The 2nd Annual MaMu Day is happening on Sunday July 12th, 2026 in the unprotected Central Walbran Valley. Held with gratitude on Pacheedaht Nation Territory. 

Come witness and celebrate the threatened seabird the Marbled Murrelet (MaMu). This event is a chance to hear and possibly observe the birds in the early morning as they fly from the ocean to feed their young high in their nesting grounds in the trees of the Old Growth Forest.

The MaMu is one of Canadas most endangered birds, its extraordinary life joins the ocean and the forest together, its continued survival relies on these remaining ancient forests and the efforts to protect them. This is an educational event to hopefully inspire action and imagination to work towards the birds protection.

 This location and the date have been chosen as it is the height of nesting season. In 2024 there were 438 calls detected on an Automated Recording Unit (ARU) on that single day.

MaMu Day Schedule.

Early morning alert; The best time for observing starts at predawn, 4.00am until 6.30am.

Saturday July 11th.

Travel to the Central Walbran. Ride sharing and convoying will be available. 

Noon. Camping options and preparing event area.

6pm. Opening circle. Talks by Dr Royann Petrell and the Wilderness Committees Toby Neame.

Camping; there is a choice to camp closer to the observing spots or at the camp sites near to the Walbran Bridge and then drive in on the morning. The latter option requires driving to the observation spot at 3.30am to be ready to start listening at 4.00am.

Sunday July 12th, MaMu Day.

3.30-4.00am. Meet in the observing spots. Bring a chair, blankets, dress warm, bug spray, hot drinks. Use cell phones or other devices to record and photograph the birds as it is possible to see MaMu later in the morning when the light improves.

6.30am Observing ends……

Notes;

Please this is a no social media event as we will be in a wilderness area and we do not have the capability to deal with a large gathering. If you are inspired bring your MaMu themed art to the forest on July 11th-12th and share your creativity. The Central Walbran has extensive trails, camp sites, outhouses and a visitor centre maintained by the Friends of Carmanah Walbran since 2012. Be advised this is a remote wilderness area, with rough unmaintained roads and without cell service. The location may change depending on conditions, updates will be posted on the group website. Please contact FoCW if you require more info and to pre-register; friendsofcarmanahwalbran@gmail.com

MARBLED MURRELET

(Brachyramphus marmoratus) 

The endangered seabird the Marbled Murrelets is an iconic species for the West Coast and the Walbran Valley in particular. Biologist Dr Alan Burger’s work there in the early 1990s located the first MaMu ‘nest’ in Canada and identified the valley as a hotspot for the nesting birds population. 

Recent studies there using Automatic Recording Units (ARU) have again confirmed the Central and Upper Walbran as having high numbers of Murrelets, with one device recording 438 calls on a single day, July 12th 2024. 

To support the continuing legal and scientific efforts that are working for the birds protection this date has evolved into MaMu Day.The first event was held in the Central Walbran in 2025 and was supported by over 20 attendees. 

As migratory birds nests are protected by Canadian federal law. A recent court case in Vancouver has challenged the narrow definition of the term “nest” in regards to protecting habitat. The case argues that the nests of these birds are in fact the whole tree and by association must include the forest the surrounds it. Old Growth Forests and the MaMu’s survival are the same.

MaMu are  listed as Threatened (2017) by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada and in Schedule 1 of the Species At Risk Act. This is primarily due to loss of nesting habitat caused by extensive logging. The fragmentation of remaining forests also has a negative impact creating ‘hard edges’ that allow easier predation and disturbance on potential nest sites. 

The Walbran/Kaxi:ks is a refuguim and supports one of the highest densities of nesting Murrelets known in British Columbia and anywhere south of Alaska. 

Description:

• A diving sea bird, a member of the Auk family.
• Breeding adult is dark above, heavily mottled/marbled below, 25cm(10”) in length. 
• Call is a series of loud high “keer” notes, a “seabird call in the forest”.
• Flies with rapid shallow wing beats up to speeds of 120 km/h.  

The Marbled Murrelet is Old Growth Forest dependent, requiring the shelter of contiguous forest stands with trees of 200+ years with large mossy branches. A single pale greenish egg is laid in these nesting grounds and raised between mid-May and August. Once fledged the young birds first flight must make it to the ocean waters and its waiting parents. 

The first MaMu nest in Canada was found in the Walbran Valley in 1990. Further studies have  confirmed the valley as a hotspot for the nesting birds population. In Alaska populations have ‘declined about 70% in the past twenty five years….with similar declines’ in BC.’ In 2013 there was an estimated total number of only ‘358,000-418,000′ birds. (Ruth, 2013)

Since 2007 funding to universities for independent research on Marbled Murrelets has ceased with very little research currently focused on their nesting habitat. Under the current BC Government responsibility for managing Marbled Murrelet habitat is given almost entirely to the forest companies. (Burger & Chatwin, 2014, various papers)

There was a great turnout and an amazing weekend of fungi for all those who had braved the roads and rainy weather forecasts. The fungi section of our INat project the Unprotected Central Walbran was generously added too.

Thanks to everybody who came it is always a joy to spend time with myco minded people. Special thanks to James for the photos and Juliet and Alora for their wisdom. Until next time…….

The FoCW are hosting a Mycoblitz, a mushroom and fungi count, in the Central Walbran on October 11-12th 2025.

