Conservation and Deer | Galiano Conservancy

Deer Neighbours

Living Alongside Deer

The Southern Gulf Islands are home to populations of native Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) and, in some cases, introduced fallow deer (Dama dama). Due to the near-extirpation of native predator populations – including wolves, cougars, and bears – from the islands, and decreasing human hunting pressure over the past century, local deer populations have expanded to historically unprecedented levels. The issue of hyper-abundant island deer populations has been recognized by researchers, local governments, and community organizations. There is broad consensus in the scientific literature that unchecked populations of herbivores have negative cascading impacts on their ecosystems, leading to measurable declines in habitat quality, biodiversity, sensitive species, and the health of herbivore populations themselves. This effect is even more pronounced on islands, such as Galiano.

Island Deer

Benefits and Impacts

Native deer populations also provide important ecosystem services, as well as social, cultural, and spiritual benefits – in other words, we islanders love deer! Indigenous people have traditionally hunted deer on Galiano and other Gulf Islands for thousands of years, and they remain important cultural and ceremonial foods. Venison represents a unique local source of high-quality protein for island communities, which currently import the vast majority of their food requirements. At current population densities, however, the deer population of Galiano Island will continue to have negative impacts on ecosystems.

What the GCA is Doing

Here’s how we are addressing hyper-abundant island deer populations.

Research & Monitoring

We’ve established permanent fenced and unfenced monitoring plots to determine deer impacts across different ecosystem types.

Indigenous Hunting

We open the Millard Learning Centre to coordinated hunting by Indigenous people during the fall and winter months.

Fencing

We fence gardens and restoration sites to allow them to develop free of herbivory.

Cage Planting

We establish individual trees and shrubs in cages to give them the best possible chance at survival.

Knowledge-Sharing

We compare notes and share information with regional researchers and practitioners.

Public Education

We work to educate the Galiano Island community about the island deer population.

Working Together

Feed the People Workshop

Starting in 2019, the GCA has partnered with the Access to Media Education Society (AMES) and the Galiano Community Food Program to host the annual Feed the People workshop. Each year, participants in this unique hands-on learning experience work together to butcher and preserve a harvest of island deer with guidance from esteemed Penelakut instructors Karen & Richard Charlie, Stephen Sylvester, and Baldie & Nicole Edwards. The workshop has been a huge success, and is typically offered once annually between September and December.

Learn More and Attend

Indigenous Hunting

Traditional Harvesting

Since 2020, the GCA has adopted a policy to promote and facilitate Indigenous harvest of plant and wildlife resources at the Millard Learning Centre. Hunting activities can occur during the fall and winter months, and must be coordinated ahead of time with GCA staff to ensure adequate time to close the Millard Learning Centre to the public and provide notice to community members and neighbours. Please get in touch to learn more and plan a hunt.

View the Policy Plan a Hunt

Native and Edible Plant Nursery

Deer-Resistant Species

Island deer will eat *almost* anything. Here are some native plants that we consider to be reasonably deer resistant in most circumstances.

Check out our Inventory

Baldhip Rose

Rosa gymnocarpa

Rosa gymnocarpa

Hul’qumi’num Name: qel’qulhp
Description: Deciduous shrub grows up to 1.5m tall. Soft prickles densely cover the stem. Fragrant five-petal pink flowers are followed by “bald” red hips.
Habitat: Dry to moist soil. Hightly drought tolerant in partial shade.
Harvest: Fragrant pink flowers bloom May to mid July. Harvest the hips in the fall, when bright orange or red. Hips are sweeter after a frost.
Edibility: Pear-shaped hips are great in tea.
Fun Fact: One hip contains as much vitamin C as an orange. Hummingbirds and butterflies love the flowers.

