Qat’Muk Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (Canada)

Qat’Muk in the Central Purcell Mountains of British Columbia | Photo credit: Tom Besser

The Wyss Foundation partnered with the Ktunaxa Nation Council and Nature Conservancy of Canada to support the permanent protection of Qat’Muk—also known as the Jumbo Valley—in the Central Purcell Mountains of British Columbia. The landscape was the venue for a decades-long fight between a resort developer, the Ktunaxa Nation, and the local community against a European style ski resort in such a sacred and ecologically important region.

Thanks to a collaboration between the Ktunaxa Nation Council, the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and private funders, development rights in the Jumbo Valley were fully and permanently extinguished in October 2019. As a result, the Jumbo Glacier Resort will never be built. The Ktunaxa Nation Council works alongside the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada, and others to ensure effective stewardship and conservation of the central Purcell Mountains, encompassing Qat’muk.

This initiative was made possible by a $13,000,000 contribution from the Government of Canada through the Canada Nature Fund and an additional $3,500,000 from private sources, including the Wyss Foundation, Wilburforce Foundation, Patagonia, the Columbia Basin Trust, and Donner Canadian Foundation.