KOOTENAY NATIONAL PARK – Parks Canada has partnered with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to protect land around Kootenay National Park.
The Landscape Resiliency Program is a $30-million effort to conserve up to 30,000 hectares near national parks, connecting habitats and creating protected buffers around parks, with the federal agency and Canada’s largest non-profit conservation organization each kicking in $15 million.
Details on what land or conservation opportunities are being considered near Kootenay National Park are not yet being shared.
Parks Canada and Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) officials say they first want to evolve the strategy and then they will be in a better position to speak about the local implications and impact that this agreement will have in and around Kootenay National Park.
“(We) will work together to determine the area-based conservation strategy for each park, and identify prospective properties, which conservation mechanisms will be used, the timing of these projects, and the management strategy for the region,” states an email from Parks Canada national media office.
NCC will leverage Parks Canada’s $15 million investment by matching funds to protect buffer zones and wildlife corridors by working with Indigenous Nations, local communities, property owners and other partners.
Aside from Kootenay National Park, other national parks in the program include Waterton Lakes National Park; Grasslands National Parkin Saskatchewan; Thousand Islands, Bruce Peninsula and Point Pelee national parks in Ontario; Quebec's La Mauricie National Park; Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick and Kejimkujik National Park & National Historic Site in Nova Scotia.
NCC officials say these areas will be conserved through a variety of ways, such as land purchases, donations, agreements with landowners and tools such as other effective area-based conservation measures.
Catherine Grenier, NCC president and CEO, said this initiative builds on the non-profit organization’s longstanding relationship with Parks Canada to address the impacts of the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
“Nature knows no bounds; neither should we,” she said in a press release.
“Through partnership, expertise and perseverance, we will conserve critical habitat for the plants and animals we cherish, and ecosystem services that benefit all communities.”
According to Parks Canada, this funding supports Canada’s progress toward achieving its ambitious target of protecting biodiversity and conserving 30 per cent of land and inland waters and 30 per cent of marine and coastal areas by 2030.
NCC has contributed to the protection of more than 15 million hectares of nature across the country over its 61-year history – more than one million in the last two years alone.
