Listen to W̱SÁNEĆ (hw-say-nitch) Elder JSIṈTEN (j-sing-tunn, John Elliott) say SḰŦÁMEN QENÁȽ,ENEȻ SĆȺ (skw-thay-munn kwuh-nay-lth uh-nuck shay), which means “Taking Care of Sidney Island” in the W̱SÁNEĆ language of SENĆOŦEN (sen-chaw-thunn).
Protecting a unique forest
Arbutus trees, with their unique peeling bark, are an iconic species of the Coastal Douglas-fir forest ecosystem type.
The Coastal Douglas-fir forest is one of the most at-risk ecosystems in Canada. Preserving this special ecosystem is one of the reasons Gulf Islands National Park Reserve was established in 2003.
Found only along the southern coast of British Columbia (and parts of Washington and Oregon), the Coastal Douglas-fir forest ecosystem makes up 0.3% of the province’s total land area. It occurs in the rain shadow of Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, resulting in a uniquely dry and sunny climate that hosts the highest diversity of plant species and the most species at risk in the province.
The Coastal Douglas-fir forest ecosystem is also home to rare species and ecological communities (groups of species that occur together) that are not found anywhere else in the country, such as the iconic arbutus tree or Garry oak meadows.
Unfortunately, this ecosystem is facing pressures that threaten its long-term survival. As a result of human development, this ecosystem is heavily fragmented. The protected parts of the ecosystem—which make up only 11% of the ecosystem’s area—are scattered in patches across the region. In many cases, these patches are then further threatened by invasive plant or wildlife species.
SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island) is an example of this threatened ecosystem. The national park reserve portion of Sidney Island makes up approximately 20% of the island’s total area; the rest of the island is privately owned. The impacts of invasive species affect the whole island. Parks Canada is working with project partners to restore and protect the forest on SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island).
Restoring an eco-cultural landscape
Parks Canada is collaborating with local First Nations to protect and share stories about the rich cultural history of this region. The biodiversity found here is a legacy of a millennia of active ecosystem management by First Nations peoples. Prior to colonization, First Nations peoples tended to this landscape in a variety of ways, including through eco-cultural burning. They also regularly harvested foods and medicines from the islands in this region, including SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island).
W̱SÁNEC knowledge holder ŚW̱,XELOSELWET (sh-hw-hull-aw-sull-wutt) Tiffany Joseph shares more about the connections between the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples and SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island).
W̱SÁNEĆ peoples once lived in the winter village of ȾELXOLU (tsull-hall-oo) on what is now known as Sidney Island. The islets named by settlers as Sallas Rocks were known to the W̱SÁNEĆ as XEXMELOSEṈ (huh-mull-awe-sung) long before settler arrival. What Parks Canada calls Eagle Islet, the W̱SÁNEĆ say is known better to them as SḰEḰEŦÁMEN (skwuh-kwuh-thay-munn). When W̱SÁNEĆ people would paddle from their villages on the Saanich Peninsula and were crossing to their villages in the San Juan Islands, JSIṈTEN says the people would take a stopover at W̱YOMEĆEṈ (hw-yaw-much-ung) to take a break. W̱YOMEĆEṈ means place of caution. Perhaps this was a reminder to the W̱SÁNEĆ people to look after themselves in their travels. W̱IĆḴINEM (hw-eech-keen-umm) says his elders would harvest ferns on these islands, which were said to grow to heights taller than the height of an adult person.
When you look at historical maps, you’ll see evidence of meadows, particularly in the area of what is now an airstrip. These meadowlands were places for W̱SÁNEĆ families to grow ḰȽO,EL (kw-lhaw-ull) , or camas. Camas was a staple food in the W̱SÁNEĆ diet. Many animals, such as deer, also enjoy the meadowlands to forage for food, and this was a prime opportunity for W̱SÁNEĆ hunters to harvest deer to feed their families. The wetlands would have drawn other hunters in the form of birds of prey like the hawks and would be great habitat for amphibians.
