The Kensington Conservancy is continuing its mission to preserve the natural beauty of parts of the Algoma District. The Conservancy is a not-for-profit land trust that acquires certain lands to ensure those properties are permanently protected from harmful development and resource harvesting. The group — responsible for caring for 15 properties in the St.
Joseph Channel area of the St. Marys River — launched in the 1990s and began its conservation activities in earnest upon receiving its registered Canadian charity status in 2006. The group operates from the Kensington Conservation Centre in Desbarats.
“Most of our properties are donated to us. If a landowner wants to ensure their property is protected forever, what they can do is donate it to us, we become the landowners and we protect it,” explained Carter Dorscht, Kensington Conservancy executive director, in an interview with SooToday. “We also have purchased a few properties as well.
As a small not-for-profit organization money’s often tight and we don’t always have the resources to purchase land but we do have donors and sometimes we have been able to purchase property.” One of the latest donated properties is Bowen Island , formerly owned by Americans Alden and Connie Meyer. “They’ve owned Bowen Island since the 1990s and they wanted to ensure that it stays undeveloped in perpetuity,” Dorscht said.
Bowen Island is a 15-acre island with 1.28 km (4,200 ft.) of shoreline.
The area is significant for.
