems and the people who live in Columbia Headwaters communities and in the Columbia River watershed itself.