By rdnewsNOW staff

Central Alberta family donates land to Nature Conservancy of Canada

Feb 2, 2018 | 7:43 AM

RED DEER- Today is World Wetlands Day, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has announced an important land donation east of Red Deer that features wetlands and lakes.

The not-for-profit land conservation group has been gifted 593 hectares (1,467 acres) on the northwest shore of Gough Lake, 125 kilometres east of Red Deer, known as the Ferrier property.

The project was made possible due to the generosity of the late Agnes Isabelle (Nancy) Ferrier and her family.

Nancy left the site to NCC in her will.

It had been with the same family dating back to 1904 when John, Nancy’s father, and his brother Tom Ferrier sailed from Scotland to Canada, eventually settling in Alberta to make a better life.

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In later years, more family members arrived and established a farm and homestead on the property.

Sylvia Walters, Ferrier family member, says, “The family is absolutely delighted. John and Nancy, the children of the John Ferrier that settled here from Scotland, never had any children of their own, so this was their wish.
This property has come full circle, from being homesteaded in 1904, to going back to nature the way it was in 1904.” 

Bob Demulder, Nature Conservancy of Canada’s regional vice-president comments, “Thanks to the generosity of the landowners and the support of our donors and partners, NCC will now continue to care for this well-stewarded property. The Ferrier property is important to our conservation goals because it’s located in the prairie pothole region of Alberta featuring significant wetlands like Gough Lake. This is one piece of a larger scale conservation effort in the local region and demonstrates our participation in an international commitment to care for critical wetland habitats.”

The property contains a combined 104 hectares (256 acres) of wetlands and shoreline habitat that is essential for the deer, small mammals, grassland birds, shorebirds and waterfowl that live in and migrate through the region.   

Wetland conservation is of great importance in the region.

Several species considered at risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada have been observed on the property.

They include Baird’s sparrow (special concern), and Sprague’s pipit (threatened).

Gough Lake, which borders the property, provides seasonal and year-round habitat for a wide range of species, including sharp-tailed grouse and loggerhead shrike (threatened under the Species at Risk Act).

According to the Institute of Wetlands and Waterfowl Research, in the settled areas of Alberta, 64 per cent of the slough and marsh wetlands have disappeared. 

One third of the land consists of native grassland, less than five per cent of native fescue grasslands remain in Canada.   

(Gary McKinnon)