An area around Pike Lake has been purchased by the Capital Regional District for $5.5 million, one of two land purchases dedicated for regional parks and trails. Photo courtesy Google.
The Capital Regional District (CRD) announced Thursday it has purchased two large parcels of land to expand the region’s parks and trails system.
The cost was $6.5 million through the Land Aquisition Fund (LAF) to purchase the 150-hectares.
The CRD bought an 81-hectare forested property from a private owner in the Pike Lake area, adjacent to Thetis Lake and Francis/King Regional Parks.
An area in orange indicates property purchased in the Pike Lake area of View Royals by the CRD for $5.5 million from a private owner.
The CRD says the property “increases landscape connectivity between the parks and has riparian and wetland habitats draining into Craigflower Creek, portions of the salmon-bearing Craigflower Creek, and significant patches of old-growth and mature second-growth forest.”
“The lands near Thetis Lake will provide valuable greenspace near a dense urban area, for residents of the region,” said View Royal Mayor and CRD Director David Screech said in a statement.
Another $1 purchase was approved by the CRD board for a 68-hectare property surrounded by Sea to Sea and Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Parks.
The CRD board approved the purchase of a 68-hectare parcel of land, coloured orange, from a corporate owner for $1 for parklands.
The CRD says the purchase from a corporate owner closes a large gap in public ownership of lands within the park, and “completes a contiguous protected area between Crabapple Lake and Jack Lake – an important area for wildlife.”
The CRD says it still has a balance of $2.8 million in the LAF, with an estimated $3.8 million added in August through a LAF levy.
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