Ecosystem Inventories

By carefully mapping the ecosystems and plant communities throughout the islands, we can determine where rare ecosystems are present and which areas are most threatened by development. We can all then focus our time and money on those ecosystems in greatest need of protection.

In addition to the PDF maps on this page, you can explore mapping layers through the Mapping page.

Eelgrass Inventory Maps

Eelgrass beds are important nurseries for young fish and are home to many invertebrate species such as sea slugs and sea stars. Also known as seagrass meadows, these areas stabilize sediment, store remarkable amounts of carbon, and support high biodiversity. All species of salmon depend on eelgrass beds at some point in their life cycle.

Islands Trust has created 2 eelgrass mapping products.

In 2022, eelgrass areas were identified and mapped using low altitude, high resolution aerial imagery (collected by helicopter in 2018, 2020, and 2021 in different parts of the Islands Trust Area). This mapping defines the shape and position of each area of eelgrass bed, also known as an eelgrass meadow, and also characterizes the density of plants in each area. This eelgrass bed mapping can be viewed using the interactive Islands Trust MapIT web map application, and the methods used are described in the Shoreline Polygon Mapping Summary Report: Eelgrass in the Islands Trust Area.

Nearshore Eelgrass Inventory Final Report, 2012-14: Between 2012 and 2014, eelgrass beds were mapped for the entire Islands Trust Area using towed underwater cameras in partnership with SeaChange Conservation Society and Seagrass Conservation Working Group. This inventory surveyed coastlines by boat using an underwater towed camera, and mapped the eelgrass areas, identifying the type and density. These data were used to create Eelgrass Presence Maps (PDF) for each Local Trust Area (see below). Special thank you to those organizations who provided funding and support for the project, including the Pacific Salmon Foundation, the Victoria Foundation, Greater Victoria Savings and Credit Union, Comox Valley Regional District, Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver, the Mayne Island Conservancy Society and the Galiano Conservancy Association.

Bull Kelp Inventory Maps

Bull kelp forms thick beds along coastlines in semi-exposed areas throughout the Salish Sea. Particularly dense areas are known as ‘kelp forests’, providing protection or food for many creatures such as rockfish, shrimp, seals, Great Blue Herons, cormorants, and more. The long floating blades, or leaves, at the ocean surface create a sheltering canopy just like the upper tree branches in a forest on land.

In 2022, bull kelp areas were identified and mapped using low altitude, high resolution aerial imagery (collected by helicopter in 2018, 2020, and 2021 in different parts of the Islands Trust Area). This mapping defines the shape and position of each area of bull kelp, and also characterizes the density of plants in each area. This bull kelp mapping can be viewed using the interactive Islands Trust MapIT web map application, and the methods used are described in the Shoreline Polygon Mapping Summary Report: Bull Kelp in the Islands Trust Area.

Forage Fish Spawning Habitat Maps

In 2013 – 2019, the Islands Trust Conservancy contracted assessment of beaches on Denman, Hornby, Thetis, Gambier, Keats, Bowen, North and South Pender, Valdes, Salt Spring, Wallace, Galiano, Lasqueti, Sidney, and James islands for habitat suitable for forage fish spawning.

Please note that on May 31, 2018, the former Islands Trust Fund and Trust Fund Board legally became the Islands Trust Conservancy. Old maps will continue to display the old name, but provisions of the legislation ensure the legal continuity of the Islands Trust Fund and Trust Fund Board as the Islands Trust Conservancy.

Local Trust Areas/Bowen Island Ecosystem Inventory Maps

Ballenas-Winchelsea

Ballenas Winchelsea Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 907 KB)

Map 8: Eelgrass Presence Ballenas – Winchelsea LTA

VIEW (PDF 607 KB)

Bowen

Bowen Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1601 KB)

Map 9a: Eelgrass Presence Bowen – North & Bowyer

VIEW (PDF 713 KB)

Map 9b: Eelgrass Presence Bowen – South & Passage

VIEW (PDF 960 KB)

Bowen Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 729 KB)

Bowen Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 4023 KB)

Denman

Denman Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping – North

VIEW (PDF 885 KB)

Denman Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping – South

VIEW (PDF 1053 KB)

Map 10: Eelgrass Presence Denman LTA

VIEW (PDF 1221 KB)

Denman Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 675 KB)

Thetis, Hornby and Denman Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 1202 KB)

Gabriola

Gabriola Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 2575 KB)

Map 11a: Eelgrass Presence Gabriola LTA Southeast

VIEW (PDF 874 KB)

Map 11b: Eelgrass Presence Gabriola LTA Northwest

VIEW (PDF 779 KB)

Galiano

Galiano Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping – North

VIEW (PDF 1021 KB)

Galiano Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping – South

VIEW (PDF 1216 KB)

Map 12b: Eelgrass Presence Galiano LTA – North

VIEW (PDF 275 KB)

