Fisheries committee  In the Okanagan we're thinking of having a GoFundMe campaign to get dogs. That's the level we're at.

Fisheries committee  I'd sign on to that as well.

Fisheries committee  I think I presented on it. I thought about the statement I made, that after climate change, aquatic invasive species are the biggest threat to our regional economy. I asked myself if that was a true statement. I really believe it is. People really come to the Okanagan for the lakes.

Fisheries committee  There is so much work that needs to be done on stream restoration in the Okanagan. Most of those ocean-going salmon are river or stream spawners, and there is a lot work that needs to be done to bring those streams back and to improve the habitat. A lot of our habitat was channelized.

Fisheries committee  In the Okanagan, the Okanagan and Similkameen Invasive Species Society is the group that's on the ground. We provide a good chunk of their funding. They have a few different funding sources, including the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation. We have them under contract for $30,000 a year to do monitoring and outreach at the boat launches.

Fisheries committee  It's zero from Ottawa, zero from the province. All of our funding is from the local property tax base.

Fisheries committee  Yes. We get “this much” from any other level of government.

Fisheries committee  Well, I can't talk about it for invasive species, but I can certainly talk about it for a lot of other projects we're working on. For one of the other biggest projects we get, we get some external project-based grant funding from senior governments for things such as flood mapping, and we've been able to leverage federal dollars through the national disaster mitigation program to get the entire valley flood mapped.

Fisheries committee  Yes. There's some really inspiring work that's going on. One of my other hats is that I'm on the IJC's International Osoyoos Lake Board of Control, and we're working on managing the waters coming out of the Okanagan into Washington state. One of the things we manage them for is specifically to ensure there is enough water in the Okanagan River going into Washington state to support the returning sockeye.

Fisheries committee  Let me just say that there are some laws in place, of course, at the federal and provincial levels to stop the spread of invasive species, but if people are not enforcing the laws, if they only have part-time or part-year inspection stations, although it's illegal to bring invasive species to B.C., they are still going to spread unless there are officers out there actually stopping people.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for inviting me to appear as a witness. I was asked to say something about my background. I have a Ph.D. in population biology from the University of California, and my research was focused on factors that lead to the spread of invasive species. However, I have been working for the Okanagan Basin Water Board for 13 years.