Denman Conservancy Association
P.O. Box 60 Denman Island BC CANADA V0R 1T0
Settlement Lands
The Settlement Lands comprise 157 acres in two blocks of land bisected by Central Road. The land was logged around the year 2000 leaving some mature trees including a fringe of trees in the riparian zone around the Pickles Road wetland. The southern boundary of the Settlement Lands is contiguous with the Inner Island Nature Reserve. The Settlement Lands form a significant link in the chain of conservation properties between Central Park and Chickadee Lake that comprise DCA's Central Park Vision.
View from the Settlement Lands across Pickles Marsh. Photo John Millen
The Settlement Lands were obtained by DCA in November 2006 as part of the settlement of the legal case against 4064 Investments Ltd
The Settlement Lands encompass the two northern arms of one of the Island's principal fresh water catchment areas; rich wetlands with varied water depths, sedge marshes and surrounded by a recovering Douglas-fir forest with some vets; it provides valuable habitat for a diversity of wildlife. The wetlands are a valuable heritage in these dry islands, a legacy left by the retreating glaciers from the last ice age.
In 2005 Denman Island biologist Jenny Balke discovered Taylor's Checkerspot butterflies in the Settlement Lands. Taylor's Checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori) is on the British Columbia provincial red-list, and is listed as Endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act. Denman Island is currently the only known breeding location for the species in Canada. (In 2008 one specimen was seen flying on Vancouver Island land adjacent to Denman Island.)
DCA is conducting a baseline biological survey of the Settlement lands in 2009 as a first step in the preparation of a Management Plan.
For a further description of the land and its ecosystem see Ecological Overview
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