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THE LOG FRIENDS OF ECOLOGICAL RESERVES NEWSLETTER SPRING/SUMMER 2012 1

Spring/Summer 2012

www.ecoreserves.bc.ca

President’sReport ( 2, 10, 11, 12 & 13

Field Trip to EagleHeights 3 & 4

Purple martins ComeHome 8 & 14

Update on Scott Islands MarineNational Wildlife Area 18

New Field Guide toTrees of the PacificNorthwest Back cover

Cont’d.)

Elders’ Interviews - FeaturingLouise Goulet 5, 6, 7, 9 &

15 to 18

President’s ReportBy Mike Fenger

Continued on page 2

Visit our website at:


Thanks to all of you readers,subscribers, wardens and

supporters of Friends ofEcological Reserves. Here is ashort executive summary ofwhat has occurred over thecourse of a year.

A year ago FER wished for ahigher profile for EcologicalReserves and increased publicawareness and understandingof ERs as part of celebrating theParks Centennial year. Our wishcame true. The year 2011 was amilestone year for bothEcological Reserves and Friendsof Ecological Reserves. Thereare many positive changes toreport and yet enough chal-lenges for the up-coming yeartoo.

Our six proposed centennialprojects were approved,funded, and are now complete.These projects focused primar-ily on extension and communi-cations and were: 1) a freestanding floor banner

,showing the location andpurpose of Ecological Reserves ;

which issuitable for open houses

2) a new and easier to manageweb site; 3) an EcologicalReserves map to replace the outof print BC Parks map; 4) videotaped interviews with EcologicalReserve Elders who built andmanaged the Eco log i ca lReserves system; 5) leadershipin a workshop as part of the BCParks organized Parks andProtected Areas Research Forumwhich was held at the Universityof BC and featured a discussionon the challenges of “managing”or not “managing” EcologicalReserves; and 6) a review ofParks’ files to find existingresearch done in ERs and anyreports thereof not publicallyavailable. More details on howthese projects support the FERstrategic goals as well as ourother activities are includedbelow.

We thank Bev Ramey for herinvitation to FER to attend thewell-organized field trip toFraser River ecological

Goal 1. Support for the ERWardens Program.�

THE LOG FRIENDS OF ECOLOGICAL RESERVES NEWSLETTER SPRING/SUMMER 20122

Spring/Summer 2012

The LOG

The LOG

The LOG

Times Colonist

is published 2 times a year by theFriends of Ecological Reserves to promote

the establishment, management andmaintenance of Ecological Reserves in

British Columbia. is distributed tomembers, volunteer wardens, affiliates,

supporters, government, friends and theenquiring public.

The views expressed in this newsletter arenot necessarily those of the Friends.

Articles for publication are invited. Thedeadline for submissions for the

Autumn/Winter issue of isOctober, 2012.

EditorLouise Beinhauer

Design and ProductionL.B. Word Works

DirectorsMike Fenger, President

Tom Gillespie, Membership SecretaryMarilyn Lambert

Mary RannieStephen RuttanGarry FletcherWynne Miles

Rick PageDon Eastman, Past President

Honorary DirectorsBristol Foster

Robert BatemanTrudy ChatwinVicky Husband

Josette Wier

Contributors to this issue:Mike Fenger, Stephen Ruttan and excerpts

from the

Memberships are based on a calendar year.Individual: $20, Family/Institutions: $25

Students/Seniors: $15Charitable BIN # 118914597RR

FRIENDS OF ECOLOGICAL RESERVESPO BOX 8477 STN CENTRAL

VICTORIA, BC V8W 3S1Email: [email protected]

Website: http//www.ecoreserves.bc.ca

Canada Post Agreement No: 40020740

President’s Report (Cont’d.)

Continued on page 10

reserve and we thank GarryFletcher from the FER boardfor attending and getting thisfield trip report on the newwebs i te ( see Fa l l Log

) a n d

.Together with Parks staff JudyMillar and Tory Stevens, FERB o a r d m e m b e r s To mGillespie, Garry Fletcher andMike Fenger continue tomaintain and update the ERwardens list. This is notwithout its challenges as ParksRegional Areas supervisorsadd or change ER wardensand FER is not necessarilyinformed. The names of theER wardens appear on therevised website under each ofthe ER pro f i l e s .

We want to thank TomGillespie for his many years asthe FER web master as well asfor the many other roles thathe undertook over the years.Thanks also to Garry Fletcherwho, with his experience asweb master for Race Rocks,led FER towards a significantlyimproved website capable ofsharing data. Due to theamount of activity buildingand adding the web pages,Garry has summarized andthanked many of you whoprovided time, images andreports to him or who he has

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AreaSupervisors and wardensplease let us know ifchanges are needed and thewardens we have listed arenot the ones you meet with.

http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/2011/10/07/er-warden-field-day-bc-parks-staff-and-wardens-r e c o n n e c /http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/category/wardenmeetings/

helped master the art ofadding these yourself. (seeboxed item on page 13)ER wardens and AreaSupervisors take note pleasev i s i t n e w w e b s i t e

andif you have not done soalready, use it to add informa-tion and help to build and addto the ER legacy. We arehoping to receive reports andimages and sense that manyreports only make it to theArea Supervisors offices. FERwould like to build and hostthe permanent ER-specificweb record system on the FERwebsite. We need a lot ofcooperation to achieve this.

The Research Legacy project(#6 on page 1) helped us tocapture some of the existingand completed research inERs. Some research reportswere on the BC Parks ERwebsite but not as many asParks had in their files. FERfound over 200 ER-relatedresearch reports and havealmost completed the consid-erable task of adding these toER profiles on the newwebsite. Thanks to Parks staff,Tory Stevens, Jaime Hilbert,Mona Holley and Bill Munnfor assistance in accessingParks reports at the JutlandRoad Parks f i le room.Research papers not in elec-tronic format were scanned toPDFs (Portable DocumentFormat).The FER-lead panel at theParks and Protected Areas

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Goal 2. Support Studies in ERs

http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/

3

A Trip to Eagle HeightsBy Stephen Ruttan


Continued on page 4

For the past several yearsmembers of the Friends'

board have been visiting ecolog-ical reserves on VancouverIsland. In the process we havebeen getting to know better theprotected areas close to home.This year we did somethingdifferent. We went to visit anarea that has long been consid-ered a prime candidate forprotection.

Eagle Heights, a hilly areaseveral kilometres west ofShawnigan Lake, has someunusual ecological qualities. Fora start, it has some small areas ofsouth facing pocket grasslands.Hans Roemer and Adolf andOluna Ceska, in a paper writtenin 2003, point out that thesegrasslands “are the richest innumber of native grass speciesfound on Vancouver Island”.They are also unusually free ofintroduced species. There areseveral red and blue listedspecies in the Eagle Heightsarea. Also, there is a variety ofdifferent kinds of forest, withsome old-growth at the top ofthe Heights. Geologically it isalso interesting, with some areasof karst limestone.