Blackcap Raspberry

Rubus leucodermis

Rubus leucodermis

Hul’qumi’num Name: tsulqama’
Description: Deciduous shrub growing up to 2m tall. Leaves have three sharp-toothed leaflets with white undersides and hooked prickles covering bluish-white stems.
Habitat: Grows mainly in open forests, fields and disturbed sites. Prefer well-drained, drier areas.
Harvest: Flowers bloom May-June with fruit ripening July-August
Edibility: Delicious berries! The leaves can also be harvested for tea and the young shoots can be peeled, eaten raw, or cooked.
Fun Fact: The berries are highly pigmented and can be used for purple dyes.

Blue Wildrye

Elymus glaucus

Description: Perennial, upright tufted grass with tall stems and terminal spikes. Stems are often covered with a waxy coating or “bloom” that gives them an attractive blue-green appearance.
Habitat: Dry slopes, meadows, rock outcrops, forest edges, and open forests.
Pair with: Roemer’s fescue, California oatgrass, Douglas-fir, Garry Oak, snowberry.
Fun Fact: Blue wildrye is a highly adaptable native grass that tolerates disturbance and drought. It provides important cover, forage, and habitat for native birds, mammals, butterflies, and insects.

Blue-eyed Grass

Sisyrinchium idahoense

Sisyrinchium idahoense

Description: Showy tufted perennial from 10-40 cm tall. Stems are usually flattened and look like miniature irises. Flowers are blue to purple with yellow centers.
Habitat: Moist to wet grassy meadows, marshes, fields, and roadside ditches.
Pair with: Sedges, shooting stars, and camas.
Fun Fact: This beautiful plant is an iris rather than a grass, but the flowers do look like blue eyes opening early in the morning. The variety ‘Macounii’ is a rare local variant here in the Southern Gulf Islands.

Brittle Pricklypear

Opuntia fragilis

Opuntia fragilis

Hul’qumi’num Name: thuthuhw
Description: Low, mat-forming succulent perennial up to 15m tall. Has large spines with smaller yellowish bristles. Tissue paper-like flowers are yellow, showy, and large.
Habitat: Dry, open sites on sandy or gravelly soils and rock outcrops.
Pair with: Stonecrop and Oregon sunshine

Broad-leaved Stonecrop

Sedum spathulifolium

Sedum spathulifolium

Description: Perennial, succulent herb to 20cm tall with spoon-shaped, sage-green to purple, chubby leaves. Flowers are bright yellow in pointed clusters atop leafy stems.
Habitat: Rocky outcrops, cliffs, coastal bluffs, and forest openings.
Pair with: Oregon sunshine, brittle pricklypear, sea Blush, and nodding onion.

California Oatgrass

Danthonia californica

Description: Perennial, tufted bunchgrass from fibrous roots, with a tussled appearance. This species is a slow-to-establish, but long-lived native bunchgrass of open ecosystems.
Habitat: Meadows, rock outcrops, shorelines, and open woodlands.
Pair with: Roemer’s fescue, crown brodeia, fool’s onion, great camas, death camas.
Fun Fact: Bunchgrasses are an important component of Garry Oak meadows, and provide cover, forage, and structure for a variety of native birds, mammals, butterflies, and insects.

Canada Goldenrod

Solidago lepida

Solidago lepida

Description: Perennial herb up to 150 cm tall, spreading by underground rhizomes. Bright yellowflowers appear in mid to late summer, attracting many pollinators.
Habitat: Open sites with full sun: roadsides, meadows, coastal bluffs, forest edges.
Pair with: Yarrow, coastal gumweed, blue-eyed grass, native bunchgrasses.
Fun Fact: Canada goldenrod is a late-flowering native species, providing valuable resources for pollinators during the driest months of the year. It is widespread across Canada and western North America, but uncommon on Galiano Island.

Coastal Gumweed

Grindelia integrifolia

Grindelia integrifolia

Description: Perennial herb with fuzzy stems. Toothed leaves are resin-dotted. Bright yellow flowers are subtended by bracts that are covered in a white, sticky latex or ‘gum’.
Habitat: Beaches, rocky shores, salt marches, coastal bluffs, and roadsides.
Harvest: Flowers bloom in late summer, and can be harvested at any time.
Use: The flowers are anti-spasmodic and are an excellent expectorant.
Fun Fact: The resin has a delicious spicy-sweet smell, like incense. Pairs well with Yarrow for a colorful late-season display.

