An Ecological Assessment for the Aberdeen Area Plan

An Ecological Assessment for the Aberdeen Area Plan, a project that the GCC conducted in partnership with the City of Kamloops, takes the GCC in an exciting and innovative new direction. Such projects scientifically assess potential development sites for the ecological importance of their grasslands and associated ecosystems. In this case, the area was Aberdeen, an area in south Kamloops slated for future development.

Included in the ecological assessment were

• plant and wildlife species lists
• maps of the ecological communities
• priority ecological zones showcasing important habitat features
• planning considerations for each ecological zone (such as wildlife buffers and corridors)
• recommendations on future steps for the City of Kamloops when planning for the development of the area
• sound scientific reasoning for the delineation of red (conservation), amber (sustainable development) and green (development) zones
• scientific rationale for the planning department for ecologically sustainable development

The assessment was a direct result of the partnership building aspect of the Planning for Change Initiative and the excellent quality of the mapping created for the Priority Grasslands Initiative, which played a significant role in the analysis of the data.