On May 20 a group of tengathered at the Helmcken park-and-ride. Adolf and Oluna Ceskawere our leaders. Also on thetrip were Michael Brinsmead,Mike Fenger, Garry and HelenFletcher, Marilyn and PhilLambert, Wynne Miles, andStephen Ruttan. We drove up toShawnigan Lake, and then a fewkilometres west until we

th

reached Burnt Bridge on theKoksilah River. At this point wewere in Koksilah River ProvincialPark. This stretches along theKoksilah River for a few kilo-metres. Eagle Heights was justopposite us, the hill above thewest bank of the river.

We began our hike by crossingBurnt Bridge, and hiking northon the logging road on the westside of the river. After a fewminutes we came to a dry streambed, and then hiked up a trailbeside it. It was along this trail afew years ago that Adolf discov-ered a population of

(pine broomrape).The only time this had beencollected in B.C. before was onthe Cowichan River in 1914.Until Adolf rediscovered it, itwas thought to be extinct in B.C.While we were beside thisstream bank we saw some deadstalks of this plant. It flowerslater in the summer.

Orobanchepinorum

Slightly above us was aclearcut area, that had been cut afew years ago. Many people hadbeen trying to protect this area;the idea was to have a protectedarea that started from theboundary of the Koksilah RiverPark and went right up to thetop of Eagle Heights. This wouldhave saved a population of thevery rare(white lip rein orchid), whichwas in the now clearcut area.But the powers that be ignoredthis, and let it be logged.

This clearcut area is below thepocket grasslands area that wewere now headed up to. Wewent back down to the road, andcontinued north. Along the waythere were extensive popula-tions of vanilla leaf and swordfern in the young forest. Afterabout fifteen minutes we cameto a trail. This trail is a shortscramble up to the pocket

Piperia candida

L to R: Marilyn Lambert, Adolf and Oluna Ceska

4

CALENDAR

2012 - ConservationConnection

September 28, 2012

Habitat Acquisition Trustholds Conservation

Connection every year atRoyal Roads University. Watch

their website for furtherinformation.

http://www.hat.bc.ca/

“A Trip to Eagle Heights” continued from page 3


meadows. Along this trail wecould see a few(fairyslipper) in its final stages.Earlier in the spring this is anarea often rich in calypsos.

After about ten minutes wecame to the open areas. This iswhere Adolf, Wynne, and othersdiscovered some interestingplants. It was rich in ferns, suchas ,

,, and

. There were somewell known wild flowers there,such as(death camas),

(Menzies’ larkspur),and(chocolate lily). They alsodiscovered a rare violet,

. We also searched for(com-

mon bluecup), a red listed plantwhich has been seen in these

Calypso bulbosa

Aspidotis densa Woodsiascopulina Pentagrammatriangularis Polystichumimbricans

Zygadenus venenosusDelphinium

menzesiiFritillaria lanceolata

ViolahowelliiGithopsis specularioides

meadows (by Adolf, Oluna, andothers). We had no luck todaythough.

We had lunch in the meadows,and continued to explore. Therewas , a redmoss which was on a wet rock. A

(monkeyflower) wasup there, whose classification isuncertain at this moment. Alsothere was(rusty-haired saxifrage). We thenstarted to head back down thehill. Along the way we saw

(small-flowered birds-foot trefoil). Alsothere was the grass Roemer’sfescue ( ssp.

), named after its discov-erer, Hans Roemer.

We got back to our cars in theearly afternoon. Adolf andOluna had one more item toshow us. We drove north fromShawnigan Lake on the road toCobble Hill. We turned off on aroad called Northgate, which

Bryum miniatum

Mimulus

Saxifraga rufidula

Acmispon parviflorus

Festuca idahoensisroemeri

became a private road. Olunahad worked in this area before.They showed us an example of

(early blue violet).This is much more commonthan , which issimilar to it; by seeing it youcould tell the differencebetween the two.

This ended our trip for theday. And it would be nice toreport that there might be thepossibil ity of protection.Unfortunately that doesn’t looklikely. The area is three quartersowned by a logging company,and a quarter is Crown land.Governments are showing noinclination to buy up privateland for protection these days.The best hope is for benignneglect. Around the grasslandareas the forests are not of muchcommercial value. Hopefully itis not in a company’s interest todo any logging. The same,though, could not be said for theold-growth at the top of EagleHeights. So maybe we can pushfor protection. It would be niceif some of the original dream forthis area could become a reality.

Viola adunca

Viola howelii

Clump of mushrooms on a fallen log identified by Oluna Ceska as Kuehneromycesvernalis

5THE LOG FRIENDS OF ECOLOGICAL RESERVES NEWSLETTER SPRING/SUMMER 2012

Continued on page 6

Elders’ Interviews - Featuring Louise GouletInterviewer Mike Fenger

T h i s i n t e r v i e w w a svideographed by Ray Painchaudat Louise Goulet’s home in OakBay, Victoria November 4, 2011.

Mike Fenger (MF): I am herewith Louise Goulet who has along association with EcologicalReserves and we want to hearsome of the tales from thehistorical vault and some ofLouise’s impressions of the ERprogram and maybe someinsights into the future. We wantto start however with howLouise became interested inconservation and the naturalenvironment. Louise welcomeand thank you very much.

MF: What year was that?

MF: And the ER program hadbeen running for some time attime?

Louise Goulet (LG): You arewelcome. Conservation for megoes back as far as I can remember,as a kid in streams collectingtadpoles, at the edge of the sea, inthe forests, collections of rocks,collections of plants and that for meis really why I became a biologist.For me the natural environment isreally a passion. When I did my PhDit was on animal behaviour. Myentire life I have worked on some-thing that I was passionate aboutand I considered myself fortunatefor that. The ER Program was soexciting. I was living in Vancouver atthat time when I said to my hus-band we are moving. I madeapplication for the job and much tomy surprise I got it.

LG: That was 1985.

LG: Well the program started in1971 and had Bristol Foster as thefellow in charge; but by the time Igot there I don’t think there hadbeen anybody in charge for abouttwo years. Bristol had left and the

program was kind of in limbo. Atthat time, the program was with BCLands. A decision was made to fillthat position again and I appliedand got it. Very quickly after that,the program was moved from BCLands to BC Parks.

LG: My undergraduate degree isfrom Laval University, where I didmy Bachelors in Biology. Then Iwent straight into PhD also inBiology at Simon Fraser University;but all my field work was in Alberta.I wanted to work on the relation-ship between animal behaviourand population dynamics. I wentthrough the list of animals andchoose Richardson’s groundsquirrels, which hibernate severalmonths of the year. Not only werethe squirrels very visible aboveground in the short grass prairie,but they are only active betweenMarch and July.

MF: I want to go back just alittle bit to where you got yourschooling. Did you do youruniversity in B.C.?

MF: We have you starting inQuebec and coming slowlywestward and so how did youend up from field work in

Alberta to living full time in B.C.?

MF: So let’s get back to 1985and the ER program when youjoined the program. What werethe goals of the program at thattime?

LG: Well I did my PhD at SimonFraser and I mean if you are awildlife biologist where would youwant to be if not in B.C.? I didwildlife surveys for several yearsmostly in the North, first onHudson Bay (Quebec) and then innorthern BC, the Mackenzie Delta,looking for bears, muskrats,waterfowl, ungulates, vegetation,etc.

LG: The goals of the programwere the ones dictated by legisla-tion, which was to protect areas forlong-term research and as bench-mark areas for genetic diversity. Wewere setting aside two types of areas:some that were representative ofwhat we had in BC and those thatwere special, with outstandingfeatures. What I thought was inter-esting about ERs is that they alsoincluded geologic features. When Icame on board there were hundredsof ER proposals that had been part of

ER Elder Louise Goulet

6 THE LOG FRIENDS OF ECOLOGICAL RESERVES NEWSLETTER SPRING/SUMMER 2012

“Louise Goulet” cont’d from page 5

the International BiologicalProgram; there was a wealth ofbiological information alreadyavailable. Of these, there weredozens of proposals that werealready queued up for establishmentif we could get approval for them.

LG: As the coordinator of thatprogram inside of BC Parks, I wasresponsible for the establishment ofnew reserves and for ensuring thatthey were protected – the volunteerwarden program was invaluable forthat last objective. I was also respon-sible for program outreach bothinside and outside government. Imade a very conscious effort to havean active outreach program to makesure that more people knew aboutthe program.

LG: Yes two staff [Dr. HansRoemer and John Pinder-Moss].But I managed to add another staff,Mona Holley who is still with BCParks. Of the few people that areleft at BC Parks, Mona is probablythe one that knows the most aboutthe ER program. She started as avolunteer to help us create a filingsystem for the ER program. Therewas at least fifteen feet deep ofpaper and no filing system! So shestarted going through the informa-tion and as I developed moreunderstanding of the program Iarticulated a whole structure forfiling information. That system isstill there and that means thatanybody can access it as it is in anorganized fashion for the programas a whole and for each reserve.

LG: That ER has some signifi-cance for me. To create protectedareas you had to be creative. Well loand behold, I was asked to be on acommittee to select a gift from

MF: And you were managing thatapproval process in government?

MF: There was a staff of two?

MF: You must have enjoyed somesuccesses while you were with ERs.I see behind us is an image of theDuke of Edinburgh ER.

Prince Philip who was coming tovisit B.C. Everyone was discussingpaintings, books and sculptures. Isaid what about an EcologicalReserve? He is a well known birder.There are about ½ million seabirdsthat nest on the Tree, Pine andStorm Islands off the NE coast ofVancouver Island. This ER proposalhad been approved by all theagencies but in order to designatean area you need political will.Somebody needs to grab that ropeand pull it in. This was difficult todo for the ER program, but thisreserve became a designatedreserve as a gift for Prince Philip soI thought why not name it the Dukeof Edinburgh ER.

Later on we were told in nouncertain terms by the BC Houserepresentative in London that noone is allowed to use his name forsuch a purpose, and especially notwithout his permission. Still, wehad a new reserve. There werequite a few like that where therewas an opportunity that presenteditself [for example for Trial Islands,a reporter that wasvery keen on getting that areaprotected], but you had to movevery rapidly. Being with BC Parks

Times Colonist

made things more difficult for theprogram. While the program waswith BC Lands and with the ERCommittee active with Dr. Krajinainvolved, it was easier. The pro-gram had more public profile andBC Lands was able to put a landreserve on a proposal right awaybecause they controlled Crownland. Being in BC Parks, we wereone more step removed and Parkshad their own park priorities aswell. So you really had to useanything that just came up to beable to put an ER proposal forwardand to get it designated.

LG: You were talking aboutsuccess when I was with the ERprogram. I was with the ER programfor about six years as programcoordinator, being in charge ofsystems planning (adding newreserves) and the management of thereserves [primarily through the ERvolunteer warden program]. When Ibecame Manager of Planning for BCParks (which I did for 10 years), I wasresponsible for overseeing the

MF: And so you mentionedTrial Island was one of those andwere there other fond memoriesthat you have?

Continued on page 7

Chocolate lily ( ) and spotted coralroot ().

Fritillaria lanceolata Corallorhiza maculatassp. maculata


“Louise Goulet” continued from page 6

Continued on page 9

designation of all protected areas,including ERs. So in all, I wasinvolved with ERs for 15-16 years. Butit was in two very different rolesobviously. While Manager of Planningwith Mike Harcourt in charge, wecould not go fast enough to designatenew protected areas – about 500areas and over 6 million hectares infive years! When the Liberal govern-ment came in, I moved to ParksCanada to help with the proposednational park in the Gulf Islands.Looking back on the things that wereachieved in terms of ERs, while I wasER coordinator, we managed todesignate among others the HaleyLake ER [with the Vancouver Islandmarmots], Nimpkish Island [with thetallest Douglas-firs in Canada], andthe Tashish and Khutzamateen Riversestuaries. But the Khutzamateen, along standing ER proposal, wasactually established as a provincialpark because of First Nations con-cerns. Another success was severalERs being designated in the TsitikaRiver valley. I was provincial co-chairof the Johnstone Strait Killer WhaleCommittee [Dr. Mike Bigg from DFOwas federal co-chair]. As part of thatprocess, we assembled all mainstakeholders, including commercialfisherman who had a bearing andpotential impact on the whales atRobson Bight. After working abouttwo years we came out with 37consensus recommendations, whichwere all approved by both theFederal and Provincial governments.As a result of this work, at the provin-cial level the Tsitika Estuary wasclosed to the public and five morereserves totalling almost 1,200 hawere created in the Tsitika valley. Forme personally, that was quite a coup.Another success was the consolida-tion of the ER program. From 1971till about 1981, things were very busywith creating new reserves. Therewas little time to do anything else,hence the general lack of organizeddocumentation for the program. So

we produced a Guide to ERs in BC,which was for a wide audience suchas for libraries and interest groupsand so on; this publication is nowavailable on the Internet. We alsodeveloped policies and formats forER Management Statements becauseit is not enough to know what an ERis all about, you have to protect itappropriately. Hans Roemer pro-duced management statements for allthe ERs. We wanted to make sure[especially when you have new staffon] that there would be no picnictables or toilets in ERs. We did a

whole ER Systems Plan to select andprioritize new ERs, working with themin i s t r i e s o f Fores t s andEnvironment to design the systeminfrastructure. We spelled out whatneeded to be in the ER system, whatwas in it already and what wasmissing. We also completed a list ofResearch Projects, a list of ResearchReports and Publications. All of thisshowed the value of the program towhoever chose to look at it. Therewere also a lot of other outreach

Fairyslipper ( ).Calypso bulbosa


Purple Martins Come HomeBy Richard Watts

Excerpted from May 3, 2012 edition of the Times Colonist

The spring return of thepurple martin to Victoria

marks an environmental successstory, a species rebound for abird whose B.C. numbers werenear zero only decades ago.

