www.saltspringconservancy.ca Number 58 The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Spring 2015 SEE ARTICLE ON PAGE 4 Inside: Cover story ........................................................................................... 4 President’s page ................................................................................... 2 HIGHLIGHTING VOLUNTEERS: Shaunna Wendover ........................................................................ 7 INSIDE THE CONSERVANCY: Conservancy Board Candidates .............................................. 6 Essentials ............................................................................................... 7 2 The Acorn ~ Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy President’s Page A running start on tomorrow Our main constitutional purpose and flagship work is securing land for wildlife. Hard work, a dash of daring, and more than a bit of good luck have brought successes far beyond the expectations of our founders. We hold some marvelous places as permanent nature reserves. But our very first project was a crucial lesson: to whit, securing title isn’t a competition among prima donnas but a cooperative effort among partners. CRD Parks holds Mill Farm. Our help was crucial. Good show. Our conservation covenants program has a similar strategic base. The covenanted land stays private, but the voluntary protections crafted jointly by the owner and Conservancy stay on title regardless of transfers. Our Conservancy, the first non-profit to be certified by the Province to hold covenants, has helped a good many people through this often challenging process. We’ll likely help others, too, but the recent establishment of the Natural Areas Protection Tax Exemption Program in the Islands Trust Area gives owners an attractive option for on-title land protection. Our role is as partner and local monitor. Unquestionably, we will mount other land acquisition campaigns in the future. We can’t buy the Island, however, and there are practical limits to the amount of land we can care for forever. There is a basic principle here, too. Conservation’s proper goal is not to find places to keep people out of, to separate people and nature. Descartes’ I-It philosophy has been a loser all the way, as four centuries of bad experiences have proven. We set up nature reserves because today we must if nature’s wild autonomy and diversity is to survive. In the long run good stewardship has to become everyone’s business, everywhere. People have quirky ways to mark time’s passage. This spring your Conservancy is making Hoopla! about completing its first 20 years. I’ve been along for most of the ride, and it has been a joy. Cut me a slice of that chocolate cake! We’ll tell tales about how we got going and where we found ourselves at odd corners along the way. There’ll be some self-congratulation because we’ve done some good things. Old hands may remind us of things we didn’t do so well, and we should red flag them. For me, however, the past is less useful as an album of memories than as a fast-forward sequence with momentum – a running start toward tomorrow. What have we begun? What’s next? And that, I think, is the touchstone of another familiar Conservancy program, our work as informal advisers when landowners want to learn how to protect natural features on their property. We hired our first staff person to do exactly that. Over the years thousands of staff hours mixed with many thousands of volunteer hours have delivered information, plans, and practical projects to scores of island owners. Some of this has gone “big time” via grants from agencies interested in rare and at-risk species. Some has stayed small, flexible, and personal, standing ready to help landowners get rid of fiercely invasive plants, put up bird and bat houses, plant perennials that birds and butterflies love, and in a hundred little ways accomplish a hundred big things. I think people are ready to pitch in for a century of global restoration whether governments follow from in front Director’s Desk (which politicians blandly call “leading”) or lag behind. If I’m right, even only in our home region of Cascadia and the Salish Sea, this hands-on work will be a dominant part of your Conservancy’s character and impact for decades to come. Not long ago we added a new purpose in our constitution, conservation education. Our free public talks and workshops already were an established habit and our mentoring of school kids was growing like – a school kid. Today our schools program – it is a dandy! – is popular with teachers, parents, children, school administrators, and scores of volunteers eager for their next dose of the elixir of youth out in some of the greenest, liveliest, and muddiest places on the planet. We can’t imagine the Conservancy without a schools program, but surely