The Capital Regional District is adding more land to the parks system -- spending $6.5-Million from the Land Acquisition Fund to buy 2 properties.
One is an 81 hectare piece of forested land made up of 5 lots, which cost $5.5-million. It's next to Thetis Lake and Francis/King Regional Parks in the Pike Lake area. The land will increase connectivity between the parks, and has riparian and wetland habitats draining into Craigflower Creek, as well as significant patches of old-growth and mature second-growth forest.
The purchase also includes conservation covenants on some adjacent lands, and options to buy additional land surrounding Pike Lake.
The second property was purchased for $1-million -- it's a 68 hectare parcel of forested land surrounded by Sea to Sea and Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Parks. It's also within the Jack Lake/Waugh Creek watershed, and completes a protected area between Crabapple Lake and Jack Lake, an important wildlife area.
Since the Land Acquisition Fund was established in 2000 the CRD and its partners have acquired more than 4,200 hectares of land valued at $58.7 million -- growing the regional park system from 82-hundred hectares to more than 13-thousand hectares.