En’owkin Centre celebrating environmental project

It’s a celebration of cultural revitalization and habitat conservation as the Penticton Indian Band celebrates an environmental initiative on the reserve.

The En’owkin Centre is celebrating the permanent protection of lands on-reserve through the Locatee Lands Project Friday, Feb. 14, starting at noon, according to a media release.

The centre will be honouring the funders, partners, locatee landowners and trustees involved in the project at the event. The Locatee Lands Project has protected 40 hectares of rare local habitat since 2001.

"We are pleased to support the Band’s initiative to create a land trust to advance species at risk conservation on and off reserve," Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson said in the release. "Indigenous knowledge will help determine the best conservation practices on this land and ensure that wildlife, such as the Yellow-breasted Chat, can thrive for generations to come.”

There will also be a celebration of the teamwork involved in the current Floodplain Re-engagement Project taking place on protected locatee land parcels, helping restore endangered species, the release said.

An announcement regarding a new collaborative conservation project being launched by the Penticton Indian Band and En’owkin Centre is also expected at tomorrow’s event.

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