Let us take you to the first Nature Trust conservation property – Grand Forks, 196 hectares of rolling, dry grassy hills, protected since 1972.

Walk through the long dry grasses and over the scattered rocky outcrops. See majestic bighorn sheep across the hills.

Watch the brilliant yellow leaves tremble against the stark white bark of the aspen trees, with warblers and sparrows flitting in between.

Hear the babbling of Morrissey Creek, shrouded in a riparian forest. Take a careful step, but be mindful of the at-risk Western Rattlesnakes, Gopher Snakes and North American Racers that might be slithering in the grass.

Be startled by endangered American Badger popping its fluffy head out of a burrow in the ground. Over there, a herd of deer, maybe white-tail or mule.

Watch as the sun begins setting in the distance, painting the sky pinks and purples and tingeing the hills golden. This is the natural history of the land. This is the beginning of the conservation legacy of The Nature Trust of BC.

“NTBC property number 1! The first purchase by NTBC spans 196 hectares of grasslands just outside the town of Grand Forks. 50 years later NTBC continues to protect BC grasslands.” – Nick Burdock, Okanagan Conservation Land Manager, NTBC

Facts

  • Grand Forks is The Nature Trust of BC’s first property acquisition. It was purchased in 1972 to conserve low elevation grasslands and ungulate winter range.

At-risk species in this area include:

  • Red-listed: Idaho fescue – bluebunch wheatgrass – silky lupine – junegrass; and bluebunch wheatgrass – junegrass;
  • Blue-listed: compact selaginella – bluebunch wheatgrass – small-flowered blue-eyed Mary
  • Red-listed American badger and Blue-listed immaculate green hairstreak
  • North American racer, western rattlesnake, gopher snake, Lewis’s woodpecker, and Bighorn sheep.