Image Credit: BC Parks Foundation

By Victor Kaisar

BC Parks Donations

Crowdfunding campaign to buy and protect land in Juniper Ridge hits milestone

Mar 10, 2025 | 10:24 AM

KAMLOOPS — The group behind a crowdfunding campaign to protect an area within City of Kamloops limits say they’ve raised their first quarter-million dollars.

The BC Parks Foundation says it has raised just over $255,000 in its quest for $1 million to buy 517 acres of private property behind the Juniper Ridge and Rose Hill neighbourhoods of Kamloops.

In a news release Monday (March 10), the BC Parks Foundation says an anonymous Kamloops resident has donated $50,000 toward the cause, and is “challenging others to step up and match her donation.”

“I feel any way we can protect the grasslands is going to be an absolute winner for everybody,” says this anonymous donor. “Nature is what we need to be protecting because it does nothing but give back to us.”

Another donor, Sharman Learie, contributed $5,000 and is also challenging others to donate.

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“We need to all step up to protect these enclaves of nature,” Learie, who moved to Kamloops 30 years ago, said in the release.

“One of the things I love in those grassland zones is when the wind blows and how the landscape becomes really dynamic and comes to life. It is like a symphony or the sound of waves.”

The BC Parks Foundation says by buying the land in Kamloops, it will help conserve the grasslands which cover less than one per cent of the province.

“These grasslands are also home to more than 30 per cent of BC’s threatened species, including bighorn sheep, badgers and butterflies,” the BC Parks Foundation said. “This ecosystem is also important for producing clean air and water which is vital to our health.”

The BC Parks Foundation says while the land has a price tag of more than $5 million, it has most of the money in place already. It also notes that an anonymous donor has pledged to match $1-million if people help chip in to raise a similar amount.

You can find more about the crowdfunding campaign on the BC Parks Foundation website.