Snail Nature Reserve

This is the first property protected by the Conservancy!

While it’s a small area, the well-established second-growth forest and moist soil provide important habitat for the endangered Oregon Forestsnail. It also flows to Fishtrap Creek. This is a vital watershed for salmonids and endangered fish species and drains south through farmland in both Canada and the United States, before entering the Pacific Ocean near Bellingham.

The Snail Nature Reserve’s intact forest habitat supports our other large native snail, the Pacific sideband. Black-tailed deer, coyotes, banana slugs, and songbirds also use the property. It may also be the home of other at-risk species such as Mountain Beaver and Red-legged Frogs.

The reserve’s ravines also connect with the large wetland complex below in the City of Abbotsford’s Simpson Park. The Snail Reserve is an important buffer zone between the wetland and the wildlife that live in the parkland to the south and the neighbouring industrial lands to the north.

Fraser Valley at foggy sunrise, British Columbia, Canada

0

the year the property was donated

0

acres protected in perpetuity

0

acres of contiguous protected habitat (when combined with the adjacent protected lands)

0

number of salmon species that depend on Fishtrap Creek to reproduce

0

number of at-risk fish species (Nooksack Dace and Salish Sucker) that rely on a healthy Fishtrap Creek to survive

Snail Nature Reserve Timeline

Historically this area has experienced disturbance. Old logging roads in the neighbourhood indicate the area was logged in the early to mid 1900s. Areas to the south would have been vast wetlands pre-settlement. More recently the northern perimeter of the property was graded and paved, and used as a storage area by a concrete facility.

Since acquiring the property in 2007, this important headwater habitat is now protected from future land use that would threaten its ecosystem.

Future plans for the site involve acquiring funding to complete required restoration work. This includes debris clean up, invasive plant control, native plantings, and monitoring of the property’s at-risk species.