A woman in Kelowna, British Columbia, has given her 19-acre farm to a local conservation organization.
As the Kelowna Daily Courier reported, the move will protect the property's wetlands, meadows, and forests for future generations.
Dorothy Thomson made the gift to the Central Okanagan Land Trust in November to honor her husband, Ken, after his death. The preserved land will eventually be named after him.
The property sits along Gordon Drive and includes a brook that flows throughout the year, open meadows, wet areas, and a Black Cottonwood grove. Old willows hang over a waterway supplied by natural springs, and the former hay field still contains healthy organic soils.
For the growing city of Kelowna, this protected green space is a refuge for both people and wildlife. As more homes and businesses fill the region, having accessible natural areas grows more valuable for community well-being.
The farmland could soon support owls, songbirds, and snakes native to the area. Bringing the land back toward its wild roots would give local species new places to thrive. The site already shows strong potential and could become even more ecologically diverse over time.
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If you live near green spaces in your own community, you can support local land trusts working to protect them. Small actions like reducing outdoor lighting at night or planting native species in your yard also help wildlife find safe habitat closer to home.
"As Kelowna grows and the population densifies, it becomes more and more important to have nature parks to provide an environment for plants and wildlife, to support species-at-risk, and to conserve natural features for our children and grandchildren to know," said Wayne Wilson, executive director of the Central Okanagan Land Trust, per the Kelowna Daily Courier.
Laura Hooker, who worked as an aquatic ecologist at UBC Okanagan before retiring, praised the broader meaning of Thomson's gift.
The land "is a gift for biodiversity and the livability of the city growing around it," Hooker said.
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