Islands Trust Conservancy Annual Report 2017-2018

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Conservation land trust for  
Canada’s islands in the Salish Sea
Islands Trust Fund
2017 – 2018
Annual Report

Message from the 
Islands Trust Fund 
Board Chair
On January 30, 2018, the Trust Fund Board approved a new ten-
year (2018 –   2027) Regional Conservation Plan to guide the work of 
the Islands Trust Fund to protect fragile ecosystems in the islands 
in the Salish Sea. While many special places have been protected 
in the past 28 years of the Islands Trust Fund’s history, there is still 
more work to do. Sensitive ecosystems account for 40 per cent 
of the Trust Area land base, but only 21 per cent of those ecosys-
tems are protected. These islands provide habitat for hundreds of 
species of concern. That is why the Islands Trust Fund relies on 
the Regional Conservation Plan —    a science-based and community 
informed plan —    to focus our efforts and resources on what’s most 
urgently in need of protection. 
As we approached the end of the 2011 –  2017 Regional Conservation 
Plan, we reached out to experts, partners, the public, and First Nations 
with interests in the land and waters in the Islands Trust Area to ask for 
their input on the direction of a new plan. In the process of drafting the 
new ten-year Regional Conservation Plan, we examined our past suc-
cesses and reviewed lessons learned to identify new high-level goals to 
guide our work. We learned how much our partners value our collabora-
tive, science-based approach. 
Just as species and the ecosystems of the islands in the Salish Sea 
are interdependent, so is the process of land conservation in the Islands 
Trust Area. Local conservancies and island groups are often the driving 
force behind fundraising campaigns, a lesson that was emphasized in 
the previous Regional Conservation Plan. We are proud and humbled by 
the passion and dedication islanders and our partners have for the beau-
tiful islands in the Salish Sea and their desire to see the special proper-
ties on these lands endure into the future. This support truly enables us 
to do what we do. 
The 2011 –  2017 Regional Conservation Plan set an objective to pro-
tect 500 hectares of priority conservation areas. Through strong part-
nerships, 491 hectares of priority lands were protected by or with the 
assistance of the Islands Trust Fund. A highlight is the recent creation 
islands trust fund annual report 2017 –  20182

of two new nature reserves on Thetis Island, including Fairyslipper 
Forest — Thetis Island’s first and only publicly accessible nature reserve. 
In addition, two recently finalized strategies regarding land secure-
ment and property management will help us prioritize and focus our 
resources on protecting and managing the most at risk and highest 
value ecosystems.
Over the duration of the last Regional Conservation Plan we com-
pleted eelgrass mapping for the entire Islands Trust Area as well as forage 
fish suitable habitat mapping for most of the region. This information 
was shared wit

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