Join National Geographic explorer and author Douglas Chadwick and Fernwood resident Sarah Cox from Sierra Club BC for an engaging evening of storytelling about the wild, feisty and fierce wolverine!  

Chadwick, an acclaimed speaker, will describe his close encounters with the elusive wolverine during his October tour to promote Sierra Club BC’s Flathead River Valley campaign and his latest book “The Wolverine Way.”

According to Chadwick, wolverines are bad-ass but vulnerable, and are the southern Canadian equivalent of the polar bear in regards to the impacts of global warming. Wolverines vanished from Vancouver Island in the 1960s.

The wolverine is one of a dozen at-risk species found in the unprotected Flathead River Valley in south eastern B.C. The Flathead has the greatest diversity of plants in all of Canada, some of the world’s purest water, and is still home to every species of carnivore that existed in the area thousands of years ago — 16 species in all!

Following a campaign by Sierra Club BC and other conservation groups, the B.C. government recently banned mountain top removal coal mining and other energy and mining development in the Flathead. Yet this vital wildlife corridor is now slated for logging, quarrying, increased road access, and trophy hunting of grizzlies and other animals that are completely protected only steps away in the adjacent Waterton-Glacier World Heritage Site.

Fernwood residents at Sierra Club BC will be bringing a taste of the wild Flathead to our neighbourhood on October 18 at 7 p.m. at the Fernwood Community Association when Chadwick speaks. Fernwood resident Sarah Cox, Sierra Club BC’s Communications Director and Flathead Campaign Manager, will also talk about some of her experiences in the Flathead and describe how the recent ban on mining and energy development was accomplished. The event was organized by Fernwood resident Leila Darwish, Sierra BC’s Community Outreach Coordinator. Another Fernwood resident, Moira Chaudhry, Sierra Club BC’s Development Director, has partnered with Denman Island Chocolates to produce a special edition Flathead Wild chocolate bar that will be sold at the event.  

Sierra Club BC and other groups are asking the B.C. government to permanently protect the Flathead by agreeing to a National Park in the south eastern one-third of the valley. We also need a Wildlife Management Area in the rest of the valley and adjoining habitat, to preserve a critical wildlife corridor that stretches from Glacier National Park in Montana to Canada’s Banff and Jasper national parks.

The Victoria event is part of a series, with events featuring Doug Chadwick also taking place in Vancouver, Quadra Island and Courtenay/Comox. Visit www.sierraclub.bc.ca for more information.