Did you know that stickleback fish that thrive in our Lagoon build homes for themselves? Or that the thousands of oysters in the Bay by the Causeway filter enough ocean water each week to fill several Olympic-sized swimming pools?
Or that the sand flats offshore of Sandy Beach are home to thousands of ghost shrimp that eject sand from their burrows to form miniature sand volcanoes?
All these are inhabitants of Mannion Bay/Deep Bay, known to the Squamish Nation peoples as Kwilákm, meaning “clam bay”.
On Sunday, March 26, from 3 to 5 pm, the Bowen Island Conservancy, the Bowen Island Library, and Bowen Nature Club invite you to explore with us the natural wonders of Kwilákm at an afternoon Open House and Nature Walk at the Bowen Library Annex.
The Conservancy’s team of Len Gilday, Will Husby, Susan Munro and Bob Turner completed the Nex̱wlélex̱wm/Bowen Island Marine Atlas in 2020, and our funding from the Sitka Foundation has made it possible to drill deeper into the ecology of one part of Bowen Island’s shore, to inspire a ‘marine learning lab’ and put a comprehensive website about it together.
We considered various shore areas of Bowen, but none could compare to the combination of diverse habitats and public access available in Kwilákm. As a learning lab, the Bay is close to Snug Cove and the ferry, and within walking distance from Bowen Island Community School and Island Pacific School, so easily available to residents, students and visitors.
The Causeway, Sandy Beach and Pebbly Beach each provide different points of view to the Bay. And because the Causeway, Lagoon and Terminal Creek are all within Crippen Park, the natural transition from stream to ocean is on public display. As well, the Bowen Island Fish and Wildlife Club’s hatchery is just upstream on Terminal Creek, and important community-based restoration and protection of eelgrass beds in the bay is underway.
But not only is Kwilákm Bowen’s best known and most visited bay, it is a biodiversity hotspot and home to wild species from juvenile salmon and anchovy and eelgrass, to oystercatcher, heron, and merganser.
What makes Kwilákm so biologically rich? It’s an estuary — Bowen Island’s largest — a place where the stream waters of Terminal Creek, Bowen’s biggest stream, mix with ocean. Stream sediments produce productive sand flats, and organic debris and nutrients carried by the stream feed life in the ocean.
At the Open House you can join Will Husby to examine tiny creatures with his big screen microscope, or take a virtual dive with underwater explorer Adam Taylor as he encounters octopus and crabs, and even the famous glass sponge reefs.
Myself, Bob Turner, will take you on a movie snorkel tour, starting in Terminal Creek, swimming through the Lagoon, and out into the Bay. Then we’ll present the star of the show, a quick tour through our new Discovering Kwilákm website.
And if you have a bit more time, Bowen Nature Club leaders will head out from the Open House for a short look at the Kwilákm shores.
We hope you join us. The open house is Sunday, March 26, from 3 to 5 pm at the Bowen Library Annex.
Everyone is welcome. Bring your questions! Our special thanks to the Sitka Foundation for their support.
