Habitat Restoration & Monitoring

The Pender Island Conservancy Association jointly holds 20 Covenants on Pender Island. Putting a conservation covenant on your property creates a permanent sanctuary for the plants and animals you share your land with. When you place a covenant on your land, you agree to use and care for it in ways that protect its valuable natural features. The covenant ensures that the natural features that you value today will continue to be protected into the future, even after you sell o

The Pender Islands Conservancy played a key role in the acquisition of Brooks Point. The Conservancy partnered with the Friends of Brooks Point, the Islands Trust Conservancy, The Habitat Acquisition Trust, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the CRD in raising funds necessary to purchase and protect an ecologically diverse and vulnerable area of land adjoining Gowland Point on South Pender Island. The land was purchased in stages over several years, and the result is the b

Historical photo of Gowlland Point (Davy Rippner) In 1994 members of the Pender Islands Conservancy Association became aware that the Atkins family—owners of an ecologically valuable piece of land adjoining the popular Medicine Beach, and the tidal marsh behind it—were putting the property up for sale. The Conservancy was instrumental in raising $533,997, which included a $127,000 donation from the Atkins family, enabling the property to be purchased. In 1995 the Conservancy

Many vital ecosystems exist on privately owned land. For landowners who want to preserve the natural features of their property, there are two main legal mechanisms available: conservation covenants and land donation. Each option has different implications for ownership, use, and taxation. Conservation Covenants What is a Conservation Covenant? A conservation covenant is a legal agreement that permanently protects specific natural features on your property. It is registered o

By Dr. Pamela Wright Forest Wetland Nature Reserve, North Pender Island BC Conservation of terrestrial and marine ecosystems is important to protect wildlife and their habitats, to provide clean water and air, to protect watersheds and soil, to buffer against natural disasters, to fight climate change, to support local communities through sustainable livelihoods and tourism, and for many more reasons. We often hear the question: How much do we need to protect? The answer is c

By the light of the Snow Moon, a whispered series of soft whistles echoed through the misty forest, just louder than the sound of water flowing over the falls of Shingle Creek on North Pender Island. This was the call of a Northern Saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) – a tiny owl no bigger than a robin. These tiny forest dwellers are increasingly rare on Pender thanks to the loss of intact, old forests with large standing dead trees, or snags, containing woodpecker holes they ne

Along a shaded north-facing slope on Pender Island, big-leaf maple seedlings and saplings emerge from the understorey and recruit into the canopy in gaps formed by fallen trees; the beginning of old-growth forest structure is re-emerging from this heavily harvested landscape of the past century. The land slopes steeply up toward a dry ridge of arbutus and Garry oak. Along the way, a perched wetland collects water and sprouts skunk cabbage from its saturated soils. This precio

Imagine a place where sun-drenched Garry Oak meadows border moist, shady seeps, all perched above steep rocky cliffs overlooking the Salish Sea. Imagine a cool, mossy forest where ghost pipe emerges from the carpet of green and oceanspray, red huckleberry, salal and Oregon grape fill the forest floor. Where over 60 species of plants, birds and mammals find a home, providing shelter, food and space to grow and roam. Now imagine knowing that this place has been protected foreve

Introducing Vulture Ridge Nature Reserve and Osprey Ridge Nature Reserve: Two new nature sanctuaries on S,DÁYES, Pender Island! We are excited to announce that two new Nature Reserves have been established on S,DÁYES (Pender Island), protecting an additional 46 acres (19 ha) of diverse, mature forest and enhancing connections with existing protected lands. Vulture Ridge Nature Reserve lies on the north-facing slope along Clam Bay Road, supports forest wetlands, diverse microc

The Role of Conservation Land Trusts in a Landscape of Development The Pender Islands Conservancy was established as a Land Trust 31 years ago in response to increasing human development and associated loss of ecosystems in our community. Across Canada, Land Trusts exist to protect private land in perpetuity through donation, acquisition or conservation agreements. Our founders enshrined in the Pender Islands Conservancy’s Constitution the mandate to “preserve and protect lan