The W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples’ experience of SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island) would have been much more abundant in biodiversity of plants, amphibians, birds, and insects. It wasn’t long ago that a person could lay in the fields among the hum of bees pollinating the meadow. Perhaps today you can still hear the frogs croaking during the WEXES (wuh-huss) moon (the second moon of the W̱SÁNEĆ new year). This moon tells us spring has arrived, and the flowers will be blooming, and that our canoe travels will be safer now that the fall and winter storms are over. These ṮEṮÁĆES (tluh-tlay-chuss) (islands) are relatives of the deep, placed in the sea by our creator XÁLS (hails) to protect the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples. XÁLS bestowed upon the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples the responsibility to care for these relatives as well. Living on the islands, harvesting seafoods, meat, plants, and medicines, tending to the meadows with controlled burns, selectively harvesting logs for cedar longhouses and cedar canoes, and stripping cedar bark for baskets and clothing were all integral to the well-being of the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples and every area of the territory.
What’s the issue?
Globally, invasive plant and animal species are a major threat to biodiversity—and this is true on SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island), as well. In the decades following European settlement, various invasive plants and animals were introduced to the Southern Gulf Islands. Many of those species are still present today and impact the health of native ecosystems.
Invasive animals like fallow deer create pressure by eating native plants and creating barren zones for invasive species to take over. Decades of browse pressure from fallow deer have reduced the forest ecosystem on Sidney Island to a significantly degraded state. Invasive plants like English hawthorn, Scotch broom, and Himalayan blackberry currently dominate spaces where native shrubs and deciduous tress would have once grown. Together, invasive plants and animals create an environment where native species struggle to find suitable food and habitat, which ultimately reduces biodiversity and negatively impacts the ecosystem’s ability to survive threats like fire, pests, and climate change.
The photo on the left shows the barren understory on Sidney Island, in contrast with the photo on the right from a nearby island, which shows a lush native understory that provides food and habitat to native species.
This photo from Sidney Island shows a patch of tree seedlings made up entirely of Grand fir; a species largely avoided by fallow deer because the large amount of oil in their needles doesn’t appeal to them. . Because fallow deer prefer other tree seedlings, the grand fir is becoming the only tree growing to adulthood with any degree of success. Grand fir is more susceptible to fire and drought than other trees in this ecosystem. As a result, the fire hazard in the current ecosystem on Sidney Island is elevated. The consequence of continued browsing pressure by an overabundance of invasive fallow deer is a future forest dominated by one type of tree that is not resilient to changing environmental conditions.
This photo from Sidney Island illustrates the difference between vegetation growing inside a fenced area that deer cannot access, compared to the limited growth outside the protected zone. In areas where deer continue to eat the native plants, invasive shrubs and grass easily grow. The least tasty native species, like salal, try to grow amidst the invasive plants.
This photo from June 2024 shows that deer browsing is still impacting the growth of vegetation in the forest understory. The forest floor is primarily moss and forest litter except within the fenced enclosure.
In addition to ecological impacts, fallow deer have a cultural impact on Sidney Island. Read further to learn how fallow deer are a symbol of European colonization here and around the world.
Fallow deer, which are native to the Mediterranean region, have been a semi-domesticated species for roughly 3000 years. Throughout history, imperial powers—from the Phoenicians to the Romans to the British Empire—have transported them all over the world for venison farming and sport hunting. Due to their impacts on forest ecosystems and agriculture, they are considered an invasive or pest species in many places.
W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations representatives have shared that on Sidney Island, fallow deer are a symbol of the impacts of colonization on this region’s ecology. The ongoing presence of the deer in the park reserve portion of the island prevents local First Nations from practicing Aboriginal and Treaty rights like hunting and harvesting native foods and medicines. The removal of this invasive species not only facilitates ecological recovery, but also the recovery of cultural practices and First Nations stewardship within the national park reserve.
What's being done?
Currently, there is an abundance of invasive plants on SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island) and an absence of many of the native plants that should be found in this coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem. Parks Canada staff and partners are working to remove invasive plants and re-establish populations of native trees, shrubs, and flowering plants, to improve the ecosystem’s overall health and increase the amount of food and habitat available for native birds and pollinators.