Coastal Sagewort

Artemisia suksdorfii

Artemisia suksdorfii

Description: Fragrant perennial herb branching from the ground, with leaves that are white and woolly on the underside.
Habitat: Moist, sandy sites with sunlight, usually near the ocean.
Harvest: Mature leaves and seeds.
Edibility: Leaves can be used in a delicious digestive tea, which has been known to induce powerful dreams.
Fun Fact: This genus is considered medicinal sacred across the world, used as a smudge, and associated with women’s fertility cycles.

Cooley’s Hedge-nettle

Stachys chamissonis var. cooleyae

Stachys chamissonis var. cooleyae

Description: Aromatic perennial herb growing up to 150 cm from creeping rhizomes. Pink flowers appear in midsummer.
Habitat: Swamps, marshes, wet meadows, and disturbed areas.
Pair with: Western redcedar, willows, hardhack, slough sedge, salmonberry, red alder.
Fun Fact: Unlike stinging nettles, hedge-nettles are soft and do not sting; instead, they produce attractive flowers and a musky odour. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds.

Death Camas

Toxicoscordion venenosum

Toxicoscordion venenosum

Description: Perennial form oval bulbs covered with blackish scales. Stem up to 60cm tall, Leaves are grass-like. Flowers are spectacular white clusters in spring.
Habitat: Open forests and forest edges, dry meadows, and rocky slopes.
Pairs with: Farewell-to-spring, sea blush, chocolate lily, and spring gold.
Fun Fact: The bulbs and leaves are deadly poisonous – so why plant this at all? It’s beautiful, and an important species for pollinators. Only plant death camas if you do not intend to harvest camas for food in the area.

Douglas-fir

Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. menziesii

Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. menziesii

Hul’qumi’num Name: ts’sey’
Description: Coniferous tree with thick ridged bark. Needles are flat and spirally arranged. Cones have papery scales with 3-forked bracts extending from each scale.
Habitat: This is the dominant tree in our coastal forests. It grows on all but the wettest soils.
Harvest: Green tips from March-June
Edibility: Young fir tips are high in vitamin C and can be collected in spring and eaten raw or dried for tea.
Fun Fact: The tallest Douglas-firs today are around 90m tall. It is believed that historically they would reach 120m and live up to 1300 years.

Dull Oregon Grape

Berberis nervosa

Berberis nervosa

Hul’qumi’num Name: sunii’ulhp
Description: Low-growing evergreen shrub, up to 60cm tall. Leaves are shiny and leathery, often turning a beautiful red or gold in fall. Flowers are yellow, followed by blue berries.
Habitat: Dry to moist forests understories.
Harvest: Ripe blue berries are harvestable in early to mid summer.
Edibility: Berries are tart but tasty, best mixed with sweeter berries.
Fun Fact: The berries have natural pectin, making them a great addition to jams an jellies. The rhizomes are yellow due to an alkaloid called Berberin, which is used in herbal medicine.

Evergreen Huckleberry

Vaccinium ovatum

Vaccinium ovatum

Hul’qumi’num Name: ayum sqw’iil’muhw
Description: Evergreen shrub with waxy, deep green leaves. Grows up to 4m height and 2m across when mature. Small, white urn-shaped flowers are followed by blue berries.
Habitat: Coniferous forests and coastal bluffs
Harvest: Small blackish blue berries in late summer.
Edibility: Ripe berries are tasty raw or cooked.
Fun Fact: This highly versatile shrub makes a beautiful low screen, and is deer-resistant. In spring, its small leaves have red an copper tones.

Grand Fir

Abies grandis

Abies grandis

Hul’qumi’num Name: t’a’hw
Description: Coniferous tree growing up to 80m tall. Young bark is mottled and smooth with resin blisters and matures to a scaly, grayish-brown. Cones sit erect from branches.
Habitat: Somewhat shade-tolerant and prefers drier climates but can be found in dry-wet habitats
Harvest: New tips in spring.
Edibility: Young tips are high in vitamin C and can be collected and eaten raw or dried for tea.
Fun Fact: Termed a ‘rainshadow’ species for its specific range. It can be distinguished from other firs by its flat, horizontal needles.

