It’s being billed as the single largest individual landowner donation of parkland in the Central Okanagan, maybe even the province, and will be known as the Johns Family Nature Conservancy Regional Park.
The Regional District of Central Okanagan says the estate of Alfred and Nancy Johns has donated more than 300 hectares of land adjacent to the Cedar Mountain Regional Park.
Nancy Johns passed away in 2002. Her brother died in 2011.
Regional Board Chair, Robert Hobson, says their generosity must be recognized.
“That’s why we’re naming these lands ‘Johns Family Nature Conservancy Regional Park’, amalgamating the bequeathed lands with the former Cedar Mountain Regional Park creating a 402.5-hectare park.”
Hobson says the next step is preparing a park management plan for the lands. The market value of the donations is estimated at almost $8 million.
In conjunction with Wednesday’s announcement, the provincial government said that it’s changing the designation of Crown land between the new Johns Family park and Okanagan Mountain Park to recreational use only. It says the new designation, which limits the kind of activity and development that can take place on the land, will help insure the protection of wildlife along the south slopes.
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