Parks Canada is working with local First Nations to plan for the long-term management of deer on the national park reserve portion of SḰŦÁMEN and throughout Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. Parks Canada is also working with the Sidney Island community in an effort to coordinate deer management across jurisdictions on Sidney Island. In early spring 2025, Parks Canada and participants from several First Nations collaborated to trial line drives—a traditional Indigenous deer hunting method—on the national park reserve side of the island.
Volunteers, with Parks Canada staff, planted native vegetation in ten fenced exclosures on the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve side of Sidney Island in the fall of 2021. The fences protect the plants from deer browse and the result is more than 90% of plants have survived and many have quadrupled in height. This kind of survival and growth is not observed outside the fenced areas.
Parks Canada staff cut down invasive English hawthorn and apply a treatment to stumps to prevent regrowth. In the coming years, native shrubs and trees will be planted in these areas.
The first photo shows an exclosure in 2020 and the second photo shows it in 2024. The exclosures will serve as foraging and nesting habitat for wildlife, who will spread seeds to other areas on the island.
Project partners
Many groups have contributed time, skill, and knowledge to the SḰŦÁMEN QENÁȽ,ENEȻ SĆȺ - Sidney Island Ecological Restoration Project to date. Parks Canada has, and continues to work with the following partners, all of whom are engaging in a collaborative approach to restoring the natural forest ecosystem on SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island).
W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council,
Tsawout First Nation,
Pauquachin First Nation,
Malahat First Nation,
Province of BC,
Islands Trust Conservancy,
The residential community on southern Sidney Island,
Additional participation and support have also been received from Cowichan Tribes and Penelakut Tribe.
Project history and status
Recreational hunting has taken place on Sidney Island since fallow deer were introduced for that purpose in the 1960s. Between 1981 and 2023, almost 15,000 deer were hunted or culled from the private portion of the island. Since 2005, annual Indigenous hunting has also occurred within the national park reserve. The fallow deer population on the island reproduces so quickly that hunting and culling has traditionally not kept numbers at a sustainable level that or at a level that enables the ecosystem to recover.
Parks Canada is mandated to protect the natural and cultural integrity of national park and national park reserve ecosystems and is committed to ensuring the long-term health of Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. Since 2018, project partners have researched, planned, and began implementing a long-term and sustainable forest restoration project on SḰŦÁMEN (Sidney Island). The project had three main objectives:
Remove the invasive European fallow deer population.
Remove invasive plant species and re-establish native trees and shrubs.
Plan for the long-term, sustainable management of native black-tailed deer.
In 2023, certified markspersons removed 84 deer from Sidney Island during a ten-day period in the first phase of the planned deer eradication. Deer were removed through a mix of ground-based and aerial work, which allowed markspersons to target deer in harder-to-reach areas. Parks Canada staff worked closely with Indigenous harvesters to recover meat, hides, hooves, and other usable materials for distribution within local W̱SÁNEĆ communities. Harvesters recovered an estimated total of over 800 kg (1,800 lbs) of meat.
Animal welfare is a priority for Parks Canada and project partners. The humane treatment of wildlife was central to selecting the methods used to completely remove invasive fallow deer from Sidney Island. All animal removals that took place were consistent with guidelines from the Canadian Council on Animal Care. The SPCA also observed the operation on multiple occasions to confirm that it was in accordance with animal welfare guidelines. Parks Canada safety officers and a community liaison were present to oversee safe project implementation and to provide updates to the Sidney Island residential community throughout the operation. The operation was completed successfully without any safety incidents.
In the fall of 2024, Parks Canada made the decision to re-imagine the project. Parks Canada remains committed to conservation efforts on Sidney Island and is working with project partners to explore alternative invasive deer management methods to work towards the goal of eradicating fallow deer. This process is underway and will take time. Presently, activities focused on other important aspects of the project are ongoing. Current efforts focus on vegetation management, native plant propagation, wildfire risk reduction, and employing traditional Indigenous hunting techniques.
