About Us
Our Vision
A united community stewarding the natural world.
Our Mission
We will protect natural systems and biodiversity in a changing world through community-led collaboration by sharing, listening, and acting - for now and all future generations.
Strategic Plan 2023-2025
Our recently developed two-year strategic plan will guide our operations as we adapt and modernize to better address the most pressing environmental challenges while supporting Pemberton and the surrounding area. The strategic plan prioritizes food security, climate action, conservation and restoration, species and habitat monitoring, education, public engagement, and partnerships. The environmental challenges of today have long-term consequences, to ensure Stewardship Pemberton can continue this work for future generations we are also prioritizing long-term organizational stregthening.
Our Values
Education
Providing unique, engaging & interactive educational opportunities for all ages.
Stewardship
We are deeply committed to protecting, conserving and restoring the diversity and quality of our local environment.
Community
Providing education and resources to inform, inspire and develop community knowledge and passion for our natural environment.
Awareness
Promoting awareness and skill development for the ongoing conservation, protection and restoration of our local surroundings.
Our History
Stewardship Pemberton Society was formed in 2006 with the early goal of building a local nature centre. Prior to 2003, Fisheries and Oceans Canada operated a local hatchery for 30 years which served as an educational hub for children while raising salmon in their classroom. In 2003, a flood decimated the building and it was deemed unsafe and inoperable. With the inception of Stewardship Pemberton Society, we continued to work with the government’s salmonids in the classroom program but began developing our own unique educational tools to complement the program, highlighting cool things about our local ecosystem. We offer this program to all of the communities in our surrounding area including Pemberton, Squamish Lillooet Regional District Area C, Lil’wat First Nation, N’Quatqua First Nation, and Whistler. We also see walk-through tourist traffic throughout the summer.
We continued to fundraise and create partnerships which allowed us to ultimately build the One Mile Lake Nature Centre which became operable in 2011. The building is completely off-grid with solar power, composting toilets, and rainwater collection. The building was only possible thanks to generous donations, grants, and hundreds of volunteer hours. Some of our key supporters are local and federal government agencies; the Pacific Salmon Foundation, Whistler Community Foundation, Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, the Village of Pemberton, the Squamish Lillooet Regional District, and many local contributors.
Honouring the knowledge, wisdom, rights and history of local Indigenous communities is critically important to Stewardship Pemberton. SPS collaborated with Líl̓wat Nation in the early days of creating the vision of the organization as well as the One Mile Lake Nature Centre. In 2014 we worked with Líl̓wat Nation through the Líl̓wat Language and Cultural Heritage Authority (LCHLA) to create signs for the native plant garden highlighting traditional uses. We are currently working on a place name project with Líl̓wat Elders and the LCHLA as part of the Lillooet River Watershed Model project.
We could not have achieved any of these successes without the ongoing support and encouragement from our community.
Nearly a decade ago Stewardship Pemberton Society created this video with Calling Mountain Productions. We have had some changes since then but remain rooted in the same values and passions. Dawn is no longer the Coordinator but is still with the organization as a dedicated and hard-working founding member of the board.