Denman Island is one of the Northern Gulf Islands in the Georgia Strait of British Columbia. Denman is a small island with just over 1,000 permanent residents who choose to live a somewhat isolated life in exchange for the island’s beautiful, natural environment and slow-paced atmosphere.
Denman Island is also one of the few remaining places where one can experience the grandeur of the Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) biogeoclimatic zone. Less than 1% of these forests remain in their natural state and a small fraction of these are protected. In addition to these forests, Denman Island’s Chickadee lake watershed, which is within the project area, is home to the globally endangered Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly.
These unique and sensitive areas will now be permanently protected through an innovative, and unprecedented in Canada, public-private partnership. In October 2010 ERA, the Province of British Columbia and the private land owner, North Denman Lands Inc. (NDL) succeeded in protecting 750 hectares through a land donation by NDL, the purchase of carbon sequestration rights by ERA and the transfer of local development rights to a smaller piece of land. All of these contributions enabled the Province to purchase the land at a greatly reduced rate for inclusion in the BC parks and protected areas system. Without this partnership the future park area, approximately 15% of Denman Island, would have been slated for subdivision into residential and agricultural properties including vineyards, hayfields and trophy properties.
In June of 2011 the BC Ministry of Environment was awarded the Provincial Premier’s Award for Innovation and Excellence for the Denman Island land acquisition project. This project, and the subsequent award, demonstrates how carbon can play an active role in the conservation of ecosystems.