it will evolve. School administrators, long enthusiastic and helpful, recently began to fund the cost of buses that the Conservancy had been rustling up grant money to pay for. It’s possible that the school district will take on more such costs, and in exchange become more involved in program design and expansion. Another new direction might be for private land stewards to host youngsters eager to be shown how forest management, tree harvesting, farming, residential landscaping, watershed care, and other land uses can provide homes for wildlife through innovative private initiatives. The Conservancy would help oil the joints in the program. Youngsters today can get the impression that care of nature is something governments and special interest societies do. How much better would it be for them to learn that it is everyone’s job! No smart person makes predictions that can be judged in his lifetime. In 20 years complain to me: weeden@limbo. calm. You can also take me to task for offering these bits of mainly second-hand wisdom: At all times, in all places, caring for nature is work worthy of a lifetime. In our time, everywhere, it is also urgent. Stewardship is work that rewards far beyond its demands. It heals the wounds inflicted daily on the soul by far disaster and nearby human frailty alike. All stewardship is ultimately local. It involves particular places and circumstances and requires real people doing practical things lovingly. Nature is endlessly diverse and changeful. So, too, must we be. To answer change, stewards offer forethought, watchfulness, resilience, and humility – above all, humility. To meet natural diversity we offer our community’s own. For every beautiful, vulnerable place there is a person to watch attentively. For every natural miracle Spring 2015 3 there is someone to love it. For every hands-on need there is an inventor, a builder, a planter, a splendid body eager for good work. For every challenge to teamwork there is a sound budgeter, a rousing communicator, a planter, a light-handed leader. Surrounding them, intermingling, are the thousands who carry good will for the steward’s work, who are ready to rise to opportunity’s call. I remember Laurens Van Der Post’s thoughts about meaningful change, expressed in “A Far Off Place” at a time when the clouds of war growled from every African eminence, when too many hearts were charged with murder or fear: “For that was how all real change began; a change in position of some lone, inexperienced and suffering heart,… not in great collective resolutions and consensus of established opinion. Only one heart had to find its own true position and travel on from there and the rest would follow, for no matter how isolated the one felt itself to be, in the deeps of life all were united and no one could move accurately without all ultimately moving with it.” May yours be the heart that moves accurately; may yours be the work that’s joyful. —Bob Weeden, Board President 4 The Acorn ~ Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy stewardship The Salt Spring Island Conservancy ON JUNE 6, the Salt Spring Island conservancy will celebrate its 20th anniversary and the grand opening of its beautiful new donated home at Blackburn Lake Nature Reserve. What an exciting juncture we have arrived at! From an initial wellspring of hope and determination 20 years ago, the organization has grown into an amazing entity, built by the dedication of many hearts and hands over the years, and buoyed by the support of countless generous members, donors and grantors. AN ORGANIZATION IS BORN MAXWELL, MANZANITA In 1994, a small group of women gathered together-spurred by concerns about the need to protect lands on the island—to form an organization that could hold and conserve land on Salt Spring. That fall they registered the Salt Spring Conservancy’s name and began working on a constitution. In early 1995 the constitution was ratified and the Conservancy received its charitable status. In the late 1990s, as part of the efforts to protect the Texada lands from logging and ultimately create Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park, the Conservancy played a pivotal role in protecting key Maxwell Lake watershed lands, ultimately holding a conservation covenant on about 263 acres. This was reportedly the first watershed covenant in British Columbia. That initiating group—Nancy Braithwaite, Fiona Flook, Heather Martin, Maureen Milburn, Ailsa Pearse, Mallory Pred and Ann Richardson—was very soon joined by Susan Evans, Dorothy (Morell) Cutting, Bob Weeden and Doug Wilkins. Together, they formed the founding board of directors at the Conservancy’s first AGM in March 1995. Shortly thereafter, the Conservancy received charitable status and became the first land trust in British Columbia to accept conservation covenants. MILL