A woman who used her grandmother’s inheritance to buy a piece of land on Lasqueti Island 45 years ago has helped create a large, connected conservation area in Canada’s Salish Sea. Domena Diesing and her partner, Bruce Fleming-Smith, worked with the BC Parks Foundation to permanently protect 140 acres of mature forest on their property. They kept their 20-acre home and surrounding land. The deal was combined with the purchase of the neighbouring 190.6-acre Jenkins Bay property, bringing the total newly protected land to more than 330 acres. By connecting these two properties with the existing Lasqueti Island Ecological Reserve and Mount Trematon Nature Reserve, conservation groups have created a continuous protected area covering more than 1,000 acres. According to an official announcement published by the BC Parks Foundation on 1 October 2026, this connected area is one of the largest protected natural landscapes in the Salish Sea region.
Investing an inheritance to save a forest
The story of the land’s protection began in 1981, when Diesing moved to Canada’s West Coast from Germany in search of a place to settle. She was upset by the large areas of clear-cut forests she saw along the coastline. She decided to use money inherited from her grandmother to buy a share in a 160-acre property on Lasqueti Island. Having grown up around Germany’s heavily managed forests, Diesing was drawn to the island’s wild and untouched ancient woodland. After meeting Fleming-Smith, the couple built a home among the trees. Over several years, they gradually bought the remaining shares of the property from its other owners. For more than four decades, the couple carefully looked after the land. They tried to limit their impact on the environment and avoided activities such as burning leftover branches and wood from logging. Instead, they focused on keeping the forest and its natural ecosystem intact.
Protecting rare coastal ecosystems
As the years passed, Diesing and Fleming-Smith began looking for legal ways to make sure the land would remain protected after their deaths. The couple joined hands with the BC Parks Foundation and donated part of their property’s value through Canada’s Ecological Gift program. Under the agreement, 140 acres were placed under permanent public protection, while the couple kept their original 20-acre home property. “We were able to actually make a gesture that would pass on the responsibilities of stewardship that we had felt with our ownership over the years, pass that on to the public and to future generations,” Fleming-Smith said in statements documented by the BC Parks Foundation. The protected land, known as the Jenkins Creek property, is part of the Coastal Douglas-fir maritime ecosystem. This is one of the rarest and most threatened natural areas in British Columbia. According to survey information provided by the BC Parks Foundation, the property contains several rare plant communities. These include Douglas-fir and Arbutus, Douglas-fir and Dull Oregon-grape, as well as Grand fir and Three-leaved foamflower. The area also has several seasonal streams that flow into Jenkins Creek. This creek is an important waterway for salmon and runs through the valley before reaching Jenkins Cove.
Honouring a neighbor’s fifteen year vision
The protection of Jenkins Creek happened alongside the long-awaited conservation of the neighbouring 190.6-acre Jenkins Bay property. This completed a conservation effort that had been in the works for more than 15 years. The Jenkins Bay property belonged to the late Alfred “Al” Gaensbauer. He was a local warden for the nearby Lasqueti Island Ecological Reserve and spent decades caring for the area’s natural environment. Around 2011, Gaensbauer began working with conservationists Sheila Harrington and Gordon Scott, president of the Lasqueti Island Nature Conservancy, to find a permanent way to protect his property. Gaensbauer also took part in local environmental projects. He helped restore local fish populations and carried out the first official nest counts of Pigeon Guillemots living on nearby coastal cliffs. Research carried out on his property by ecologist Terry McIntosh also found rare lichens and mosses, including the Rigid Apple Moss, which is listed as threatened at the federal level. After Gaensbauer died, his family continued working with the BC Parks Foundation and local organisers to carry out his original plans for the land. “Al was very fit and spry well into his late eighties,” Scott recalled in statements published by the BC Parks Foundation. “He built his own home, lifting timbers with ropes and pulleys, and developed an orchard and garden, disturbing as little of the surrounding forest as possible.” Harrington said completing the transfer fulfilled a long-standing promise to Gaensbauer and the local community. It also ensures that the combined 330-acre area will remain protected from development and disturbance indefinitely.
A growing network of island reserves
The protection of Jenkins Creek and Jenkins Bay adds to several other conservation projects carried out by environmental groups across Lasqueti Island in recent years. In 2025, the BC Parks Foundation worked with local landowners to protect two separate properties in the southwestern part of the island. Together with the foundation’s purchase of Point Young in 2022, these deals created a protected area covering 568 acres around Squitty Bay Park. Andy Day, chief executive officer of the BC Parks Foundation, said the creation of the new connected reserve covering more than 1,000 acres shows what long-term cooperation between local people can achieve. “This great success is another example of what can happen when people care about the land, work together, and take a long-term view,” Day said in the foundation’s official release. “Al spent decades looking after this land and wanted to see it protected. Domena and Bruce made a significant donation. Local conservationists stuck with this for more than a decade, and our donor community once again stepped up.” With legal protection now in place, the connected area will help preserve important coastal shorelines, old-growth forests, and fish habitats across the Salish Sea for future generations.