1992	FALL (October)	Editorial: On our Tenth Anniversary A Walk in the Walbran The Marmots of Haley Lake Kelson of the Kitlope Megin River Report Mt. Tuam Reserve Threatened Khutzeymateen Commitment Proposing Ecological Reserves: Points of Information
1992	SPRING (March)	Editorial: Pathways to Protection Exploring the Kyuquot Sound Region Marbled Murrelet Activity in the Walbran The Road through Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve Sighting and Counting Sea Otters The Impact of Logging the Lower Tahsish-Kwois Ancient Rain Forests at Risk

FALL 1992

Mt. Tuam Reserve Threatened: Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve in the Path of Development

A meeting of the Salt Spring Island Trust Committee convened last August 21 in Ganges to consider an application for a development variance permit by owners of a 20-hectare property near Cape Keppel—the subject of a similar application last December.

Only road access to the so-called Cunningham property follows a right-of-way that runs across, and was several years ago deleted from, Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve (See the article in the March 1992 issue of The Log.) This meeting was advertised in the Gulf Islands Driftwood of the same week, appearing at most two days before the meeting, with the information that the proposed permit would be on view in a Victoria office beginning August 11!

The permit, approved at another meeting three days later, waives the section of the island’s subdivision by-law requiring lots to have highway frontage. The permit will allow for subdivision of the property into five eight-acre lots—ten lots were previously proposed—and the developers will dedicate ten acres as parkland.

Friends director Briony Penn attended the August 21 meeting to voice our concern about the incremental loss of ecosystem integrity likely to result from increased traffic on the road through the reserve and development on its borders—the introduction of non-native plant species, pollution from various sources, soil erosion and disturbance to wildlife and habitat. In the region, natural areas are under such pressure from urbanization that many sensitive ecosystem types are in danger of extirpation.

Writes Ministry of Forests research ecologist Jim Pojar: “Most of BC’s threatened or extirpated forest ecosystems occur near centres of human population, specifically on southeastern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands…. Productive lowland forest in general is difficult to find in pristine condition [in this region]. The upland Douglas-fir forests have also been badly depleted [the dry Douglas-fir/arbutus forest is, for example, threatened] but truly threatened forest ecosystems include several more restricted types found on flat, imperfectly-drained soils developed from marine parent materials.” Such bottomland forests include grand fir / Western redcedar / bigleaf maple / sword fern and Western redcedar / alder / skunk cabbage. Also badly depleted is the alluvial ecosystem of Western redcedar / Douglas-fir / sword fern. Little of these ecosystems, all of which are represented in the Mt. Tuam reserve, are intact and protected.

The Friends’ Lynne Milnes questions the fairness of the process by which the development variance permit was issued. In the little time before the meeting, she contacted officials with the BC Government, Islands Trust, ecological reserve warden Bob Andrew, who sits on the Salt Spring Island Trust Committee, and various proponents. Islands Trust staff suggested that “if we advertise earlier, people forget.” More troubling to Lynne, “no-one from BC Parks or Crown Lands was there to support the ecological reserve as the only land-owner directly affected by the change.” A Crown Lands representative said ecological reserves were the responsibility of BC Parks. An official in BC Parks’ Malahat district office said the road was the responsibility of the Ministry of Highways. Lynne wonders whether there are any advocates for ecological reserves anywhere in the government.

Development of Cape Keppel is now assured, although the consequences of this permit can’t be predicted. Should all three properties west of the reserve be subdivided and developed, traffic on the road will multiply, and pressure will grow for standard services. The road may eventually be paved if school buses use it.

How can ecological reserves be protected against encroachments of this nature? Briony Penn cites one potential tool to control adjacent land-users: the use of conservation covenants, protective agreements allowed by the Land Titles Act, which are voluntarily placed on the land but cannot be abrogated unilaterally. When properties come up for rezoning or subdivision, conditions may be attached by striking a covenant.

In the case of the Cape Keppel properties, such covenants could restrict the movement of materials, particularly heavy equipment, by road, limit the number of vehicles per lot, stipulate that lots be advertised for sale as “water access only,” restrict landscaping of properties and limit the extent of upgrading of the road. At present the administrative body is government—Islands Trust in the case of these properties. Under pending amendments to the Land Titles Act, however, such groups as ours will be eligible to receive and monitor conservation covenants. The administrator of the covenant has the power to prevent the sale of properties to which documented violations of the convent attach.

Peter Grant

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SPRING 1992

The Road through Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve

The letter following, to BC Parks, refers to notice of a proposed subdivision of land near Cape Keppel on Salt Spring Island in the December 4 Gulf Islands Driftwood. The Salt Spring Island Trust Committee was to consider an application for a zoning by-law variance to permit a property near Cape Keppel to be subdivided into 10 lots, with “marine access only”—no road frontage. Vehicle access to the property and the two others near Cape Keppel is, however, available—through Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve (ER #16).