Hairy Honeysuckle

Lonicera hispidula

Lonicera hispidula

Description: Vining perennial, crawling and branching up to 6m. Leaves are oval and leathery. Flowers are pinkish-purple, trumpet-shaped, and whorl above the disk leaf.
Habitat: Dry coniferous forests and thickets.
Pairs with: Douglas-fir, arbutus, oceanspray,salal, and trailing blackberry.
Fun Fact: Hummingbirds enjoy the sweet nectar at the base of these profuse flowers. These drought-tolerant vines are very hardy and can form dense thickets to cover fences, shrubs, and tree trunks.

Lady Fern

Athyrium filix-femina

Hul’qumi’num Name: lə́q’ləq’ʔey’
Description: Perennial, deciduous , upright fern. Grows up to 2m tall. Large feathery fronds taper at both ends to create a diamond-like shape.
Habitat: Moist to wet forests, meadows and streambanks.
Harvest: Pick fiddleheads in early spring when young (<4″ tall). Pick only a few fiddleheads per plant so it may continue to grow.
Edibility: Fiddleheads can be scrubbed of the brown-papery scales and must be cooked thoroughly before eating.
Fun Fact: Easy to grow and maintain. Quite sun tolerant compared to other ferns.

Nodding Onion

Allium cernuum

Allium cernuum

Hul’qumi’num Name: q’wuxwi’uc
Description: Perennial herb from clustered bulbs. Pale purple nodding flowers appear in summer. Unmistakable aroma of onion emanates from hollow, tube-like leaves and bulbs.
Habitat: Dry open woods, meadows, rock outcrops, and coastal bluffs.
Edibility: The strap-like leaves can be eaten like chives, and the bulbs are delicious roasted. Flowers are spicy.
Fun Fact: These plants can self-seed and spread in bunches when happy. Good for a sunny, hot area.

Nootka Rose

Rosa nutkana

Rosa nutkana

Hul’qumi’num Name: qel’qulhp
Description: Thicket-forming deciduous shrub up to 3m tall, spreading by rhizomes. Erect, prickly stems give rise to fragrant, pink five-petaled flowers, followed by juicy hips.
Habitat: Favours rich, moist soils. Found in forest edges, streambanks, clearings, fields, shorelines, and thickets.
Harvest: Petals in spring. Hips in late summer to early fall.
Edibility: Petals make a fragrant tea. Hips are high in Vitamin C and used in teas, jams, and jellies.
Fun Fact: The leaves and petals, when infused in vinegar, make an astringent spray to treat sunburns.

Pacific Rush

Juncus effusus ssp. pacificus

Description: Tufted perennial, grows up to 1.3m tall. Leafless, small yellowish-green or brown flowers arise in clusters directly from stem.
Habitat: Prefers sunny, moist to wet sites, such as pastures and wetland margins.
Pair with: Red alder, red-osier dogwood, salmonberry, and sedges.
Fun Fact: Helpful for stabilizing soil along wet sites. The native subspecies looks very similar to several introduced subspecies.

Pearly Everlasting

Anaphalis margaritaceae

Anaphalis margaritaceae

Description: Perennial herb with white woolly stems and leaves, 20 – 100cm tall. Papery white flowers with bright yellow centers appear in the late summer.
Habitat: Rocky slopes, open forests, roadsides, and disturbed areas.
Pair with: Trailing blackberry, yarrow, coastal gumweed, and oceanspray.
Fun Fact: This beautiful late-season wildflower grows well on harsh soils and disturbed sites, is loved by pollinators, and makes a lovely dried bouquet. The flowers can be harvested and used in a spicy medicinal tea for respiratory ailments.

