Lake Country open to idea of eastern wildlife corridor

Proposed new wildlife corridors hundreds of metres wide that link parks and other natural areas strike Lake Country town councillors as an intriguing idea.

The proposed routing of one such corridor through Lake Country is already in an area that’s unlikely to ever be developed, Mayor James Baker says.

“The corridor would be at the very eastern edge of our municipality, on high-elevation grasslands where there’s not going to be any development,” Baker said Thursday.

“We understand the necessity of helping to create protected areas that will help promote the free movement of all critters,” Baker said.

At Tuesday’s town council meeting, researchers from UBC Okanagan promoted the notion of “ecosystem connectivity,” which aims to create dozens of new wildlife corridors between undisturbed natural areas in the Okanagan.

One such corridor would run from Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park south of Kelowna to Lake Country.

The proposed corridor, 500 metres wide, would be located well to the east of Kelowna’s main urbanized areas, at a high elevation.

It would provide a protected north-south movement route for species on the east side of Okanagan Lake, the UBCO researchers say, traversing mainly grassland and forests.

Among other creatures, the corridor would be traversed by bears, cougars, deer, elk, goats, moose, sheep and wolves, the researchers say.

“Connected natural areas ensure that species can move across landscapes,” states a UBCO publication from 2016.

“Ecosystem connectivity is essential for helping wildlife move about the landscape to find food, shelter, water, mates that are not closely related, and an escape route if danger threatens them,” the document says.

Natural patterns of wildlife movement have been affected or disrupted by roads, utility corridors, and residential and commercial development.

Since human settlement began in the Okanagan, the UBCO researchers say, the valley has lost 90 per cent of its wetlands and 60 per cent of its gentle-sloped grasslands.