Mountain Road runs southwest from Isabella Point Road, mostly on a right-of-way that provides access to the Mt. Tuam Coast Guard beacon. The BC Government deleted a 50-foot corridor from the reserve in the 1980s after wrestling fo years with the conflict between the exclusive terms of the Ecological Reserves Act and a used road that predated the reserve.

More recently a logging company lobbied for use of the reserve for a haul route. According to Salt Spring Island resident James Scarfo, who discovered negotiations in progress and asked to review the terms, inquiring citizens were required by BC Parks’ officials to prepare their response over a weekend. An ad hoc citizens’ meeting drew a group of “50 or 60 people”, who prepared a legal challenge to the government’s apparent pro-development policy with respect to ecological reserves. The company’s application was subsequently denied.

December 5, 1991

It is with deep concern that we are writing regarding the attached notice recently appearing in the local Salt Spring newspaper. Although the Cunningham family have applied for a 10-lot subdivision, and their application is for “Marine Access Only”, there is no way to stop new property owners from gaining access through the ecological reserve.

In January 1991, one of the three property owners in the area made application to the Crown to repair the road through the ecological reserve. This application was net by an extremely negative response by concerned citizens, but permission was still granted by the Crown Lands of your [BC Parks] Ministry.

(Following paragraph from a more recent letter to Environment, Lands and Parks minister John Cashore)

It was reported to the Islands Trust which in turn reported to the Ministry of Parks that the work being done was exceeding the mandate to “repair” the road—they were extensively upgrading the road through extensive ditching, blasting and several encroachments into the ecological reserve itself. Government representatives reviewed the road during the upgrading and elected to do nothing about it.

Immediately after permission was granted, the applicant, Mr. Lambert, listed his property for sale for $1.1 million [twice relisted, most recently at $1.5 million]. There is no reason to believe that he will not follow suit with an application for a seven-lot subdivision as allowed under current by-laws. The third owner in the area had his property listed for sale three or four years ago, and if so inclined could apply for an 11-lot subdivision. Each of these 18 lots would be entitled to build a principal residence and a guest cottage, thereby adding 36 buildings to an area with access through our ecological reserve.

It is not our intent to propose that these people be curtailed from subdividing their land as allowed under current by-laws. We are adamantly against any further road utilization through the ecological reserve. It is coincidental that extensive roadwork at a cost of many thousands of dollars is being conducted through our ecological reserve at the same time as an application for Marine Access Only subdivision is being brought forward.

The only way to stop the used of our ecological reserves for commercial purposes is to deny their application for subdivision, or to construct a gate across the road with non-reproducible keys issued to current landowners only.

Dennis and Gloria O’Hara

Salt Spring Island

Trudy Chatwin wrote to the Islands Trust at the same time to express the Friends’ concern over possible use of the Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve and to suggest a remedy:

We fear for the integrity of the ecological reserve, which protects a representative same of the Coastal Douglas fir ecosystem. We feel that an increase in number of properties in the Cape Keppel/Satellite Channel area will greatly increase pressure to upgrade the now little used road through the Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve.

Ecological Reserves are meant to remain as natural as possible, so that they can be used as benchmarks, by which to measure change in the surrounding areas. According to the Ecological Reserves Guidebook: “Ecological reserves must be permanently protected [emphasis added] sites to allow continuity of research over decades or even centuries.” This restrictive protection is enshrined in the Ecological Reserves Act. We recognize that the road was deleted from the reserve to allow a few existing landowners continued access to properties beyond the reserve. Increased used of this road will further compromise the integrity of the ecological reserve through erosion, redirection of drainage, increased hunter traffic, illegal tree-cutting and other visitor impacts.

We suggest that a gate be placed at the beginning of the reserve to allow only the existing property owners and safety-related visitors to use the road. The Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks should undertake to guarantee that the road will not be upgraded, nor given legal status.

The application was turned down, but the problem won’t just go away, according to Dennis O’Hara, who is himself a realtor and property owner in the area of the reserve. The group James Scarfo convened is now known as the Island Watch Society. The Crown Lands Use Coalition, another group Mr. Scarfo had a hand in starting, seeks to identify the best use of Salt Spring Island’s undeveloped Crown lands. Last year the group approached the BC Government with a request to protect several sites, including two proposed westward extensions of Mt. Tuam Ecological Reserve.

Friends director Peggy Frank attended a recent planning meeting on Sapt Spring Island and affirmed the Friends’ support for resident opposition to any further encroachment on the reserve.

Peter Grant

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Research Reports: Sighting and Counting Sea Otters

September 19, 1991:

Hello. Just a quite note to thank the Friends for their continued support of sea otter research. We had a successful field season. I was able to monitor all of the permanent sites in Checleset Bay, and survey the sea otter population between brooks Bay and Ferrer Point on Nootka Island. We will complete the Nootka Island portion of the survey next week, weather permitting.

We were able to confirm a report of over 100 sea otters made by Mike Sheehan and Mike Blades off Cape Cook in Brooks Bay. We sighted fewer animals but were pleased to see femailes with pups in the area. It is reassuring to see the reproductive portion of the sea otter population expanding. The number of sea offers within and around the ecological reserve appear to be stable at around 300 animals. Very conservatively, we estimate that there are at least 400 between Ferrer Point on Nootka Island and Quatsino Light.

