Photo: BC Parks Foundation

BC Parks Foundation has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise an additional $1 million to purchase and protect an area of grasslands in Juniper.

An anonymous donor has kicked in $50,000 to support BC Parks Foundation in its effort to protect 209 hectares of grasslands near Juniper Ridge.

In a news release, BC Parks Foundation said it is about a quarter of the way to raising $1 million to complete its purchase of the land. It has already managed to raise $3.6 million to buy the property, which it says came up for sale by a private owner on MLS this winter.

Campaign donors, who have helped raise more than $255,000, are issuing challenges to other residents to pitch in as well.

“I feel any way we can protect the grasslands is going to be an absolute winner for everybody,” said the anonymous donor in a statement provided to the BC Parks Foundation.

According to the foundation, this donor wanted to help protect an area she “values deeply” since moving to the area in the 1970s, and she is putting out a call for others in Kamloops to match her contribution.

“Nature is what we need to be protecting because it does nothing but give back to us,” she said.

Sharman Learie, who moved to Kamloops three decades ago, said he was also drawn to the grasslands that will be protected through this project.

“One of the things I love in those grassland zones is when the wind blows and how the landscape becomes really dynamic and comes to life,” Learie said. “It’s like a symphony or the sound of waves.”

According to the BC Parks Foundation, Learie has donated $5,000 to the campaign and is also extending a challenge for other community members to contribute.

“We need to all step up to protect these enclaves of nature,” he said.

The BC Parks Foundation said it has a goal of protecting the 209-hectare corridor to help conserve the grasslands, which are now considered to be at risk.

The grasslands, which the foundation says covers less than 1 per cent of B.C., is home to threatened species like bighorn sheep, badgers and butterflies.

More information about the fundraising campaign can be found here.