Our History

Our work is rooted in protecting natural systems, supporting biodiversity, and promoting local food security. Celebrating these successes is only possible with the commitment of our volunteers, funders, donors, strategic partners, board of directors, staff, and committee members, and ongoing community support.

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 offered 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 operate the Pemberton Creek Community Garden. A volunteer-led, organic community garden located on public land in Pemberton near the Pemberton Creek bridge accessing One Mile Lake Park. The garden continues to be successful year after year in growing food and community. The garden is also home to the Grow-it-Forward Garden, a gardening initiative that grows food for the Pemberton Food Bank, and is a hub for learning and connecting with gardening and community. The garden is a partnership between us and Sea to Sky Community Services.

Our Feasting for Change program focuses on promoting sustainable food systems, supporting land access for local food production, increasing access to local produce, and fostering food security in the Pemberton area. This “umbrella program” is home to a variety of projects working towards land access, community gardening, farm food rescue, school gardening, agricultural leadership, seed saving, composting, reducing human-bear conflict and more. Thank you to Whistler Blackcomb Evirofund, whistler Community Foundaiton, and Pemberton Wildlife Association, the Village of Pemberton, the Squamish Lillooet Regional District for your continued support of this program.

Streamkeepers is a volunteer program helping to protect and restore the health of local fish populations while contributing valuable data to broader conservation efforts. Our Streamkeepers are trained through modules with the Pacific StreamKeepers Federation. Streamkeepers use the One Mile Lake Nature Centre as their meeting hub, and spend time monitoring water quality and surveying Pemberton Creek for the return of Coho. Thank you to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for funding this training provided by the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation.