vildmark (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} vildmark) wrote,@ 2008-07-25 10:29:00 |
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Darkwoods
This article upped the ante on a number of my personal fantasies:
-I want to be a duke
-I want to be a guy who owns a 550 square mile estate, regardless of any royal titles I might possess
-I want to be the guy whose job it is to manage an estate like this
-I want to work on conservation purchase projects like this someday
-I want to go to Darkwoods and hang out with the lichen-chewing caribou.
Biodiverse estate bought by conservation group
David Hogben
Vancouver Sun
Friday, July 25, 2008
A German duke's Cold War refuge has been turned into the largest single private conservation project ever undertaken by a non-profit organization in Canada.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada announced in Vancouver Thursday that a 550-square-mile (1,425-square-km) property in southeastern B.C.'s South Selkirk Mountains has been purchased as a conservation area.
NCC president and CEO John Lounds told reporters he had taken an aerial survey of the property and "it was breathtaking."
The property, named Darkwoods by the Duke of Wuerttemberg, features old-growth forests, subalpine meadows, placid valley bottoms, creeks and shoreline along Kootenay Lake and is home to a thriving herd of caribou.
Lounds said the biodiversity on the property is spectacular.
He described one spot where it is possible to reach out and touch a Western red cedar with one hand and a Ponderosa pine with the other. The western red cedar grows best in cool, moist climates while the Ponderosa pine thrives in dry, hot locations.
"Darkwoods is a living laboratory the size of some small countries," Lounds said.
About half the property still has its old-growth forests while parts of the other half have been sustainably logged.
Christian Schadendorf, a forest economist who managed the property for the duke, explained how the property was bought to relieve Cold War anxieties -- the duke could have moved to B.C. if Germany became dangerous for aristocrats -- and then was logged according to German sustainability principles and practices.
He said the duke, now in his 70s, had not visited the property for years.
"The problem is, he quit flying long-distance flights when smoking was banned on aircraft."
Recently, logging has been restricted to trees infected with mountain pine beetle. Areas logged were promptly reforested and unimproved seeds were planted.
Biologist Trevor Kinley said in an interview from his home in Invermere that he was elated by the news of the purchase.
"With this purchase it looks like there is some real hope for this herd of caribou."
He said the herd is one of only a few in B.C. that has seen an increase in numbers. It has increased in size from around 20 to about 46 mountain caribou.
Kinley said the animals in the Darkwoods area are a unique eco-group that depends on old-growth forests for survival.
Unlike other caribou, during winter they feed exclusively on arboreal lichen or Old Man's Beard, which hangs from tree branches. Most other caribou feed by eating vegetation underneath snow.
The Nature Conservancy said the purchase price and the endowment fund necessary to maintain the area require $125 million. The federal government put $25 million toward the cost of the project, but Lounds said another $35 million is needed.
The group is looking for contributions from people who want to support the project.
The property is valued at about $100 million, but the Nature Conservancy would not reveal the purchase price.
This article upped the ante on a number of my personal fantasies:
-I want to be a duke
-I want to be a guy who owns a 550 square mile estate, regardless of any royal titles I might possess
-I want to be the guy whose job it is to manage an estate like this
-I want to work on conservation purchase projects like this someday
-I want to go to Darkwoods and hang out with the lichen-chewing caribou.
Biodiverse estate bought by conservation group
David Hogben
Vancouver Sun
Friday, July 25, 2008
A German duke's Cold War refuge has been turned into the largest single private conservation project ever undertaken by a non-profit organization in Canada.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada announced in Vancouver Thursday that a 550-square-mile (1,425-square-km) property in southeastern B.C.'s South Selkirk Mountains has been purchased as a conservation area.
NCC president and CEO John Lounds told reporters he had taken an aerial survey of the property and "it was breathtaking."
The property, named Darkwoods by the Duke of Wuerttemberg, features old-growth forests, subalpine meadows, placid valley bottoms, creeks and shoreline along Kootenay Lake and is home to a thriving herd of caribou.
Lounds said the biodiversity on the property is spectacular.
He described one spot where it is possible to reach out and touch a Western red cedar with one hand and a Ponderosa pine with the other. The western red cedar grows best in cool, moist climates while the Ponderosa pine thrives in dry, hot locations.
"Darkwoods is a living laboratory the size of some small countries," Lounds said.
About half the property still has its old-growth forests while parts of the other half have been sustainably logged.
Christian Schadendorf, a forest economist who managed the property for the duke, explained how the property was bought to relieve Cold War anxieties -- the duke could have moved to B.C. if Germany became dangerous for aristocrats -- and then was logged according to German sustainability principles and practices.
He said the duke, now in his 70s, had not visited the property for years.
"The problem is, he quit flying long-distance flights when smoking was banned on aircraft."
Recently, logging has been restricted to trees infected with mountain pine beetle. Areas logged were promptly reforested and unimproved seeds were planted.
Biologist Trevor Kinley said in an interview from his home in Invermere that he was elated by the news of the purchase.
"With this purchase it looks like there is some real hope for this herd of caribou."
He said the herd is one of only a few in B.C. that has seen an increase in numbers. It has increased in size from around 20 to about 46 mountain caribou.
Kinley said the animals in the Darkwoods area are a unique eco-group that depends on old-growth forests for survival.
Unlike other caribou, during winter they feed exclusively on arboreal lichen or Old Man's Beard, which hangs from tree branches. Most other caribou feed by eating vegetation underneath snow.
The Nature Conservancy said the purchase price and the endowment fund necessary to maintain the area require $125 million. The federal government put $25 million toward the cost of the project, but Lounds said another $35 million is needed.
The group is looking for contributions from people who want to support the project.
The property is valued at about $100 million, but the Nature Conservancy would not reveal the purchase price.