FARM The early board and other islanders worked with CRD Parks and the provincial government to fundraise for a purchase of the 160-acre Mill Farm, which ultimately became a CRD regional park reserve. That success laid the foundation for a land trust that today owns and stewards 7 nature reserves and holds 16 conservation covenants (the first one in 1996)—in total protecting almost 1,500 acres of the island. Over the years, the Conservancy has also worked with other organizations to protect about 3,400 acres on Salt Spring. From its inception to today, the Conservancy has also sponsored well over 100 educational events—speakers, slide shows, workshops, nature walks and more—and made dozens of presentations to various organizations throughout the community. Soon thereafter, the Manzanita Ridge Nature Reserve became the Conservancy’s first nature reserve-- 49 acres adjoining a large area of protected lands around Mt. Erskine—especially thanks to the generosity of the owner, Martin Williams. A staff scientist was hired about this time, to help the Conservancy and islanders understand and protect the unique island environment. By 2001, the fledgling organization had grown to the point that it needed an executive director. Karen Hudson then guided the day-to-day affairs of the organization until 2008. ANDREAS VOGT, SPECIES AT RISK, SCHOOLS In 2003, Oda Nowrath and Cordula Vogt donated 73.5 acres, which became the Conservancy’s 2nd nature reserve—the Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve. That next year, 2004, would become the first of 11 years that the Conservancy received support from the Government of Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program (HSP) for Species at Risk. Salt Spring Island forms a key portion of of BC’s tiny and very rare Coastal Douglas-fir ecological niche, which harbours over 100 Species at Risk. Spring 2015 STEWARDSHIP Over the years, the Conservancy’s HSP program grew to be the largest of its kind in British Columbia and the Yukon, accumulating a treasure trove of science information that supported many successful land protection and stewardship initiatives. 2004 also heralded the founding of the Stewards in Training Program (SiT), which grew from a small beginning in a couple of grades to its current outreach to every K-8 class on the island, taking students out into the field each year for a day of nature-based learning. MT. ERSKINE, NORTH VIEW In 2005, with major support from Nature Conservancy Canada as well as many local donors, the Conservancy was able to purchase and protect 104.5 acres at the top of Mt. Erskine, which is now managed in a partnership agreement with BC Parks as a provincial park, along with neighbouring Crown lands.. That same year, the organization created the EcoHome Tour, which is still vital today, though managed by another local organization. In 2008, the Conservancy said farewell to its first executive director and welcomed Linda Gilkeson as its second executive director. By then the staff had grown to include a chief scientist, a second scientist and an office coordinator. In 2008, the organization also received an anonymous donation of 18 acres on the north end of the island, which would become the North View Nature Reserve. INDRIDSON, MT. TUAM In 2010-2011, a phenomenal land transaction—part donation and part sale—culminated in the creation of the 320-acre Alvin Indridson Nature Reserve in southwest Salt Spring. Key funds were contributed by the Indridson family, Nature Conservancy Canada, Shaw Communications, Islands Trust Fund and many individual donors. Also in 2011, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed, created the ongoing multi-stakeholder Mt. Tuam Special Management Area Team of government agencies, corporations, private landowners and First Nations to jointly manage about 800 acres of rare Garry oak habitat. 20-year members Nancy Achilles Rita Aptekmann Leon Aptekmann Birgit Bateman Robert Bateman David Borrowman Nancy Braithwaite Grace Byrne Dorothy Cutting Susan Evans Don Flook Fiona Flook Jean Gelwicks Ted Harrison 5 MAKAROFF, BLACKBURN In early 2012, the Conservancy bid farewell to Linda Gilkeson and welcomed Christine Torgrimson as the organization’s third executive director, still leading the organization today. Later that year, the Conservancy received a phenomenal land donation—the 91-acre Robert and Shauna Makaroff Nature Reserve in the Musgrave area. The Conservancy’s seventh nature reserve—32.6 acres at Blackburn Lake--was purchased in 2013, thanks to the support of many generous donors, the Habitat Stewardship Program, the landowner, and the Salt Spring Foundation. This was the third watershed area the Conservancy would protect (in addition to the Maxwell and St. Mary covenants). A generous neighbouring landowner decided to donate her 5.8 forested acres