The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is Canada's leading land conservation organization. It is a private, non-profit organization, dedicated to preserving the diversity of nature. The organization acquires and cares for ecologically sensitive land through purchase, donation, or conservation easements. Since 1962 the Nature Conservancy of Canada and its partners have helped to protect more than 2 million acres (809,371 hectares) of land and wetlands. This is an area nearly one and a half times the size of the province of Prince Edward Island.

In July 2008 the Nature Conservancy of Canada announced the largest single private land conservation initiative in Canadian history - the Darkwoods project. Located in southeastern British Columbia, Darkwoods is a 550 square kilometre property which provides habitat for many species at risk, including an endangered herd of Mountain Caribou.

In 2006, Roberta Langtry made a posthumous donation to NCC of more than $4.3-million Canadian dollars.

NCC is not organizationally related to The Nature Conservancy, which is based in the United States.

Contents 1 History 2 Determining what lands to save 3 Acquiring the Land 4 What happens once land is secured? 5 NCC Milestones 6 Get Involved 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) was founded over 45 years ago by a group of committed citizens acting together to protect Canada’s precious places through private action. That vision has since yielded results that Canadians can walk on: tracts of rare native grasslands, majestic centuries-old forests, precious coastal and wetland habitats, all teeming with beautiful and rare wildlife.

Since 1962, NCC has protected more than two million acres (over 800,000 hectares) of land across the country.

It was in Toronto in the early 1960s that a group of committed individuals, members of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, realized that unless action was taken soon to protect natural spaces, the accelerating rhythms of a booming economy would soon consume much of the most ecologically significant land in Canada.

In November 1962, the Government of Canada issued letters patent for the establishment of a private science-driven not-for-profit corporation to be called the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), with the purpose of acquiring ecologically important lands and protecting them in perpetuity. Its founders were Bruce Falls, Aird Lewis, Antoon deVos, David Fowle, Bill Gunn and John Livingston.

Although NCC’s work focused initially on southern Ontario, it was intended from the outset that the organization should become national in scope. The 1970s saw the launch of regional offices in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, followed by an office in Saskatchewan in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the Alberta office’s conservation work began to extend to Northern Canada.

As NCC expanded across the country, it also expanded its understanding of Canada’s conservation challenges and the contributions it could make. This was supported by an opening up of the public understanding of environmental issues that took place in the 1980s, helping to build support for a radical new conservation concept among ecologists and land use planners. Instead of restricting its attention solely to the conservation of single properties, NCC began to embrace the idea of doing ecological planning on a landscape scale.

The shift was epitomized by a bold NCC initiative in Quebec called "Un fleuve, Un parc" (One River, One Park), which sought to incorporate 200 of the most biologically rich islands in the St. Lawrence River from Montreal to the Lake Saint-Pierre archipelago. This project helped to establish a conservation model for other landscape-scale projects throughout the country, such as the 27,000-acre (10,927-hectare) Waterton Park Front Project in Alberta (one of the largest private conservation initiatives in Canadian history), the 11,000 acre Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, and the Bay of Fundy in Atlantic Canada, where NCC is a leading partner in an initiative to protect the critical staging and feeding grounds for millions of migrating shorebirds. In December 2003, NCC reintroduced 50 Plains Bison to its prairie flagship project, Old Man on his Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area.

Today, landscape ecological assessment, or ecoregional planning, is a central element in NCC’s commitment to a science-based conservation program. Its professional science team has published a series of Conservation Blueprints to determine which are the highest-priority sites for conservation in each ecoregion. To date, NCC has completed Conservation Blueprints for Canada’s southern ecoregions, where the human footprint is heaviest and where conservation is most urgent.

NCC and its partners have made great strides to preserve this country’s natural masterpieces, but the job is nowhere near finished. Protecting the best of natural Canada is an ongoing challenge; one that requires a continued commitment and determination to ensure that all of Canada’s important natural places receive the protection they deserve.

[edit] Determining what lands to save

When deciding what lands to protect, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) bases its decisions on sound conservation science. NCC works with a cross-country network of local ecologists and scientific volunteer advisors to help set priorities for its conservation work.

Part of NCC's approach is to draft Conservation Blueprints for Canada's natural geographic regions. These help identify priority landscapes where NCC and its partners can focus their conservation efforts. The blueprints also document the sites that, if conserved, would secure the long-term survival of viable natural species and community types of the ecoregion.

Conservation Blueprints for each of Canada’s southern ecoregions have been completed. These will be used to highlight core areas for conservation and set goals for how much land should be conserved in order to ensure sustainability in the long term.

A key result has been NCC’s move toward targeting entire landscapes for conservation. This ensures that NCC is achieving conservation at the scales appropriate to the needs of the targeted species and habitat.

[edit] Acquiring the Land

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) works with private landowners to secure ecologically significant lands that it has identified as priorities for conservation action.

