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Campaign launched to buy and preserve $4M Okanagan Lake property

Crowdfunding initiative needs to raise $750,000 by July 15

The BC Parks Foundation says it has already raised most of the $4 million purchase price to acquire 151 acres of prime waterfront land on Okanagan Lake.

If another $750,000 can be raised by July 15, this coveted land will be protected forever instead of developed.

含羞草研究社淚f there is one thing British Columbians love, it含羞草研究社檚 where we live,含羞草研究社 said BC Parks Foundation CEO Andy Day.

含羞草研究社淭ens of thousands of people have come together to protect 25 places throughout the province in the last five years, and now it含羞草研究社檚 the Okanagan含羞草研究社檚 chance to protect a special place near and dear to its heart.含羞草研究社

Kelowna resident Steve Thomson, a former MLA and provincial cabinet minister, called the land acquisition an exciting opportunity to protect a special area in its natural state.

含羞草研究社淏y coming together we can protect it from the potential for future development,含羞草研究社 Thomson said.

The purchase helps support and kick off a larger campaign by the Okanagan Nation Alliance and the Okanagan Collaborative Conservation Program to create a wildlife corridor that runs 65 kilometres along the Okanagan watershed from Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park.

That is part of a larger vision to continue a corridor down into Washington State.

Dixon Terbasket, the cultural coordinator with the Okanagan Nation Alliance, sees the corridor and protection of lands in it as essential to survival.

含羞草研究社淚f we block the animals含羞草研究社e含羞草研究社檙e slowly going to peter out the numbers, the numbers are going to decrease, and we含羞草研究社檙e not going to have any more,含羞草研究社 Terbasket said.

Protection of these remaining natural areas is critical with expansion of residential and agricultural growth, said Mary Ann Olson-Russello, a biologist with Ecoscape Environmental.

Much of the corridor area, and this lakefront property, are part of the Ponderosa Pine zone, which includes up to as many as 27 different ecological communities.

Some 26 (96 per cent) of those are rare-listed (red or blue) by the BC Conservation Data Centre.

Several of these are considered 含羞草研究社渃ritically imperiled含羞草研究社 globally, yet only 6.2 per cent of the Ponderosa Pine zone is protected in B.C., says Olson-Russello.

含羞草研究社淭he park protects a whole host of species at risk,含羞草研究社 added local resident and UBC Okanagan professor emeritus Ian Walker.

含羞草研究社淭here are elk and mountain goats and bighorn sheep down in the park, as well as cougars and bears. Golden eagles are known to nest in the park. And you just go on and on.含羞草研究社

Butterflies, turtles, badgers, and dragonflies are only a fraction of the 150 plus species who will all have a better chance at long term survival with this land protected and the corridor expanded, he noted.

Scott Boswell, program manager with the Okanagan Collaborative Conservation Program, emphasized this property is one of the key remaining private properties left along Okanagan Lake.

含羞草研究社淚t is so important for the entire region because it is one of the large fragments that we need to include into the park and to the connectivity to the other parks in the region as well,含羞草研究社 Boswell said.

The BC Parks Foundation has been able to raise the bulk of the $4 million with the support of private funders like the Wilson 5 Foundation. Along with its local partners, it is now counting on Okanagan and B.C. communities to raise the remaining $750,000 before the July 15 deadline.

People interested in contributing can go to:

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33103766_web1_230629-KCN-parkland-purchased-NEWS_1
Jennie McCaffery,with the B.C. Parks Foundation, discusses possible acquisition of Okanagan Lake waterfront property with Geoff Popowich, senior park ranger for the East Okanagan, while checking out the natural features on this parcel of land. (Judie Steeves photo)
33103766_web1_230629-KCN-parkland-purchased-NEWS_2
The purchase of lakefront property in its natural state bordering on Okanagan Lake is being pursued by the BC Parks Foundation. (Contributed)


Barry Gerding

About the Author: Barry Gerding

Senior regional reporter for Black Press Media in the Okanagan. I have been a journalist in the B.C. community newspaper field for 37 years...
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