in 2014, expanding the reserve to 38.4 acres. And in 2015, another acquisition initiative increased the reserve area, with details to be announced at the Conservancy’s June 6th 20th Anniversary Celebration. AT HOME AT LAST! This June 2015 celebration will also serve as the Grand Opening for the Conservancy’s beautiful new building at the north end of the Blackburn Lake Nature Reserve—an area heavily impacted by human use over the years. The building houses the Conservancy offices, a board meeting room and a public education and classroom-size meeting space. From a small group of visionaries in 1994-1995, the “little organization that could” has stretched and grown into a strong entity with a 4-member staff, an 11-member board, a cadre of skilled consultants, over 100 volunteers and more than 400 members. With land holdings and responsibilities for almost 1,500 acres, Salt Spring’s little local land trust has grown up and become one of the leading land trusts in British Columbia! Every member, volunteer, board member, donor and grantor who has played a part in this deserves to be very proud. Frances Hill Gary Holman Charles Kahn Juliette Laing Rick Laing Peter Lamb Ilse Leader —Christine Torgrimson, Executive Director Sam Lightman Heather Martin Sharon McCollough Maureen Milburn Judy Norget Judi Stevenson Bob Weeden Judy Weeden Nicola Wheston Early Conservancy records are a bit sketchy, so give us a shout if we’ve unintentionally forgotten to include you in this list! 6 The Acorn ~ Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy INSIDE THE CONSERVANCY Conservancy Board Candidates Lionel Johnson Brian Lawson I have been in the world of finance for 25 years, beginning my career as a mortgage broker. Investment banking and venture capital became my new passion, followed by my current position as an Investment Advisor with Industrial Alliance Securities. My wife and I have lived on Salt Spring Island since 2007 in the Booth Canal area. We practice sustainability on our hobby farm growing our own food, eggs & poultry as well as managing several honey bee hives. In my private time I enjoy walking with my border collie, Kai, and reading science fiction and windsurfing. Brian Lawson has enjoyed a lifelong interest in the outdoors, including hiking, camping, canoeing and bird watching. Previously a member of the Hamilton Nature Club and Greenpeace, Brian practiced law in Ontario for many years before retiring to Salt Spring Island. His career in law focused on civil litigation, employment and labour law. In his professional capacity he provided legal and strategic advice to the boards of directors of a number of associations. He has also served on a variety of community boards, such as the boards of the Hamilton Public Library Daycare, the Dundas Foundation and most recently Viva Chorale! Society. Since moving to Salt Spring Island, he continues to enjoy hiking, bird watching and singing. He is committed to community involvement. Debbie Wetmore Debby Wetmore is a chartered account with many years of experience in the financial industry and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. She is currently Branch Manager at CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) on Salt Spring. Debby also served on the Investment Committee of the Salt Spring Island Foundation from 2011 to 2014. She has extensive public speaking and teaching experience and has authored and published more than 30 investment and financial planning articles. Debby has a keen interest in the outdoors and is eager to apply her financial management experience to support the Conservancy’s long-term sustainability. Susan Higginbotham Susan Higginbotham is a social worker and registered nurse with considerable experience in working with and managing teams. She has lived and worked primarily in the lower mainland of British Columbia and currently serves as a parttime counselor at Salt Spring Community Services. Susan is an active Conservancy volunteer, helping at education events and with the Blackburn facility completion. She is eager to apply her extensive knowledge and experience of working with people to support the Board as an effective team and as community ambassadors building the strength of the organization and outreach throughout the community. Spring 2015 INSIDE THE CONSERVANCY Highlighting Volunteers Shaunna Wendover A few years ago our volunteer coordinator, Susan Dann received a call from Shaunna Wendover inquiring into volunteering opportunities with bird-related projects. Shaunna was becoming increasingly interested in birds and thought that volunteering might be good way to learn and contribute at the same time. Shaunna has helped the Community Support: Salt Spring Island Conservancy Office: 265 Blackburn Road Mail: P.O. Box 722 Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2W3 