Bourguiba Spring, Lot 16, Osoyoos
The Southern Interior Land Trust purchased the 16.6-hectare (41-acre) Bourguiba Spring property in fall 2022.
Lot 16 is a steep, south-facing grassland with rock outcrops above a ravine that protects a year-round groundwater spring—the source of Bourguiba Creek, which flows into Haynes Creek, a tributary of Osoyoos Lake. That Lot 16 protects the source spring of a permanent creek in the dry Osoyoos landscape likely makes the property ecologically significant at a provincial level. That it has intact riparian vegetation with no apparent history of livestock grazing makes it even more special for wildlife and ecological study.
Its steep slopes of sagebrush, bunchgrass, and scattered pines are home to California bighorn sheep, provide spring range for mule deer, and habitat for at least 12 species-at-risk, including badger (endangered), rattlesnake (threatened), screech owl (threatened), and half-moon hairstreak butterfly (endangered). With its source of water, it is an ideal “stepping-stone” of habitat supporting wildlife movement through the area and between the southern B.C. interior and northern Washington State.
Buying the Bourguiba Spring property was made possible through funding provided by the South Okanagan Conservation Fund, the Wild Sheep Society of BC, the BC Conservation Foundation, the Okanagan-Similkameen Parks Society, the BC Parks Foundation, the Government of Canada through the Natural Heritage Conservation Program, part of Canada’s Nature Fund, and dozens of non-profits, companies and individuals who donated what they could.