Volunteers have posted nestboxes in various locations,i n c l u d i n g R o y a l R o a d sUniversity and the GorgeWaterway, to permit successfulbreading of the purple martin,North America’s largest swallow.

In late April, the first reportsof purple martins returning tothe Gorge Waterway startedcoming in, said Ann Nightingale,co-president of the VictoriaNatural History Society.

“It’s a good-news story,” saidNightingale. “Because of thenest boxes, we now have about800 breading pairs.”

A s recen t l y a s 1985 ,observers were reporting fewerthan 10 breeding pairs of purplemartins in all of B.C.

Nightingale said the removalof dead trees from lakeshoresand oceanfronts meant the lossof important nesting sites for thepurple martin. At the same time,starlings and house sparrows,both cavity-nesting speciesintroduced from Europe, out-compete purple martins fornesting holes.

So bird lovers beganattempts to bring the purplemartin back by installing nextboxes in likely habitats. First wasthe 1985 installation of nestboxes on pilings at CowichanBay. When these provedsuccessful, more were installedin other spots on VancouverIsland the Lower Mainland.

Recovery was slow for thefirst few years, but seemed totake off beginning in the early1990s. Nesting colonies are nowreported as far north asCampbell River, and also in the

Lower Mainland and PugetSound.

The purple martin is thelargest swallow found inCanada, about 20 centimetreslong. The adult male is dark,glossy purple above and belowand charcoal black on his wingsand tail. The female is darkblue/grey on her back and grey-brown on the throat, breast andflanks.

The purple martin has apretty and cheerful song,especially its morning “dawnsong,” making it popular withbird lovers, said Nightingale.

The bird lives on insects,which it catches in flight,earning it a name as a naturalcontroller of mosquitoes.Viewers can often catch sight ofpurple martins as they swoopand bank over water ormeadows, where their flight isunobstructed.


Purple martins are the largest of the swallows in Canada. (Photo courtesy of Mike Yip)



Planning process, which after the ERprogram was decentralized, becamethe process to identify and recom-mend new potential ERs. Hundredsof new protected areas, includingERs, came out of that process. It wasstill my job and that of my staff toprepare all the cabinet documentsnecessary to get final approval todesignate new ERs (as well as parks).

LG: Yes, nineteen. There wereabout 8,300 ha included in these 19stand alone reserves. But manymore ER proposals were alsoincluded in new provincial parks.They were not designated as ERsbecause of First Nations concerns. Idid some asking before this inter-view to get the final tally. But it wasa bit of short notice. I will howevermake it my job to retrieve the fullinformation and pass it on: Howmany ER proposals were includedin other types of protected areas, inparticular parks?

LG: Yes.

LG: It has a lot to do with land

MF: Were there a number ofERs established during the LRMPprocess?

MF: I think we will take you upon that offer.

MF: Do you have insight intothe concerns of the First Nationsand why a Park would be anacceptable designation but anER designation would not be?

claims. If an ER is to be locatedwithin an active land claim area,within First Nations traditionalterritory, it cannot be used by themin any way as it precludes anyresource use, even for traditionaluses. Creating an ER would de factoremove an area from their landclaim, before it has even beensettled. ERs are also often the mostdiverse and productive areas interms of flora and fauna, so obvi-ously they were concerned thatsuch areas not be removed fromtheir land claim areas. ERs are inquotes “for the birds”; you cannotgo to hunt there or do resourceextraction for profit. So right awayit meant that those areas wereclosed to them. [This is not the casein Provincial Park where FirstNations traditional uses can beallowed] This is why First Nationscould not support EcologicalReserves. I do not think there is alack of concern about conservationvalues; there is a concern abouttheir own rights and getting thoserights to be recognized.

MF: That is a good insight forFriends as things have definitelychanged with regard to FirstNations consultation in the last15 to 20 years. I wonder arethere some things that you

activities. I traveled for over two yearswith an ER slide show we hadcreated; we made copies of this slideshow for all of the regional anddistricts offices, and ER volunteerwardens could borrow this slideshow (this was an incredible pro-gram), again to make the circle muchbigger and to have more peopleunderstand and support the ERprogram. I also made it my job insidethe system to get people and BCParks staff on board. I gave an ERpresentation to three differentministers and even made a presenta-tion to Cabinet to raise the profile ofthe Program in a very positivemanner. I will never forget talking toMinister Tony Brummet who was theMinister of Environment, Lands andParks. I met him at a social functionand I introduced myself. I asked himif he knew that BC has the best ERProgram in Canada. He said no Ididn’t know that; you had bettercome to see me to tell me more. So Ireally made it my job to tell peoplethe positive aspects of the ER pro-gram. It was really my job to speak forthat program. However, all of thisoutreach, consolidation of theProgram and documentation of theERs also made it possible for BC Parksto decentralize the Program in 1990.Because we now had all of the ERinformation and policy directionreadily available, it was possible todelegate most ER functions (exceptdesignation) to the Parks Regions andDistricts. It was very hard for me to letgo as it was for Hans and John. It wasa most rewarding job. But I alsorealized that if I did my new job right,we could have so many more peoplenow supporting the ER program. Soas Manager of Park/ER Planning, Imade sure I still “carried” the ERprogram forward. I was involvedfrom the very start with helping todevelop both the marine and pro-tected areas strategies. I made it myjob to make sure that ERs were inthere. ERs were also included in theLand and Resource Management


Mike Fenger and Adolf Ceska at Eagle Heights Ridge


“President’s Report....” continued from page 2


Research Forum was a goodmeans to connect with othersin the Research Communityand also use the new ERBanner Stand to communi-cate and extend generalknowledge of ERs. The issueof complexity and disincen-tives of current researchpermits was again raised andwe know that Parks manage-ment is aware of this andworking towards streamliningdata collection in ERs.At the Research Forum, FERlearned that Parks is commit-ted to a Long Term EcologicalMonitoring program and thatthis is planned to includecitizen science, meaning thatER wardens can participate inlonger term monitoring ifthey wish. Some field testinghas been completed withsome ER wardens since thatDecember forum. ER war-dens reading this – if you wantto know more about what isbeing planned, contact yourParks Area Supervisor.Wardens who were involvedin field testing samplingprotocols and locating per-manent sample plots, pleaseshare your images andreports with FER and we willpost these on the web pagesdesignated for your reserves.FER developed and sent asurvey/questionnaire toteaching and research staff atUniversity of Victoria to learnwhat they know aboutEcological Reserves. Thisstudy is being led byUniversity of Victoria studentElyse Matthews with helpfrom the FER board. Elyse hascompleted the Ethics Review

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and the questionnaire hasbeen sent to sixty staff andresearchers. The need toreach out to the universityresearch community was inpart prompted by the largerole that the universities hadin conducting research in ERsin the 1970s and 1980s and tohelp us understand why thishas declined and how it couldbe improved in the future.

