Winding Waters

Watercolor, 23.5” x 30”, 2025

A healthier watershed can happen when we work together across communities. My painting shows a beautiful valley that is part of the Louis Creek watershed in British Columbia. I created this piece in collaboration with Simpcw Resources Group (SRG), whose environmental work is meant to lead to positive impacts in Simpcw Territory.

SRG and Simpcw monitor Louis Creek, and the three graph lines within the valley depict this work over the course of one year: the red line shows water temperature from June to October, 2023; the pale blue line shows water levels midway up the creek from January to October, 2023; the medium blue line shows water levels at the mouth of the creek from June to October, 2023. These three graphs highlight the story of the variability in water temperature and level: monitoring what occurs seasonally, annually, and long term in a watershed allows for prepared management. In this piece I wanted to show the presence of farms who will use that water, while still also allowing from vegetation on the shore that will provide stability and essential habitat on land and in the creek.

The panels that frame this painting tell stories about fish in Louis Creek. At the top is escapement data, which means the number of fish returning to a certain river to spawn. The two species here are Coho Salmon, whose numbers have increased from 1995-2023, and Chinook Salmon, whose numbers have decreased over that same timeframe. The bottom panel shows fish salvage data, which means the number of fish collected and relocated. This is done to assist fish in areas with low of water levels, poor water conditions, or construction. The three species here are Coho Salmon, Rainbow Trout, and Torrent Sculpin.

My goal with this piece is to highlight the important nature of the collaborative work SRG does to create more sustainable and inclusive solutions to improve environmental conditions of ecosystems.