Photos of Scouting Trips to Golf Course Lands - 1996-1997

When Silver Star Mountain Resort first proposed the golf course in the mid 1990's, many local citizens voiced their concerns about removal of the golf course lands from the Provincial Park, and also about the potential for contamination of the community watersheds.

Two groups in particular, The North Okanagan Naturalists Club, and the Parks Environmental Stewardship Organization (PESO), led a campaign to raise public awareness of the environmental and public health risks that the golf course could pose. Members of these two groups made several trips to the southeast corner of Silver Star Provincial Park to document the flora and fauna in an effort to preserve and protect the area from commercial development. Shown below are photos of some of their trips into the golf course lands.

North Okanagan Naturalist's Club hiked into the proposed golf course area in October 1996 to glimpse first hand exactly where the golf course would be. 

 

Bull moose spotted in golf course lands during Okanagan Naturalist's Club hike to southeast corner of Silver Star Provincial Park, October 1996.

 

Small frog found in one of the many wetlands in the southeast corner of Silver Star Provincial Park during a PESO hike in 1997. Amphibians would likely be the first victims of sewage effluent contamination once the effluent irrigation begins in the summer of 2009.

 

Horse logging for beetle-killed pine in the southeast corner of Silver Star Provincial Park, August 1996.

 

PESO members on a hike to the wetlands in the southeast corner of Silver Star Provincial Park in June 1997.

 

North Okanagan Naturalist's Club members on hike to golf course lands in October 1996.

 

PESO members assessing wildlife habitat in the golf course lands, June 2007.

 

3D topographic map of southeast corner of Silver Star Provincial Park prepared by PESO president, Harvey Eller in 1997. Used for public presentations, it clearly showed the location and elevation of the proposed golf course with respect to the resort village and sewage lagoons.

 

PESO members assessing flora and fauna in the wetlands around the proposed Silver Star golf course, June 1997.