The Event Schedule.

The Central Walbran has camping spots, trails and outhouses. Plan to be self sufficient with camping and food.
This is a remote wilderness area with rough roads, falling hazards, no cell coverage and the potential, in mid October, for wet and cold weather. With this in mind please no children under the age of 12.
Also as this is a remote wilderness area which limits our ability to deal with numbers, we ask that this event not be posted on social media.

The recent blockades in the Upper Walbran have made difficult decisions for the FoCW. But showing respect and keeping the dialogue, or the channels for dialogue open with the Nation is important in regards to the ratification of the 1500 hectare Central Walbran deferral area, the 500 hectare Key Biodiversity Area and our  work there, the trails and the different flora, fungi and fauna surveys. This is a copy of a letter we recently sent to Chief Councillor Arliss Jones in response to a September 10th press release from the Band Council.

September 14th 2025

To Chief Councillor Arliss Daniels,

I am writing on behalf of the Friends of Carmanah Walbran (FoCW), in response to your press release on September 10th 2025. FoCW reiterates that we do our work within Pacheedaht Nation Territory and that we recognize and respect your Inherent Rights and authority “over all activities within [your] Traditional Territory”. It is our goal to be guided by this in the work we do in and around the valley. 

FoCW is a volunteer, non profit group that has worked in the Central Walbran, Pacheedaht Nation Territory, since 2012. We have built and maintained trails, signage and outhouses that enable people to visit this special place. This work helps to mitigate the impacts of these visits on the forest ecosystem. Our work there has also included mapping the flora and fauna and our peer reviewed list now contains over seven hundred species.

We also acknowledge and express gratitude for the Council’s “draft conservation network of areas reserved from harvesting in its Traditional Territory, including within the Walbran Valley”.

Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones has supported our work in the territory and we continue to consider his guidance as we do our work. Our goal as an organization is to walk alongside the Nation to preserve biodiversity, climate security and cultural connection in the Walbran Valley. We try to do this in a good way that follows Pacheedaht Nations sovereign rights. Our June 8th 2021 letter of support to acknowledge and respect Pacheedaht Nation Territory still stands.

Sincerely
The Friends of Carmanah Walbran

‘The tragedy of the marbled murrelet….is not that it’s extinction will go unreported, but that it will go largely unmourned’  ‘Rare Bird, Pursuing the mystery of the Marbled Murrelet’. (2013) by Maria Mudd Ruth 

The First Annual MarMu Day was held in the   Unprotected Central Walbran on July 13th.

The Marbled Murrelet is becoming an ever more endangered bird and this event was organized in the hopes of raising awareness of its plight and to create connections and community to work for its protection.

It was also a chance to celebrate their extraordinary life and come together in the early morning and listen as their calls animate the Ancient Temperate Rainforest.

The location and the date were chosen as the previous year an Automated Recording Unit (ARU) placed here detected 438 individual birds on that single day. (MaMu do not make nests but lay one egg per year on large mossy horizontal branches, making the tree and the surrounding forest its nest.)

There were around 25 attendees who led by Dr Royann Petrell, gathered in the dark and patiently listened as the dawn light slowly increased. Over the dawn chorus many MaMu calls were heard and several observed, some high above moving fast and a few lower, one pair seen flying into the nearby forest. Conditions were not ideal with a full moon and no mist but we all got to experience the challenges and joys of watching MaMu in the forest.

There was also some art made to celebrate this bird of sea and forest and we hope for next year to have more art from birders and artists alike.

Thanks to everybody who came out, Jericho, Sonya and Kirsten for clearing space and the outhouse, Em and the Wilderness Committee for sticking with us, Royann and Briony for their work and vision. Until next year!

On the weekend of June 7th-8th the FoCW worked with members of BC Parks in the Walbran Valley on the Anderson Lake Trail. Parks are usually focused on the Carmanah side as it is considered to be its official entry point, this collaborative Walbran work group was organized as the  Carmanah side is now closed due to several significant land slides on the access road.

The weekend started by a guided walk through of  some of  the trails and work we have undertaken in the Central Walbran over the last 12 years.  Some significant OG trees had fallen during the winter on the Anderson Lake Trail so the rest of our time was spent clearing a new section of trail, building boardwalks over the wetland areas and then sets of stairs on a large fallen Spruce were built. The large fallen trees are left whole and not just chainsawed apart, as now horizontal they become part of the trail and can be quite wide and give another perspective to these impressive trees.

It was great to finally meet Parks and to show the care we have taken with our work here and to also workshop with them on the building of the boardwalks. We hope to make this an annual event.

The before and after photos of our work.

For more details and to pre-register for the Bioblitz contact FoCW. We also ask that the event not be posted on social media, thank you.

For a four days in late April a few trail builders from FoCW had an opportunity to branch out and to work building stairs and boardwalk on Flores Islands Wildside Trail.  The weather was sunny, the material was already dropped into the worksite and with help from Parks Canada we were able to replace rotten and dangerous sets of stairs and build sections of boardwalk over swampy ground. It was a fun challenge and satisfying to see how over the many years of building boardwalk in the Central Walbran and ‘Eden Grove’ how our building skills have progressed.
Many thanks to the Ahousaht Nation for inviting us onto their territory and the Wilderness Committee and Parks Canada for the organizing to make this happen.