January 28, 2021 - Sandy Beach on Lhektines/Keats Island, Atlka7tsem/Howe Sound, now a protected nature reserve

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A Conservancy for islands of the Salish Sea 
Ballenas-Winchelsea    Bowen    Denman    Gabriola    Galiano    Gambier    Hornby 
Lasqueti    Mayne    North Pender    Salt Spring    Saturna    South Pender    Thetis 
 
 
News Release  
200-1627 Fort Street, Victoria, B.C., V8R 1H8 
Telephone: 250-405-5186; Fax: 250-405-5155 
Toll-free via Service BC 1 800-663-7867 or in Vancouver 604-660-2421 
itcmail@islandstrust.bc.ca     www.islandstrustconservancy.ca 
January 28, 2021  2021-01-ITC 
 
Sandy Beach on Lhek
̱
’ti
́
nes/Keats Island, Átl’ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound, now a protected nature reserve 
 
Lək
̓
 ʷəŋən, METULIYE/Victoria, B.C.    In its 30th year, the Islands Trust Conservancy is celebrating that Sandy Beach on 
Lhek
̱
’ti
́
nes/Keats Island will become its 30th nature reserve. The site is remarkable both for its biodiversity and cultural 
significance. 
 
Located on the southwest shoreline of Lhek
̱
’ti
́
nes/Keats Island, Sandy Beach includes 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) of Coastal Douglas-fir 
forest and over 250 metres of beachfront. The property provides suitable habitat for threatened and endangered species including 
birds, such as the Northern Goshawk, Great Blue Heron, and the Olive-sided Flycatcher, and the Little Brown Myotis bat. The beach 
has been identified as appropriate spawning habitat for surf smelt and Pacific sand lance, two fish species that are important food 
sources for wild salmon. 
 
The Sandy Beach Nature Reserve is a location of cultural heritage for Sk
̱
wx
̱
wu
́
7mesh (Squamish) and səl
̓
ilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) 
Nations and protection from land-altering activity under the management of the Islands Trust Conservancy is the first step to the 
preservation and protection of this location. 
 
Sandy Beach was a part of “Keats Camp”, a Baptist summer youth camp operated by the Convention of Baptist Churches of British 
Columbia, which was founded in 1926. The land was transferred from the Convention of Baptist Churches of B.C. to Islands Trust 
Conservancy on December 18, 2020, as part of a rezoning and subdivision application and comes with a $12,000 contribution 
which has been allocated to a land management fund. 
 
 
Quotes 
 
“Sandy Beach holds a special place in the hearts of the Keats community members and is the first Islands Trust Conservancy 
protected area on the Island. Next steps for the land will include the development of a management plan and negotiation of a 
conservation covenant to provide an additional layer of protection. We’re very proud and thankful for the many years of hard 
work that went toward making this happen.” 
– Kate-Louise Stamford, Chair, Islands Trust Conservancy Board 
“The Sk
̱
wx
̱
wu
́
7mesh (Squamish) people have a long interconnected history with Lhek
̱
’ti
́
nes (also known as Keats Island). The island 
is laden with place names and areas of cultural significance that remind us, as Sk
̱
wx
̱
wu
́
7mesh, who we are and how the island 
provided for our people since the 

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