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History
Not
until the late 1980's did the community of Salmon Arm begin to realize
the importance of the natural values of its waterfront. Most of the bay
is a shallow estuary of the Salmon River. In this area the water
tolerant grasses feed invertebrates which nourish large numbers of
first year salmon. The slower fish are an important food supply for the
threatened Western Grebe and the Clark's Grebe. The mudflats are an
important staging place in spring and particularly in the fall for
thousands of shorebirds. Some reports have shown that first the males
then the females and finally the young by instinct alone find this rich
feeding place where they fatten up before their next long flight south.
In
1988 a committee was formed to promote the purchase of about forty
hectares of wetland by Nature Trust BC. This committee became the
Nature Bay Society headed by six appointed and six elected board
members. Their first task was to ensure that four kilometres of
shoreline was preserved forever. Since then the area has been enlarged
by the creation of a four hectare island which was built when the
marina was dredged. The society arranged for the island to be planted
and sculpted, creating mounds and lagoons.
In the second phase, boardwalks were
built, trails pushed through and a bird tower erected overlooking the
new island where a gull colony and an osprey nest are located.
Elsewhere, with the help of Ducks Unlimited, two lagoons were created.
Another major task was to create and place exclusion buoys 500 metres
from high water, which warn boaters of the sensitive breeding area. Two
bird blinds were built in good locations overlooking the richer birding
spots.
Ducks Unlimited and Nature Bay Society have also
worked with the First Nations Adam's River Band to restore habitat on
their land.
In the third phase, a Nature House was set up near
the band shell gazebo in Marine Park. By 2004, with regular additions
to its assets, the centre has become a real attraction worthy of
repeated visits. The staff can show you a video of dancing grebes, a
DVD of birds of the bay, a collection of stuffed and carved birds, a
book collection and a computer program with which visitors may check
out birds and their songs.
In addition, the foot and cycle trail was extended
to the Raven subdivision, four kilometres from the Nature House.
Leashed dogs are permitted only for the first kilometre, which is as
far as the sanctuary gate.
By counting birds each week from 1999 to 2003, the
Shuswap Naturalist Club was able to confirm a total of 230 bird species
observed around the Salmon Arm Bay, an impressive total when compared
with the 480 species reported for the whole of British Columbia.
Newsletters
1990: Spring
1991: Winter
2001: Spring
2002: Autumn
2003: Autumn
2006: Autumn
2008: Spring
2013: Spring * Fall
2014: Spring * Fall2020: Fall
2023: AGM & Summer Student Position * Fall
2007: April 11th - May 9th - June 13th - Sept 5th - Oct 14th - Nov16th AGM
2008: Jan 7th Feb20th March 19th April 28th May 14th July 9th Sept 17th Oct 29th
2009: Feb 18th March18th April 15th May 20th May 29th AGM June 17th July 15 Oct 21
