WHAT IS STEWARDSHIP?

Stewardship is the act of taking care of fish and wildlife habitat by people like you

WHAT WE DO

OSS works directly with local residents in order to support and assist them in caring for important natural areas. Over the past ten years, since our inception in October 2013, OSS has undertaken an array of initiatives including outreach and neighbourhood initiatives, one-on-one contact with land managers, community and government partnerships and collaborations, and has made significant contributions to wildlife habitat restoration and enhancement throughout the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys.

Provide information, assistance and advice about local species and spaces including tailored habitat assessments prepared by our local biologists.	Provide assistance and support to landowners as stewards in conservation, restoration and enhancement of wildlife habitats on their properties while maintaining other land use practices such as agriculture and eco-tourism. Develop best management practices and management plans for coexisting with wildlife on your property.
Develop and lead habitat enhancement projects, such as native plant enhancement, exclusion fencing along shorelines, and invasive plant management. We have planted almost 33,000 Indigenous trees and shrubs!	We are partnered with over 150 stewards of over 10,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat

Meet our Team

BLOG: NATURE NOTES

Happy International Raccoon Day!

Raccoons get a bad rap for eating garbage and digging through our gardens, but we like to call that being an opportunistic forager! These little omnivores will eat almost anything that is edible from bird eggs, to clams, to our food scraps. Raccoons are great swimmers and their habit of catching frogs, fish, and crayfish has led to the myth that the raccoons wash their food before eating. Raccoons are usually quite shy but once they have been fed, they can become brave around

A Decade at Riverside Marsh

Juvenile Great Horned owl at Riverside Marsh A lot has happened in 10 years A decade at Riverside Marsh In 2016, Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship began planting at Riverside Marsh in Penticton. At the time, creating dense, thriving habitat here took a little imagination. Riverside Marsh is an oxbow- a former curve of the Okanagan River that became separated from the main channel when the river was channelized in the 1950s. These wetland and riparian areas can provide incredib

It's Planting Season

Since Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship began in 2013, we have planted roughly 3,000 native trees and shrubs every year across the Okanagan and Similkameen. That means more than 40,000 native plants have gone into the ground through our habitat restoration work. What does 40,000 plants actually mean on the ground? Those plants become more than trees and shrubs. Over time, they become habitat. They provide food, shelter and nesting places for birds, insects and other wildlife.

Quills on a Porcupine

North American Porcupine quills have microscopic barbs that make them difficult to pull out, but penetrate skin easily! Porcupines are covered almost entirely in quills, which are a type of large, spikey modified hair. These quills act as an extremely effective defense against would-be predators. The tiny scale-like barbs on the tips of their quills are being studied as a model for new types of innovative medical equipment! The North American Porcupine has little relation to

An Unexpected Swimmer: Moose

Moose can dive up to 20 feet underwater?! Moose love aquatic vegetation, and foraging is the main reason for their diving behavior. Moose spend so much time underwater that they have developed specialized nostrils with internal valves that allow them to stay underwater for long periods of time while foraging. Moose can stay completely submerged for up to a minute, enough time to grab ample vegetation!

WHERE WE WORK
OSS works in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys, primarily on the traditional and unceded territory of the Syilx/Okanagan and Secwepemc people, throughout the Regional Districts of Okanagan Similkameen, Central Okanagan and North Okanagan. This region is an exceptional place, known for its spectacular landscapes, iconic wildlife, amazing outdoor recreation opportunities, world-class wines and diverse agricultural products. The region is also home to some of the greatest concentrations of species diversity and species at risk in Canada and is one of Canada's most endangered natural systems.

Map showing locations of over 125 wildlife habitat stewards