Hours: 10–4, Monday–Thursday Phone: 250/538-0318 Fax: 250/538-0319 [email protected] www.saltspringconservancy.ca Registered Charity No.: 89006 3977 RR0001 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Christine Torgrimson BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Bob Weeden (President) Maureen Milburn (VP) Ashley Hilliard (Past President) John de Haan (Treasurer) John Borst (Secretary) Jean Gelwicks Susan Hannon Donna Martin David Paine Kees Ruurs Sharon Sullivan Acorn Editing Team: Susan Dann, Christine Torgrimson and Bob Weeden Acorn Design: Harry Bardal Conservancy in various ways including owl surveys, waterbird surveys on our local lakes, bluebird and Wood Duck nestbox monitoring and a school field trip to Ford Lake. With her growing bird knowledge and identification skills, Shaunna was able to add her own avian Species at Risk observations towards our growing database. Shaunna is enthusiastic, curious and is dedicated to not only learning about the natural world but also involving herself to help to protect it. Shaunna’s ambition is to study Coastal Ecology seems perfectly suited to her interests, growing skills and passion about nature. We are confident that whatever Shaunna does in the future she will contribute towards the conservation of the natural world. Thank you Shaunna! Stewards-in-Training School Program: WE THANK OUR FUNDERS Ducks Unlimited The Province of British Columbia Salt Spring Island Foundation School District #64 TD Friends of the Environment Thrifty Foods Smile Card Program Apple Photo and Imaging Blue Horse Folk Art Country Grocer Green City Builders Harry Bardal Graphic Design Hedgerow House B&B Island Escapades Ken Tara Excavating Linwood Custom Homes Ltd. Living Accent Landscaping and Fencing Ltd. Outdoor Visions The Pinch Group at Raymond James Salt Spring Air Stewardship, Land Acquisition and Species at Risk: BC Ministery of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations BC Parks Canadian Wildlife Foundation 1 yr @ $15 1 yr @ $20 1 yr @ $25 1 yr @ $35 1 yr @ $35 1 yr @ $55 Donations 3 yr @ $60 3 yr @ $75 3 yr @ $105 3 yr @ $105 3 yr @ $165 Name: __________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Postal Code: ______________________________________ Phone:__________________________________________ E-mail:__________________________________________ Please send me member email updates. Please send me the Acorn via e-mail. The Government of Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation Islands Trust Fund National Conservation Plan/National Wetlands Conservation Fund NAV Canada Pacific Salmon Foundation Public Conservation Assistance Fund Salt Spring Island Foundation Walmart/Evergreen Vancouver Foundation Wildlife Habitat Canada World Wildlife Fund/Loblaw Many wonderful private donors Membership Application Youth (Under 16) Senior / Low-Income: Regular Single Regular Family Group/School Business 7 (We NEVER give out members’ e-mail addresses!) Please contact me about becoming a monthly donor In addition to my membership fee, I have enclosed my donation in the amount of: $ 50 500 $ $ 100 $ 1000 $ 250 $ 5000 $ Other 2500 Tax receipts will be provided for donations of $20 or more. 8 The Acorn ~ Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy June 6 Community Celebration at Blackburn Lake Nature Reserve Join in the fun on Saturday, June 6, 2-5 pm, 265 Blackburn Road. Come and celebrate the Conservancy’s 20th Anniversary and help cut the Grand Opening ribbon to our new, donated, energy-efficient building. We’ll also be announcing a recent land acquisition. Beverages, snacks, nature walks, music and more. DON’T MISS IT! STEWARDSHIP CONSERVANCY AGM Saturday June 6, 12:30 pm It’s time for the Conservancy’s annual general meeting (AGM). The AGM will feature a report on our 2014 activities and finances, as well as board elections. Members also will be asked to vote on the following resolution, to amend section 46 of the bylaws to add the following to comply with Environment Canada requirements: (3) Where the Society holds one or more interests in land that are certified as ecological gifts under the Canadian Ecological Gifts Program, the Society, consistent with the constitution, (a) may dispose of such interests in land only to eligible Ecological Gifts Program recipients that are also qualified donees as defined by the Income Tax Act at the time of gift; and (b) shall endeavour to dispose of all ecological gifts to eligible Ecological Gifts Program recipients that are also qualified donees as defined by the Income Tax Act at the time of disposition in the event the directors determine that a winding-up or dissolution of the Society is imminent. Salt Spring Island Conservancy P.O. Box 722 Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2W3
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