The Cowichan Valley has a new park — one of 10 the Cowichan Valley Regional District plans to purchase in the coming months and years using money from the relatively new Parkland Acquisition fund.

Stocking Lake/Heart Lake Regional Park comprises 93 hectares — or about 250 acres — southwest of Ladysmith.

It was a good buy, said Saltair’s CVRD Director, Mel Dorey.

“This was an important purchase from (a private land owner) who was logging it,” he said.

“He did a lot of maintenance on the trails and roads and stuff like that you wouldn’t see from TimberWest — this was his baby.”

The purchased land is the entrance to more land in the same area the CVRD ultimately wants to buy.

The asking price was $1.2 million, but the CVRD ended up purchasing the land for about $800,000 — the same amount in the Parkland Acquisition fund.

But instead of buying the land outright, the CVRD is financing the purchase in an effort to stretch the dollars and the buying power of the taxpayer funded endowment.

“You want to be open for other purchases that may come down the line and interest rates through the CVRD are about one per cent,” said Dorey.

The Regional Parkland Acquisition Fund was established in 2008 to achieve the objectives of the adopted 2007 Regional Parks and Trails Master Plan, which is to acquire 10 Regional Park sites.

The site was purchased through a combination of the parkland acquisition fund and through a significant donation by the landowner.

“He made a considerable donation,” said Dorey, who was unable to say exactly how much of the 250-acres was donated.

“(But) the site links with the well-established Ladysmith trail network and through careful site planning and trail development will greatly expand the trail system while at the same time protecting extensive sensitive habitats,” said the director.

“For the people of Ladysmith this is really good news because it guarantees the top of the hill will remain conserved so they won’t have to look at a bare hillside.”

Added the regional district’s parks and trails manager Brian Farquhar: “These ecological attributes contribute to the environmental values of the overall park, both in terms of the opportunity to preserve and protect high valued, ecologically sensitive at-risk plant communities and public-values in terms of the environmental education, awareness and appreciation of these important landscapes.”

The first acquisition supports key objectives of the CVRD’s Regional Parks and Trails Master Plan to “acquire and manage regionally-significant lands of high outdoor recreational and environmental value to the regional community.”

Involvement of the public in planning for the future management of this regional park will also be key to the values the Regional Parks and Trails Master Plan, as intended by the CVRD Board with adoption of the plan in 2007, Farquhar said.