As Vernon dries up, North Okanagan Naturalist Club pursues assessments
Published 1:00 pm Thursday, August 20, 2026
Cools Pond in Vernon is almost completely dried up.
A scant amount of water is all that’s left in the middle of the pond as of Thursday, Aug. 20, amid a persistent drought that has parched the region to a historic degree.
The Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) is aware of the extremely low water levels at the pond on Rimer Road in the BX.
“We certainly recognize and share the public’s concern regarding the impacts of current drought conditions on Cools Pond,” RDNO spokesperson Stacey Raftus said in an email. “Reduced water levels are being experienced throughout the region, and Cools Pond is not immune to these broader environmental challenges affecting many local water bodies.”
The RDNO is working with the North Okanagan Naturalist Club (NONC) to determine the future of Cools Pond, Raftus added.
“The North Okanagan Naturalist Club has been the longstanding steward of Cools Pond Park and continues to play an important role in monitoring and caring for this valued community asset,” she said. “The RDNO will continue to work collaboratively on long-term natural solutions for Cools Pond that support the park’s ecological health and sustainability.”
NONC president Eric Kowalski told The Morning Star that the group connected with RDNO staff this week to discuss retaining experts to look at the hydrology of the pond, and assess what options might be feasible going forward.
“The RDNO is very receptive to the idea,” Kowalski said. “They’d love to see us and the community take a look at what our vision is for the future of this particular little pond and park.”
Diminishing water levels in the pond are not new. Kowalski said the NONC has been discussing Cools Pond at its board meetings over the last couple years, and people who have been monitoring it for decades have noticed that the pond has been progressively shrinking.
There’s a few different ways to look at this trend, Kowalski said. One is to view it as the natural ecological progression of many ponds and wetlands that slowly fill in over time and become grasslands.
On the flip side, he said somewhere around 80 per cent of B.C. wetlands have been lost in the last 100 years, which warrants further examination.
“We’ve lost so much of what was originally there, and do we want to just, without any kind of discussion or exploration, say that it’s a natural process and we’re going to lose the pond? Or do we want to take a deeper dive and maybe do some studies about the hydrology and look at the pond, and how important this is as a little park area to residents of Vernon and area,” Kowalski said.
“So that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
The NONC wants to examine whether there have been hydrological changes in the pond’s area due to development further uphill.
Another point of inquiry is whether changes can be made to stormwater runoff further up from the pond — “If we ever get stormwater again,” Kowalski said.
It will take time to get any answers, he said, but talks are well underway to have some studies done.
Protecting painted turtles
Cools Pond is, or was, home to a number of painted turtles, a protected species in B.C. Now that the pond has dried out, residents have observed the turtles leaving the park and crossing Rimer Road, only to get struck by vehicles.
“I was up there the other night and there was a little painted turtle squashed on the road,” Kowalski said.
He said the turtle habitat in Cools Pond has already been naturally declining, with many of their nesting areas grown over.
The turtle problem is another question NONC wants to look into.
“The turtle habitat has been declining, but that doesn’t mean we just let it decline,” Kowalski said. “That could be part of the discussion.”
Short-term solutions like moving the turtles elsewhere or trucking in water aren’t feasible, Kowalski said.
“I don’t think it would work, especially when orchards are shutting off their water,” he said of trucking in water. “And it would just be so expensive.”
Kowalski said it’s hard for folks to have to sit back and watch Cools Pond dry up, “but I think we’re going to have to take a deeper look at this and just say, what are some longer-term, more permanent solutions.”