For the first time in at least 25 years, the Shingle-Masthead osprey nest sits empty and silent. Every year, a pair of ospreys have rebuilt their large and complex stick nest on the supporting branch of one of the several veteran Douglas-fir trees along Shingle Creek, overlooking Shingle Bay in Magic Lake. Every year they incubated a clutch of 1-4 eggs; many years these efforts produced young, and many years those young successfully fledged. But never in the past 25 years hav

Elizabeth Miles Image by Rhonda Porter Plumb In past years, students from the local school have come down to the Hope Bay Stream for the annual Eggstravaganza. During this event they learn about the salmon life cycle and the importance of a healthy riparian habitat for baby salmon. They have also helped plant native flora, learned to spot invasive species, and welcomed the DFO staff as they arrive with the chum salmon eggs to place into the stream. After a three year hiatus d

Together, the Pender Islands Conservancy, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and our conservation community have permanently protected KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest. Image by Les Peterson In just over 12 months, the Pender Conservancy and Raincoast Conservation Foundation have raised $2.18 million to purchase and permanently protect the 45 acre KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest on S,DÁYES (Pender Island). The closing of this campaign comes just over a year after our collective effort t

As we reflect on the Pender Conservancy's past 30 years of land protection on S,DÁYES (Pender Island), we are humbled by the profound efforts of so many people who have given so much of their time and resources to secure the protection of sensitive ecosystems that we continue to lose every day to development, exotic species invasion, and fragmentation. S,DÁYES Flycatcher Forest; Photo by Alex Harris Land Purchase for Protection Over the past 12 months, we have been seeking co

Thank you to everyone for volunteering, participating and supporting the Pender Islands Conservancy in 2022! It was a very busy year! Images by: Elizabeth Miles, Hannah Stoakes, Kassidy Kelly, Kelly Irving, Pamela Wright, Erin O'Brien, Shauna Doll

Dr. Pamela Wright Maintaining or restoring connectivity for species and ecosystems is key to saving biodiversity. We often think of connectivity across geographies, like grey whales migrating from wintering grounds in Baja, Mexico, to summer feeding grounds in the Arctic. However, vertical connectivity is also crucial at large and small scales. Large Scale: Elevational and Latitudinal Connectivity Over large spatial scales, vertical connectivity is expressed as cross-elevatio

Historical photo of Gowlland Point (Davy Rippner) The campaign to protect Brooks Point succeeded because of a combination of a generous land donation by the Brooks family, tireless fundraising efforts led by volunteers with Friends of Brooks Point and supported by the Pender Conservancy, a huge response by local donors, contributions by the CRD, and a federal government grant for the protection of species at risk. The snake Sharp-tailed snake at Gowlland Point (Paul Petrie) T

By Shauna Doll and Dr. Erin O’Brien Without protection, this forest will become a residential suburb. Image by Alex Harris When the Pender Islands Conservancy and Raincoast Conservation Foundation made the decision to purchase what is now known as KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest, we had to act fast. Since the 1950’s when it was last logged, the land had mostly been left alone. However, in late 2021 rumblings began rippling through the Pender Island community: plans to transform t

By Shauna Doll, Gulf Islands Forest Project Coordinator, Raincoast Conservation Trees to Seas EcoFair provided opportunities for education and building community connections and in the process raised $15,000 toward the protection of KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest. Hannah Stoakes at the Meadow Making Workshop Photo by Kelly Irving After a record-breaking 100-day drought in the Salish Sea region, the morning of October 22nd dawned to the welcome sound of a light rain, the perfect b

Image by Hannah Stoakes Even if you don’t recognize the name, you have almost certainly seen this plant growing along roadsides throughout Pender Island! Tansy Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) is a highly invasive plant that originated in northern Europe and has spread to many places in Southern BC. It can be identified by its bright yellow, daisy-like flowers arranged in dense, flat-topped clusters atop purplish stems. While it may look pretty, this plant packs a nasty punch! It