Clayoquot Island Covenant: Boardwalks, Burial Caves and Birds of Prey

Veteran Western red cedar.
Photo Credit Torrey Archer.

Over the August 22nd weekend, TLC staff member Torrey had the pleasure of visiting Clayoquot Island, located just North of Tofino. Clayoquot Island used to have three hotels on it, but is now the home of a wilderness resort. Seventy percent of the 255 acre island is covenanted and remains truly wild, aside from a boardwalk that surrounds most of the island.

Taking a ten minute boat ride from downtown Tofino, Torrey and a few lucky family members accompanied island caretaker Chris for a magical tour. Chris and his wife, Sharon, have been living on and caring for the island for the past 25 years, and have seen it change dramatically from storms and natural ecosystem succession. The two have created and maintained extensive gardens in one portion of the island, complete with a large fire pit encircled with chairs, a hand-dug pond complete with frogs, multiple driftwood archways over paths that lead to the beaches, and much more.

Chris led the way through the marsh that covers most of the centre island, thankfully via a boardwalk that they have maintained and replaced three times now! No small feat as everything must be done by hand on the island. All of the electricity used on the island comes from solar panels, so while the energy is limitless the storing capacity depends on their battery. As such, limiting their energy use helps make sure they have enough for emergencies.

A wildlife tree on the covenant.
Photo Credit Torrey Archer.

After walking through a beautiful Douglas-fir forest with veteran old-growth Western red cedars, they popped out onto the Southwest facing beach and walked the fine, white sand. Arriving at a cave, Chris explained that there are 14 caves on the island and that some of them are the burial caves of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations. This particular cave was not a burial ground, so we explored as far as the beach debris that had been piled up into the cave from storms would allow. Inside we found a cave cricket, which, if you’ve never seen one before, is a slightly terrifying looking creature, though they are completely harmless. Cave crickets live in the dark, and so they have adapted very long antennae to sense movement. As they are easy prey, they will actually jump towards something if they sense it, to hopefully frighten it away. Thankfully, the cave cricket was not startled when its picture was taken, so no jumping occurred. This is a good thing, as they can jump several feet in a single bound!

After exiting the cave, the crew moved back into the forest on another boardwalk where they found a few different mushrooms growing. Chris explained that for some reason, Clayoquot Island doesn’t get any edible mushrooms, but Vargas Island located next door has many. While the Island may not have edible mushrooms, it does have multiple, huge, old-growth Western red cedars which more than makes up for the lack of edible fungi.

View of Meares Island from Clayoquot Island.
Photo Credit Torrey Archer.

After enjoying one particularly large giant, the path lead out to the beach again where the group crossed over an incredibly productive clam bed. Unfortunately, due to where the Tofino outfall is placed and the direction of the ocean currents, the shellfish on Clayoquot is inedible.

Passing the clam bed, Chris pointed out a small group of trees located way out at the end of a sandbar. He said when he first moved there, that “island” didn’t exist! Believe it or not, Scotch broom had made it’s way onto the island and was one of the only plants that would grow on the nutrient-limited sand bar. After the broom had been there for some years, soil had begun to be deposited underneath, and eventually other plant seedlings established themselves. Fast forward a quarter of a century later and there is now a full fledged island there, complete with Douglas-fir trees. This is one instance of how invasive plants aren’t always a detriment to their environment. It’s important to remember that every niche of an ecosystem will be filled, either by native or invasive species, and you must carefully consider the effects of that species before deciding to remove them. If Chris had removed the broom simply because “it’s invasive”, that island may never have come about. Similarly, most of the beach grasses are invasive European or Asian grasses, and at first this may seem like a bad thing. Once again though, Chris said that literally thousands of sparrows come to glean the seeds from the grasses, so the local songbird population is actually being sustained by these “evil weeds”. It’s all in perspective!

After enjoying the view for a bit longer, the crew came full circle to the dock and headed back onto the water. It was a very interesting, beautiful, and informative visit to the Clayoquot Island covenant, and TLC is truly grateful that places like this have been saved for eternity.

If you are interested in visiting Clayoquot Island, it is accessible only once each year during the May long weekend, so plan ahead if you want to see this exquisite gem!

You can help TLC continue to protect important ecosystems sustainably across BC by supporting the monitoring and enforcement of our covenants. Please complete our online donation form to show your support today!