Former Nelson-Creston MLA Corky Evans will be the keynote speaker Sunday as Salmo marks Earth Day with an environmental forum.
Entitled The Place Where We Live, the conference’s theme is “community-based sustainability” and is being put on by Salmo’s Green Dream Committee.
Cathy Paton, one of the organizers, says the idea came out of a meeting hosted last October by the Columbia Basin Trust, where the environment was identified as one of three key areas for community consideration.
“We decided that we wanted a next step to be the greening of Salmo, and a focus on environmentally friendly economic development options for our area,” Paton says. “We hope the forum will excite other residents, and inspire them to get involved in green endeavours that are meaningful to them and the community.”
The conference comes on the heels of Salmo winning FortisBC’s Earth Hour challenge — in which residents pledged to shut off non-essential lights and appliances or an hour as a symbol of energy conservation.
Other speakers include Darwin Horning of the Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute at Selkirk College, who will talk about “Community capacity building through information sharing”; Curt Kerns, president of Wetlands Pacific Corporation, who will discuss “The value and function of natural and constructed wetlands”; and Gerry Nellestijn, coordinator of the Salmo Streamkeepers, whose presentation is on “The Ecology of Work.”
The morning presentations will be followed by an afternoon breakout session facilitated by Mike Stolte, of Nelson’s Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership.
The forum also includes the Salmo Valley youth advisory council’s environmental art exhibit, Paint Your Town Green.
The conference runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Salmo Secondary.
To register, click here or visit the Salmo Public Library. The first 100 registrants receive a free lunch.
The Salmo Green Dream describe themselves as a “group of individuals passionate about creating a greener, healthier community for all,” who aim to make Salmo “the greenest community in the Kootenays, while boosting the local economy with green job opportunities.”