A popular park for hikers, geocachers and other outdoor enthusiasts just got bigger.
Capital Regional District announced Wednesday that it purchased 15.90 hectares (39.3 acres) of nearby undeveloped land for $1.5 million and added it to East Sooke Regional Park.
The newly acquired land, which is surrounded on three sides by East Sooke Regional Park and near Anderson Cove, will be left in its natural state in order to act as a “buffer” to the park’s existing boundaries and to protect biodiversity and wildlife habitat.
“The area is an important habitat for large carnivores as well as for many smaller organisms including the Warty Jumping-slug – a Species of Special Concern under the federal Species at Risk Act. By acquiring this land the CRD is protecting it from future development,” the Capital Regional District said in a press release on its website.
The acquisition brings East Sooke Regional Park’s overall size to 1,475 hectares (3,642 acres), making it one of the largest in the CRD’s regional park system.
CHEK News
