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<\/p>\nCommonly known as the Jackass Mountain and \u201cAcross the River\u201d properties, the foundation says the land purchases secure two of the last remaining private inholdings within the proposed IPCA. Together, they close key gaps in a high-priority conservation landscape contiguous with the Stein Valley Heritage Park, strengthening landscape connectivity and reinforcing the long-term integrity of the broader conservation area. They also protect ecosystems with critical importance for species recovery. The \u201cAcross the River\u201c parcels include a key low-elevation habitat along the Fraser River, in the range of the imperilled Stein\u2013Nahatlatch grizzly bear population. <\/p>\n
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The Jackass Mountain lands fall within federally identified\/designated critical habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl, considered essential to the species\u2019 recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross the River\u201d consists of five contiguous parcels near Kwoiek Creek on the west side of the Fraser River, where an exceptional range of ecosystems comes together; old-growth Douglas-fir, cedar, and cottonwood forest, ponderosa pine and juniper woodlands, and a wetland\u2013riparian complex fed by a waterfall and active beaver ponds.<\/p>\n
Jackass Mountain features four adjoining parcels on steep, west-facing slopes above the Fraser River, in a rare transition zone where wet- and dry-adapted forests meet. The area protects mature and old stands of Douglas-fir, western redcedar, bigleaf maple, ponderosa pine, Canada\u2019s largest documented Rocky Mountain juniper, as well as dry-belt grassland patches.<\/p>\n
Pioneering conservation agreements registered on title
The foundation says each property will be re-gifted to Kanaka Bar and protected by a pioneering conservation agreement registered on title, designed to reflect Kanaka Bar\u2019s vision for conservation and stewardship and to align with the IPCA framework. The agreements will make sure that Kanaka Bar owns and governs the lands, with uses guided by community priorities and cultural stewardship, while placing legally binding conservation protections on title. A dedicated stewardship endowment tied to each property will provide long-term care and monitoring to support stewardship for generations.<\/p>\n
The stewardship endowment: strong protection requires long-term funding
Long-term protection depends on long-term stewardship. These private lands will be supported by a dedicated stewardship endowment tied to the properties, set at 30% of land value. NBSF has already secured over 50% of the stewardship endowment required for these private lands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re proud to be closing in on the funding we committed to ensure the protection and stewardship of both the private lands and the unceded crown lands within the 320km\u00b2 proposed protected area of the Kanaka Bar Band,\u201d said Emilie Carri\u00e8re, National Conservation Director, Nature-Based Solutions Foundation. \u201cThese ecosystems are among the least represented in BC\u2019s protected-area system. They support multiple species at risk and include rare interior Douglas-fir old-growth forests, which are also of great cultural significance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Commonly known as the Jackass Mountain and \u201cAcross the River\u201d properties, the foundation says the land purchases secure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,44937,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-483556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chilliwack-news-fraser-valley-abbotsford-weather-traffic-lower-mainland-fvt","11":"tag-vancouver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}