Roemer’s Fescue

Festuca roemeri

Description: Perennial bunchgrass, grows up to 0.8m tall. Leaves have a waxy coating and grow around the base in dense tufts. Stem color ranges from light green to darkish purple.
Habitat: Prefers sunny sites such as meadows, open forests, and rocky slopes.
Pair with: Camas, sea blush, Garry oak, farewell-to-spring, tomcat clover, and western fescue.
Fun Fact: Deer resistant, drought tolerant and non-aggressive. Pairs well with other plants.

Salal

Gaultheria shallon

Gaultheria shallon

Hul’qumi’num Name: t’eqe’
Description: Evergreen shrub with large, waxy leaves, up to 1.5m tall. Fuzzy white-pink bell-shaped flowers are followed by dark blue berries.
Habitat: Widespread, usually in coniferous forests on acidic soils.
Harvest: Clusters of dark blue berries ripen in mid-to-late summer.
Edibility: Berries are delicious raw, dried, baked, or in jams and jellies.
Fun Fact: The stems and leaves are used in floral arrangements. Among our most productive, delicious, and underappreciated native plants and foods.

Slough Sedge

Carex obnupta

Hul’qumi’num Name: tl’utl’
Description: Perennial, densely-tufted herb from long creeping rhizomes to 150 cm. Male flower spikes are borne above female spikes in a terminal inflorescence.
Habitat: Swamps, marshes, riverbanks, wet meadows, and depressions.
Pair with: Western redcedar, willows, hardhack, small-headed bulrush, salmonberry.
Fun Fact: Slough sedge is the most common sedge on Galiano Island, and is found in areas that are seasonally wet. It is a traditional basketry plant, as well as an important component of local wetland ecosystems.

Small-headed Bulrush

Scirpus microcarpus

Hul’qumi’num Name: psháyʔ
Description: Perennial, densely-tufted herb from long creeping rhizomes to 150 cm. The inflorescence is a panicle of clustered spikelets.
Habitat: Swamps, marshes, riverbanks, wet meadows, and depressions.
Pair with: Western redcedar, willows, hardhack, slough sedge, salmonberry.
Fun Fact: Small-headed bulrush is common in wetland ecosystems throughout North America. This species can spread rapidly and is good for controlling erosion and stabilizing soils on wet sites.

Stinging Nettle

Urtica dioica

Urtica dioica

Hul’qumi’num Name: tth’uxtth’ux
Description: Herbaceous perennial up to 200 cm, spreading by underground rhizomes. Leaves and stems are covered with hollow hairs (trichomes) which delvier a powerful sting.
Habitat: Moist to mesic thickets, streambanks, deciduous woodlands, and open sites.
Harvest: Stem tips, leaves, seeds, and rhizomes. Harvest stems and leaves prior to flowering and seeding.
Edibility: Stems and leaves are delicious in a variety of dishes, and can be eaten raw or cooked after processing.
Fun Fact: This highly nutritious and versatile herb is also an important larval food source for several native butterflies.

Sword Fern

Polystichum munitum

Description: Large, upright fern, growing up to 1.5m tall. Erect leaves with sharp-toothed leaflets. Fronds are once-pinnate and brown-fuzzy.
Habitat: Prefers moist to wet forests but can tolerate sunnier and drier sites.
Pair with: Western redcedar, lady fern, salal, false lily-of-the-valley, thimbleberry.
Fun Fact: Easy to grow and unlikely to be eaten by animals other than the mountain beaver. Deer will nibble on the tips. Individual pinnae have a small ‘hilt’ -hence the common name ‘sword fern’.

Trailing Blackberry

Rubus ursinus

Rubus ursinus

Hul’qumi’num Name: sqw’iil’muhw
Description: Deciduous, trailing vines with purple stems, prickles, white flowers, and tasty berries.
Habitat: Trailing blackberry is often found in fairly open to dense woods, clear-cuts, fire scars, and logged areas.
Harvest: Harvest leaves throughout the season, and fruit in the late summer when juicy, plump and black.
Edibility: Leaves make an astringent, mineral- rich tea. Berries are delicious raw.
Fun Fact: Unlike the invasive Himalayan blackberry, with leaves that are silver on the underside, sqw’iil’muhw leaves are green underneath.

