The Walbran Valley is home to endangered Marbled Murrelets, red-legged frogs, Specklebelly lichen, and western screech owls . It is one of Vancouver Island's last old-growth forested watersheds, yet only 5,500 of 13,000 hectares in the Walbran Valley are protected. The Upper Walbran was never included in the BC government's temporary deferrals , leaving the headwaters of the Walbran and the surrounding forest vulnerable.