Image Credit: BC Parks Foundation

By Dylana Kneeshaw

BC PARKS FOUNDATION

Community crowdfunding underway for conservation purchase in Juniper Ridge

Feb 19, 2025 | 4:35 PM

KAMLOOPS — Community members who frequent nature parks and other walkable areas around Kamloops are putting out a call for donations. They’re working with the BC Parks Foundation to purchase 517 acres of land behind the Juniper Ridge and Rose Hill neighbourhoods.

The Kamloops Naturalist Club, local representation of the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC and other Kamloops residents want to see the land protected to conserve the existing grasslands, vegetation and wildlife that frequent the area.

“It is something that has some really good values from a nature point of view. Thirty or more species of birds can be seen in the morning up there,” says Tom Dickinson, the chair of the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC.

The parcels are currently private property within city limits and carry a price tag of more than $5 million, but the foundation has raised most of the funding already, with an anonymous donor pledging to match $1 million if people in the community can chip in to make up the final $1 million.

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“I mean, this property in particular is just so special because it’s such a rare grassland ecosystem and it is present in less than one per cent of the province,” explains BC Parks Foundation Vice-President Jennie McCaffrey. “Every little bit that we can protect, it’s so important to do that.”

According to the foundation, among this type of grassland are more than 30 per cent of BC’s threatened wildlife species.

“It’s a really neat place to go out,” adds Dickinson. “You can go out and see almost anything that’s typical of the nature in this area right there.”

With that in mind, the Kamloops group says if it is able to raise the final amount to complete the purchase, its goal would be to prevent future development of the site and conserve at-risk grasslands.

“It has been a working ranch in the past, and it has been a pretty big playground out there, as well, for people because it’s so accessible right off of Rose Hill Road,” said Dickinson. “I think it has a huge value for education. I hope with the grasslands council that I’m part of, we’ll be able to look at restoration and education about the values of grassland habitats.”

The crowdfunding campaign kickstarted this month and more information on the property or how to contribute can be found on the BC Parks Foundation website.