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Dave Zehnder | Local Watershed Hero

CodeBlue BC has named rancher Dave Zehnder a Local Watershed Hero for his work with farmers and ranchers to increase watershed security. Zehnder aims, he says, “to fix BC watersheds.”

With his family, Zehnder owns the Zehnder Ranch near Invermere, a cow-calf operation with 180 mother cows on 3,000 acres. The Kootenay’s ranch has an unusual business plan: to incorporate environmental health in all operations.

Zehnder’s conservation work was sparked nearly two decades ago by a Kootenay bird festival competition, to see who could find the most birds in one day. 

“My brothers and I thought it would be fun to go out and look, and record sightings. We walked across huge chunks of our land and saw a few species. Then, at a patch of trees on the edge of the lake, the numbers went through the roof. We knew that water was a magnet for biodiversity, but counting it like that, the light went on.”


Zehnder’s cousin in Switzerland participates in European programs to restore nature, and the brothers decided BC needed a similar program.


In 2007, with funding from BC’s Environmental Farm Plan and the Columbia Basin Trust, they fenced off 15 acres by their lakeshore to protect it from the cattle, which were slowly killing the trees. 

The protected area thrived–and soon Zehnder started recruiting farmers and ranchers throughout BC to join a new restoration program. With every cold call he made he expected some pushback, but the response was shocking. “They basically all said yeah, where do we sign."


That program, Farmland Advantage, now includes more than 100 producers in BC, and Zehnder “hopes that becomes thousands.”

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QUESTIONS FOR DAVE ZHENDER

 

What is your first memory by water?

Summertime swimming in Lake Windermere, part of the Columbia River system, and family outings on Sunday evenings to Radium Hot Springs.

Zehnder still lives and was raised near the headwaters of the Columbia River, in the days when your parents kicked you out the door in the morning, you’d go to the beach in the morning, and not come home until you were starving at night. We had a great time.

Family outings to the hot springs each Sunday night were a lot of fun, especially in the winter, in the snow.

 

What is a place that you love in your home watershed?

I have the strongest connection to the lake in front of my house, Bunion Lake, on our ranch. My office looks out on it and every day I watch happenings on the water. It had a big influence on the conservation work I do.

 

What is your favourite water critter?

Beavers are amazing in what they do, the benefits they bring, how hard they work and small they are–yet how dramatic an impact they have on the watershed.

I also really like river otters. They have a lot of fun on the water. I empathize with their joy of just hanging out in the water and having fun in life, in and around water.

 

What issues are you seeing affect your watersheds?

Disconnection from nature and the source of food is a real problem in society. 

Only 3% of BC’s land base is agricultural land, and that 3% is the most important ecological land in the province.  Because fertile valley bottoms have ten times the biodiversity of mountain tops, BC’s farmers play a key role in the functioning of the ecosystem.

The productive areas are also under pressure by development, industry, and for recreation. And if either the food production system or biodiversity fails, everybody is going to lose, big time. Farmers are disappearing.

A lot of society sees land as “real estate,” from a purely utilitarian perspective. Many farmers and many Indigenous people see land as far more–as family, food, and spiritually, with deep connections to the places where they live and work every day, and they know every nook and cranny. Stó:lo Tribal Council Chief Tyrone McNeil taught me that’s where farmers and First Nations differ from most of society.

 

How does drought affect you?

We depend on winter snow, running off from the mountains, to provide us with irrigation water in the summer. If the mountains are dry, we can’t irrigate.

And, if it doesn’t rain, the grass doesn’t grow. In the summer time the cows spend most time on an open range, which is wholly dependent on rain.

And, fire that comes with drought is catastrophic. 

 

What motivates you, keeps you hopeful?

The intersection between First Nations and farmers. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of work to bring those two groups together, in gatherings with local First Nations people and farmers.

There are layers and layers and layers to those interactions that are super deep and interesting and long overdue. We’re at the start of a lot of cool things that come out of that, it’s a super positive experience.

As a farmer I think about the land, about place, and I often think about First Nations and their experiences in that place. There is a myriad of complexity around whose land is it.

My personal perspective is, as a farmer on unceded territory, I personally didn't steal the bike, but I'm riding a stolen bike, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with that.

 

Who benefits most from BC's watersheds?

We all do. Every aspect of our society benefits from having a healthy watershed. Farmers need water for crops. We need water for recreation. We need water for drinking and sewer systems. “So much in the province depends on natural systems.

 

How should BC address water wasters and polluters?

"It's complex. We all need to take responsibility. Our minds go immediately to the stick, better regulation and more enforcement. Effective regulation is important but a lot of work should be focused on the carrot, and how to help people do the right thing.”
“Make defending watersheds a good business decision, not just an impediment to their operation."


“The carrot looks a lot sweeter when the stick is there. Just trying to regulate and enforce our way out of problems hasn't worked."

 

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About the Series

Welcome to our new Local Watershed Heroes series, where we shine a spotlight on the unsung heroes of BC defending the waters they care about for the benefit of future generations.

From farmers to physicians to business owners to Indigenous stewards weaving age-old wisdom into modern-day conservation efforts, this series celebrates those who are making a difference for the water that is our life.

The lives, health, jobs and future of all British Columbians depend on the wealth of the vast watersheds that nourish BC’s rivers, lakes and wetlands, from the Rockies to the coastal islands.

Rich and abundant watersheds such as the Fraser, Skeena, Peace, Columbia and Cowichan are the envy of the world. But decades of mismanagement have left our watersheds vulnerable to droughts, floods, and contamination–and in desperate need of our fierce protection and restoration. 

Many British Columbians have seen this need and stepped forward to champion our water. 

Join us over the coming months as we meet the amazing British Columbians safeguarding our rivers, lakes, and streams.

Know a Local Watershed Hero in your community? Nominate them! Send your nominations to [email protected]

 

 


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  • Meghan Rooney
    published this page in Watershed Heroes 2024-03-14 13:14:10 -0700