Salt Spring Island Conservancy

$10

Ecological Restoration Tours at Blackburn Lake Nature Reserve

Events, Concerts & Gatherings
August 5, 2026

Join ecologist Chris Drake of Coast Alive Stewardship Services this summer at Blackburn Lake Nature Reserve! You will learn about: • How this nature reserve […]

Mount Erskine Park: A Conservation Achievement

Mount Erskine is one of Salt Spring Island’s most popular hiking areas, offering kilometres of trails that climb though Coastal Douglas-fir forests and meander past moss-covered rocky outcrops. At its summit, 440 metres above sea level, hikers are rewarded with sweeping views to the south and west over Vancouver Island and the busy Crofton–Vesuvius ferry route. But few visitors realize that this park might not exist without the efforts of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy. Until 2005, the 100-acre parcel including the summit was privately owned. Following an intensive fundraising campaign, the Conservancy secured the land for future generations. The purchase was a creative partnership between the Conservancy (60%), the Nature Conservancy of Canada (20%), and the Province of BC (20%). This purchase made it possible to combine this land with an adjoining 165-acre tract, creating the provincial park enjoyed by so many today. The park also links to other pro…

Salt Spring Island Conservancy Celebrates 30 Years of Conservation

The Salt Spring Island Conservancy is celebrating 30 years of grassroots efforts to protect the island’s natural heritage. Since 1995, it has worked to acquire and manage ecologically valuable land, support landowners in becoming good stewards of their own land, and provide public outreach programs. Seven dedicated women shaped the Conservancy’s early years. They established the SSIC as a registered charitable organization and held the first board meeting on January 13, 1995. Their first campaign was to protect the old-growth forest on the Mill Farm, along Musgrave Road, a process that took two years. By 1997, the Conservancy had raised $192,000 for the CRD’s purchase of the land, was engaged in 16 other projects, and had launched its own publication, The Acorn. During this period, the SSIC became the first conservancy in BC permitted to hold a conservation covenant on private land. Conservation covenants enable landowners to protect important ecological features on their la…

Robert and Shauna Makaroff Nature Reserve: One family’s conservation legacy

Salt Spring Island Conservancy (SSIC) is excited to announce the donation and protection of 35.75 acres of land as an addition to the Robert and Shauna Makaroff Nature Reserve. This gift contributes to the largest network of contiguous undeveloped land on Salt Spring Island (including ecological reserves, park and Crown land, as well as private land protected by conservation covenants,) stretching from Musgrave to Hwmet’utsum (Mount Maxwell). This is significant for conservation as studies demonstrate that intact, extensive and connected ecosystems benefit wildlife and are more resilient to changing climate regimes. The extension of the Robert and Shauna Makaroff Nature Reserve is part of the conservation legacy of a remarkable family with a profound history in support of both environmental and social causes. Robert and Shauna Makaroff were born in the 1920s and grew up in Saskatoon and Red Deer, respectively, in small, supportive communities. Both spent time with their fami…

Creekside rainforest saved - Rare coastal temperate rainforest permanently protected on Salt Spring Island

The Salt Spring Island Conservancy (SSIC) is thrilled to announce that Creekside Rainforest is now protected in perpetuity as the Conservancy’s ninth nature reserve. The acquisition of the 6.3 hectare (15.5 acre) Creekside Rainforest is part of a long-term vision of Salt Spring Island’s conservation community to protect the fresh water, salmon habitat, rare species, imperiled ecosystems, and archaeological and cultural features of this rare area of coastal temperate rainforest. In 2008, the 7.9 hectare (19.5 acre) property adjoining Creekside Rainforest Nature Reserve was protected thanks to a community fundraising effort. Initially held by TLC The Land Conservancy of BC, this land became the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Jarrod’s Grove Nature Reserve in 2015. Creekside Rainforest Nature Reserve (CRNR), together with Jarrod’s Grove Nature Reserve, represents a unique area of lowland coastal temperate rainforest within the drier forest ecosystems more commonly associated wit…

Salt Spring Conservancy gives a hoot for Screech-Owls

Hoo hoo! It is the beginning of the owl nesting season, and the Salt Spring Conservancy’s Western Screech-Owl Stewardship Project is off and running for its second year. A group of dedicated volunteers have begun to survey the island to locate this endangered owl. We will also be monitoring territories by installing acoustic recording units, assessing habitat to determine if nest boxes are needed, and monitoring the boxes that were installed last year. Outreach and education with landowners are very important in the conservation of this species. During the evenings of winter and early spring, you might be lucky and hear a screech-owl. They don’t screech but instead their calls consist of a series of mellow hoots that start slowly and speed up towards the end, like a bouncing ball. How can you help? Take quiet walks through the woods at dusk or dawn and listen for owls calling. Learn your owl calls through allaboutbirds.org or the Merlin Bird App and compare this with w…

Announcing A New Nature Reserve

A new nature reserve—a forested 62-acre area near Ford Lake, including small streams flowing into the headwaters of Fulford Creek—is now in the hands of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy. The Howard Horel Nature Reserve has been created largely thanks to a generous anonymous donor, with some grant support from Environment and Climate Change Canada and a conservation covenant held by The Land Conservancy BC (TLC), a province-wide land trust. “The Salt Spring Island Conservancy is thrilled to be the long-term caretaker of this lovely Douglas-fir and sword-fern forest, in memory of Howard C. Horel, a well-known island sawmill operator,” according to Christine Torgrimson, the Conservancy’s executive director. Howard was also a horseman, farrier, avid motorcyclist and member of a long-time island family. “It’s fabulous that this new reserve adjoins other protected lands that together represent about a 300-acre protected area, including a great network of walking trails, ac…