What The Land Used To Be Like

 Garry Oak Woodlands are an old ecosystem that existed before British Columbia was settled. It was made up of big Garry Oak trees, and meadows of wildflowers under them. It provided excellent habitat for hundreds of species of birds, mammals, pollinators, amphibians and people.


 
Imagine an open landscape, sunlight filtered through leaves of ancient trees to colourful wildflowers waving in a gentle breeze. That's what parts of the Fraser Valley used to be like.
 
The first premier of British Columbia, James Douglas, called Garry Oak Woodlands “a perfect ‘Eden’ in the midst of the dreary wilderness of the North”
 
 Not only are Garry Oak Ecosystems a beautiful, calming, quiet place to relax (an increasingly rare but essential asset) they are also home to crucial species, some endangered.
 
Garry oak and associated ecosystems combined are home to more plant species than any other terrestrial ecosystem in coastal British Columbia. Many of these species occur nowhere else in Canada. These habitats also support 104 species of birds, 7 amphibians, 7 reptiles and 33 mammal species. Eight hundred insect and mite species are directly associated with Garry oak trees.

Old British Columbia wasnt all rainforests and conifers, these Garry Oak Woodlands were a common and crucial landscape in our province.

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