White Lake Grasslands Protected Area is bigger now, thanks to an “ecological gift” from Oliver resident Denis Pelletier, pictured here.

Pelletier donated the 24.6-hectare property, valued at $475,000, to the Province in memory of his late parents who passed away in the early 1980s. The property is located in an area the Province classified as the Ponderosa Pine Biogeoclimatic Zone. This is one of four zones that are of provincial conservation concern. It is rare (less than one per cent of the provincial land base) and listed by B.C.’s Conservation Data Centre (CDC) as being of “special concern” due to high losses – 21 per cent has been converted for human use such as residential development and agriculture.The CDC reports 192 species potentially inhabit this site. Of those, several nationally listed species at risk are known to inhabit the site, based on CDC and Ministry of Environment records.

 

These include:

 

• Snakes – Western rattlesnake, gopher snake, racer.
• Amphibians – Great Basin spadefoot.
• Birds – white-headed woodpecker.

 

 

The Province is installing a bench on the property in recognition of Pelletier’s parents.

Thanks to Shannon Ford for this picture