Wild Bird Trust of BC is a forward-thinking conservation organisation with strong community partnerships, and a growing and diversifying membership.

HOUSE POSTS by TSLEIL-WAUTUTH CARVER SKOKAYLEM ZACHARY GEORGE AT THE CORRIGAN NATURE HOUSE
(PHOTO BY LIANNE PAYNE)
Our mission is to provide wild birds with sanctuary through ecological protection and restoration, and support communities with education, culture, and reconciliation programs.

The Wild Bird Trust of BC (WBT) is a non-profit society that manages Maplewood Flats in North Vancouver. We acknowledge that Maplewood Flats is situated within the traditional and unceded territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN).

Adjacent to Maplewood Flats is the Tsleil-Waututh Nation community and village site. The mudflats provided food security for the TWN and were managed for fish, shellfish, waterfowl, and other resources. Prior to settler contact and industrialization, the region featured contiguous mudflats across Burrard Inlet. 

This richness of historic and current TWN presence and cultural practices is little known in the broader community.

Photo of Deeks-McBride Sand and Gravel Company
Deeks-McBride Sand and Gravel Company. Photo from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives.
The Indigenous knowledge of wild birds and Coast Salish culture in this public space signals a collaborative path forward where the local ways of knowing are honoured and shared in culturally appropriate ways. In this way, Maplewood Flats’ programs connect Coast Salish culture with the greater Vancouver public and promotes reconciliation and redress.

Wild Bird Trust of BC is working to reflect and acknowledge TWN culture and to collaboratively develop opportunities for TWN members to participate in the stewardship of Maplewood Flats. After 27 years, the Wild Bird Trust of BC (WBT) is emerging as a forward-thinking conservation organisation committed to reconciliation and habitat restoration in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet.

Since Maplewood Flats was designated as a conservation area in 1993, the site has been managed by the Wild Bird Trust (WBT), a non-profit charitable organization. The establishment of Maplewood Flats as a conservation area protected the land from development and preserving it for bird and wildlife use, but may have furthered the exclusion of the Tsleil-Waututh community.

In 2017, the WBT Board of Directors determined the need for the development of a long term management plan to address reconciliation with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and to focus on emerging ecological issues at the site. This will be reflected in the Habitat and Cultural Use Plan for the site, which we are in the process of developing.

Board of Directors

Karen Thomas
President
president@wildbirdtrust.org
Irwin Oostindie
vice President
Maureen Thomas
Treasurer
Les George
Secretary
Caitlin Aleck
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
Taylor Boisjoli
director-at-large
Thomas Flower
director-at-large
Kayah George
director-at-large
Nick George
director-at-large
Crystal Guss
director-at-large
Melissa Hafting
Director-at-Large
Carleen Thomas
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE

Staff

Alejandro Paredes-Borjas
Site & restoration manager

sitemanager@wildbirdtrust.org

Colin Chang
Finance Manager

finance@wildbirdtrust.org

H.M. Caffin
INTERIM COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

communications@wildbirdtrust.org

Stan Johler
Intern, 2025

info@wildbirdtrust.org

Blaine George​
Facility Maintenance

info@wildbirdtrust.org

Lianne Payne
Board clerk

operations@wildbirdtrust.org

Cease Wyss
Ethnobotanist

nursery@wildbirdtrust.org

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Our work is made possible with the support of our members, volunteers, social enterprise revenues, donors and funders – through their time, care, contributions, and grants.