The Elk Valley Cumulative Effects Management Framework (CEMF) working group has been busy this past year, and you can see what has been accomplished in their fall newsletter by following the link below:  

Wetlands have disappeared at an alarming rate in the Elk Valley.  They have been filled in for development, drained for urban expansion, and paved over for roads and railways.  Last week Elk Valley citizens got their feet wet and hands muddy to enhance a small wetland in Sparwood. 

 Hard working volunteers in the heat helping wetlands in Sparwood.

While Teck is working hard to address the selenium issue in our watershed, there have been challenges that prove it is a difficult situation to solve. We should all monitor the progress on reducing the selenium levels in the Elk River Watershed, in our own backyards and our downstream neighbours. Check out these articles for some interesting updates and perspectives on water quality in our watershed:

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/07/07/save-downstream-waters/

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/…/05/b-c-putting-waters-risk/

http://flatheadbeacon.com/…/teck-committed-health-lake-koo…/

http://flatheadbeacon.com/…/failure-water-treatment-plant-…/

Back in April, ERA joined forces with the College of the Rockies' Mountain Adventure Skills Training Program (MAST) students to continue in our efforts to steward Silver Springs. ERA has been and is continuing to care for Silver Springs, from the development of a proper parking lot to the ongoing work involved in building a backcountry toilet. The MAST students joined these effort on April 18, 2017 to help build a trail and install information and interpretive signs leading up to Silver Springs. You can read the full article here! 

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Elk River Alliance's 2016 Annual General Meeting! To anyone that wasn't able to make it, you can check out the report here! Thanks again for making 2016 such an amazing year for the Elk River and our community.