2012 Annual Report - Nature Trust of British Columbia

Nature Trust PropertiesThe Nature Trust of BC’s mandate is to:m Secure habitats of high biodiversity values and atgreatest risk of being lost; andm manage conservation lands as part of landscapes toensure ecosystem resilience and connectivityApproximately 6% of the land base in BC is privatelyowned. This may seem like a small amount of landbut there is a disproportionate number of species andecosystems at risk in the low elevation areas such as valleybottoms and coastal lowlands where most of the privateland is located. Perhaps not surprising because this iswhere most of the people live.This is where The Nature Trust plays a significant roleto acquire and manage private land for conservation.We work in partnership with other conservationorganizations and various levels of government to puttogether land assemblages that will conserve functioningecosystems and ecological processes.Ecological Areas ofConservation ConcernCoastal Lowlands• Coastal Douglas-firDry Interior• Interior Douglas-fir• Ponderosa Pine• BunchgrassThe priority regions (or biogeoclimatic ecosystemclassification zones) for The Nature Trust and where weproactively identify candidate properties to secure are:m Coastal Douglas-fir—ranked exceptional/highm Bunchgrass – ranked highm Ponderosa Pine – ranked highm Interior Douglas-fir—ranked high/medium4 THE NATURE TRUST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA • www.naturetrust.bc.ca