Kootenay Conservation Program’s habitat conservation project renewed for 3 years

A habitat conservation project in the Kootenays will continue past it’s planned end date.

The Kootenay Conservation Program’s Kootenay Connect Priority Places project is receiving an extra $1.95-million from Environment and Climate Change Canada to extend the project for another three years.

Kootenay Connect provides on-the-ground solutions to address the loss of biological diversity in Kootenay landscapes, including the Columbia Valley Wetlands and the Wycliffe Wildlife Corridor.

Project manager Marcy Mahr says the funding boost will grow the project area to 16.6 million hectares.

“We’re also able to look at how these areas connect up and look through the lens of wildlife that need to be moving though these areas,” Mahr says. “Whether they’re birds flying north to south or whether they’re badgers moving from valley bottoms to more bench lands, we’re able to work locally, but then think more regionally about how our landscapes connect.”

She says they are grateful for Environment and Climate Change Canada’s continued support.

“I think they see the value of the projects that we are doing and the long-term investment in these species and these habitats contribute to some of their broader goals,” she says. “Coming out of the COP-15 focus on biodiversity back in December, I’m just really excited that we have three more years to pursue Kootenay Connect.”

Mahr says the project has brought an unprecedented level of expertise to the Columbia Valley.

View more information from The Kootenay Conservation Program here or below:

What do grizzly bears, badgers, and western painted turtles have in common?

They are three of the more than 30 at-risk species in the Kootenays that will continue to be helped by a large-scale habitat conservation project thanks to a big boost in federal funding.

Managed by the Kootenay Conservation Program (KCP), the Kootenay Connect Priority Places project began in 2019 as a four-year project with a $2 million grant from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Community-Nominated Priority Places (CNPP) program.

Kootenay Connect includes over 30 partners collaborating on over 50 restoration projects benefiting species at risk and the habitats they need for survival.

KCP recently learned the project will receive an additional $1.95 million, which will extend this habitat restoration work another three years.

“Kootenay Connect is providing on-the-ground solutions to address the loss of biological diversity in our region,” said Marcy Mahr, KCP’s Kootenay Connect Manager. “From rolling grasslands and open dry forests to rich wetlands and towering stands of old growth cedar-hemlock, all of these habitats are essential to the day to day, seasonal, and long-term survival of the species who call the Kootenays home.”

Four landscapes totaling one million hectares have been the focus of Kootenay Connect: Bonanza Biodiversity Corridor (north of New Denver), Creston Valley, Columbia Valley Wetlands, and the Wycliffe Wildlife Corridor (north of Cranbrook).

CNPP funding will now be extended until 2026 to support conservation and restoration projects in the current areas as well as three additional hotspots for biodiversity.

This funding boost will expand the Kootenay Connect project area to 16.6 million hectares, which is about 20% of the Kootenay Region.

– Article contains statement from The Kootenay Conservation Program

– Marcy Mahr, Kootenay Connect Priority Places project manager