Denman Conservancy Association
P.O. Box 60 Denman Island BC CANADA V0R 1T0
Inner Island Nature Reserve History
Securing the Denman Island lands known as the Inner Island Nature Reserve has been a long and difficult project, and it is not yet complete. In 1993 Des Kennedy, one of the early activists in the cause, documented the events that led to the creation of the Inner Island Nature Reserve and also the Trust Fund Board resolutions to acquire adjacent Crown land. This summary is based on that documentation.The story starts when it was recognized that the best use of the major wetland on Pickles Road, the beaver pond, was for it to be preserved as natural habitat. This land, slightly less than half of the SE ¼ of Section 21, was donated to the Vancouver Foundation in the 1970's. The remainder of the quarter section, and other lands, were then sold to Raven Forest Products.
In 1977, at the request of the Islands Trust and the Denman Island Ratepayers and Residents Association, the Vancouver Foundation transferred the donated land, 25.6 ha (56.4 acres), known as Lot 1, to the Crown, intending that it would be held in perpetuity as a nature reserve. This transfer took place with the understanding that the title to the property would eventually be passed to the Islands Trust when it was given the power to hold lands. A map reserve was registered on Lot 1 on behalf of the Ministry of Environment due to the wildlife habitat importance of the wetlands on the property.
In December 1989 B.C. Lands advised the Islands Trust that if the Ministry of Environment did not assume the responsibility of the Lot 1 within two years, the lands ministry would examine alternate methods of protection, and would entertain an application for the land by the Islands Trust Fund, the agency of Islands Trust that had by then been created to hold and manage conservation land.
In September 1990, the Executive Committee of the Islands Trust Council passed a "Denman Crown Land Resolution" in which it was resolved, in part, that the Trust Council was prepared to recommend that the SW ¼ of Section 22 should also be held by the Islands Trust Fund for a nature reserve and watershed protection. This would extend the proposed nature reserve to include the 64 hectares of Crown Land immediately to the east of Lot 1.
The Trust Fund Board, in a meeting of October 19, 1990, passed a resolution to instruct staff to prepare a management plan, and subsequently apply for the acquisition of Lot 1 and the SW ¼ of Section 22.
Creation of the map reserve on the wetland area of Lot 1 isolated two small separate forested portions of the SE ¼ of Section 21, totaling 9.4 ha (21 acres). In December 1992, this property was purchased by the Denman Conservancy Association and donated to the Islands Trust Fund, the first property acquired by the Fund. The two portions of the property were consolidated as 'Lot A' and designated the Inner Island Nature Reserve. Subdivision approval had to be granted by the Agricultural Land Commission, which stipulated that Lot A had to be eventually consolidated with Lot 1, the map reserve. On March 11, 1992 the Trust Fund Board passed two resolutions to pursue this consolidation.
It is Trust Fund Board policy to prepare and approve a management plan for properties it acquires (ITFB 1992). Management plans include a biophysical description of the area, an overview of present land use(s) and zoning, the identification of management issues, and recommendations for the appropriate type and level of protection, use, and modifications. On acquiring Lot A the ITF Board prepared a Management Plan for the Inner Island Nature Reserve on Denman Island that included the adjacent Crown held lands: the wetlands and associated uplands of Lot 1 and the SW ¼ of Section 22.
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