We live in a special place! Thetis Island lies within the Coastal Douglas-fir Biogeoclimatic Zone (CDF) which is one of British Columbia’s smallest, most biodiverse and most at-risk zones. Over half of the area, which encompasses the Gulf Islands and southeast coast of Vancouver Island, has been permanently converted to buildings, roads, parking lots, farms and industrial areas, and less than ten percent of the original forest is left, much of it fragmented by logging roads. Every ecological community in the zone is considered imperilled by the BC Conservation Data Centre.
See the Sensitive Ecosystems Map of Thetis Island below, or click here to download the PDF
CDF Biogeoclimatic Zone
The CDF is also home to one the highest number and densities of species in Canada, including rare and endangered species. So far, eighteen terrestrial species at risk have been documented on Thetis Island, including two plants, nine birds, two snails, two lichens, one amphibian and two mammals. Working with our partner, the Islands Trust Conservancy, we carry out ongoing species at risk surveys in the Nature Reserves.
Image: Great Blue Heron (Marcie Welsh)
Resources
Species at Risk Known on Thetis Island
(Islands Trust, 2018)