Description:
From 2019 to 2026, the Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners, through the Kootenay Connect initiative, implemented multi-species conservation actions across the Columbia Valley to protect Species at Risk, secure critical habitat, and improve landscape connectivity. These efforts combined targeted habitat inventories, regulatory habitat protection, stewardship actions, and infrastructure assessments to support long-term species persistence in one of BC’s most ecologically significant valley bottom landscapes. Between 2021 and February 2026, a total of 13 Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHAs), representing 718.1 hectares, and 1,258 Wildlife Habitat Features (WHFs)—including 1,255 functional American Badger burrow clusters and three Mountain Goat mineral licks—were approved or submitted to the Province of British Columbia.

Keywords: species at risk; inventory; restoration; critical habitat; Wildlife Habitat Areas; Wildlife Habitat Features

Authors:

Organization: Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners

Category: Species at Risk

Focal Area: Columbia Wetlands

Resource Type: Report

Year: 2026