Post-wildfire recovery at Sage & Sparrow Conservation Area through fencing and invasive plant management

Nature Conservancy of Canada

NCC is Canada’s leading land conservation organization, working to protect Canada’s most important natural areas and the species they sustain. Since 1962, NCC and its partners have helped to protect 2.8 million acres, coast to coast with 1 million acres conserved in British Columbia since 1974. NCC has been active in the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen since 2002. Since that time, NCC has secured 4350 acres of high priority habitat by working with private landowners and has provided funding to other land trusts and the province to enable them to secure 6800 acres of high priority ecosystems.

The goal of this project is to help the Sage and Sparrow Conservation Area recover following the 2023 Eagle Bluff Wildfire that burned the entirety of the conservation area. The objectives of this project are to replace fencing that was lost in the fire and is needed to control human and livestock trespass into the recovering, sensitive ecosystem and to implement increased invasive plant management to help prevent the spread of invasive plants within this disturbed landscape. This project aims to promote post-wildfire recovery of the Sage and Sparrow Conservation Area to maintain the rich biodiversity that this landscape has to offer.

This project is the first year of a 3-year request. Approved by Regional District Okanagan Similkameen Board and $50,000.00 was allocated from the South Okanagan Conservation Fund in 2025. The project is expected to complete by January 31, 2026.