Valley Bottom Habitat Restoration at Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Osoyoos Oxbows

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.

This project increases restoration efforts on NCC’s Osoyoos Oxbows Conservation Area (OOCA), a crucial piece of South Okanagan valley bottom habitat. OOCA includes critical habitat for the federally listed Great Basin spadefoot, western tiger salamander, Great Basin gophersnake, desert nightsnake and pallid bat. Other federally listed species observed on the property include bobolink, long-billed curlew and western painted turtle.

This project is the second year of a 3-year request. Approved by Regional District Okanagan Similkameen Board and $27,675 was allocated from the South Okanagan Conservation Fund in 2023. The project is expected to complete by January 31, 2024.