Westham Island

What's on the island

Westham Island is farm country, in the City of Delta. BC Geographical Names describes it as farmland throughout, with its northwest end also a bird refuge: that's where the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary and the Alaksen National Wildlife Area are, and Environment and Climate Change Canada says Alaksen alone covers about a third of the island.

Canoe Pass (officially Canoe Passage since 1967) separates the island from the mainland on its east side, and it's the channel the bridge crosses. Along the north side, the Fraser's south arm runs between the island and Lulu Island, with Steveston across the water; from Richmond, the way in is through Ladner.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

The George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary sits at the island's northwest end, and Environment and Climate Change Canada says it overlaps the west part of the island and reaches out into the Strait of Georgia. It also takes in Reifel Island, the neighbouring island at that end; provincial place-name records give its long-established local name as Smokey Tom Island. The British Columbia Waterfowl Society runs the visitor side, and the sanctuary's gate is at 5191 Robertson Road. The society's rules allow no dogs anywhere on the grounds. Our profile of the sanctuary covers booking, parking, the trails, the rules and the birds through the year, and its directions button goes to the sanctuary's lot.

Alaksen National Wildlife Area

Alaksen, next door, is a federal wildlife area run by Environment and Climate Change Canada, which says it's made up mainly of four former delta islands that causeways and dykes joined together earlier in the 20th century. It was established in 1976 and covers 349 ha, and its gate is at 5421 Robertson Road, straight ahead where the road ends.

It's open for day visits only, with a visitor parking lot and accessible washrooms. There are no food services, so bring whatever you'll want to eat. The federal page lists three trails open to visitors, all fairly flat gravel: Sunnyside, Triangle Loop and Roberts Bank, which follows the Fraser's shoreline and has an observation deck over the estuary. Dogs are allowed on a leash; bikes and vehicles are barred from the trails. That page also has Alaksen's hours and open days.

Westham Island Park

Westham Island Park is a City of Delta park, listed under Ladner, at 2516 Westham Island Road, about 2 km west-northwest of the bridge and about 6 km by road from Ladner Village. It's small: the City lists picnic tables and a playground, and OpenStreetMap, which also maps benches there, outlines it at a little over a third of a hectare. The City posts the park's hours.

The farms

The City's Ladner page picks the island out for its farms and farm stands, and there are more of them than the two below.

Emma Lea Farms is at 2727 Westham Island Road, Ladner, on the way from the bridge to the park, and says the farm has been in the family since 1885. Its site has pages for its farm stores, U-pick berries (strawberries among them), a pumpkin patch and an ice cream shop, and that's where it posts its hours, picking times and events.

Westham Island Herb Farm is at 4690 Kirkland Road. Its site invites visitors to walk through the gardens and says its farm shops sell produce, preserves, cut flowers, bedding plants and flower baskets. It mentions berry picking and a pumpkin patch too, and promotes a Day at the Farm about why local farmland matters. Its open season and hours are on the site.

The Westham Island Bridge

The bridge is the island's only road link, crossing Canoe Pass from River Road West. TransLink owns and maintains it, one of four bridges it owns. TransLink puts it at about 325 m long and counts it among its oldest assets. OpenStreetMap maps its truss and swing spans as one lane with a wooden deck, and shows no sidewalk on the River Road West approach or the truss span.

A closure cuts the island off for drivers, so check TransLink before you set out. Its Bridge Projects page lists planned closures, maintenance work and traffic impacts. TransLink's blog, the Buzzer, keeps a running page on the bridge that posts updates on whether it's open to vehicles and on changes to how the swing span runs. Boaters will find the Canadian Coast Guard's NAVWARN notices through the Bridge Projects page.

Part of the bridge is a swing span, which opens to let boats through. There are two draw channels, the east draw on the Ladner side and the west draw on the island side. TransLink says it has to follow Transport Canada's directions on when the span opens, since Transport Canada administers the Canadian Navigable Waters Act, the federal law that protects the right to navigate.

