The Lower Similkameen Indian Band has recieved almost $500,000 to put towards conserving 63.5 hectares of land.
Conservation Northwest, a regional non-profit that works across the northern Pacific coast in Canada and the U.S., donated the funds to the LSIB (sməlqmíx) for the purchase.
The cheque of $350,000 USD ($480,000 CAD), will go towards the purchase of akłx̌ipwl (Green Point), which is made up of sage-land habitat 11 kilometres south of the Canada-U.S. border.
Green Point is part of the LSIB's traditional lands and is located on the shore of Palmer Lake.
“This is a great occasion made possible by the partnership of Conservation Northwest with the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, not only for the sməlqmíx, but for anyone wishing to return a balance to tmixʷ (all living things)," said Chief Keith Crow. "The sməlqmíx have significant history on the lands from before contact and before any border was made, as we know and as our Okanagan and Colville family know."
The executive director of CNW, Mitch Friedman, came to the LSIB to hand the cheque over to Chief Crow himself.
“Among the greatest joys, honors, and privileges of my career and life has been our relationship with the LSIB. This is a beautiful community blessed to live in and steward a most beautiful landscape," said Friedman. "I hope that the LSIB and its Similkameen territory remain strong and healthy for thousands of years to come, and that CNW’s support and impact last for many of those years.”
CNW represents nearly 4,000 dues-paying members and more than eighteen thousand activists, supporters and online followers, with a main office in Seattle and field offices in Bellingham and Twisp. The organization works towards finding collaborative solutions to habitat corridors, wilderness conservation, forest restoration and endangered species recovery.
The LSIB thanked CNW for their ongoing work and mission and for the support in making the purchase and conservation of Green Point possible.
"limləmt to all who support CNW, to all who support the sməlqmíx, and all who support balance to tmixʷ," said the LSIB.
