The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in Manitoba is launching a fundraising campaign to expand an important conservation area on the western edge of the province, east of the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border near the Assiniboine and Qu’Appelle rivers.  This 644-acre segment of land is located on Beaver Creek and is surrounded by the Ellice-Archie Community Pasture and the existing Fort Ellice properties in the St. Lazare area.

Fort Ellice Grasslands, Photo by Thomas Frickes

NCC’s Regional Vice President in Manitoba, Kevin Teneycke, says this segment is a key piece of land needed to complete the NCC’s existing 5,411-acre Fort Ellice 3 project within one of the last protected and intact areas of native prairie grassland in Manitoba

“So, we’ve put this big block of fairly native habitat together and it makes a really nice continuous block of habitats which include some of Manitoba’s best examples of unfragmented native grasslands, along with a diversified amount of other habitat types.”

“Getting a section of land with such high-quality habitat like this, it’s not extremely common,” explains Teneycke.  “I guess the less common piece of this is that really what we had was a hole in a donut of land, which had a high-quality habitat land associated with it.”

Teneycke says the site is rich with provincial history, dating back to the 18th century.  According to the NCC, ‘the Fort Ellice project lies along the Carlton Trail, the historical pathway responsible for the western expansion of Canada where, during the 18th and 19th century, several trading posts were constructed. The fort, after which this property is named, was originally established as a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post in 1831. In addition to selling provisions to passing traders, the fort's main purpose was to protect HBC lands from American interests.’

Fort Ellice Cairn, Photo by Thomas Frickes‘Today, nature has reclaimed the land and only a subtle reminder of the fort is left; however, its preservation is an important cultural and historical contribution to Manitoba. The property is an ecological gem with a remarkable diversity of plants, animals, and rare habitats.’

The fundraising effort is to help the NCC reach their goal of $350,000, to purchase the 644 acres as well as to help manage it. 

“Folks can go to our website and find out where we work all over Manitoba, there’ll be links there where folks can help donate to help us to complete our financing for the acquisition of the property,” says Teneycke, “but also to help support some of the management and restoration of activity that’s going to go on to improve and maintain the quality of the natural habitat that is found on the property.”

https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/manitoba/ 

More interesting facts of the Fort Ellice 3 Project and Manitoba's prairie grasslands:

Fort Ellice 3: an ecological gem

  • More than 90 per cent of Manitoba’s prairie grasslands have already been lost.
  • Grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, and they continue to disappear at an alarming rate. It is estimated that we continue to lose an additional 147,000 acres every year.
  • Grasslands buffer our waterways, sequester carbon, provide habitat for pollinators and are the foundation of sustainable ranching economies in rural communities.
  • The conservation of Fort Ellice 3 will complete 2,190-hectares (5,411-acres) of a species-rich land block, comprised of mixed-grass prairie, aspen forests, riverbank and floodplain forests, sandhill prairie and sand dunes, wetlands, streams, freshwater springs and willow shrublands.
  • Large mammal species like, elk, moose and Canadian lynx, roam the property.
  • Threatened birds, such as Sprague’s pipit and Chestnut-collared longspur depend upon the unique grassland habitat for survival.
  • The property is home to more than one rare and distinctive habitat. Calcareous fens are peat-accumulating wetlands that depend on a constant supply of groundwater rich in minerals. Tufa mounds, also known as “petrifying springs,” are geological formations created by a deposit from springs or streams of groundwater. Both are important habitat for a diversity of species.
  • The securement of Fort Ellice 3 will add to the existing Fort Ellice property.
  • NCC purchased the original property overlooking the Assiniboine River Valley in Manitoba in 2012, acquiring additional parcels of land in 2013 and 2015.

‘NCC also recognizes the rich Indigenous history of the Fort Ellice project and respects and seeks to protect the cultural integrity, as well as the plants and wildlife found here.’