As of January 2026, a well-known BC-based conservation organization has a fresh, memorable new name and a whole new look. Our organization, formerly known as Valhalla Foundation for Ecology, is now Haven for Ecology.
Best known in the West Kootenay region for acquiring, with a lot of community support, the Valhalla Mile property on the west side of Slocan Lake, our organization completed that acquisition in 2008 and 2009 and subsequently donated the land to BC Parks. We also acquired and restored the Snk’mip Marsh Sanctuary at the north end of the lake in 2017, again with fulsome community support.
Haven for Ecology also stewards Colleen’s Beach Park in Silverton, donated to the charity after environmentalist Colleen McCrory’s death, and a large nature sanctuary in the Chilcotin region of BC. As a land trust, our organization is also authorized to hold conservation covenants on private land.
History of the name
The need for a new identity was prompted by decades of being confused with the Valhalla Wilderness Society.
The organization was established as a provincial society in 1997 by Valhalla Wilderness Society directors of the day, originally called The Valhalla Wilderness Foundation. It changed names the following year, received federal registered charity status in January 1999, and in 2019 shortened its name to Valhalla Foundation for Ecology.
After sitting mostly dormant for many years, it was reactivated to fundraise for the Valhalla Mile acquisition in 2008 and 2009. After that successful endeavour, the organization grew into an independent land-trust charitable organization with a new board. To remedy the confusion and better describe its mandate, the current board pursued a new name and a complete brand overhaul.
Going full rebrand
The rebranding and name change process took the better part of a year, starting with support from branding and communications expert Yasmín Rodríguez through her consultancy, The Writing Ghost®.
Following Yasmín's direction and after a lot of discussion and consideration by our board, plus research into what names were available, Haven for Ecology emerged as the clear winner. The research included a practical constraint: two charities cannot have the same or similar names, nor the same internet domain name, known as the URL.
Change of designation
Another reason for the change was that our charity was originally registered with the Canada Revenue Agency as a Public Foundation: a charity that grants the majority of its funds to other organizations. That mode of operating was clearly not relevant to our current functioning as a Charitable Organization, an organization that raises money and spends it on its own programs and activities.
Because of the need to change the original Public Foundation designation, the organization’s purposes as described in our constitution also had to be changed to more accurately reflect our current mode of operating.
“Without going into the weeds on the many complexities of changing everything (designation, purposes and name) with the CRA and with the provincial authorities (the Societies Branch), suffice it to say it required a lot of administrative work,” said Lorna Visser, Haven for Ecology’s Executive Director.
Change of name, change of purposes
Redesigning everything
Once all the governmental hoops were jumped through and all approvals were received, the next step was the rebranding including creating a new logo to go with the memorable new name.
“For the VFE, a successful rebrand would clarify the organization’s purpose, support its growth, and better reflect its conservation values and land-based stewardship work,” said Yasmín. “A new name needed to be emotionally evocative, short, memorable, and not confused with any other organization or institution.”
Once the new name was approved and the URL for the website secured, Yasmín had the task of redesigning all the elements that represent the organization including its logo, website, email addresses, stationery, social media presence, donation portal listings, and more.
In summary: why the change from Valhalla Foundation for Ecology?
- To better align the name with our organization’s mandate (providing a haven for wild things).
- Because we’re not a foundation, we’re a conservation-oriented land trust and charitable organization.
- Because our work has nothing to do with Vikings (the “Valhalla” part of the previous name). That’s a reference to the Valhalla mountain range near New Denver BC, where the predecessor organization the Valhalla Wilderness Society is based.
- To avoid confusion with the other conservation organization that has a similar name to our previous one. Haven for Ecology is a distinct organization with a different mandate.
“Our conservation mandate is province-wide and our supporters are located all over North America, so for most people a specific geographic reference was inappropriate and confusing. And certainly the colonial and warlike associations with Vikings and the word “Valhalla” did not align at all with our conservation ethos,” said Visser.
“We now have our own descriptive name and more accurate identity, and we couldn’t be happier to be Haven for Ecology!”
I love the new name and new look. How can I help?
Although our name has been changed, our organization maintains the same business number with the Canada Revenue Agency (86847 5641 RR0001), the same mailing address (P.O. Box 207 New Denver BC, Canada, V0G 1S0) and the same phone number (250-358-2722). The Haven for Ecology donation portal at CanadaHelps.org is now live under our new name. Donations can be made at: