A regional park proposal for Black Knight Mountain goes to the public one last time tonight.

Consultant Kane Sanders will seek input and present a draft of the final plan for the proposed park, during an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Environmental Education Centre in Mission Creek Regional Park on Springfield Road.

Sanders said that the proposed 65-hectare park is worth protecting because of its special ecological values.

“It’s a grassland and a dry (forest) ecosystem, which is endangered all up and down the Okanagan Valley, giving the Black Mountain area regional and local significance,” said Sanders.

Grassland areas are endangered largely because they’re so easy to develop, he explained.

“In a global context, grasslands are some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. But, they also tend to be in the areas people want to live the most.”

For that reason, the Central Okanagan Naturalist Club has advocated for a park in the Black Knight Mountain area for quite sometime, stated group president Don Guild. “We’ve been protective of that area for a number of years when gravel pit proposals have come up in the past,” explained Guild.

“In the Central Okanagan, we don’t have many grasslands at all (except) Tower Ranch, Bald Range and some lands to the south by Peachland called Antlers’ Saddle.

“One of the largest and most significant grasslands is at Black Knight Mountain.”

Species at risk, such as the badger, rely on the grassland. Large varieties of bird and plant life are found in the area too.

And, the proposed park would encompass a large grazing area for deer.

In addition to the grassland, upper elevation dry forest is a unique ecosystem in need of protection, said Guild.

“The dry upland forest is under represented in our regional parks system too,” Guild said.

“It’s also significant for deer. They’re not in trouble yet, but we’re seeing some of their prime habitat being developed in areas such as Pincushion (Mountain).”

A large residential and golf course development is proposed in the Pincushion area of Peachland.

In fact, every life form in the valley relies on grasslands at some stage in its life, according to Sanders.

He commended the regional district for making an effort to protect the grassland and dry upland forest.

“In my opinion, their direction is consistent with a lot of community groups and non-government organizations and ministries of the Province of British Columbia and initiatives by the federal government.”

In addition to tonight’s open house, Sanders will continue to conduct an online survey until Friday.

“The general sense I get from the responses so far is that people would like natural areas, with walking trails and having a representative ecosystem in which they can take their kids and enjoy themselves, in keeping with other regional district parks.”

The survey is found at http://intpac.ca/business_strategy.html, along with other information on the park proposal.

Sanders said his final report to the Central Okanagan Regional District should be completed in mid-October.

The regional district will need to apply to lease Crown land in order to create the park.

jluciw@kelownacapnews.com