Not many people get to visit Mitlenatch Island, and the seabirds like it that way. This important nesting site rests in the middle of the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island. Mitlenatch means “calm waters all around” in the Coast Salish language. But visitors might wonder if they were joking. The wind often kicks up too much for folks to land on this island, which is only accessible by boat.
When I visited, my group got lucky and arrived on an idyllic spring day. Mitlenatch is in a rain shadow, so it only gets about 30 inches of rain annually — which is nothing in coastal British Columbia. We stopped off at Mitlenatch as part of a five-day cruise via posh catamaran with the Victoria-based company Maple Leaf Adventures. If you’re interested in birds or plants, it’s a fascinating trip to take.
How to reach Mitlenatch Island
Visiting Mitlenatch on a calm spring day was delightful. After walking on the island, we circumnavigated it by boat to watch sea lions and harbor seals lounging on rocks. Several tour groups and water taxis offer service from nearby Cortes Island or Vancouver Island. Depending on the weather and the condition of your muscles, it’s also possible to kayak to Mitlenatch.
Cactus and wildflowers
Greg Shea, our boat’s naturalist, told us we were looking for cactus on Mitlenatch. What?! I’d never heard of cactus growing in British Columbia. But sure enough, we found prickly pears, thanks to the rain shadow.
Spring is also the time to see wildflowers blooming. Local species include purple camas, pink pea flowers, yellow monkey flowers, and chocolate lilies. While most of the surrounding islands have tall trees, Mitlenatch is mostly treeless due to the rain shadow and “shallow dry soils.” This lower flora profile makes for gorgeous wildflowers.
Mitlenatch’s seabirds
Mitlenatch is a protected area for nesting birds. Over a thousand pairs of glaucous-winged gulls nest here, arriving in April to pick out their breeding territory. Pelagic cormorants nest on the island’s steep cliff faces and narrow ledges. Double-crested cormorants, northwestern crows, pigeon guillemots, and black oystercatchers also rely on the island for safe nesting. My group took turns in a blind, where we watched a colony of gulls on a rock outcropping.
Volunteer projects
The only people allowed to stay on Mitlenatch are volunteers with the Mitlenatch Island Stewardship Team (MIST). I met Heidi Tonn and Rodney Mitchell, who have volunteered for a week every summer for 30 years. The couple had five students with them during my visit.
“We do a whole bunch of different citizen science during our weeks here,” Tonn said. Volunteer stays coincide with the four-month-long seabird breeding season. “During that period of time, we’re here just to keep a presence, to keep it protected,” Tonn added. Volunteer activities include bird counts, beached bird studies, intertidal surveys, plant phenology, and removing invasive species.
