'Merry Christmas! I bought you a bison!'

Instead of going with the same old Christmas gift of socks or an item that will be forgotten within a few months, why not symbolically adopt an endangered animal, or purchase someone an acre of protected land?

That's the message from the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) who is bringing back their 25th annual 'Gifts of Canadian Nature' program. Through the green gift-giving initiative, people can symbolically adopt a Canadian species or landscape such as forests, wetlands, and endangered native prairie grasslands - designed to help Canada’s rare or at-risk animals and plants.

Spokesperson with the NCC, Andrew Holland, explains more.

"It's designed to help Canadians who love nature and the outdoors and to help us preserve areas across the country that really need it. We use this money to help set aside areas that we acquire through land purchased and land donations."

"From a financial standpoint, all of these contributions make a difference. To date, we've collected over 3 million dollars through this program which has helped us conserve, protect and manage lots of areas across the country. But its also a great way for people to feel good about the gift they buy for someone else."

The NCC was formed in 1962, is Canada's leading not-for-profit private land conservation organization and has helped protect 14 million hectares of land in Canada with the help of their partners.

"We work with willing private landowners who want to sell or donate their land for future generations. These are lands that have been in their family for many many years, they decide to donate the land or sell them in memory of their parents or siblings, or they don't want to pay the property taxes on them and they want to see these areas conserved they way they remember them."

Symbolically adopting a species, such as the plains bison, western bluebird, grizzly bear or moose will help support important native wildlife populations, and if you purchase a gift through the Gifts of Canadian Nature program, you will be issued a charitable tax receipt.

More information can be found at giftsofnature.ca or at natureconservancy.ca/en/