In-depth

Previous In-depths Landmark land settlement Carbon Conundrum Caribou in Canada The Mackenzie Delta Torngat Mountains Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) Travels with Louis British Columbia's Gulf Islands Moose on the loose Sustainable cities Icebergs Canada's musical landscape Quebec's James Bay Ottawa Valley Green with jade Hunting for cures Wild horses Canada's Bison Canada's place in the world Lessons learned in schools Power of powwows Cougars in Canada Greenland sharks Boreal birds Arctic grizzlies Lake Erie's Fire in the boreal forest Energy matters Parks for all Bighorn sheep Finding our way in the wilderness Shipwrecks of Nova Scotia Canada's grizzly bears

JUST THE FACTS

•  British Columbia’s Gulf Islands are comprised of 13 major islands and some 450 smaller islands.

•  The 13 major Gulf Islands have a population of 23,000 residents, with about 25,000 people living on all the islands.

•  Salt Spring Island is the most populous of the Gulf Islands with 10,500 year-round residents.

•  More than 50 petroglyphs can be found at Petroglyph Park on Gabriola Island. The origins of the ancient carvings are unknown.

•  Galiano Island’s 1,100 residents rely on an average annual rainfall of only 711 millimetres for their drinking water.

•  Mayne Island used to house a prison for trouble-making prospectors heading north for gold, which led some to call the island "Little Hell." Today, the facility is a museum.

•  Pender Islands (North and South Pender Islands are joined by a one-lane bridge) are home to artifacts first discovered in 1957, tracing First Nations’ settlement back 5,000 years.

•  About 44 percent of Saturna Island’s 31 square kilometres are protected by the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, leaving the rest of the island to the 350 residents.

• Salt Spring residents have developed their own currency, called Salt Spring Dollars, which is accepted on-par with the Canadian dollar by Salt Spring businesses.