BC Parks Foundation has secured an agreement to purchase the property for $4 million. With generous support from the Wilson 5 Foundation and other donors, just $495,000 remains to reach the goal. The Nanaimo & Area Land Trust (NALT) and the Comox Valley Land Trust (CVLT) and have each committed $50,000, bringing the amount still needed to $395,000.

NALT and CVLT are now working together with BC Parks Foundation to rally their members, donors, and communities to help raise the remaining funds and protect this ecologically significant property.
The property includes salmon-bearing waterways, wetlands, forest, estuary, and shoreline habitat, including the estuaries of Cook Creek, Sandy Creek, and other waterways flowing into Baynes Sound. Its protection will help safeguard an increasingly rare intact land-to-sea ecosystem in a region known for its ecological importance, including Baynes Sound’s globally significant shellfish and herring habitat.

“This is an excellent opportunity to protect some of the rich marine waters and natural shoreline of our region, and ensure that it stays connected to important freshwater ecosystems that provide exceptional fish-rearing habitat and the mature forests that surround them,” said NALT Stewardship Manager Linda Brooymans. “We are especially pleased to partner with the Comox Valley Land Trust and the BC Parks Foundation in our efforts to protect important habitats that border our two regions.”

 The 122.5-acre property sits beside an 83-acre property already protected by BC Parks Foundation. Together, the two properties will connect more than 4,300 acres of protected lands to Baynes Sound and nearby marine protected areas, creating a continuous conservation corridor from inland forests to the Salish Sea.

“Opportunities like this don’t come along very often. It’s one of those rare spots where forest, wetland, estuary, and ocean still meet the way they’re meant to,” said Andy Day, CEO of BC Parks Foundation. “By protecting this land now, we’re keeping salmon moving through its creeks, birds returning to the estuary year after year, and the shoreline doing its job of filtering water before it reaches the Salish Sea. Opportunities to protect an intact land-to-sea system like this are increasingly rare, and stepping up here makes a real difference for this coast and all the life that depends on it.”

Nearby protected lands include Rosewall Creek Provincial Park, the Bowser Ecological Reserve, Old Growth Management Areas on Crown land, and thousands of acres of Crown land set aside by the Province in 2018 to protect the forests of the Coastal Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone. Together, these protected areas encompass one of the least-developed stretches of coastline remaining on eastern Vancouver Island.

“The Deep Bay property has been at the top of our list of the most important areas in the Comox Valley to conserve for over 10 years,” said CVLT Director Nick Page. “It’s mature forest, salmon streams, and diverse shoreline make it incredibly ecologically valuable, particularly as part of an expanding network of protected areas around Deep Bay. We’re delighted to help preserve it in perpetuity. In addition to our $50,000 donation, we’re partnering with the Nanaimo & Area Land Trust to rally our members, donors, and communities to help raise the remaining funds needed to protect this special place.”

Of the $50,000 contribution from NALT, $25,000 is part of a matching funds campaign. Folks donating to protect Deep Bay property on or before September 30th can double the impact of those donations up to $25,000! The CVLT has a similar matching challenge with their members and supporters.

“The best things in life aren’t things.”
~ Art Buchwald