About
Cable Bay, a 61 hectare waterfront property, and the neighbouring Pebble Beach have a rich First Nations history. But in the 1900s, the ancient forest was logged heavily, cumulating in a complete clearcut of the land in 1978. Every piece of vegetation was bulldozed along with the top soil, and uniform rows of Douglas-fir seedlings were planted as the next crop of trees for harvest.
This industrial cycle was broken in 1998 when the Galiano Conservancy Association recognized the potential of the site to provide connectivity in a future protected area network, and teamed up with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Province of B.C. to purchase the Cable Bay property. The Galiano Conservancy Association protected the property as a reserve and educational site, and asked the Islands Trust Conservancy to hold a conservation covenant, adding a second layer of permanent protection for the property.
Today, Cable Bay is the site of an innovative restoration project, where the Conservancy is helping the plantation shift towards a healthy mature forest that supports a diversity of species. For more information about the Conservancy's work, please visit them here.