Ministry of Environment Sensitive Ecosystems Inventories

East Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands Results

The Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory has identified the remaining fragments of natural ecosystems on eastern Vancouver Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands. Collectively the seven sensitive ecosystems cover only 7.9% of the study area.

Most of the study area (92.1%) is Scovered by 'modified' landscapes, defined here as urban and rural landscapes and forests younger than 100 years. The two other important ecosystems mapped during this project cover 11.6% of the study area, primarily due to large stands of older second growth forest.

The inventory results were tabulated based on the dominant or primary ecosystem type present; in most cases the coloured polygons on the maps represent only one ecosystem type. However, in approximately 20% of the sites, more than one ecosystem was present and could not be delineated separately. It was therefore necessary to classify those sites using both a primary and secondary ecosystem types in order to accurately describe them. The tabular results do not reflect this, since it was not possible to accurately measure the cover of dominant and secondary ecosystems within one polygon.

For complete results data for the East Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands SEI, see the Conservation Manual.