News

GIVE GREEN, GIVE LOCAL

December 1st 2010

This holiday season the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) is offering Columbia Valley residents an opportunity to give the gift of nature. NCC and Kicking Horse Coffee are teaming up to raise local funds in order to secure a key conservation property in the Columbia Valley.

NCC has a valuable opportunity to purchase one of the last unprotected parcels of private land on the western benchland above Columbia Lake. Marion Creek Benchlands is a 204 hectare property that bridges two existing conservation areas. Its protection will safeguard an unbroken natural corridor that spans more than 30 square kilometres. The area provides critical winter range to elk, deer and other wildlife, and is home to endangered species such as badger and Lewis’s woodpecker. The property represents all that is special about low-elevation grasslands and open forests in the Columbia Valley.

“Marion Creek Benchlands is a beautiful and important conservation property,” says Nancy Newhouse, NCC’s Canadian Rocky Mountains Program Manager. “The residents of the Columbia Valley and nearby communities understand the importance of keeping the natural heritage of this area intact so that it can continue to be used by wildlife as well as the people who live here. I am excited to work with Kicking Horse Coffee and our community to help create a legacy for future generations.”

NCC must raise $1.7 million by June 20, 2011 to protect Marion Creek Benchlands. Through the month of December, NCC will work with Kicking Horse Coffee to promote and highlight the project at the Kicking Horse Café.

NCC staff will be on-hand at the Kicking Horse Café on December 16th from 8:30am -1:00pm to answer any questions the public may have about the project.

There are many ways to donate to help protect Marion Creek Benchlands:

• Send or drop off donations at NCC’s Invermere office above Frater Landing
• Call 250-342-5521 to donate directly by phone
• Pick up a donation form at the Kicking Horse Café 
• Donate in person to NCC staff on December 16 at the café

Through this local fundraising campaign, NCC hopes to engage and involve residents in the private land conservation process.

Kicking Horse Coffee has been supporting NCC’s efforts in the Elk Valley and Upper Columbia River Valley in British Columbia since NCC opened a local office in Invermere in 2001. Their generous support, both financially and at the community level, has enabled NCC to work more effectively in the Canadian Rockies Ecoregion. “Our coffee company may be small, but our focus on global sustainability impacts has always been big” says Leo Johnson, Kicking Horse Coffee co-founder, with partner Elana Rosenfeld.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is a private, non-profit organization working for the direct protection of Canada's biodiversity through the purchase, donation, or placing of conservation easements on ecologically significant lands. Within the Canadian Rockies, NCC provides crucial protection for over 100, 000 hectares of land, including rare at-risk grasslands, unusual geological formations and mountain habitat.

For more information about Marion Creek Benchlands and the NCC’s conservation work in British Columbia, visit www.natureconservancy.ca/bc 

MCB Campaign pdf - 189KB

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