Host Peter McCully welcomes Dr. Jasper Lament, CEO of the Nature Trust of BC to the podcast to talk about the preservation of 15 hectares of ecologically valuable habitat along the Little Qualicum River.

Lament says this is the first property that the Nature Trust BC has protected on the Little Qualicum River.

‘We've been conserving land across BC since 1971 and since the 1980’s we've been protecting lands along the nearby Englishman River. But this was our very first acquisition on the Little Qualicum River, so it attracted some people that we've never engaged with before, and we were just thrilled that the number of new supporters who came forward and the amount of excited members of the community who wanted to see this property protected for the natural values that it provides. We had hundreds of people come forward to support this project.’

The property is located in the Coastal Douglas Fir bio geomatic zone, a highly threatened species at risk, with only 11% of it in BC being conserved to date.

McCully asked Lament if there are there other properties in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area of interest to the Nature Trust.

‘We're always looking to expand our existing conservation land complexes, and especially in that Englishman River watershed area, which scores among the highest ecological values in the province. It's a really important area for biodiversity. It's a really high priority for the Nature Trust of B.C., so we're always talking to landowners to see if there's an opportunity to work together to protect their lands. This is our third project in last than two years in the Parksville Qualicum area and we've just been so excited about interest in land conservation there and we can't wait to tackle the next project.’

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