Mt. Artaban Management Plan

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Mount Artaban Nature Reserve Management Plan 
Gambier Island, BC 
 
  Photo 1. View of Mount Artaban from Brigade Bay Bluff Nature Reserve 
PREPARED FOR 
 
PREPARED BY Doug Hopwood in 2009 
REVISED in 2018 by Carrina Maslovat, R. P. Bio. #1407 
and Laura Matthias, Consultant Biologist, Salt Spring Island, BC 
APPROVED BY 
Islands Trust Conservancy, November 26, 2019, Resolution # ITC-2019-046 
Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, January 9, 2020 
Gambier Island Conservancy, March 11, 2020 

Mount Artaban Nature Reserve Management Plan  
 
2 
i. Executive Summary 
1
 
Islands Trust Conservancy acknowledges and respects that Gambier Island is within the 
traditional territory of multiple Coast Salish peoples, whose historical relationship to the land, 
culture, and spirit of this place continues to this day. Islands Trust Conservancy is committed to 
honoring the rich history of Indigenous stewardship in the lands and waters of the Islands Trust 
Area and to building mutually respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous 
partners in conservation. Therefore, this Management Plan for Brigade Bay Bluffs Nature 
Reserve is a living document that will evolve as opportunities for knowledge sharing arise and 
understanding grows. 
The Islands Trust Conservancy’s Mount Artaban Nature Reserve (MANR) was established in 
June 2008. The property is 107 hectares (264 acres) in area. Mount Artaban Nature Reserve is 
located inland on the southeastern arm of Gambier Island, south of Brigade Bay and north of 
Halkett Bay. It includes the summit of Mount Artaban, which is a significant landmark of 
Gambier Island and the adjacent area. The property is rugged and steep, spanning an elevation 
range of approximately 531 metres (1742 feet) from its lowest point at the Northeast corner to 
the summit of Mount Artaban at 614 metres (2015 feet) elevation.  
The reserve is mostly covered in second-growth forest of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, western 
redcedar, red alder and bigleaf maple, that originated by natural regeneration after logging 
and/or wildfires approximately 80 years ago, and a smaller area regenerated after logging 
about 65 years ago. The higher elevation areas are occupied by an un-logged forest, primarily of 
smaller-diameter shore pine and Douglas-fir trees, ranging in ages up to about 100 years old. 
There are older veteran trees throughout the reserve. The reserve is part of a large, contiguous 
natural area within the Coastal Western Hemlock Very Dry Maritime (CWHxm) and Coastal 
Western Hemlock Dry Maritime (CWHdm) subzones on Gambier Island. There are two 
ephemeral wetlands near the summit and two seasonal streams that flow in the southern part 
of the reserve. 
The Mount Artaban property was held as Provincial Crown Land for many years, and was 
transferred in June 2008 through the provincial Free Crown Grant program to the Islands Trust 
Fund (now the Islands Trust Conservancy) to be managed as a nature reserve. The Gamb

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