PICA History

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

This year marks Pender’s 37th beach cleanup, a long history that Islander Michelle Marsden set in motion almost four decades ago.

By David Spalding Image by Karl Hamson PICA PAST (1) Origins of Pender’s Conservancy PICA PAST (2) A Lot in Magic Lake PICA PAST (3)...

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

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

Be Ursula for a day! She was passionate about this island and unafraid to share her thoughts on it. She was Pender's Broom Bash queen. In honour of her passion and perseverance in removing this highly invasive plant, the Pender Island Conservancy presents the 3rd annual Ursula Poepel Broom Bash from May 15-28. We will kick off the Bash together with Raincoast Conservation Foundation, on Sunday, May 15, from 10 am- 3pm. We will be removing broom at KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest

Many thanks to the folks who scoured the beaches, shores, parks and roadsides of North and South Pender removing plastics, garbage and other debris, preventing two large bin loads from potentially getting into the Salish Sea. Thanks also to those who helped people collect their debris and get it into the bins at the drop-off site, and to those who baked treats, signed people in, directed traffic, played music, and took care of the many other tasks required for this event, esp

Stalwart Hope Bay Salmon Stream project volunteers spend 2 days hauling rock and shoveling gravel to enhance salmon habitat in the stream. They repaired weirs and placed spawning gravel and rock in the stream bed. Now we wait for the rains and keep our fingers crossed that some of the chum salmon that hatched in the stream four years ago will find their way back home to spawn.

The Pender Islands Conservancy and Raincoast Conservation Foundation are thrilled to announce that our purchase of the S,DAYES Flycatcher Forest is complete and Pender has a beautiful new nature Sanctuary. Heartfelt thanks to our many donors from Pender Island and all across the country who made this a dream come true. We will be busy over the next few months doing restoration work and developing our management plan. Until these are complete we are asking that the public no

Photo by Alex Harris The Pender Islands Conservancy and Raincoast Conservation Foundation are partnering in an exciting campaign to purchase 13 acre property on North Pender Island as part of a larger effort entitled “Forests for the Future,” aimed at helping to protect the threatened habitats of the Coastal Douglas-fir forests. This beautiful property is unique in that it supports several ecologically important features in a relatively small area. The wetland is an oasis for