TransLink says it monitors and maintains the bridge regularly, and that the work over the years has included structural repairs, replacing timber parts, mechanical upgrades and rehabilitating the swing span. It has also begun planning a replacement crossing, which it says takes years to plan, design, fund and build. Its project page has the latest.

The bridge has served the island for more than a century. Until it came, a small ferry carried people between the island and the rest of Delta. The provincial government built the bridge, and it was finished in 1909, with traffic crossing by Christmas: the Delta Times reported that quite a few islanders had turned up in Ladner that week, and that Bob Savage had ridden the first horse across. The formal opening followed in 1910. Victoria's Daily Colonist, which called it the new Canoe Pass bridge, reported that two provincial cabinet ministers, Thomas Taylor of Public Works and Dr. Young, the Provincial Secretary, opened it in front of a very large crowd. Delta's Heritage Passport records a banquet as part of the occasion. That's why you'll see both years: 1909 for the finished bridge, 1910 for the ceremony.

In 2026 a barge struck one of the bridge's piers and closed it to vehicles for more than two months, and crews built a new pier before it reopened.

Getting there

From Ladner Village, drive west on 47A Avenue, which becomes River Road (River Road West on maps), and follow it about 3 km. The bridge is on your right, about 4 km from the village in all.

Across the bridge, Westham Island Road runs past Emma Lea Farms and Westham Island Park, about 6 km from the village, and further on becomes Robertson Road. Where the road ends, turn left at the sign for the sanctuary, whose driveway runs about 1 km to its lot, or carry straight on for Alaksen and its visitor lot. The sanctuary's lot is about 9 km from the village by road.

From Vancouver, the federal directions run down Highway 99 through the Massey Tunnel to Highway 17A, then south to Ladner Trunk Road. Turn west there; the road becomes 47A Avenue and then River Road. Our Massey Tunnel guide explains how counterflow works. From the border or South Surrey, take Highway 99 north to the Ladner Trunk Road exit and head west; from anywhere on Highway 17A, turn west at Ladner Trunk Road. Either way, the road carries on through Ladner as 47A Avenue and River Road.

No public transit reaches the sanctuary, the British Columbia Waterfowl Society says, so a bus gets you only part of the way; TransLink's Trip Planner shows how far.

On foot or by bike, you can use the bridge too: TransLink says it carries pedestrians and cyclists as well as vehicles. Bikes stay off the trails at both the sanctuary and Alaksen: they're barred from Alaksen's, and the society's rules for the sanctuary's walking paths allow no bikes, skateboards or other wheels apart from wheelchairs and strollers.

Parking

This page covers the lots at the sanctuary, at Alaksen and beside the Emma Lea Farms market.

The sanctuary's lot, at the end of its driveway about 1 km in, holds 100 cars, the society says. Its booking page has the booking rules, including what happens if you arrive without a booking, so check it before you drive out.

Alaksen has its own visitor lot, straight ahead where Robertson Road ends. OpenStreetMap places it beside the Canadian Wildlife Service office.

Beside the farm's market on Westham Island Road, OpenStreetMap shows three surface lots. Going by where they are, they look like the farm's own; it names no operator. It shows no lot at Westham Island Park, and the City's page for the park doesn't mention parking.

Hours and seasons

Check the bridge first: its section above has TransLink's pages for closures and updates.

For the sanctuary, the society's site has hours and closure days, admission and booking rules. Environment and Climate Change Canada posts Alaksen's hours and open days, and the City posts Westham Island Park's hours. The farms post their own seasons: Emma Lea Farms and Westham Island Herb Farm.

Our Reifel profile has the society's guide to which birds are around through the year, snow geese included.

What's nearby

Back on the mainland, Wellington Point Park, a City of Delta park at 3653 River Road West, is on the road between the village and the bridge.

Ladner Village is about 4 km back from the bridge by road, and it's where the Ladner Village Market is held.

History

Indigenous peoples lived in the Delta area for thousands of years, Delta's 1999 heritage inventory says, fishing the Fraser from summer camps.

