Vancouver Island Conservation Vision

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.25 - No.05, Summer 2005

Wilderness Committee’s Vancouver Island Conservation Vision

The following map shows the areas proposed for protection by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. It is largely based on several “Ecoregional Assessments” or “Conservation Areas Designs” (CAD) produced by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). We are very grateful to the Nature Conservancy for the use of their CAD map. We have modified their plan in two main ways:

  • We are proposing the priority conservation areas become provincial Protected Areas where no commercial logging or mining can take place. The NCC’s assessment does not propose any specific land use designations for the priority conservation areas.
  • We have used their maps as a minimum biological baseline for what needs protection. Added onto that are some additional areas of known recreational and ecological significance that the Wilderness Committee would like to see protected.

    • As this is a work in progress, the Wilderness Committee proposal is also subject to change as new information becomes available. In addition, the actual implementation of the biologically based protected areas proposal will be subject to a wider range of political, economic, social, and cultural considerations.

    Also, because of the regional scale of this proposal, additional protected areas may be proposed on a finer scale in areas not proposed for protection in this plan.

    For more information about the NCC’s CAD maps for Vancouver Island and the Georgia Basin call the NCC at 250-479-3191.

    Sample Proposed Protected Areas

  • 1) San Josef River
  • 2) Macjack River*
  • 3) Nahwitti River
  • 4) Shushartie River*
  • 5) East Creek / Klaskish River*
  • 6) Nimpkish River
  • 7) Tsitika River
  • 8) Nootka Island*
  • 9) Sydney River
  • 10) Gold River
  • 11) Amor de Cosmos Creek
  • 12) Flores Island
  • 13) Bulson Creek / Ursus Creek
  • 14) Clayoquot River
  • 15) Meares Island*
  • 16) Taylor River
  • 17) Browns River
  • 18) Tsable River
  • 19) Nahmint River
  • 20) Qualicum River / Little Qualicum River*
  • 21) Cameron River / Cathedral Grove
  • 22) Nitinat River
  • 23) Klanawa River*
  • 24) Upper Walbran Creek
  • 25) Nanaimo River*
  • 26) Chemainus River*
  • 27) Cowichan River*
  • 28) Loss Creek / San Juan Ridge

    * WCWC full or partial addition to Nature Conservancy of Canada CAD, may include some East Side Crown land additions.