Denman Conservancy Association
P.O. Box 60 Denman Island BC CANADA V0R 1T0
Central Park
Central Park is 147 acre block of land in the middle of Denman Island, on Denman Road just opposite the Old School Centre. This land was purchased by Denman Conservancy Association in September 2006.
It hosts two long wetlands and is a central link in the proposed Protected Area Network. While it was logged in about 2000, there remain trees beside the wetlands, and the great number of young trees on the property show that in general there is excellent regeneration on this agricultural class land. The forest will eventually mature as the Coastal Douglas-fir type, increasingly rare in our region.
Central
Park pond...photo by Mikel
Community Uses
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..drawing by Jane Fawkes |
Conservation Significance
By Jenny Balke
This property fulfills two major conservation roles: the
immediate
protection of valuable wetland habitat, and the protection of a
future moist Coastal Douglas-fir forest. Characteristics of the
re-growing forest suggest that if allowed to reach old growth, one of
the forest types may be among the rare and threatened forest
communities in BC. The potential forest types or site series are
CDFmm site series 05 "Western red cedar, Douglas-Fir -
Kindbergia", to CDFmm site series 06 "Western red cedar,
Grand fir – Foamflower", the first of which (05) is RED
LISTED in climax condition. Thus, in addition to contributing a
relatively large area of forest habitat, the type of habitat may
become valuable on a provincial scale. The wetlands themselves are a
fairly common "type" in the Georgia Depression, but
wetlands in general are relatively rare in the southeast coastal
lowlands of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. The wetlands on
this property are relatively undamaged and thus represent a valuable
example of a well-developed wetland community, which may harbour
other uncommon species.
(extract from: Ecological Overview Old
School Property "Central Park Nature Reserve" March 2006)
Cleavers...drawing
by Jane Fawkes
About the Property
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Area is 147 Acres or 60 Hectares
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Zoning is Agriculture A(1)
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It is in the Agricultural Land Reserve
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Minimum lot size 64 Hectares, therefore only one residence is permitted.
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The land was partly logged using horses in 1998 and then logged extensively in 2000.
The Name
Central Park, New York City is well known, but did you know that it has an area of 843 Acres? And that Manhattan Island is almost the same size as Denman Island, even having a similar shape? Of course we do not have any ambition to duplicate the 250 acres of lawn that New Yorkers so love to have in their park. See below for our own Central Park Vision.
Our Central Park Vision
The map above shows the Central Park property (#7) on Denman Road and the various conservation and Crown blocks that make a chain of lands all the way from the middle of the Island up to Chickadee Lake. DCA's goal of protecting all of these parcels is what we are calling our Central Park Vision.
The total acreage shown in the blocks outlined in red is a little less than 800 acres, comparable with the area of Central Park in New York City.
In our vision all this land should ultimately be conserved for nature and some recreational use. At present a small part of the Crown land (block #4 adjacent to Inner Island Nature Reserve) is zoned for conservation (it was donated to the Crown for that purpose) but the two larger blocks (#1 and #2 on the map) are not so protected.
Comparing the map above with the PAN map prepared by Silva Ecological Consultants we see that Central Park, having within it the headwaters of the Graveyard Marsh, provides the main network linkage between the northern and southern parts of the Island. As well, one of its other wetlands connects it to the Beadnell Creek drainage that flows down to Fillongly Park.
To the northwest the Central Park Vision includes Chickadee Lake, which DCA tried hard to purchase but was unable to reach agreement on a price with 4064 Investments. Although the western shore (block #3) is protected, the eastern shoreline remains in private hands.
The connection of all these blocks of land provides an opportunity to establish walking trails that will stretch from the Old School to Winter Wren Wood on the shore of Chickadee Lake.
Winter
Visitors...photo by Sarah Thornton
Trail Map
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