Springtime, Mahoney Lake

Donated to the Nature Trust of BC by the artist, and SOLD at their silent auction Earth Wind & Fire, in Kelowna, BC June 2015.

One of these days you might be fortunate enough to take a special hike on a sunny day in April around the trail on the southwest shoreline at Mahoney Lake. This lake is accessible by road via Green Lake Road, six kilometers south of Okanagan Falls, or three kilometers west of Oliver, B.C. Mahoney Lake is a saline lake, and is fed only by precipitation, so it has been used as a research and teaching site for over thirty years. This beautiful arrowleaf balsamroot plant can be found in abundance growing along the hillside near the trail on the south side of Mahoney Lake. These bright yellow flowers have soft arrowhead-shaped leaves. The Balsamroot was widely used as a versatile food plant, and as a medicinal plant by First Nation people in the Okanagan region.