Conservation groups have acquired about 50 hectares of land on Galiano for preservation.
The Galiano Conservancy Association has purchased a 47-hectare parcel of Quadra Hill on Galiano Island that will help connect a corridor of protected habitats on the island stretching from Trincomali Channel to the Strait of Georgia.
The group said that the acquisition of the two ecologically significant areas was possible only due to key partnerships developed over the years.
Galiano Conservancy Association development coordinator Martine Paulin said that when the property was listed for sale in late 2021, Vancouver-based Aqueduct Foundation held the land as interim owner until the conservancy was able to raise the $800,000 needed for purchasing the land for conservation purposes.
The purchase was completed with the help of an opportunity grant from the Islands Trust Conservancy, contributions from Sitka Foundation, Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and private donors, and financial support from the federal government’s Department of Environment and Climate Change.
The conservancy also announced that it is stewarding 4.2 hectares of coastal Douglas fir forest and Garry oak bluff habitat adjacent to Mount Sutil Nature Sanctuary on behalf of the B.C. Parks Foundation, which bought the land last September for $300,000.
In 2022, the Galiano Conservancy Association and The Nature Trust of B.C. banded together to purchase 26.5 hectares of waterfront property at Cable Bay — known traditionally as Qw’xwulwis to Hul’qumi’num-speaking peoples — for conservation.
Formed in 1989, the Galiano Conservancy Association is one of B.C.’s oldest community-based land trusts for ecological preservation.
Galiano Island, which lies within the coastal Douglas fir biogeoclimatic zone, enjoys a network of connected conservation areas totalling about 500 hectares.
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