Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory and Urban Growth Management

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Our cities are growing quickly. Will there be space left for nature? How do we know what to protect?

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Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory, combined with Wildlife Habitat Mapping, can help identify the highest value areas for conservation.

With funding from Habitat Conservation Trust Fund and the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, the Allan Brooks Nature Centre commissioned a study to demonstrate how urban growth can be balanced with conservation on the Bella Vista – Goose Lake Range.

Using the results of the Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory, a method was developed to use the ecosystems and habitat mapping to identify relative values for conservation, and a concept for a conservation area design for the Bella Vista – Goose Lake Range.

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On a broad scale, urban growth opportunities and constraints were also considered, and a land use scenario was developed that could achieve the following goal:

Accommodate urban growth while conserving representative high quality examples of all sensitive and important ecosystems, and significant wildlife habitat. Ensure long-term existence of all native species, especially rare and endangered species. Maintain linkages, ecological functions and wildlife habitat needs.

View the full report:

• Report (2.1MB PDF)
• Diagram 1 (1.45MB PDF)
• Diagram 2 (1.75MB PDF)
• Diagram 3 (1.43MB PDF)

• Vernon Commonage Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory 2005 (2.45MB PDF)
• Volume 1: Methods, Ecological Descriptions, Results, Conservation Analysis, and Management Recommendations (11.2MB PDF)
• Volume 2: Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping, Terrain Mapping, and Expanded Legend (8.94MB PDF)
• Volume 3: Wildlife Habitat Mapping (9.99MB PDF)

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Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory of the Vernon Commonage 3.68MB	Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping of the Vernon Commonage 3.78MB

The ecological values of the Okanagan Valley and the Bella Vista – Goose Lake Range are well documented. The demand for urban growth is also very clear.

As communities in the Okanagan and elsewhere expand into adjoining natural areas, ecological inventory will provide an important layer of resource information for use by planners, decision-makers, landowners, and the community. Together with other resource information, and other environmental, economic and social considerations, ecological inventory can be used to help to shape urban growth. Conservation priorities (such as those identified for the Bella Vista – Goose Lake Range) can be used to help determine natural parkland, greenways, and Environmentally Sensitive Areas, well in advance of development planning, and at a larger scale, rather than neighborhood by neighborhood.

For more information on Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory and Urban Growth Management, visit the Allan Brooks Nature Centre.