Thunder Hill Ranch (Nature Conservancy of Canada): Thunder Hill Ranch is a large, operational ranch in the upper Columbia Valley, located on the shores of Columbia Lake. In 2004, this 600-hectare (1,480-acre) property became the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s first ranching-conservation partnership project in BC. The area provides critical winter range for elk, deer, and bighorn sheep, and provides habitat for various at-risk species such as American badger and Lewis’s woodpecker.