BOWEN ISLAND CONSERVANCY — NEW WEBSITE
CARE — Section Landing — Page Draft | Phase One — Build | June 2026
Gateway page for the Care section. Establishes shared care as the central idea: the health of Bowen's natural systems depends on decisions made by the Conservancy, governments, landowners, residents, contractors, and visitors.
HERO IMAGE
Suggested: a home or neighbourhood connected visually to forest, creek, wetland, or shoreline. Not a reserve — the surrounding landscape. Conveys that care happens everywhere, not just on Conservancy land.
Caring for the island we share.
Bowen's biodiversity extends far beyond parks and nature reserves. It lives in gardens, forests, roadside edges, creeks, shorelines, wetlands, and the spaces between them. How we care for these lands matters.
[ Care Where You Live ] [ Visit Gently ]
CARE IS SHARED
The Conservancy can protect and steward important lands, but most of Bowen Island lies outside any conservation organization's direct responsibility. Crippen Regional Park is managed by Metro Vancouver. The Crown lands on the island — about 40 per cent of Bowen's total land base, including the upper slopes of Mount Gardner and Mount Collins — are managed by the Province. The waters of Átl'ka7tsem / Howe Sound fall under federal jurisdiction.
And the forest at the edge of your lot, the creek running through your neighbourhood, the garden beside the trail — these are not any government's responsibility. They are everyone's.
Municipal and provincial decisions shape development, roads, drainage, water, shorelines, and public land. Private-land choices affect habitat, tree cover, soil, water movement, and wildlife passage. Visitors influence sensitive places through where and how they travel. Shared care recognizes that everyone has a different role — and that these roles add up.
FIND THE INFORMATION YOU NEED
Navigation cards to all Care sub-pages.
Care Where You Live
Learn how everyday decisions around trees, gardens, water, outdoor lighting, pets, shorelines, and land maintenance can help sustain biodiversity.
→ Care Where You Live
Visit Gently
Understand how to enjoy Bowen's natural places while reducing disturbance to wildlife, sensitive habitat, neighbours, and restoration areas.
→ Visit Gently
How We Care for Conservancy Lands
See how the Conservancy makes decisions about habitat protection, public access, trails, monitoring, restoration, and long-term land care.
→ How We Care for Conservancy Lands
Report a Concern
Know where to report wildlife issues, environmental damage, invasive species, unsafe conditions, or concerns involving Conservancy lands.
→ Report a Concern
Public Decisions That Shape Nature
Phase One — Placeholder / Basic
Ecological information is most useful when it is considered early — before important habitat, water systems, or wildlife connections are unintentionally lost. A fuller Planning & Policy section is planned for Phase Two.
→ Learn more
WHERE CONSERVATION ACTUALLY HAPPENS
Most of Bowen's ecological value lies outside protected land.
The 2026 Biodiversity Plan found that many of the island's highest-value habitats sit on private lots, road edges, and community spaces — not inside nature reserves. The forest at the back of a property, the seasonal pond in a low corner of a lot, the native shrubs along a fence line: these are not incidental. They are part of the living system that makes Bowen Island what it is.
That means the decisions residents make every day — which trees to keep, how to manage a wet area, what to plant along a driveway — have real ecological consequences. Not dramatically, not all at once, but cumulatively, across the whole island, over time. The Conservancy's Care section is designed to help people make those decisions well.
→ Start with Care Where You Live
START WITH ONE THOUGHTFUL CHOICE
Look closely at the land where you live, work, or visit. Notice what is already supporting life. Then choose one practical action that helps it continue.
[ Care Where You Live ] [ Visit Gently ] [ Volunteer ] [ Support Our Work ]