Need a green Christmas gift? The Nature Conservancy of Canada has a suggestion

What do you buy for the person who has everything?

Well, the Nature Conservancy of Canada has a Christmas gift suggestion. It's encouraging people to take part in its annual fundraiser.

Gifts of Canadian Nature program

As part of the organization's Gifts of Canadian Nature program, now in its 22nd year,people can make a minimum donation of $40 (or another amount to a maximum of $1,000) in another person's name to symbolically protect a species or an area of Canadian habitat.

"The funds that we get go right back into a lot of our land conservation efforts,"explained Andrew Holland, national media relations director with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, on Mainstreet P.E.I.

"So, it makes a big difference."

The species options in the program include the American Badger, Bald Eagle, Grizzly, Moose, Snowy Owl, Swift Fox, Wolf and Lynx.

'It helps a lot'

Symbolic gifts include a calendar, species booklet and a full-colour certificate. Apaperless option involves an emailed letter and a PDF version of the certificate. Purchasers receive a charitable tax receipt for the gift, Holland said.

The donations help with the organization's land conservation efforts, including some on the Island, such asacquiring forested sites in Howe Bay, a salt marsh in Abrams Village and a sand dune in Cascunpec.

• 5 new parcels of land on P.E.I. now protected
• 2 P.E.I. sites bought for protection by Nature Conservancy of Canada

"It helps a lot because it encourages people to buy local in a lot of ways or think about land conservation in their own province,"explained Holland.

More information on the program is available on the Nature Conservancy of Canada website.

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