Environment minister Terry Lake announces additions to the Lac du Bois protected areas while MLA Kevin Krueger looks on.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
April 04, 2013 - 4:13 PM
By Jennifer Stahn
Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area now encompasses nearly 16,000 hectares of lakes and grasslands after the province identified additional areas as sensitive grasslands and critical for wildlife.
Environment minister Terry Lake made the announcement Thursday morning, outlining the need to enlarge the protected area of Lac du Bois and the adjacent Dewdrop Rosseau Creek Wildlife Management Area to better preserve the “small lakes, forests and wonderful grasslands.”
Established in 1996, adding to the protected area will help to build a legacy, Lake said, “now we're protecting them forever.”
Peter Weilandt, a regional planner for B.C. Parks, spoke about the planning process and gave praise to the province for “the high level of positive energy put in to (the project), for recognizing the value in grasslands.”
Along with the addition of expanded boundaries a number of administrative corrections to the area are being made, adding small pieces of land to the protected area. In total 1,385 hectares have been added to the protected area while the wildlife management area saw an increase of 1,478 hectares, filling the gap between the two areas.
The purchase of the wildlife management additions were originally done with the help of the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.
British Columbia has the highest percentage of land base dedicated to protected areas of any provinces and has the third largest protected areas system on the continent. In total 14.3 per cent of the provincial land base - or nearly 14-million hectares - are part of the 1,030 provincial parks, recreation sites, conservancies, ecological reserves or protected areas.
To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca or call (250) 819-3723.
Additions to the Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area and Dewdrop-Rosseau Creek Wildlife Management Area.
Image Credit: SOURCE/B.C. Parks
News from © iNFOnews, 2013