spax̌mn (DOUGLAS LAKE, IR#3), 2026 April 20 – The Upper Nicola Band is marking ten years of success in helping restore a species at risk by releasing six Burrowing Owls on Earth Day April 22, 2026.
This is the latest annual release in a program that started in 2016. It is Upper Nicola’s contribution to Canada’s efforts to recover critically endangered Burrowing Owls in British Columbia. Staff and volunteers with the band’s Burrowing Owl recovery program release captive-raised owls into burrows prepared on its reserve lands lands, which lay within the heart of the Burrowing Owls’ natural grasslands habitat of British Columbia’s Southern Interior.
The Upper Nicola Band’s reintroduction site has become one of the most productive Burrowing Owl breeding sites in British Columbia. The captive-raised owls have produced a total of 125 wild-born fledglings, and both captive-born and wild-born owls return to the site every year to breed and raise their young. This success reflects the commitment and sustained effort by Upper Nicola Knowledge Keepers and wildlife experts. They conserve grassland habitat on the Douglas Lake reserve for the owls, build breeding sites, and care for the owls during the breeding season.
Burrowing Owls are small, brown and white owls with long legs and a round head. They are most active during the day and spend much of their time on or near the ground. The owls nest below ground, usually in burrows abandoned by badgers or marmots. At the Upper Nicola site, they nest in artificial burrows built by community members, at locations chosen by species biologists and the band’s resource technicians and cultural advisors.
“The program has exceeded all our expectations,” says Upper Nicola member and senior resource technician, Loretta Holmes. “The owls, which we call sq̓əq̓axʷ, have responded better than we dared to hope ten years ago. And community interest and involvement has been strong since the start.”
Burrowing owls are deeply woven into the culture of the Syilx people. They are guardian spirits for hunters and warriors, and guides to other worlds. Upper Nicola Chief Dan Manuel says, “for our people, the cultural, spiritual and environmental importance of sq̓əq̓axʷ are one. Our culture is rooted in co-existence with the world around us. We have a responsibility to care for the land and the beings on it. We must help rebuild what has been lost, and it will continue to support us.”
The Upper Nicola Burrowing Owl program contributes to Canada’s recovery goals for this species. It is part of the Upper Nicola’s broader Species-at-Risk program, which aims to protect and restore several endangered species on its lands, such as the Lewis’s Woodpecker, Great Basin Spadefoot, and American Badger. The program includes education and outreach that builds community capacity, strengthens syilx knowledge of culturally and ecologically important wildlife among both Nation members and the regional community, and encourages local, hands-on conservation across the region.
Burrowing owls are designated as endangered in BC and have been extirpated from many parts of their natural range elsewhere in the grasslands of Western Canada. Their decline is linked to habitat loss and environmental pressures. The Upper Nicola Band partners with the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC to support the conservation of grasslands and reintroduction of the burrowing owls. The species is both prey and predator, and essential to healthy grasslands ecosystems.
Chief Manuel says, “the Upper Nicola Band is honoured to be an important part of establishing a self-perpetuating population of sq̓əq̓axʷ on our traditional lands and reversing the decline of Burrowing Owls in BC and Canada.”
