{"id":625033,"date":"2026-04-24T06:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/625033\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T06:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:55:12","slug":"first-nation-in-b-c-marks-10-years-of-burrowing-owl-conservation-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/625033\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nation in B.C. marks 10 years of burrowing owl conservation efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A First Nation in B.C. is celebrating a decade of its restoration efforts on burrowing owls, an endangered species in the country.<\/p>\n

Upper Nicola Band, a Sylix community located in the Nicola Valley within the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, introduced five pairs and a single owl into burrows on the grasslands of its Douglas Lake reserve.<\/p>\n

“It was a wonderful day to be out there with everybody on the land and, you know, sharing our knowledge to the ones that have never seen an owl before,” said Diana Moffat, Upper Nicola member and comprehensive community planner.<\/p>\n

“Owls are so wise, and … when you’re around them that it feels like you’re gaining some of their knowledge.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The burrowing owl has been listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) since June 2003. A 2017 report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) points to a loss of grassland habitat.<\/p>\n

\"AAround 90 people attended the ceremony to introduce burrowing owls at Dougas Lake reserve. (Diego Machado\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

Upper Nicola works with the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of B.C. to assist with building and maintaining nesting burrows to help conserve the species \u2014 the birds live underground in burrows abandoned by other animals.<\/p>\n

Chris Gill, project biologist for Upper Nicola\u2019s Bands burrowing owl recovery program, said the ecosystem of grasslands in Upper Nicola\u2019s traditional territory are some of the rarest in Canada.<\/p>\n

He said the work is challenging, but also rewarding, and the program has helped Canada meet its objectives for burrowing owl recovery in the Thompson-Nicola region.<\/p>\n

“If burrowing owls aren’t on a grassland or in a grassland there’s a reason for that and it’s because possibly that ecosystem is, or habitat is suffering in some way,” said Gill.<\/p>\n

“Seeing the owls on the landscape again where they haven’t been for 30, 40, or 50 years in a beautiful grassland, it makes it all worthwhile in the end.”<\/p>\n

Builds community capacity<\/p>\n

In a statement, Upper Nicola Band said its reintroduction site has become one of the most productive burrowing owl breeding sites in British Columbia.<\/p>\n

The program began in 2016, and includes education and outreach that builds community capacity, and strengthens Syilx knowledge of culturally and ecologically important wildlife.<\/p>\n

Around 90 community members and dignitaries attended a ceremony to introduce the burrowing owls, which are between the size<\/a> of a robin and crow, into the wild.<\/p>\n

Upper Nicola Band said the captive-raised owls have produced a total of 125 wild-born fledglings, and both captive-born and wild-born owls return to the site every year to breed and raise their young.<\/p>\n

Loretta Holmes, Upper Nicola member and senior resource technician, said she\u2019s grateful to her community for caring about the program, and the preservation of burrowing owls.<\/p>\n

“We were very fortunate to have four returns at the site this year. Once they have babies, each next could be a potentially 10 per nest,” said Holmes.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m grateful the owls are responding and that the program is so successful\u2026 where we have returns that can take care of themselves and the land take care of them as well,” Holmes.<\/p>\n

\"AThe Upper Nicola Band marked 10 years of helping restore a species at risk by releasing burrowing owls on Earth Day, April 22, 2026. (Diego Machado\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

Moffat said she\u2019s “still on cloud nine” because she was one of the community members who got the chance to release an owl.<\/p>\n

“She would just keep looking at me. Like, her and I just stared at each other \u2026 then she turned around and looked at me one last time,” said Moffat.<\/p>\n

“It was really cool \u2026 it feels like you’re gaining some of their knowledge. Like, they’re giving you some of their knowledge saying, like, you know, like, you’re on the right path.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-625033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}