Earlier in the year, the Vancouver Aquarium funded a trip to the central coast to confirm a sea otter sighting in the Goose Group by naturalist Damian Powers of the Hakai Recreation Area. We counted between 80 and 100 sea otters, including females with pups. All in all, the BC sea otter population appears to be doing very well.

The permanent sits established in and around the ecological reserve were examined. The areas recently foraged by sea otters continue to change; the successional similarities to terrestrial systems amaze me.

I small sent a more complete report of this season’s work once we have finished the sea otter surveys of Nootka Island and subtidal surveys of all established permanent sites.

December 5, 1991:

I had a good trip to Checleset Bay this summer, despite a few mishaps (lost all my SCUBA tanks in 250 feet of water). I managed to get everything done, and even sneaked around Brooks Peninsula to count the otters in Brooks Bay and the Klashish. The otters are doing really well: they now form an almost continuous group from Lawn Point to Nootka Point, and are getting very hard to keep track of. It takes over a week of actual counting to do the whole Vancouver Island population, not including travel between areas.

My permanent sites are still in place and growing kelp furiously. I plan to carry on the permanent site research and counting otters after, or if, I become “Dr. Jane”, so you will undoubtedly hear from me again.

When Captain James Cook arrived on the west coast of North American in 1779 in need of supplies and equipment, he was helped by the people of Friendly Cove, who traded food and sea otter pelts for iron tools. Cook’s ships, minus Cook—killed en route, after searching unsuccessfully for the North West Passage to the Atlantic Ocean—proceeded to China where the sea otter pelts sold for handsome profit. Publication of Cook’s journals in 1784 started the rush to hunt sea otters on the north west coast of America.

Exactly how many sea otters were taken in the 133-year hunt, no-one knows. But in 911, when sea otters were finally protected, the world population was less than 4000 sea otters. In BC, the last reported sea otter was shot at Kyuquot, in Checleset Bay, in 1929.

Thus it may have been poetic justice that led Ian MacAskie and colleagues to Checleset Bay in search of a location to reintroduce sea otters. Between 1969 and 1972, they released 89 Alaskan sea otters into what was to become Ecological Reserve #109. The sea otters flourished. There are now about 700 otters in BC waters.

My research focuses on how sea otter foraging affects the nearshore community they live in. By feeding on sea urchins and removing those “lawn mowers of the sea”, otters increase the abundance of kelp and productivity. To examine the effects of sea otter foraging, I study changes in the size and range of the BC sea otter population.

Sea otters can be counted from aircraft or boats. Helicopters are most effective, but very expensive, so most surveys have been conducted using inflatable boats (fondly known as “deflatables”). Counting an animal, the size of a German Shepherd, that lives amongst kelp and surf-washed, jagged rocks is not easy. It takes time to develop an eye that can distinguish the whiskered face of a sleeping sea otter from bristling blades of bull kelp or differentiate a distant raft of otters from a floating mat of kelp.

The process is aided by the fact that sea otters are creatures of habit. They use the same areas repeatedly, congregate in large rafts and segregate by age and reproductive status. Thus, females with pups raft together, sub-adult animals raft together, and adult males are usually solitary, occupying large home ranges that they seldom leave.

Sea otters also have daily and weather related habits. In the summer, females with pups raft up and rest when afternoon westerlies blow. Sub-adults, less bothered by the weather, congregate during the evening but disperse each morning to feed. During stormy weather, sea otters are more likely to raft up in sheltered areas, close to shore. During the winter, they seem to use inshore areas more frequently and forage offshore when the weather is suitable.

Surveys of the sea otter population can only be made when the sea is calm, and preferably when high overcast reduces glare. Ironically, the highest counts have occurred just before storms, when sea otters congregate in sheltered areas. Some of our lowest counts have been made in seemingly idyllic conditions, but when sea otters scatter to forage in offshore areas.

On Vancouver Island the geographic range of sea otters is from Estevan Point—occasionally into Hesquiat Harbour—to Quatsino Light, with concentrations at Bajo Reef, Checleset Bay, Brooks Bay and Quatsino Sound.

Information on the population size and extent, as well as the habits, movements and seasonal use of areas by sea otters, is essential in the event of an oil spill. Knowing where to look will speed our ability to find and capture oiled animals for cleaning and rehabilitation and will allow clean up crews to remove oil from areas used by sea otters. These are sombre, but realistic reasons to make sure otter surveys continue.

Sea otters are a success story. They have increased from the verge of extinction to a worldwide population of 150,000 to 200,000 animals. In Canada sea otters are classed as endangered—an animal threatened with extinction throughout part or all of its Canadian range. In my mind, BC sea otters will remain endangered, at least as long as the possibility of an oil spill threatens our coast. Happily, as sea otters spread out and fill their historic range, the threat to the whole population diminishes. In the meantime, we watch, count, and hope for their continued success.

Jane Watson

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