March 7, 2023 - Islands Trust Conservancy - species and ecosystems at risk in the Salish Sea get federal funding boost

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Protecting Islands in the Salish Sea  
 
 
 
 
News Release  
200-1627 Fort Street, Victoria, B.C., V8R 1H8 
Telephone: 250-405-5186;  
itcmail@islandstrust.bc.ca     islandstrust.bc.ca/conservancy 
March 7, 2023 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
 
Species and ecosystems at risk in the Salish Sea get federal funding boost 
 
Lək
̓
 ʷəŋən, METULIYE/Victoria, B.C.   Islands Trust Conservancy has received a three-year funding boost of $660,000 
from Environment and Climate Change Canada to address biodiversity loss in the Islands Trust Area. This additional 
funding begins in April 2023 and will ensure that the Islands Trust Conservancy’s Species at Risk program continues 
over the next three years. 
 
British Columbia has some of the highest biodiversity in Canada, with the majority of this diversity concentrated within 
the southwest coastal region. It is also home to some of the most threatened ecosystems, such as the Coastal Douglas-
fir and Garry Oak ecosystems, and iconic threatened species like Southern Resident Killer Whales, and Western 
Screech-Owl. The southwest coastal region is also where people prefer to live, with large cities of Vancouver, Victoria, 
and Nanaimo putting increasing human pressures on the fragile island ecosystems in the Salish Sea.  
 
Islands Trust Conservancy initiated its Species at Risk Program in 2021 with a three-year grant of $643,000 from 
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canada Nature Fund, Species at Risk Stream for Priority Places. In total, 
Islands Trust Conservancy has been awarded $1.328 million from Environment and Climate Change Canada for its 
collaborative species at risk work over six years.  
 
“We are grateful to have received additional funding to continue the exciting work that has been underway for the 
past three years,” said Linda Adams, Chair for the Islands Trust Conservancy. “We are so lucky to work alongside 
fabulous local partners and researchers in this work.” 
 
“Getting the opportunity to continue to build on the program’s momentum is so rewarding,” says SAR Program 
Coordinator Wendy Tyrrell. “Addressing the data gap for species and ecosystems at risk is so important. Initial surveys 
and projects have helped us to discover species at risk in places we had never recorded them before. By working 
collaboratively we can better inform management decisions, increase awareness, and support local efforts across the 
islands to preserve and protect species and ecosystems at risk of extinction.” 
 
In the program’s initial three years of funding, Islands Trust Conservancy has worked with partners to deliver a range of 
projects and educational events. Some highlights include:  
 Restoring a Garry Oak meadow in the Mt. Tuam Conservation Covenant on Salt Spring Island. Deer and rabbit-
proof exclosures are working to provide refuge to plants like the federally threatened yellow montane violet – a 
key food source to the only population of Zerene Fritillary butterfly (Speyeria zerene bremne

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