This grassland-open forest corridor with scattered wetlands and riparian areas is located between Kimberley and Cranbrook, BC. The Wycliffe Corridor includes Luke Creek Wildlife Corridor and Pine Butte Ranch Conservation Area, in addition to Teck Cominco lands and working ranches.
Currently there are private conservation lands owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Nature Trust of BC and FLNRORD that form the Wycliffe Conservation Complex. The Wycliffe Corridor is part of the Ponderosa Pine biogeoclimatic zone that supports a mosaic of plant communities with biological richness and rarity, as well as significant populations of rare and endangered species. The montane grassland component of the corridor provides some different habitat associations than the other riparian-wetland corridors within the Kootenay Connect Focal Areas; however, there are scattered riparian areas on smaller creeks as well as the St. Mary’s River that support songbirds, reptiles, and amphibians.
Groups engaged in conserving and managing biodiversity and habitat connectivity in the Wycliffe Corridor include: Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society, Rocky Mountain Trench Ecosystem Restoration program, Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Nature Trust of BC, ʔaq̓am, FLNRORD and FWCP. For Kootenay Connect, the lead organizations in this corridor are the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Nature Trust of BC.
Year 2 Highlights
The highlights from Kootenay Connect project work completed in the Wycliffe Corridor for Year 2 (2020-21) are listed below.
Video: Wycliffe Conservation Complex Grassland & Range Use Management
An overview by the Nature Conservancy of Canada of the work being done to preserve important grasslands in the Wycliffe Conservation Complex.
Video: Wycliffe Conservation Complex Invasive Species Management
An overview by the Nature Trust of BC of the invasive species management taking place on the Wycliffe Conservation Complex.
Report: Grassland health assessments and range use plan for the Wycliffe Conservation Complex
The Wycliffe Conservation Complex encompasses 1109 hectares (2740 acres) of ecologically significant grasslands and forested habitat in the southern Rocky Mountain Trench, and is conserved and managed in a partnership between the Nature Conservancy of Canada, The Nature Trust of BC, and the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. Throughout the complex, a mosaic of native grassland, open forest and closed forest provide a variety of habitat types to a suite of wildlife, including several species-at-risk. The goal of this project was to complete grassland and range health assessments to inform a grassland management plan and range use plan on the Wycliffe Conservation Complex.
Report: Invasive Species Management
The second year of this project (2020-21) has included both planning and stewardship projects. CBT funds were used to complete a Management Plan, a Recreation Management Plan and an Effectiveness Monitoring and Maintenance Plan. The Partners were able to invest some of their internal funds into a number of activities on the Complex including legal surveys, boundary fence replacement and the creation of public access/parking, for example. Federal funding allocated to NCC via Kootenay Connect was used to hire consultants to develop a Grassland Management Plan and a Range Use Management Plan for the Complex. NTBC’s funding allocation through Kootenay Connect was directed to several invasive species management activities for the Complex, which are detailed in this written report.
Report: Wycliffe Conservation Property Complex Invasive Plant Treatment
This report provides information on areas that received treatments for noxious and invasive plants on the Wycliffe Conservation Property Complex. Within treatment areas, species treated, types of treatment performed (i.e., chemical or mechanical, and boom spray or hose reel), and monitoring notes specific to treatment completion and efficacy have been highlighted. Further details on the invasive plant inventory, management techniques, and recommendations for continued management activities are included in the Wycliffe Conservation Property Complex Invasive Species Management Plan (EKISC, 2021).
Map: Wycliffe Conservation Complex Grassland Health Assessment
This map provides a vegetation polygon health assessment with five categories.
Year 1 Highlights
The highlights from Kootenay Connect project work completed in the Wycliffe Corridor for Year 1 (2019-20) are listed below.
Video: Habitat Restoration for Species at Risk
An overview of this project that aims to restore key habitats for species at risk – in particular Lewis’s Woodpecker and American Badger – that are being lost due to wildlife suppression resulting in forest in-growth in the Wycliffe Conservation Complex.
Video: Williamson’s Sapsuckers Habitat Enhancement Assessment
Overview of the habitat assessment project for Williamson’s Sapsuckers in the Wycliffe Conservation Complex.
Map: Wycliffe Available Data for Corridor Identification
This map provides an overview of the available data for wildlife corridor identification in the study area.
Map: Wycliffe Cumulative Impacts
This map shows the cumulative impacts in the Wycliffe study area.
Map: Wycliffe Wildlife Corridor Arrows
This map shows the location of the principal wildlife corridor in the Wycliffe study area.