Map 12a: Eelgrass Presence Galiano LTA – South

VIEW (PDF 514 KB)

Galiano Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 3502 KB)

Galiano Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 3317 KB)

Gambier

Gambier Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1734 KB)

Map 3a: Eelgrass Presence Gambier Island

VIEW (PDF 1318 KB)

Gambier Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 1104 KB)

Gambier and Keats Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 4316 KB)

Anvil Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1007 KB)

Bowyer/Passage Islands Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 680 KB)

Keats/Bowyer/Passage Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1023 KB)

Keats Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 598 KB)

Map 3b: Eelgrass Presence Gambier LTA Assc Islands

VIEW (PDF 666 KB)

Map 3c: Eelgrass Presence Gambier LTA Assc Islands

VIEW (PDF 837 KB)

Thormanby Islands Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 957 KB)

Hornby

Hornby Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1080 KB)

Map 6: Eelgrass Presence Hornby LTA

VIEW (PDF 720 KB)

Hornby Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 430 KB)

Thetis, Hornby and Denman Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 1202 KB)

Lasqueti

Lasqueti Island (East) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 2191 KB)

Lasqueti Island (West) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1893 KB)

Map 5a: Eelgrass Presence Lasqueti LTA – East

VIEW (PDF 1312 KB)

Map 5b: Eelgrass Presence Lasqueti LTA – West

VIEW (PDF 1035 KB)

Lasqueti Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 3477 KB)

Lasqueti Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 2708 KB)

Mayne

Mayne Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 2392 KB)

Map 7: Eelgrass Presence Mayne Island

VIEW (PDF 514 KB)

Penders

North Pender Island Sch C – Sensitive Ecosystem Map – OCP Bylaw No. 171

VIEW (PDF 2678 KB)

Map 1: Eelgrass Presence North Pender Island

VIEW (PDF 470 KB)

North Pender Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 384 KB)

Pender Island Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 810 KB)

Sidney Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 3102 KB)

Sidney James Islands Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 27281 KB)

South Pender Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 2091 KB)

Map 2: Eelgrass Presence South Pender Island 

VIEW (PDF 382 KB)

South Pender Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 188 KB)

NP Assc Isl (North) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1613 KB)

NP Assc Isl (Central) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1289 KB)

NP Assc Isl (Southern) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1778 KB)

Map 14a: Eelgrass Presence North Pender LTA Associated Island (North)

VIEW (PDF 798 KB)

Map 14b: Eelgrass Presence North Pender LTA Associated Island (South)

VIEW (PDF 794 KB)

James Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 3312 KB)

Sidney James Islands Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 27281 KB)

Salt Spring

Salt Spring (North) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 4334 KB)

Salt Spring (Central) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 2938 KB)

Salt Spring (South) Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 8157 KB)

Map 13a: Eelgrass Presence Salt Spring LTA – South

VIEW (PDF 1141 KB)

Map 13b: Eelgrass Presence Salt Spring LTA – North

VIEW (PDF 1231 KB)

Salt Spring Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 8248 KB)

Salt Spring and Wallace Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 3143 KB)

Saturna

Map 15: Eelgrass Presence Saturna LTA

VIEW (PDF 762 KB)

Thetis

Thetis Island Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1345 KB)

Map 4a: Eelgrass Presence Thetis Island LTA

VIEW (PDF 844 KB)

Thetis Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 309 KB)

Thetis, Hornby and Denman Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 1202 KB)

Valdes Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 1860 KB)

Map 4b: Eelgrass Presence Valdes Island

VIEW (PDF 475 KB)

Valdes Island Forage Fish Map

VIEW (PDF 2176 KB)

Valdes Forage Fish Report

VIEW (PDF 2733 KB)

Sensitive Ecosystem Maps

Islands Trust Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping is based on Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping created by Islands Trust Conservancy, the Province of British Columbia and Parks Canada. Reports for the Coastal Douglas-fir area and Salt Spring Island are available from the Province’s Ecological Reports Catalogue. Parks Canada reports must be acquired from Parks Canada. Islands Trust reports include:

Howe Sound Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping

VIEW (PDF 22065 KB)

TEM Updates and Islets Report

VIEW (PDF 286 KB)

SEM-TEM Mapping Cultivated Fields and Coast Sand Ecosystems

VIEW (PDF 1331 KB)

SEM-TEM Mapping Updates Disturbance Mapping

VIEW (PDF 764 KB)

The Sensitive Ecosystem Maps (PDFs) were created in 2001-2007. In 2017, Islands Trust acquired new imagery (2014) and updated our terrestrial ecosystems mapping and sensitive ecosystem mapping layers. The PDF Sensitive Ecosystem Maps were not updated.

How the Sensitive Ecosystem Maps were Created

VIEW (PDF 537 KB)

How to Read a Sensitive Ecosystem Map

VIEW (PDF 1200 KB)