Photo: Flickr

Great Blue Heron

Tributes are pouring in for a North Okanagan man credited with creating the heron rookery near Walmart.

Jan Bos passed away earlier this month.

Tributes have been coming in through social media praising Bos for his work in creating the rookery that is home to several great blue herons.

The large birds nest atop cottonwoods in the north end of the city on 24th Street and is a popular stop for many people.

Tourism Vernon posted: Take a moment to salute the man who spent many years devoted and committed to the conservation of the great blue heron in Vernon. May Vernon forever remember you.

In his blog Okanagan Birder, Chris Siddle said Bos is the “unsung hero” of the rookery.

Siddle wrote that “Bos owned a junkyard and the land adjacent to it, the land on which the cottonwoods grew that supported the herons' nests. Working around his junkyard, Jan started pausing to watch the herons build their nests, lay their eggs, and raise their young.

“He grew fond of the gangly birds that defied the odds to live at least part of the year alongside restless, often heedless humanity. Eventually in the middle of the unspoken debate about the herons' future in Vernon, Jan Bos visited a lawyer and had a restrictive covenant placed on the grove. The covenant stated Jan couldn't sell his undeveloped land until a year after the last of the herons had stopped nesting on it. With real estate growing daily in value, Mr. Bos put his property on the line.”

The herons have become an icon of the area and return to their nests every spring.

Siddle said great blue herons typically avoid humans, but the Vernon birds are different and are comfortable living in the busy area.

In an interview with Castanet several years ago, Bos said he understood the special significance of the heronry and signed the agreement, which prohibits him from cutting down trees or otherwise interfering with the herons’ natural nesting habitat.

“I thought to myself, if I’m gone tomorrow, what will happen to these birds,” said Bos. “If you’re kind to nature, nature tends to respond in a kind way.”