It was a perfect day for touring two of HCTF’s most recent acquisition properties: Sage & Sparrow Grasslands and Elkink South Block. Led by NCC’s Okanagan Property Manager Barb Pryce, HCTF board members got to experience first-hand the subtle beauty of these grasslands, and learn more about their incredible ecological values.

HCTF contributed $300,000 to NCC’s purchase of the Sage & Sparrow Grasslands in 2012, and then granted a further $500,000 to NCC’s campaign to purchase Elkink South Block last June. Together, the properties create over 3,100 acres of continuous rare grassland habitat that is home to a diverse range of amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species, some of which occur nowhere else in the world. As part of the excursion, Board Members got to visit the site of the Burrowing Owl Recovery Program on the South Block property, and view some of the research sites where scientists are now conducting surveys of the many plants and animals inhabiting this rare ecosystem.

In addition to experiencing the impressive sights (and fragrant smell of sagebrush), board members were provided with some excellent information on enhancement projects taking place within the area, as well as some of the conservation challenges facing the region. A big thank-you to field trip guests Bryn White (SOSCP), Dan Peterson (MFLRNO), and Linda Hannah (NCC) for taking the time to join us and share your experiences. An especially big thank-you to our guide, Barb Pryce, for leading us through an informative and thoroughly enjoyable day in the South Okanagan.

The South Okanagan-Similkameen region is a biodiversity hotspot, home to unique assemblages of plants and animals. The Bunchgrass Zone ecosystem of this region is found in less than one percent of BC, yet it supports a tremendous diversity and density of wildlife. Unfortunately, agricultural use and urbanization have resulted in this delicate ecosystem becoming one of the three most endangered in Canada. With thirty percent of the province’s at-risk species dependent on it, there has been a great impetus to conserve grassland properties before the ecosystem and its inhabitants are lost.

HCTF contributed $800,000 to NCC’s purchase of three properties in the South Okanagan Similkameen that contain significant amounts of grassland habitat. Sagebrush Slopes, Sparrow Grasslands and Elkink South Block added a total of 1,263 hectares of invaluable habitat to existing protected areas. Together, these parcels comprise the most extensive sagebrush community in the region. Their protection preserves migration corridors and allows wildlife to move freely between the Similkameen and Okanagan Valleys, and through to the desert areas of the western United States. Red-listed species on site include the Grasshopper, Lark and Brewer’s Sparrows, Lewis’s Woodpecker, American Badger and Burrowing Owl. Once the management plan for the recently-purchased Elkink South Block is in place, all three of these previously-inaccessible properties will be available to the public for hunting (non-motorized), hiking and wildlife viewing.

Columbia Lake sits at the head of the Columbia River, nestled between the Purcell and Rocky Mountains, about 7km South of Fairmont Hot Springs. The lands surrounding the lake are part of the East Kootenay Trench Ecosection, home to one of the largest and most diverse assemblages of species in the province. These include many of BC’s iconic large mammals, supported by a mosaic of habitat types that include native grasslands, Douglas-fir forests, and long stretches of wetland that comprise one of the last intact portions of the Pacific Flyway.

In 2010 and 2011, HCTF was approached by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to help secure both the Marion Creek Benchlands (204 ha) to the west of Columbia Lake, and Lot 48 (127 ha) on its eastern shore. These properties were “missing links” in established tracts of conservation lands, which risked being fragmented by residential development. Both contain grasslands used as vital winter range for ungulates, including blue-listed Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. They also provide critical habitat for non-game species, such as the red-listed Badger, and are used as movement corridors by wildlife including Grizzly Bear and Elk. HCTF contributed $750,000 towards the purchase of these properties to protect their habitat values and ensure long-term connectivity between conservation lands, while simultaneously ensuring they would be accessible to the Foundation’s contributors.