The Heron Newsletter - Spring 2024

Extracted text (beginning)

Heron
the
A newsletter from the Islands Trust Conservancy, protecting islands in the Salish Sea | islandstrust.bc.ca/conservancyspring 2024
Meet our New
Team Members 
 p. 3
For links and additional media, visit the Heron Newsletter online. 
www. islandstrust.bc.ca/conservancy/heron-newsletter/
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
What is a 
Nature Reserve?
Herbaceous ecosystem
Photo: Islands Trust Conservancy
Take me home!
This newsletter is provided FREE by ITC
ITC Nature Reserve on Salt Spring Island within the territory of many Coast Salish Nations.
Photo: Islands Trust Conservancy
Erica Wheeler (l), Mike Richards (r)
Photo: Islands Trust Conservancy 
We Want to Hear
From You 
 p. 4

We want to share your story about why you supported Islands 
Trust Conservancy through protecting land, donating or 
helping out in other ways. Contact our Communications 
Specialist to have your story featured in a Heron Newsletter.
Islands Trust and Islands Trust Conservancy respectfully acknowledge that the lands and waters that encompass the 
Islands Trust Area have been home to Indigenous peoples since time immemorial and that their deep connection to 
the islands continues to this day. We are committed to reconciliation, to upholding the rights of Indigenous peoples, 
and to working together to preserve and protect this ecologically, culturally, and spiritually significant region in the 
Salish Sea. The Islands Trust Area is located in the treaty and territorial lands and waters of the BOḰEĆEN, Cowichan 
Tribes, K’ómoks, Lyackson, MÁLEXEȽ, Qualicum, scəẃaθən, səlilw ̓ ətaɬ, SEMYOME, shíshálh, Sḵwx
̱
wú7mesh, 
Snaw-naw-as, Snuneymuxw, Songhees, Spune’luxutth’, SȾÁUTW
̱
 , Stz’uminus, ɬaʔəmen, Ts’uubaa-asatx, 
Wei Wai Kum, We Wai Kai, W
̱
 JOȽEȽP, W
̱
SIḴEM, Xeláltxw, Xwémalhkwu, Xwsepsum, and xʷməθkʷəy.
Photo: Lisa Wilcox
Their Legacy Lives On
The Herons Return to Salt Spring Island
It was a warm afternoon in the summer of 2022 when Nuala Murphy, 
Islands Trust Conservancy’s Property Management Specialist, was on her 
last monitoring visit of the day at one of ITC’s properties on Salt Spring 
Island. As she walked down the trail from the road, joined by our summer 
Conservation Technician and a staff member from Salt Spring Island 
Conservancy, they all stopped as they heard sounds coming from the trees 
above them. Looking up, they saw three large and messy nests, and on the 
ground, broken shells. 
“I felt so lucky to be there that day as the Herons hadn’t 
been seen in years.” 
– Nuala Murphy, Property Management Specialist,  
Islands Trust Conservancy
As they pulled out their phones to record the sounds, a Great Blue Heron 
swooped into the nest, returning to feed the hungry babies crying out. Seeing the Great Blue Herons return is one of 
many examples of species that have been conserved through the creation of an ITC Nature Reserve.
Erica Wheeler, Species at Risk 
Program Coordinator 
Introducing Erica: nature-lover, plant enthusiast, and beginner knitter. 
Erica grew up

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