Farming on Westham Island began in the 1870s at its south end, with settlers who came over by boat, Henry Mitchell among the first. Delta's Heritage Passport describes the early islanders as people who farmed and fished, and credits islanders ever since with a strong sense of their own identity. Williams' B.C. Directory of 1892 put the island at about 3,000 acres, roughly 1,200 ha, with farming its main industry.

In 1894, Victoria's Daily Colonist reported that a dyke on the island had given way on Ewen's ranch. Some 200 feet of it (about 60 m) went, taking two acres of the ranch with it, and everyone in the settlement came out to fix it. The dyke along the island's Strait of Georgia shore came in 1912.

George C. Reifel started dyking the island's north end, now the sanctuary's land, in 1929, and his shooting lodge, designed by the architect Ross Lort, went up the same year.

The City's Heritage Register, as updated in 2025, has no entry on the island, though Delta's 1999 inventory lists four historic places here, among them Reifel's lodge and the last of the three barns the Reifels used.

Where the names come from

BC Geographical Names gives two explanations of the name Westham. Islanders have suggested it comes from the island's westerly place in the delta. The record calls a second one likelier: West Ham in Essex, now part of London, the original home of the early settler Harry Trim, a fisherman, whaler and prospector. The record has the name adopted in 1936.

In 1858, BC Geographical Names notes, miners entering the Fraser went in by Canoe Pass to avoid the head tax charged at the river's mouth, and in 1859–60 Captain Richards of the Royal Navy called it South Channel. The official form became Canoe Passage in 1967, the same record says, so the name wouldn't be taken for a land feature. Delta's 1999 heritage inventory, the 1910 newspaper reports and the federal navigation warning TransLink quotes all call it Canoe Pass, and so does this page.

Questions and answers

Is the Westham Island Bridge open?

TransLink owns and maintains the bridge. It posts planned closures and traffic impacts on its Bridge Projects page, and a running page on its blog posts updates on whether the bridge is open to vehicles. It's the only road onto the island, so check before you drive out.

When was the Westham Island Bridge built?

The provincial government built it, and it was finished in 1909, with traffic crossing by Christmas that year. Two provincial cabinet ministers formally opened it in 1910, which is why you'll see both years.

Can you walk or bike across the Westham Island Bridge?

Yes. TransLink says the bridge carries pedestrians and cyclists as well as vehicles, but it's one lane on the spans, and OpenStreetMap shows no sidewalk on the River Road West approach or the truss span. Bikes stay off the trails at Alaksen and the Reifel sanctuary.

How do you get to Westham Island?

From Ladner Village, drive west on 47A Avenue, which becomes River Road, and follow it about 3 km to the Westham Island Bridge, on your right. The bridge is about 4 km from the village by road and is the only road onto the island.

What is there to do on Westham Island?

Walk the trails at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary and the Alaksen National Wildlife Area, picnic at Westham Island Park, and buy from the farms; Emma Lea Farms' site lists U-pick berries and a pumpkin patch. Each place posts its own hours and seasons.

Is there a park on Westham Island?

Yes. Westham Island Park is a small City of Delta park at 2516 Westham Island Road, about 2 km west-northwest of the bridge, with picnic tables and a playground. The City posts the park's hours.

Where can you pick strawberries or find a pumpkin patch on Westham Island?

Emma Lea Farms' site has pages for its U-pick berries, strawberries among them, and its pumpkin patch, and Westham Island Herb Farm's site mentions berry picking and a pumpkin patch too. Each farm's site has what's in season.

Can you bring a dog to Westham Island?

To the Alaksen National Wildlife Area, yes, on a leash. The British Columbia Waterfowl Society's rules allow no dogs at the Reifel sanctuary.

Is Westham Island part of Ladner?

It's in the City of Delta, west of Ladner Village across Canoe Pass, and some listings put it with Ladner: the City files Westham Island Park under Ladner, and Emma Lea Farms gives its address as Ladner, BC.