The Nature Trust of British Columbia is delighted to announce that Jim Wyse has joined the Board of Directors.Jim is the founder and Board chair of Burrowing Owl Estate Winery, a 40,000-case a year premium wine producer based in Oliver. Prior to the wine business, he was the proprietor of a mid-sized real estate development company active in the Lower Mainland, Whistler, Denver and Oklahoma City. Jim sits on the Board of the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC and the Cambie Surgery Centre. He is a past Board member of the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls. He earned a Civil Engineering BASc (CL) at University of Toronto and an MBA at University of Western Ontario.
One of the first projects Jim is working on with the Board is to acquire rare Antelope-brush habitat in the South Okanagan. Located at the south end of Vaseux Lake, between Okanagan Falls and Oliver, the 34.6 hectare (85 acre) property will help to create the largest private holding of Antelope-brush in the area. This acquisition along with The Nature Trust’s adjoining property is home to more than 20 species at risk. Most notably, this land supports more than half of the Canadian population of the Behr’s Hairstreak butterfly.
Bighorn Sheep, Pallid Bat, Desert Night Snake, Great Basin Spadefoot and Lewis’s Woodpecker are among other species at risk that are known to occur on these lands.
Securement of this property ensures the protection of important wildlife habitat and connectivity with other conservation areas for many species, providing greater opportunity for species to adjust to climate change.
The Nature Trust has divided the property into 10 equal portions; our goal is to complete 3 portions early in 2015. With the commitment of a partial Ecological Gift donation by the landowners, along with committed funds from other agencies, we need to raise $280,000 by March 31, 2015.