There is a Federal govern-ment commitment to expandMarine Protected Areas(MPAs) by up to 10 percent.FER was involved with boththe Race Rocks and ScottIsland consultation processesboth now complete and weare waiting to hear from theFederal government asconsultations continue withFirst Nations and others.The message to those working

Goal 3. Support Developmentof a Resilient Science-BasedER System

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to build the Marine ERs fromthe Friends of EcologicalReserves has been communi-cated to Living Oceans Society(CPAWS) and the advisorygroups working on theemerging network of MarineProtected Areas. This messageis that Marine Protected Areasneed to build out from themarine ERs and otherProvincial Parks to protect theoceanic portion that is notcurrently protected by theProvince.A field trip was made to EagleHeights, a proposed ER nearVictoria. (See article in thisLOG on page 3.

has infor-mation and images on thetypes of ERs, i.e., grassland,marine, springs, forested,alpine, etc. as well as text onthreats to the ERs. There isalso a map of the provinceshowing ER locations, num-bers, names, main purpose,

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)The new ER map�

Mike Fenger, President of FER presenting the annual report at the March AGM




access-restrictions if applica-ble and where ERs are locatedin context of ex is t ingProtected Area System. Alsoshown is currently unroadedareas of BC inside and outsideof Protected Areas. This mapis a major extension andcommunications tool and isnow at the printers.We can celebrate the additionof 22.3 hectares of waterfrontto Mount Maxwell ER (seep r e s s r e l e a s e )

The re-design of the FER website and the improvements inthe program used to managethe site have transformed it intoa major communications toolfor ERs. The web committee ofTom Gillispie, Garry Fletcher,Fred Beinhauer and MikeFenger met with the websiteconsultant to design andpopulate this new and moreflexible website. Please use the

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Goal 4. Raise Awareness of theValue of Ecological Reserves

http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/2012/02/18/6702/

n e w r e s o u r c e. In

comparison to the old site it ispossible for a number ofpeople to add and changeinformation. Wardens take notethis can be your filing system.We successfully produced twoissues of the newsletter theLOG.FER interviewed, videoed andtranscribed the interviewswith ten of the ER elders. Avery huge thanks to RayPainchaud who video tapedthe ten interviews as well asthe UBC research forum. Thetranscripts provide historicinsights to ERs as well asprovide suggestions for whatthe future may bring. Eldersinterviews are located in the‘special people section’ andthanks are due to each of themfor sharing their knowledge.

We are featuringone in this edition of the LOGas well.We again hosted a publicspeaker for our annual gen-eral meeting and this time we

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http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/

http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/category/people/

were able to draw from ournewest board member. Sothanks to Rick Page for anabsolutely wonderful eveninglearning about “Caribou,Wolves and Conflict inSociety”. This lecture was jam-packed with biology and hadincredib le audio-v i sua lillustrations to support atopic Rick knows well.

The make-up of the Boardremains the same. Thanks to allthose on the Board whocontinue to give of their timeand ideas to keep this venerablegroup going. We do take thesummer and Christmas monthsoff. Thanks also to HabitatAcquisition Trust (HATs) for theuse of their board room. FERremains a small ENGO with noregular staff.A summer barbeque washosted by Garry and HelenFletcher and we look forwardto another.Many of the Board enjoyed atrip to Eagle Ridge, a pro-posed ER, and we weretreated to deep understand-ing of botany by our guidesAdolf and Oluna Ceska.We have added strength inbookkeeping and shiftedsome of the responsibilitycarried for so many years byTom Gillispie to MichaelBrinsmead, who, though noton the Board, does attend ourmeetings, deposits funds andmakes sure we pay our bills.Thanks Michael. Tom contin-ues to provide sage advice buthas a lightened load and thework Tom has provided for so

Goal 5. Sustain a nurturingand effective organization

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long is now more evenlyspread across the Board.It would be much harder tocarry out our work if not forthe continued support andhelp that we get from Parksstaff. Truly a great year andwe did celebrate.The path ahead in 2012 will be

discussed at the monthly Boardmeetings but may include someof the following:

Work with BC Parks to con-tinue to increase the numberof ER wardens with the goal tohave at least one warden in allERs. We will need to arrive at aprocess that allows FER andArea Supervisors to maintain acurrent wardens’ list.Discuss the concept of ERwardens as part of FederalParks and to keep ERs asspecial research benchmarksand continue to build on theresearch legacy already inplace. The six ERs transferredto Federal Parks and MetroVancouver do appear on theER map and remain on theFER website though they aregone from the provincial ERsite. FER has kept these inpublic and institutional viewbecause we believe that thebaseline research done onthese reserves should not belost and the new managersneed to be encouraged tocontinue the goals of protec-tion, education and researchstarted by Ecological Reserves.Explore more fully, wardenstraining and data collectionwithin the LTEM programinitiated by Parks and assist

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Goal 1. Support for the ERWardens Program

with permanent sample plotestablishment.Encourage regional ER andArea Supervisor meetings tobuild stronger relationshipsbetween government andvolunteers.Work with the new volunteercoordinator currently beinghired by Parks.Other activities to be decided.

Advocate for a change andstreamlining of researchpermits in ERs especially fornon-destructive samplingtype projects.Gather and share on line allexisting research that may bein regional offices.Complete the questionnairedeveloped for University ofVictoria researchers andteaching staff on knowledgeand willingness to conductstudies in ERs.Others to be decided.

Work with larger conservationorganization with similar goalsof improving marine andterrestrial protected areas.Make widely available to thepublicthe new Ecological

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Goal 2. Support studies in ERs

Goal 3. Support developmentof a resilient science-based ERsystem

Reserves map when it returnsfrom the printers.FER is scheduled to make anoral presentation of theNorthern Gateway hearingswhen the panel is in Victoria.Our message to the panel willfocus on risk to marine andfresh water aquatic ecosys-tems, their need to acknowl-edge there is no demonstratedor proven means to removetoxic substances from theseecosystems. There will be longterm cascading cumulativeecological effects affecting ERsand the greater ecosystems.The herring spawn in PrinceWilliam Sound Alaska 20 yearsafter the Exxon Valdez oil spillhas not recovered and com-pensation claims remaindeadlocked and restorationwork has stopped.Others to be decided.

Support Elyse Matthews inher analysis to ER question-naire sent to UniversityVictoria professorsContinue our newsletter theLOG and our Annual Generalmeetings and public lectureseries.

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Goal 4. Raise awareness of thevalue of Ecological Reserves

Update on Long Term Ecological Monitoring

Protocols are being tested for major biomes alpine, forests, intertidal,

grasslands, and wetlands. Permanent sample sites are being

established in Parks, Protected Areas, Conservancies and Ecological

Reserves with a concept of periodic re-inventory. The data

management is planned to be accessible on a government website.

