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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
info@saltspringconservancy.ca
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