Twinflower

Linnaea borealis

Linnaea borealis

Description: Trailing, slender, semi-woody perennial evergreen groundcover, with nodding, pink trumpet-like flowers that bloom in pairs.
Habitat: Coniferous forests, forest edges, roadsides, and rocky slopes.
Pair with: Oregon grape, vanilla Leaf, salal, alumroot, and sword fern.
Fun Fact: This flower has a subtle, fragrant perfume and makes a lovelygroundcover. It was the favorite flower of Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish ‘father of taxonomy’ for whom it is named.

Vanilla Leaf

Achlys triphylla

Achyls triphylla

Description: Perennial herb that spreads by thin rhizomes. Single leaves are fan shaped and three-lobed, followed by delicate white flower spikes.
Habitat: Coniferous forests, forest edges, roadsides, and shady areas.
Pair with: Oregon grape, twinflower, redwood sorrel, fringecups, and sword fern.
Fun Fact: When cut and dried, the leaves emit a powerful fragrance of vanilla. They can be bundled and used to repel insects and perfume interior or exterior environments.

Western fescue

Festuca occidentalis

Description: Perennial, grows up to 1m tall. Spikelets have 3-5 flowers and droop at the top. Soft, hair-like leaves grow around the base in large tufts.
Habitat: Prefers sunny sites such as open forests, meadows, and rocky slopes.
Pair with: Camas, sea blush, Garry oak, farewell-to-spring, tomcat clover, and yerba buena.
Fun Fact: Deer resistant. Festuca is an ancient term for ‘a straw’ or ‘a mere nothing’.

Western Hemlock

Tsuga heterophylla

Tsuga heterophylla

Hul’qumi’num Name: thq’iinlhp
Description: Coniferous tree growing up to 60m tall. Bark is rough, furrowed and reddish-brown. Needles are blunt and vary in length, producing flat sprays. Recognizable by its drooping leader.
Habitat: Can grow in dry-wet sites and is very shade tolerant. Often found growing on decaying wood or ‘nurse logs’.
Pair with: Douglas-fir, evergreen huckleberry, salal, sword fern, false lily-of-the-valley, and western redcedar.
Fun Fact: A climax species, the tallest known hemlock is over 73m tall and the oldest are around 1200 years old.

Western Redcedar

Thuja plicata

Thuja plicata

Hul’qumi’num Name: xpey’
Description: Coniferous tree growing up to 60m tall. Bark is fibrous and reddish-brown. Branches droop and curve upward, leaves are green and scale-like. Produces small (~1cm in length) egg-shaped cones.
Habitat: Prefers wet areas and shaded forests but can be found in drier sites.
Pair with: Douglas-fir, evergreen huckleberry, salal, false lily-of-the-valley, Oregon grape, and sword fern.
Fun Fact: Also known as ‘Giant Arborvitae’, which translates to ‘tree of life’. Some of the oldest known western redcedars are around 1400 years old. An important cultural keystone species.

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

Achilea millefolium

Hul’qumi’num Name: t’uliqw’ulhp
Description: Herbaceous perennial with soft, finely dissected, aromatic foliage. White flowers emerge in late summer.
Habitat: Highly adaptable – open sites from wet to dry.
Harvest: Young leaves and flowers.
Edibility: The young leaves can be added to salad, the flowers and leaves to tea.
Fun Fact: The leaves can be applied to cuts to stop bleeding. Other medicinal uses are many and varied, dating back thousands of years.

Yerba Buena

Clinopodium douglasii

Clinopodium douglasii

Description: Aromatic, trailing, evergreen, perennial herb with egg-shaped leaves and small white flowers.
Habitat: Open, well-drained forests, grassyclearings, and rocky slopes.
Harvest: Mature aromatic leaves in summer.
Edibility: The leaves are wonderful in tea.
Fun Fact: Can be grown indoors as a potted plant. ‘Yerba buena’ means ‘good herb’ in Spanish, and was the original name of San Francisco in the 1800s.