Data collection is being tailored to hand-held devices and automated

WiFi input. Data storage is being developed with the help of the

Knowledge Management Branch in government. Volunteers to help

collect data periodically are part of this vision


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Maintain the web site and addreports and images as theseare made available andencourage wider use bywardens and Area Supervisors.Others to be decided.

Increase membership andbuild a larger operating budget.FER intends to remain volun-teer run and not acquire staff.Add new members to the FERBoard.Continue to plan our fieldtrips to ERs and to have asense of fun in the course ofvolunteering.Others to be decided.

Goal 5. Sustain a nurturingand effective organization


The New FER WebsiteAn up-date of activities by Garry Fletcher

Thanks to the warden contributors: John Coffrey (Mara Meadows ER) and Art Carson have taken up the challenge

and learned to install their own images and warden reports. Laurie Rockwell has provided reports every few months

for field trips he regularly makes to Trout Creek ER. Art Carson has provided gallery images for four ecological

reserves, Bednesti Lake, Sunbeam Creek, Mount Tinsdale, Adrian DeGroot has provided images on his own ER, Det

San, as well as Skeena River, Annie Coulter contributed images on Gilnockie Creek, and Anna Roberts now retired as a

warden has contributed a volume of archival reports and two packages of 35mm slides on her three reserves, Doc

English Bluffs ER, Cardiff Mountain ER, and Westwick Lake. We hope to get increased participation of wardens in

helping us to update the website .

Thanks also to the other individuals who have contributed freely of their images from their Flickr or Panoramio

websites. Six people in particular have provided access to their picture galleries for use as index icons on many ER

portfolios. Ryan Batten and Ian Cumming for native plant images, and Ryan Murphy, Raisa Mirza and Adam Harding for

marine ER images. Rosemary Taylor has provided images of UBC Endowment lands and the Fraser River Islands Field trip.

Thanks to Federal Parks staff Todd Golumbia and Patrick Bartier who we have provided excellent cooperation on

behalf of Parks Canada as they have helped to track down archival information on reserves now absorbed into Parks

Canada. Todd Golumbia for references on Saturna and Brackman Islands, now in the Gulf Islands National Park

Reserve, and Patrick Bartier for reports on the former BC Ecological Reserves in Gwaii Hanaas National Park Reserve:

Jeffrey, East Copper and Rankine Islands, Kerouard and Anthony Islands.

We in FER would like to continue to carry these reserves in our records as they had valuable baseline studies done in

the early years of Ecological Reserves. We are aware that Environment Canada can really decide what becomes of these

reserves, as the province has no more influence on their use, but if in any way there is a chance for a long term

commitment to maintain them in the spirit of conservation, research and education, it would be a worthwhile lasting

legacy. We also believe it is necessary in the event of other ERs being absorbed into Parks Canada, that a plan should be

undertaken to designate a special reserve status which promotes the same values for which the Provincial Ecological

Reserves were established. We are pleased to note that the Pacific Spirit Regional Park which contains the former UBC

Endowment lands continues to recognize with its signage ER #74.

Go to the new FER site and check out the additions and the section.http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/acknowledgements/

Howell’s violet (Viola howelii).


“Purple Martins ...” continued from page 8

Tom Gillespie’s nesting boxes have a wire awning to prevent gulls from preying on thebaby birds. (photo by Bruce Stotesbury, Times Colonist)

or sprinkle food for them.“House sparrows just go in andtake over,” said Gillespie.

He said many of the nestingcolonies are now overseen byvolunteers who act as stewards,erecting the next boxes andcleaning them out after thenesting season.

Banding efforts are alsounderway to identify the birdsand provide more informationto scientists about the purplemartin’s migratory and nestinghabits.

For now, purple martinsappear to be nesting almostentirely over marine habitat. Butit’s expected as numbers growand populations stabilize, theywill find their way back tofreshwater lakes and rivers andeven meadows in the area.

Nightingale said the nest-box efforts and stewardshipp r o g r a m s h a v e b e e ncontroversial with some wildlifebiologists and officials, whoinsist a wildlife species shouldbe able to make it on its own,without human assistance orinterference.

But Nightingale sees thee f f o r t s s i m p l y a s a nacknowledgment of past sins,such as habitat destruction andintroduction of foreign species.The work is also built on thepremise that people are part ofthe environment, not justonlookers.

“And it’s fun,” she said. “It’snice to know that we canactually correct some thingssometimes.”

For information aboutpurple martins in B.C., thestewardship and recoveryprogram, including plans forconstructing nest boxes, go tothe website of the Georgia BasinEcological Assessment andR e s t o r a t i o n S o c i e t y a t :georgiabasin.ca. Click on purplemartins and follow the links.

The purple martin’s otherclaim to fame is its communalnesting habits.

In eastern North America,people have encouraged thebirds with large, elaborate,condo-style bird houses,featuring multiple nesting holesin one birdhouse. But inwestern North America, theresident subspecies prefersmore room surrounding a singlenext box.

Tom Gillespie of Victoria hasbuilt and installed hundreds ofnest boxes, al l of themconstructed according to aVancouver Island design,inspired by the need to beattractive to purple martins,while deterring house sparrowsand starlings.

The next box is long, insteadof cube-shaped, with a small,rectangular opening that isgenerally, although not always,too tight for starlings.

Another local innovation is awire mesh awning over the frontof the nest box. That stopspredation from gulls, who havelearned to sit on top and pluckout the nestlings when theypoke out their heads whileawaiting the parents.

Ironically, Gillespie said hehas learned one breeding pair ofstarlings in a colony is not allbad. Starlings will toleratepurple martins nesting nearby,but fight off any other starlingsthat encroach.

H o u s e ( o r E n g l i s h )sparrows, on the other hand,will quickly overwhelm anentire colony of nest boxes,often encouraged and assistedby humans who set out feeders

Visit our website at:



found particularly challengingin the process of establishingERs or in running this program?How was it working for BCParks?

MF: And when was this decen-tralization to regions?

LG: As a biologist, I alwaysworked with men and that was achallenge. But working for BCParks as a woman was quite achallenge. I found that even theMinistry of Forests was moreprogressive than BC Parks! I wasthe only woman manager involvedin a park core program; all otherwoman managers were involved ina d m i n i s t r a t i o n o r h u m a nresources. There were also chal-lenges particular to the ERProgram. It became even moredifficult once the ER program wasdecentralized to the park regionsand districts without any money;that did not go over very well. Iremember going to a receptionbefore a regional meeting to whichI was giving a presentation. I madeit through the door to the receptionand within seconds my hair wasstreaming backward [becausesomeone was yelling at me]. I wasthe lightning rod for field stafffrustration on this issue. But thisbeing said, it turned out to be anadvantage because I developed avery personal relationship with alot of people in BC Parks and wasable to change their minds aboutthe ER Program. But that certainlywas a challenge. The access toCabinet for approval of ER propos-als was also very difficult. We were asmall program within BC Parksitself; we had to learn to hitch our“ER wagon” to a lot of things tomake it through. But the mostserious thing was the lack of moneyfor the program, which is still thereto this day. The ER program camewith very little funding and it stayedthat way. Eventually that fundingdisappeared when the programwas decentralized.


LG: At the end of 1990. In 1991[as Manager of Park/ER Planning], Iwas responsible for producingdocuments for Parks Plans for the‘90s, then participated in thedevelopment and implementationof the provincial Protected AreasStrategy and Land Use PlanningProcess. So I was involved with allof that and made sure the ERProgram was part of these initia-tives. But there was no specificmoney left at that time for ERs.

LG: Yes at BC Parks, and workingwith other agencies as well. TheProtected Areas Strategy wasinitiated at BC Parks. Most of thematerials produced by BC Parks onparks and ER ecosystems planningbecame part of the overallProtected Areas Strategy and wereused as part of the Land UsePlanning Process in terms ofselecting new protected areas. BCParks is the one agency that [initi-ated and] carried this protectedareas planning process through.

MF: So when ER managementwas decentralized you went to astrategic Parks Planning role?

MF: I would like get someinsight on management ofnatural processes in ERs. Thereare 148 of them and some ofthem are quite small and insects,fire and natural successioninfluence them. Can you remem-

ber the management approach tothem?

LG: I will share one of my basicfrustrations. We consolidated theER program, we developed aSystem Plan. But the one thing westill had to do when the ER Programwas decentralized was to developsome ER management policy. TheER regulations say what you canand cannot do under an ER permitfor research activities, but not foragency management. After six yearswith the program, I realized thatnot all ERs are created equal. Frommy point of view, they require adifferent management approach.(1) In the representative reserves,yes let natural processes run theircourse; this is part of what nature isall about and you will be able to seewhat is happening in an ER.Another objective of the ER legisla-tion is also to monitor the recoveryof areas that had been modified.

(2) But there are also somereserves that are very special. Whenyou spend a million dollars toacquire the tallest Douglas-fir onNimpkish Island, you don’t wantthese trees to burn; you want tokeep them. Or when you have veryspecial features like basalt col-umns, Vancouver Island marmotsor Garry Oak wildflower meadows,


Left: pine broomrape(dried state). Above: naked broomrape

.

Orobanche pinorum

Orobanche uniflora




you take action to protect thesefeatures if you have to. There arealso 13 very special ERs that areclosed to the public because theyhave really fragile values. All otherERs are open to the public.

(3) Finally, there are reserveswhere the public is very aware ofthe values in those reserves andwhere they will go there whetheryou like it or not – for exampleRobson Bight with the killerwhales, the previous UBC ER (nowpart of regional park) or Mt.Tzuhalem with wild flower mead-ows. I feel those reserves have thepotential to become flagshipreserves for the whole ER program.How do you keep the public onside with a Program where youwant to keep things just the waythey are, where recreation is to bekept at a minimal level and whereactivities should only be educationand research? [Or where you maynot even be able to go]. I feel wehave 2 or 3 reserves which could beused for this role, where you usethem to educate the public aboutthe ER system at large.

But these reserves should bedesignated at a different level soyou can get the funding to managethem properly. For example, forRobson Bight with its killer whales,one of our recommendations wasto have a visitor program there inthe summer months. And themoney ($100,000 per year) wasallocated just to do that. So youal locate money to manageintensely. But what you manage isnot the resource itself (in this case,killer whales) but rather the peoplewho want to use the ER. In themarine environment in particular,you don’t manage fish; you managefishermen.

At the time the ER Program wasdecentralized, I was poised to starthaving open discussions anddebate about those ideas I had [onhow to manage different types ofERs]. I know that recently there was

some controversy about MountTzuhalem and the removal ofDouglas-firs from that reserve. Ithought what an opportunity toreally open that door, bring all thepoints of view forward and putthem around the table to rehashthis very thing. There is a real needfor answers [in terms of how wemanage ERs].

LG: Make sure that you involve allthe people that need to be involved.Developing a consensus among anarrow group of people and thentrying to sell it to everybody else isnot always the best way to go.

LG: Absolutely, remove invasivespecies like broom. They do notbelong here in any way, shape ormanner. But it can be a hard onebecause it takes so much moneyand so much effort; but again youcan look at a problem as an oppor-tunity. At Mount Tzuhalem, theCowitchan Valley Naturalistsremoved broom for fifteen years.This reserve is now outstanding; Icannot think of a more beautifulwildflower meadow in Canada. And

MF: We are hosting a paneldiscussion at the Parks andProtected Areas research Forumshortly and we want to probethat question a little bit deeperand hope to come up with somerecommendations.

MF: What about invasivespecies like broom?

this is a way to validate the reservewith the public and to involve them.And yes, let’s remove these things.But it needs to be controlled. A lotof damage can be done by people ofgood will but with little knowledge.You need a balance.

LG: Right now is a very difficulttime to be dealing with ERs becauseyou have to look at the politicalprocess. None of our two politicalparties have any interest right nowin taking on the environment. ERsare a non-issue for them; they arelooking at the short term. There isvery little chance to put this on theagenda at this time. After the nextelection, there may be an opportu-nity once the new government getsits footing. We can try again. But BCParks has never had so little staff ormoney. Just to tell you, when I wasat BC Parks there were 65 people atHQ; now there is something like 28if that and I don’t think there areactually that many. They have notonly cut staff, but they have cutfunctions and roles as well. Before,we [BC Parks] were more or less

MF: We are getting to the pointwhere we try to think ahead. It’sbeen 20 years since the ERprogram was decentralized andit sounds like you have kept up.Do you have any advice to Parksstaff that now manage ERs andwhat would that be?

Large-leaved avens ( ).Geum macrophyllum


“Louise Goulet...” continued from page 16

the masters of our own fate. Wecould decide to put a new Park orER forward; you could take that tothe Minister and make a case. Or ifit involved more than one ministry,you could go to Cabinet. Now theMinistry of Environment is muchmore involved. There is a lot ofpositive coming out of that becauseof the knowledge these peoplehave, but on the other hand Parksare now in an even bigger pool andwith bigger agendas to try and driveprotected areas through. What is sosad is that we had invited theWildlife Branch to be part of ParksPlan for the ‘90s for their WildlifeManagement Areas, but they didnot think it would benefit them[they did not participate]. I don’tknow if they have benefitted in anybig way of all the Protected Areasdiscussions [that took place overthe last 10 to 20 years]. To try andpush the Parks and Protected Areasthrough a much bigger staff andagenda is just about impossible.But there is a positive, ERs are nowlegislated rather than designatedby Order-in-Council (OIC). This issomething that happened as part ofthe Land Use Planning Process andthe Protected Areas Strategy. Wewrote protected area legislationrather than just Parks legislation.ERs are embedded in that andwhen they are designated they aredesignated in law not as an OICthat can be rescinded at the strokeof a pen.