NCC acquires land through:

Outright purchase: NCC purchases a piece of land outright from a private landowner (corporate or individual).

Land donation: NCC receives a donation of land from a private landowner, be it corporate or individual.

Conservation agreement: NCC enters into a legal agreement in which a landowner agrees to the imposition of restrictions on activities that would threaten the ecological value of the land.

Relinquishment of rights: NCC negotiates the relinquishment of land use rights (for example mineral or timber rights) held by a private entity, in order to enable publicly-held land or water to be designated as a protected area.

[edit] What happens once land is secured?

NCC's stewardship goal is to protect, manage and, where appropriate, restore natural areas so they sustain the ecosystems that define them.

Once land is secured, NCC engages in the careful stewardship of the land, including:

• Developing property management plans. Based on detailed inventories of species and habitats, these plans document the condition of the land and identify priority actions needed to protect key species and habitats over the long term.
• Engaging communities and volunteers to help NCC take care of the land.
• Developing formal agreements when lands are transferred or managed by others.
• Monitoring properties on a regular basis to certify that key natural features remain protected.
• Responding to unforeseen threats or issues as they may arise.

[edit] NCC Milestones

1960 The vision takes shape: a group of concerned citizens comes together to help save precious places in Ontario.

1962 The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is established.

1968 NCC embarks on its first successful project — Cavan Swamp and Bog, Ontario.

1970 NCC gets involved at Sight Point, Cape Breton Island — our first project in Atlantic Canada. Wagner Bog, NCC’s first site in Western Canada, becomes a conservation priority.

1972 NCC embarks on the Mud Bay project — our first site in British Columbia.

1973 NCC targets the Réserve écologique de Tantaré — our first property in Quebec.

1978 The "Un fleuve, Un parc" project launches in Quebec — the foundation of NCC’s landscape-scale approach to conservation.

1978 NCC launches the Brokenhead River Forest Reserve — our first project in Manitoba.

1982 The Qu’Appelle Coulee, NCC’s first property in Saskatchewan, is secured.

1989 NCC launches its first project in Canada’s North: the Coal River Springs Ecological Reserve, Yukon.

1992 NCC works with partners to launch the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.

1996 A one-of-a-kind prairie project, the Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area (OMB), is secured in Saskatchewan.

1999 NCC receives international attention for saving Ontario’s Middle Island at the auction block.

2000 NCC launches its first public education and ecotourism centre at Johnson’s Mills, NB, one of North America’s most important stopovers for Semipalmated Sandpipers.

2001 NCC's number of saved properties reaches the 1,000 mark and annual budget reaches almost $40 million.

2002 NCC celebrates its 40th anniversary.

2003 NCC reintroduces 50 Plains Bison to Old Man on His Back.

2004 NCC announces a significant private conservation initiative, in partnership with local ranchers and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation and the Poole Family: the 27,000-acre (10,927-hectare) Waterton Park Front Project in Alberta.

2005 NCC ends the most successful fundraising campaign for conservation in Canada: The Campaign for Conservation: Saving Canada’s Natural Masterpieces, having surpassed its $200-million goal to move conservation forward significantly in this country.

2008 NCC announces the largest single private conservation initiative in Canadian history: the spectacular Darkwoods.

2008 NCC exceeds more than 2 million acres (over 800,000 hectares) of land protected in Canada.

[edit] Get Involved

Conservation Volunteers Conservation Volunteers program engages people in the protection of Canada’s biodiversity while providing a meaningful, hands-on educational experience in ecologically significant natural areas.

The program initially launched in Ontario and was expanded to Alberta in 2007.

Since 2008, it has been rolled out to all provinces, making it Canada's only national outdoor conservation volunteering program.

Each event is designed to contribute to the long-term health of protected areas.

Shell Conservation Internship Program Each summer, NCC offers university and college students an opportunity to put their environmental science knowledge to work on some of Canada’s most precious landscapes, through the Shell Conservation Internship Program (SCIP). Working on some of NCC’s 1,700 properties, these students are contributing to the long-term protection of natural areas and the wildlife species that call them home.

Job sites span all regions of the country, from mountain meadows and prairie grasslands to central woodlands, wetlands and maritime shorelines. Activities range from conducting bird inventories and removing alien invasive plants to mapping threatened species and teaching local communities about conservation.

For NCC, these interns are the conservation leaders of tomorrow and the caretakers of Canada’s natural heritage. For students pursuing careers in ecology, biology or environmental science, these internships offer valuable hands-on experience and a chance to be part of the solution for conserving Canada’s wilderness.

[edit] References

• Teacher kept riches secret, then left charity $4.3-million. Retrieved on September 29, 2006

[edit] External links

• Nature Conservancy of Canada
• NCC on Twitter
• Conservation Volunteers

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