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Something big this way comes says NCC
By Chris Conway
Nancy Newhouse appeared before District of Invermere council Jan. 12 to give a presentation on behalf of The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).
Newhouse told council that NCC’s mission is to protect areas of natural diversity for their intrinsic value and for the benefit of our children and those after them.
“We work across Canada,” said Newhouse. “But right here in the Kootenays is probably the most active area in the country, in part because we live in a place where we still have naturally functioning systems. We have all of our carnivores here, we have all of our ungulates here. It’s such a privilege to live in this landscape and be surrounded by nature much the same as it was when people first came.”
Newhouse spoke about the socio-economic benefits of NCC’s office in Inveremere. Currently there are five NCC staff and their families living and working in Invermere. Most of those positions could be based elsewhere but are located here by the choice of the staff members themselves.
“We hire a lot of contractors for the work on our lands,” said Newhouse. “It’s probably not how you would normally think of NCC, but it’s a pretty significant economic driver.”
Newhouse then briefed council on a major new conservation project in the Columbia Valley.
“We are really doing something significant on an international scale here,” she explained.
Both Newhouse and Mayor Gerry Taft requested local media in attendance to withhold publication of the project’s details until the NCC coordinates approval of a press release with the federal government. She stated that the federal election and change of government had delayed the formal announcement, which is expected by the end of January.
Lead image: NCC has done significant work in the East Kootenay, including to help preserve Lot 48 near Fairmont Hot Springs.
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