'I have to protect this land': New nature sanctuary west of Edmonton to open in spring

Lu Carbyn fell in love with theproperty, full of expansive marshes, at first sight.

The 155-acre parcel, 90 kilometres west of Edmonton near the Lily Lake Natural Area and the community of Darwell, is an undisturbed quarter-section of wetlandsurrounded by boreal forest that humswith the songs of 95 bird species.

"It's unique," said Carbyn, a wildlife biologist at the University of Alberta. "You have so many marshes with such a diverse complement of birds in a very small area."

After Carbynpurchased the land in 2014, he decided it should serve as a conservation areaand a wildlife study area forstudents, clubs and other members of the public.

He approached the Edmonton and Area Land Trust, a non-profit conservancy working to preservebiodiversity in and around the city, and asked for their support.

"I thought, I haveto protect this land ...to make sure that the future generations can have access to it,"Carbynsaid.

He officially donated the land to the conservancyin 2017. In his honour, it has been named the Lu CarbynNature Sanctuary.

"It's really wonderful that there are people like Lu who want to give their land away for this purpose," said Pam Wight, the land trust's executive director.

Theconservation area is expected to open in the spring after an inventory of the sanctuary's wildlife is complete.

'Extremely bio-diverse'

Carbynhas a passion for wildlife and the biological sciences.

An adjunct professor of renewable resources at the U of A, hebecame a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in 1967 and a research scientist in 1974. He has studied predatory mammals across Canada and and the world, with a focus on the survivability of wolves.

Carbynoriginally bought the parcel of land, which is in Lac Ste. Anne County,land to use as his own playground. He would take his wife and children out on early spring hikes to look for rare species of birds.

He has since broughthis ornithology students to the property tolearn about the different bird species that live in close proximity to one another.

He said its unique biodiversitymakes the conservation area one of the best birding sites within 100 kilometres of the city, and a perfect outdoor classroom for novice biologists.

The mixed wood habitatis teeming with songbirds, waterfowl and a diversity of wildlife including lynx, beaver, moose and deer.

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"It's like a laboratory where you can actually try things by experiencing them first-hand," Carbyn said.

Within the boundaries of the sanctuary, there's a chance to spottrumpeter swans, loons, greatblue heron and several types of bats that are on the province's at-risk species list, he said

The forests expand to other properties, whereit might be possible to see moose, dear, coyotes and cougarsliving among the trees.

"It's extremely bio-diverse," Wight said. "It may be the most bio-diverse property that we have secured."

Land will remain mostly untouched

The sanctuarywill be open to anyone, but is intended as a refuge for thoseinterested in the outdoors.

Wight said the land trust has no plans to add any infrastructure except basic signage. It wantsto keep the area untouched.

The area is already primed for hikers with a network of naturally-formed ridges called eskers that will act as walking paths, she said.

"The idea is to keep the value of what is there."

The sanctuary was doubly appealing to Wight and the land trust because its proximityto other provincially protected areas, like the Lily Lake Natural Area, that could potentially be expanded in the future."This could be part of a core, protected area."

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Wight said conversations with the province about a larger protected area west of Edmonton will be on the land trust's agenda in the near future.

anna.desmarais@cbc.ca

@anna_desmarais