The Royal BC Museum is sponsoring a Species at Risk exhibit across the Okanagan Valley this summer and a dozen local kids signed up to participate in this week’s summer camp at the Osoyoos Museum. Back row are Royal BC Museum summer students Rachelle Linde (far left) and Jenny Arnold (far right), shown with Osoyoos Museum manager Kara Burton. Local kids taking part are (from left) Kaelyn Burton, Kaitlyn Rempel, Ali Rempel, Raegan McFarlane, Logan Fletcher, Becca Knight, Eva Wyse, Brynne McFarlane, Gyll Burton, Charlie Burton and Darcelle Knight. The exhibit will be on display this Saturday at the Osoyoos Market on Main. (Keith Lacey photo)

The Royal BC Museum is sponsoring a Species at Risk exhibit across the Okanagan Valley this summer and a dozen local kids signed up to participate in this week’s summer camp at the Osoyoos Museum. Back row are Royal BC Museum summer students Rachelle Linde (far left) and Jenny Arnold (far right), shown with Osoyoos Museum manager Kara Burton. Local kids taking part are (from left) Kaelyn Burton, Kaitlyn Rempel, Ali Rempel, Raegan McFarlane, Logan Fletcher, Becca Knight, Eva Wyse, Brynne McFarlane, Gyll Burton, Charlie Burton and Darcelle Knight. The exhibit will be on display this Saturday at the Osoyoos Market on Main. (Keith Lacey photo)

The Royal BC Museum is trying to educate B.C. residents – including residents here in Osoyoos – about endangered species at risk and what this province could lose if big changes aren’t made to protect these species.

Summer students Rachelle Linde and Jenny Arnold, who have been hired by the Royal BC Museum in Victoria to bring the mobile Species at Risk program to residents across the Okanagan Valley this summer, are conducting a summer camp for 12 local children this week at the Osoyoos Museum.

Local residents will be able to learn more as the exhibit will be on display all day Saturday at the Market on Main farmer’s market near town hall.

“The whole idea of our summer camp in Osoyoos is to promote hope and try and inform the kids what they can try and do to ensure these species at risk can have a future,” said Linde.

Linde and Arnold hit the road on June 1 and have travelled across the Okanagan Valley to discuss what British Columbians could lose if big changes aren’t made between humans and the natural world.

The impressive travelling exhibit is housed in an inventively re-made trailer.

Linde is being paid by the Royal BC Museum, while the Robert Batemen Centre is paying for Arnold’s salary for the summer.

Species at Risk is designed to be a fun and illuminating mobile museum for summer camps, community museums and other partners throughout the province, said Linde.

Some of the animals Linde and Arnold discussed with the 12 Osoyoos youngsters – who range in age from seven to 12 – during the summer camp, including species struggling to survive in the South Okanagan desert landscape, including the Vancouver Island marmot, Tiger salamander and spadefoot toad.

All of these species are endangered in large part due to development, human impact and habitat loss, she said.

Species at Risk features more than 30 replicas, taxidermy mounts, slides and photos of various reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds, fish, plants, and marine and fresh water vertebrates that are endangered or extinct right in B.C.’s back yard.

Some of the species that will be on display include the Vancouver Island marmot, monarch butterflies, the Dragon Lake White Fish (found in the Quesnel area), sharp tail snake that are considered endangered (Southern and Gulf islands), and the spadefoot toad (Okanagan) which is threatened due to habitat loss.

Most children are naturally inquisitive and share a passion for animals and wildlife and they make for a very attentive audience that is willing to absorb and share information, said Linde.

“When we explain that many of these species are seriously at risk, their eyes get really big and they want to know more. Some of the kids can become emotional because they find it devastating that some of these species are in such trouble,” she said.

Kara Burton, the manager of the Osoyoos Museum and Archives, said the local kids were having a great time learning about species at risk and what can be done to try and ensure steps are being taken to preserve the species across this region.

The entire weeklong camp was offered to local kids at a minimal cost of $50, she said.

Arnold said she was having a wonderful time participating in the summer camps and workshops and couldn’t think of a better way to spend her summer than travelling across the Okanagan Valley and sharing information with residents about species at risk.

“I’m one year from graduating from teachers’ college at UVIC and this has been a great experience,” she said. “I would hope to be able to continue sharing this information once I become a teacher.”

All members of the public are invited to Market on Main all day Saturday to check out the Species at Risk exhibit.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times