Restoring and Protecting Habitat in the Kootenay River Ranch
Grassland habitat is disappearing across North America. This once abundant ecosystem is being lost due to increasing agricultural demands and intensifying urban sprawl, threatening the survival of the plant and animal species that rely on it. Besides providing habitat, grasslands offer a number of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, erosion control, and food for grazing animals – which is why it’s so important we protect them.
Project Animals
Bighorn Sheep
Bighorn sheep are iconic mountain mammals, named for their distinctive spiral horns. They’re known for scaling cliffs with ease, but the grassland habitat found at the base of the mountains they inhabit is equally important, providing them with much of the forage they rely on to survive.
American Badger
The American badger is an elusive member of the weasel family, found mostly in open grasslands and shrublands across North America. Unfortunately, this habitat is being lost to increasing agricultural demands and intensifying urban sprawl, and the American badger is now considered Endangered in British Columbia and Ontario.
Meet the Team!
Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC)
Earth Rangers is working with the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) on a project that will protect and restore the Kootenay River Ranch, a 1 600 hectare conservation area that’s home to some of Canada’s most iconic – and endangered – animals. The property contains a mix of habitat types, from open forests to ponds and even wetlands, but most importantly it contains a 700 acre stretch of prime grassland. About 25% of the property has already been improved thanks to restoration efforts, and NCC is working hard to return the remaining space back to its characteristic open landscape. By doing things like thinning dense forest thickets and planning low intensity, controlled burns, careful land management will help give the animals that live in the Kootenay River Ranch a safe place to call home for years to come.
