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British Columbia

• Conservation Priorities
• How We Conserve
• Projects
• Provincial Summary
• Coast Region
• Intermountain Region
• Peace Parkland Region
• Wetlands to Visit
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Project Location

BC Coastal Located mid-way along the east coast of Vancouver Island near the City of Courtenay.

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• Fact Sheet (PDF, 212 Kb)

Common Wildlife

• Trumpeter Swans
• Pacific Tree Frog
• American Wigeon
• Bald Eagle
• Great Blue Heron
• Cutthroat Trout
• Common Yellowthroat
• Mallard
• Coho Salmon
• Great Horned Owl
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Ring-necked Duck

In This Section

1. Coast Region Projects (Summary)
2. Reifel Migratory Bird Sancutary
3. Rithet’s Bog
4. Cowichan River Estuary
5. Somass River Estuary
6. Forslund-Watson
7. Black Creek Watershed
8. Addington
9. Cluxewe River Estuary
10. Englishman River Estuary
11. Lazo Marsh
12. Nanaimo River Estuary
13. Salmon River Estuary

 

Lazo Marsh

Highlights

The Lazo Marsh project complex consists of a total of 130.7 hectares of marsh and second-growth forest.

The complex includes a Ducks Unlimited wetland enhancement project on lands owned by the Nature Trust of BC, one small land purchase, and several parcels of adjacent forested crown lands. 127 hectares were included in the April 2001 designation of the Lazo Marsh-Northeast Comox Wildlife Management Area (WMA), and the remaining three hectares were designated the Lazo Marsh Wildlife Park.

This WMA is a Pacific Estuary Conservation Program (PECP) project area and is the result of the collaborative efforts of the program partners and the parks departments of regional and municipal governments to provide habitat security in the form of WMA’s and to set aside a significant greenspace for the community.

Background

Lazo Marsh is a shallow wetland basin of cattail and yellow flag iris. Mallards, Wigeon, Wood Duck, and Canada geese are common nesting waterfowl species, and in winter, this is a favoured night roost for Trumpeter Swans wintering in the Courtenay area. Prior to 1960, the basin was a productive potato farm, but beavers dammed the drainage ditches, and by the late 1970’s, when the Nature Trust of BC purchased the parcel, it had been managed as a private bird sanctuary for a few years. The wetland is leased to the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection (WLAP). Under a conservation agreement with these partners, Ducks Unlimited Canada helps manage water levels and retain openings in the dense vegetation. Over 140 bird species, salmonids and a variety of forest wildlife species have been recorded in this project complex.

Since the early 1990’s PECP partners have cost-shared staff to manage land acquisitions, and to work with the BC MWLAP to consolidate them with adjacent crown lands into more cohesive, larger areas of habitat. In the Lazo Marsh area, Ducks Unlimited and the PECP partners identified a small farm parcel and the nearby forested crown lands as critical additions to complement the wetland holding. The Cape Lazo peninsula soils characteristically consist of sand and gravel layers overlying small aquifers. One small spring (Hilton Springs) originates in the crown land, drains through the adjacent farm and affects the water levels in the marsh. The PECP in partnership with the Comox-Strathcona Regional District purchased the small farm parcel in 1993 for a park. With the consent of local government agencies, the 76 hectares of crown forest lands were incorporated into the WMA in April 2001.

Project Partners

• The Nature Trust of British Columbia
• Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service)
• BC Ministry of Water, Land & Air Protection (MWLAP)
• BC Habitat Conservation Trust Fund
• Ducks Unlimited Canada
• Comox-Strathcona Regional District
• The Town of Comox