Manitoba family donates portion of land to Nature Conservancy of Canada

Family donates land to Nature Conservancy Community relations manager Christine Chilton talks about a family who donated land to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

One Manitoba family with generations of history near Neepawa has partnered with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to donate a portion of the land.

The Harper family’s 178-hectare property, known as the Langford Escarpment Project, is located about 15 kilometres southeast of the Town of Neepawa. The land is full of incredible species and endangered grasslands, including moose, elk, black bears, oak savanna, and basin wetlands.

“[It’s] such an important piece of land,” said Christine Chilton, community relations manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada-Manitoba.

“But really, the people that we want to celebrate are the Harpers and the family who made this possible.”

By donating the land, the Harper family is ensuring the protection and conservation of the property, which is located next to the Langford Community Pasture.

NCC will also work with livestock producers and partners to continue the property’s grazing management, which will allow the grasslands and species within it to flourish.

“It’s really such a great story of how we can all potentiate each other and just make each other better by bringing together that culture and that economy along with nature,” Chilton said.

The Harper family donated 25 per cent of the value of the property. The NCC was able to purchase the remainder of the land with the help of the Government of Canada.

• With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagace.