Around 175 sites across British Columbia were recognized as key to the persistence of global biodiversity at the recent CoP15 nature negotiations in Montreal, including a local site.

These sites, called Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), are evaluated using international criteria that recognize special areas that support rare and threatened species and ecosystems, and areas of importance within the life cycles of certain species, such as migratory stopover sites, hibernacula and spawning sites.

KBAs are a scientifically rigorous tool for identifying the most critical places for nature, and can help governments and organizations to direct resources to areas where they will have the biggest conservation impact. British Columbia has around 175 sites that have been recognized as KBAs or candidate KBAs.

Locally, the Yaq̓it – Tobacco Plains KBA lies in the Rocky Mountain Trench just east of Koocanusa Reservoir between the McGillivray Range of the Purcell Mountains to the west and the Galton Range of the Rocky Mountains to the east, outlined the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

“The KBA occurs in the Kootenay very dry, very hot Interior Douglas-fir Biogeoclimatic Zone variant (IDFxx2). This variant is typified by open forests of Ponderosa Pine and interior Douglas-fir with grasslands of Columbian needlegrass, Richardson’s needlegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass and Idaho fescue. These grasslands are threatened by invasive plants, primarily sulphur cinquefoil, cheatgrass and common St. John’s wort and forest ingrowth and encroachment resulting from fire suppression. This KBA is more typical of the Palouse Prairie (ECCC 2017; Hill and Gray 2004) ecosystem than other grassland or open forest ecosystems in the region.”

The KBA Canada team hosted an event at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (CoP15) in the Canada Pavilion, entitled Key Biodiversity Areas — a tool for effective biodiversity conservation in Canada (watch the recording here). This panel event brought together leaders and partners of the KBA Canada initiative to demonstrate how this collaborative project is assembling biodiversity data and knowledge to identify all KBAs in Canada, and presented the progress made to date.

WCS Canada has been working with other members of the KBA Canada Secretariat (Birds Canada, NatureServe Canada) along with local conservation organizations, citizen scientists, and Indigenous Nations across Canada, to identify KBAs using a global standard developed under the international KBA program, which is overseen by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Key Biodiversity Areas provide an opportunity to identify some of the best natural areas in the province and raise awareness of these unique species and ecosystems.

WCS Canada’s mission is to save wildlife and wild places through science, conservation action, education, and by inspiring people to value nature. WCS Canada is a member of the global Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) working across the globe in more than 60 countries to save wildlife and wild places.

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