Please note: The following two articles are copied verbatim:

Surprises of amazement from some attending the WKNA Regional meeting from the Boundary and Rocky Mountain Naturalists about Kokanee Creek Nature House (Nelson) established by the early WKNA with some government assistance was delightful as were the awesome provincial Hummingbird Resource people and Julia Craig,our intended May speaker, with powerpoint Invasive Plant Species.Environmental challenges were established.

The surprise at June Picnic 2004 from Colville, Washington were Showy Milkweed specimens evoking visions of Monarch Butterflies leading to picnic 2005 with news from Robin Fitzgerald, Canadian Lepidopterist, that henceforth July 1 would be Butterfly Count Day, joining the North American Butterfly Association's decades of Counts July 4, allowing us July 1-5. A further surprise was nearby Jon Shepard: Butterflies of BC and Adjacent Areas (UBC Press), Chris Guppy (Quesnel)/Jon Shepard (Nelson). Norbert Kondla, spending early July butterfly-Yukon counting, lives in nearby Genelle; both rely for butterflies on the Pend Oreille River Valley!

Dr. Joan Snyder reports miraculous surprise donations to Friends of West Kootenay Parks to meet the costs of Park Interpreters at Kokanee Creek Park 2005!

Brenda Balaam

Butterflies of Northwest by Robert Pyle
Butterflies of Canada: Layberry
WWW Google Butterflies

Overlooked in their Nelson Naturalist years, (1975-1998) Heather and John were rescued by Rita Wege, former Nelson Naturalists members citing "very worthy", the umbrella West Kootenay Naturalists, and Kootenay Regional Naturalists.

• Nelson FBCN Director Heather masterminded the Creston FGM for the Nelson/West Kootenay Naturalists and The Federation of BC Naturalists, sorely missing legendary John Carter, a Kokanee Glacier Avalanche victim for whom the Nelson Naturalists named a star and a mountain! Also a physiotherapist as is John (Nelson City Councilor), she daily commuted to Trail, giving up daily lunchtimes to work with me (WKNA) for the Creston FBCN Fall General Meeting.
• Very active/proactive members especially for the Creston Valley Management Area: John, in a CBC Peter Gzowski interview, made special Federal/Provincial funding appeals which finally produced $300,000 in yearly perpetuity from BC Hydro; Heather, at provincial FBCN meetings, made several impressive CVMA rescue efforts. Though a Ramsar Site, Federal/Provincial Governments had withdrawn their CVMA funding!
• Birdsongs of the Kootenays, 1995 Birdsongs of the Creston Valley, 1996 Okanagan, 1997 Canadian Rockies; since then West Coast, Great Lakes, Beginners Guide with Northern BC's Mel Coulsen, and the Boreal Forest.
• Training: John's lifelong interest in birds began in the English Midlands when as a youth he lost his eyesight. 1993 Field Recording Workshop, Sierra, Nevada Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell University of Ornithology. Since that time,John has been a regular supplier to the Library of Natural Sounds of Nature. 1995 Bird Biology Course, Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University. 1999 member of Wildlife Recording Society. Both are members of the BC Naturalists, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Bird Studies Canada, and the Victoria Natural History Society.
• Publications: 1995 BC Naturalist: Creston Valley, a Hotspot for Birding; 1996 Cordillera (Vol 3,#1) Creston Valley, A Swallow's Paradise; 1997 Discovery (Vol. 26,#2) Cliff Dwelling Birds of the Okanagan; June 2001 ABA Birding Review: Birdsongs of the West Coast; Birdsongs of the Great Lakes; How to Record Birdsong Seasons (Winter 2002); Nature Review and Birding Review.
• Presentations: 1995 CBC Radio - Peter Gzowsky: Birds of the Creston Valley; 1997 Vicki Gabereau: Ospreys of Kootenay Lake; 1997-98 Invermere Wings Over the Rockies Bird Festival; 1996 Golden BC Bears and Birds Festival; 1999 Stokes Field Guide to Western Birdsongs; 1999-2000 Penticton Meadowlark Festival; CBC North by Northwest; 2004-5-6 CBC Soundtrack for The Nature of Things; 2004 (November) Langley Field Naturalists; 1996 Grand Forks WKNA Regional at Kettle River oxbow: Far ahead of everyone, John recognized the early-morning birdsongs!

Before Saltspring Island, the Nevilles were rewarding, productive members of the Nelson Naturalists, inspiring the Kootenays and Mildred White to be supporters of the CVMA; worthy successors of John Carter! Thanks, Rita Wege (Nelson).

Brenda Balaam, Kootenay Region Coordinator
On behalf of the former Nelson Naturalists, today's West Kootenay Naturalists, and Kootenay Regional Naturalists