Land Designation

Protected Private Lands

Land Description

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) owns over 10,000 hectares of land across southern Manitoba. These lands are secured and managed for conservation purposes.  

In 2004, NCC and the Government of Manitoba signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) adding 4,118 hectares of NCC lands in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn to Manitoba’s network of protected areas. The 2009 Amendment to the MOA includes an additional 2,285 hectares of NCC land in the network. The amended agreement continues to provide a legal mechanism to ensure that included lands meet the provincial government’s definition of a protected area in which logging, mining, hydroelectric development, oil and gas development and other activities that could significantly and adversely affect natural habitat, are prohibited.

Outstanding Features

Prior to European settlement, the tall grass prairie ecosystem covered much of the Red River Valley in southern Manitoba.  Since then, most of this land has been transformed largely for agricultural purposes.  The tall grass prairie is now considered one of the rarest, most endangered ecosystems in North America. The remaining tracts of this ecosystem are found in and around the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn in southeastern Manitoba.  The tall grass prairie and its associated ecosystems are home to numerous plant species, from flowers and grasses to shrubs and trees, and a variety of animals including birds, butterflies and frogs.

Enlarging the protected area within the tall grass prairie ecosystem by 1,960 hectares has increased protection for several endangered and threatened species. The Western Prairie Fringed Orchid and Small White Lady’s Slipper are two plant species that have been listed provincially and federally as endangered. Both of these orchids require the presence of a companion fungus to survive; a fungus that can easily be destroyed when the plant is dug up.  This area also provides habitat for the Powesheik Skipperling, a threatened butterfly whose very limited range includes this region of southeastern Manitoba.

The high quality Aspen Parkland that historically linked the mixedwood forests of Duck Mountain and Riding Mountain was dominated by trembling aspen, balsam poplar and hazelnut, and dotted with clearings of fescue prairie. This landscape, which covered hundreds of thousands of hectares, has been widely converted to agricultural uses today. Less than 10 percent of this threatened habitat remains intact, the small, isolated pockets acting like giant stepping stones linking the two mountain forests.

The 325 hectares of NCC lands protected near Riding Mountain will continue to provide corridors of habitat allowing wildlife to move freely through the region. Moose, elk, black bear, grey wolf and cougar use these pockets of habitat to move through their ranges. Barred Owl, Bobolink and a variety of grassland birds can also be found in the area.  

These NCC-secured lands are categorized as an IUCN (World Conservation Union) protected area management category IV, that is, a protected area managed mainly for conservation of habitat and species through management intervention. Joining these additional NCC owned lands to Manitoba’s network of protected areas increases protected areas within southern Manitoba where opportunities to do so are often limited due to the high proportion of developed land within this region.