Susan Bloom Gifts Clayoquot Island Preserve to Nature Conservancy

Summary: Susan Bloom gifts Clayoquot Island Preserve to the Nature Conservatory of Canada, according to the Conservancy's Feb. 29 website announcement.

Clayoquot Island (center left), often labeled as Stubbs Island, in Clayoquot Sound: Leigh Hilbert (SparkyLeigh), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

On Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s website announced ownership of Clayoquot Island Preserve, the wild, old growth forested portion of the historic island off Vancouver Island’s midwestern coast, via a donation by environmentalist Susan Bloom, island owner since 1990.

“From the very first time I visited and then became the owner of Clayoquot Island, my goal has been to protect the island from any more development, to preserve it in its natural wild state and to remove years and years of accumulated human garbage and refuse,” Susan Bloom notes in the Nature Conservancy’s announcement. “My recent lifetime goal is to see that this beautiful land, steeped in Canadian history, be placed into safe conservation hands and cared for in perpetuity. The Nature Conservancy of Canada has a sterling reputation in the field of land protection and I am delighted that they have accepted this responsibility and are now the owners of the largest wild portion of the island.”

Clayoquot Island Preserve encompasses 93 acres (38 hectares) and accounts for approximately two-thirds of Clayoquot Island. Clayoquot Island Preserve features mixed old growth and mature second growth Coastal Western Hemlock forest. A boardwalk stretching from the island’s center to its western shore allows nondisturbing passage through the interior wildness of Clayoquot Island Preserve.

On the western shore, California wax myrtles (Myrica californica) grow in dense thickets and measure heights of more than 13 feet (4 meters). Also known as the Pacific wax myrtle, the nitrogen-fixing evergreen shrub is native to North America’s Pacific coast, from Vancouver Island southward to Long Beach, California. The British Columbia Ministry of Environment blue-lists Pacific wax myrtle as a native species of special concern, with at-risk sensitivity to human or natural events.

Clayoquot Island Preserve includes substantial ocean frontage on Clayoquot Sound. Eel grass beds and coastal sand dunes are found as targeted conservation habitats within Clayoquot Island’s beaches and intertidal areas. The island supports abundant wildlife, including great blue herons, Pacific geoducks and black oystercatchers. In early spring Brandt geese by the hundreds feed and rest on Clayoquot Island’s sandspit as an important migratory stopover. Tidal fluctuations allow large animals, such as bears, cougars and wolves, to make occasional visits by swimming from Vancouver Island to Clayoquot Island.

Strategically located only moments away from Tofino, a popular mainland tourist destination, Clayoquot Island lies within the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations. Two year-round caretakers, Chris Taylor and Sharon Whalen, rely on solar panels for power and resort to a sand filtering system for potable water.

Susan Bloom opens her private island to the public annually at the end of May for the long Victoria Day weekend. She funds free water taxi rides to transport visitors from Tofino harbor to Clayoquot (pronounced CLAH-kwat).

Stretching along Vancouver Island’s midwestern coast, Clayoquot Sound is bordered to the north by Nootka Sound and to the south by Barkley Sound. Clayoquot Sound’s land and water region total approximately 860,000 acres (350,000 hectares).

In January 2000 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the entire extent of the nearly 62-mile (100-kilometer) wide sound and its entire region as a Biosphere Reserve. The internationally recognized status spotlights the Clayoquot Sound region as comprising coastal, marine and terrestrial ecosystems favoring a balance of conserved biodiversity and sustainable use.

Valued at $4 million, Susan Bloom’s protective gift of Clayoquot Island Preserve is listed under Canada’s Ecological Gifts Program. Administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada (EC), the Ecological Gifts Program encourages the donation of ecologically sensitive land to qualified recipients. Donors receive significant tax benefits in exchange for the assurance of conservation in perpetuity of donated lands’ biodiversity and environmental heritages.

“The ecological value of Clayoquot Sound is universally acknowledged, and we are extremely grateful to Susan Bloom for her commitment to ensuring the long-term conservation of Clayoquot Island,” Linda Hannah, Nature Conservancy of Canada’s BC regional vice president, states in the private non-for-profit charitable environmental organization’s Feb. 29 announcement. “The coastal forest, wetland bogs and sand dune beaches on Clayoquot Island are thriving today because of the conservation vision of Ms. Bloom. The Nature Conservancy of Canada is honoured to take on the ongoing conservation management of the most ecologically sensitive portion of this historic island."

intertidal zone on Clayoquot Island; photo by Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC): Environment Canada @environmentca via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Clayoquot Sound: Leigh Hilbert (SparkyLeigh), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sparkyleigh/33586567/

intertidal zone on Clayoquot Island: photo by Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC): Environment Canada @environmentca via Twitter Feb. 29, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/environmentca/status/704354247400361986

For further information:

"Clayoquot Island." Vancouver Island Vacation Rentals.
Available @ http://www.vancouverislandvr.com/clayoquot-island/

Dedyna, Katherine. "Clayoquot Island old growth donated to Nature Conservancy of Canada." Times Colonist > News > B.C. March 1, 2016.
Available @ http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/clayoquot-island-old-growth-donated-to-nature-conservancy-of-canada-1.2187071

Environment Canada @environmentca. "Half an island in #ClayoquotSound now protected w/@NCC_CNC #BC." Twitter. Feb. 29, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/environmentca/status/704354247400361986

Hawthorn, Tom. "Stubbs Island: A return to paradise." The Globe and Mail > News > British Columbia. May 15, 2011. Updated Sept. 10, 2012.
Available @ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/stubbs-island-a-return-to-paradise/article624705/

NatureConservancy.ca‏ @NCC_CNC. "Gift of a lifetime: Clayoquot Island Preserve donated to @NCC_CNC." Twitter. Feb. 29, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NCC_CNC/status/704326518260895745

Neilson, Leslie Marian. "Gift of a Lifetime: Clayoquot Island Preserve donated to Nature Conservancy of Canada." Nature Conservancy of Canada > Where We Work > British Columbia > News Release. Feb. 29, 2016.
Available @ http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/british-columbia/news/gift-of-a-lifetime-clayoquot-release.html

Westerly News. "Clayoquot Island now has land conservancy protection." Canada.com > Vancouver Island > Westerly. Jan. 31, 2016.
Available @ http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/westerly/story.html?id=e7146c5d-e3da-4ab0-b442-34b058db811b