LG: When I took the ER programover, ERs were designated by OIC.There was pressure in some areasto cancel some ERs and it could bedone at Cabinet. But as far as Iknow, there has never been a singleER that has been cancelled. Threeof them were included in GwaiiHaanas National Park; two in thenew Gulf Islands National Park,[and one in the new GVRD regional

MF: So to establish an ER ordecommission an ER it has to goto the legislature?

park at UBC]. But there has neverbeen an ER that has been cancelled.

LG: You find me the specifics.

LG: They have a treasure trove inthe Protected Areas System in B.C.and they will come to recognizethat. It means so much in term oftourism to the parks, in terms ofvaluable genetic material. As theworld is destroyed more and more,unfortunately, these areas willbecome more and more precious.We don’t have the money tomanage all PAs now but they cannotbe touched easily because of theleg i s l a t i ve aspec t o f th i s .Permissible uses in PAs are regu-lated, and non-permissible uses areexcluded. Why would governmentwant a fight now? It has beenrelatively quiet in terms of theenvironmental agenda these pastfew years. Why would they want tostir up a hornets nest? But it is not ahappy situation. We will haveanother day to fight. We can dosomething while we wait. I waslooking at the strategic objectivespursued by the Friends and I wouldlike to turn these on their head. I donot know if they are in order ofpriority. The first objective is tosupport the protection and man-agement of the ER system; it is BC

MF: I am not sure about that.

MF: We will save that discus-sion for later on. Your advice togovernment is what?

Parks’ job to do this. The Friends ofER can help maintain a volunteerER wardens’ program, but you stillneed money for that. The secondobjective is to promote the studyand use of ERs for research. A thirdobjective is to develop a resilientnetwork of ERs that are scientifi-cally supported. I am all for theseobjectives but again it takes money.

The Friends’ fourth objective is toraise awareness of the value of ERswith targeted groups. If it is again amatter of the converted talking tothe converted, you will not achieveanything. You need to step outsidethat box to involve the public atlarge. (This is why I was thinking ofeducational reserves to help achievethis objective, involving the publicwithout getting the ERs destroyed).The Friends’ last objective is tosustain and nurture an effectiveorganization to manage ERs. Again,isn’t this BC Parks’ job? If you havepublic awareness, you can havepolitical will. If you have politicalwill, then there is a chance to getmore money to BC Park. So that way,they can protect and manage the ERsystem and you can study to yourheart’s content. It is almost likestarting from zero, when the parkssystem was created. We need tocreate a raison d’être for the PAsystem. We need to involve the kidsin terms of constituency and stake-


Polystichumclose sp.


holders. A lot of people that are 40+,they are either old environmentalistsor they are not. Right behind ushowever are very few people whocare to protect the environment(their first priority is the economy).You also look at the influx of Asianpeople, with different values. TheChinese population for example hasa lot of sway. But try to explain to aKorean why they can’t collectbarnacles in some of the ERs? It isbeyond them that there is a goodfood source that we are not using. Sothere is a need to extend outreach tothose groups that will matter themost, not only to those that matteredthe most in the past. A lot of workhas been done by environmentalgroups but now we need to talk tokids, to talk to new immigrants, infact we need to talk to everybody.

LG: I care deeply for this pro-gram; it is a beautiful program. Wehave at least 60%, probably 70% ofthe entire seabird nesting habitatalong the BC coast protected inERs. We have things that are sobeautiful and so unique. We needpassionate spokespersons to speakfor the program. I am sure pleasedthat you are doing this process nowand maybe the day will come whenthe broad public and politicianswill support the ER system.

LG: This is what I am involvedwith now; the Garry Oak RecoveryTeam. I was the Executive Directorfor the Garry Oak Team. One of theconclusions I reached as a conserva-

MF: That is very good advice.We are nearing the end of what Ihave wanted to ask. This hasbeen very informative and forsharing some of the wealth ofexperience that you have hadwith the ER reserves programand thank you for sharing even alittle snippet of it.

MF: Louise thank you so muchand we hope we can capture afew pictures from these publica-tions that you have laid out.

tionist is you can either beat yourhead against the wall and it willeventually go square; or you can dosomething positive. I always havelots of passion and energy. I thoughtthere is not much to be achieved inyelling at the wilderness right nowand I redirected that energy tosomething else that I can do.

LG: I was Executive Director forGOERT [for almost 3 years]. Imanaged to get the Garry OakGardeners’ Handbook publishedto provide the opportunity to reacha broader public. Since I leftGOERT, I have been developing anative plant garden; now I have

MF: So you transitioned torestoring Garry Oak?

“Louise Goulet...” continued from page 17

over 200 species there. My gardenis open to people who want tolearn. I am also working with somehorticulturists and landscapecontractors on how to protectGarry Oak. Once I am too old tomanage my garden, I want someyoung people who can manage itfor me. We have to think in terms ofrecruitment and successionplanning and that goes for bothEcological Reserves and Garry Oakbecause people like you and I areno longer in the system and it is abit frightening.

LG: You are welcome.

MF: Thank you so muchLouise.

Ecological Reserves

of British Columbia

Anne Vallée Ecological Reserve

T h e F r i e n d s o fEcological Reservesnew ER map will beavailable soon. This fullcolour map shows thelocation of all theEcological Reserves inBritish Columbia, andit provides a summaryof information on themain purpose of the ERa n d a n y a c c e s srestriction if applicable.T h e m a p h a sinformation and imageson the types of ERs, i.e.,grass land, mar ine,s p r i n g s , f o r e s t e d ,alpine, etc. as well astext on threats to theERs.

Please visit our website(http://ecoreserves.bc.ca)in August for moreinformation on orderingcopies of this new map;or complete and mail theorder form on page 19 ofthis LOG.

FRIENDS OF ECOLOGICAL RESERVES MEMBERSHIP FORM

ORDER FORM FOR PLACEMATS AND MAPS

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Pamphlet-style Field Guide


Phillipa Hudson has created asimple and practical method oftree identification in

. This handy anddurable field guide is waterresistant and offers valuablei n f o r m a t i o n . O u t d o o renthusiasts can now easilyident i fy 26 nat ive t reescommonly found betweenAlaska and Oregon.

The guide provides commonand Latin names, accompaniedby colour photographs ofcharacteristic features such asbark, leaves or needles, flowers,cones, seeds and fruit. This,combined with information oneach tree’s range and anillustration of its silhouette,makes it easy to distinguish ashore pine from a western whitepine or a trembling aspen from apaper birch.

Pub l i shed by HarbourPublishing. For informationcon tac t Ann ie Boya t a [email protected] tel: 604-883-2730, toll free: 1-800-667-2988.

A FieldGuide to Trees of the PacificNorthwest

spring/summer 2012ecoreserves.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/spring-summer-2012… · show us. we...

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