Fall 2007 Acorn Newsletter - Salt Spring Island Conservancy

8/8/2019 Fall 2007 Acorn Newsletter - Salt Spring Island Conservancy

1/12

Acornthe

The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Number 36, Fall 2007

http://saltspringconservancy.ca/events

Not the usual suspects:Lamium purpureum(left)Bellis perennis(right)

EcologicalOutlaws

Inside:Presidents Page .................2Directors Desk ..................3Events

Calendar .........................7Features

Tian Shan and Chuan .....4Inside SSIC

A Letter on Bullrogs .......8Book Review

Blessed Unrest ................9Essential Details ...............11

Brenda Beckwith and Laura MatthiasThere is much talk today about invasive species. Whateverhappened to simple weeds, those plants that grew wherewe didnt want them? Now, weeds inest, invade, encroach,and take over. In a way this is progress, or our part; weare learning about ecology and how plants grow and adapt.But with this terminology comes connotation, urtheranthropomorphizing plants into labelled categories o goodand bad, and well, ugly. Our aim with this article is notto oend but to inorm. We know that many introducedspecies have valuable attributes, such as medicinal or ooduses. We know that many o these species vary greatlyin their relative invasiveness depending on climate andenvironmental conditions. However, as invasive species areso oten described as Ecological Outlaws, we thought wemight play with this theme and introduce you to the (Notso) Good, the Bad, and the Ugly o invasive plants.

The concept o invasive species in conservation is notnew. A Noxious Weed Act was passed in British Columbiain the late nineteenth century to combat invasive species inarmers elds. There were penalties or anyone who plantedor sold seeds o listed noxious weeds and anyone who did notremove weeds rom private land. Some o the more notable

exotic species on the list were dandelion, chickweed, Queen Annes lace, plantain, and oxglove. Some native species,including salal, reweed, and erns o any kind, made the listas well. Today, the Invasive Plant Council o British Columbiadenes an invasive plant is any invasive alien plant speciesthat has the potential to pose undesirable or detrimentalimpact on humans, animals or ecosystems, recognizing thatthe invasiveness o plants does not stop at the armers ence.Their website (www.invasiveplantcouncilbc.ca) providesinormation on the legislation and regulation o invasivespecies in the province.

Invasive species, like weeds, occur in the eyes o thebeholder. However, the term invasive does not need to carrysuch a negative connotation, nor does it reer solely to alienor introduced species. Invasiveness is a growth strategy oplants, oten making them successul competitors across thenatural landscape. Some plants take advantage o disturbedsites: annual species (dandelions, rose campion, yellowsalsiy) that set hoards o seeds, or perennials (creepingbuttercup, morning glory, English ivy) with undergroundrhizomes or stolons that can reely root themselves, likethe strawberries in your garden. These plants, ree o theinaturally occurring pests and other environmental controlsback home, are aggressive and can quickly colonize adjacenareas and out-compete the existing vegetation or the basicrequirements o lie or a plant: light, water, nutrients, andspace.

Some native plants show invasive behaviour in sites wheredisturbance has been halted or changed, such as Douglas-r and snowberry encroachment into Garry oak meadowsecosystems that were maintained as open communities byFirst Nations or possibly thousands o years. In this casethe native species invadedonce the disturbance

pattern had ceased. Innature, change is inevitableand normal, and manyplants thrive because oit. Invasive species haveevolved to capitalize onecological perturbations.Once you arm yoursel bylearning to recognize thegrowth habits o invasive

The (Not So) Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Cue the Whistle)...

Continued on page


2/12 The Acorn - Newsletter o the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

The August 7 event on Healthy Ecosystems, HealthyCommunities was a standout in the Conservancys summer.It was a vigorous interplay between an expert panel and alively audience that sent me home with thoughts zoomingin ten directions.

The panel (Louisa Ma and David Rapport, ecohealthconsultants who live on the Island; Carol Herbert, Universityo Western Ontario Faculty o Medicine and Dentistry;Glenn Albrecht, Proessor o Environmental Philosophy atthe University o Newcastle in New South Wales) oered adeceptively simple message. Healthy ecosystems allow butcant guarantee human health, while unhealthy ecosystemsmake optimal human well-being impossible. Crowded,polluted environments oer the clearest examples. Weonly need to look at cancer rates in petrochemical industrycentres or armation. Salt Spring Island isnt in-your-aceunhealthy, but it has its dirty little secrets. The Cusheon

Creek Watershed Steering Committee recently exposed one,the connection between land clearing or soil disturbanceand episodes o toxic drinking water.

The panelists argued or research to nd links, locally,between unbalanced or degrared ecosystems and specichuman ills. The scientist in me nodded vigorously. It ishardly credible that we know so little about home.

Ater hal-a-dozen second thoughts the nods becamedubious. Linking specic environmental conditions toparticular orms o human malaise is dicult and expensive.The attempt to do so oten stalemates scientists and everyone

else in prolonged argument. That scene plays out even whereill health and environmental degradation are vastly moreserious and obvious than we are ever likely to experiencehere.

We dont need much local research to prove whatexperience has demonstrated so oten in other places thatit has the status o common knowledge. Islanders who visitthe hospital or morgue ater driving into a deer agree thatthis is a health issue. We already know why. Hal is carelessdriving. The other hal starts with cutting down big trees andsubstituting deer ood, continues with the elimination o bigwild predators, and ends with regulations and shame that

send hunters into hiding. It isnt rocket science. Or supposethat a group o kids develop diarrhea ater playing in the mudat the mouth o Ganges Creek. You dont need much morethan a bacteriologists report on stool samples and readingso E. coli rom the Creeks estuary.

I we do nothing until weve got data on every criticallink in the connecting chain between environmentalconditions and our ill health, weve waited too long. Takelocal extinctions o wild animals and plants, or instance. Itseems really unlikely that well ever trace any loss o humanhealth to the loss o the last yellow montane vioulet, dun

skipper or sharp-tailed snake. As with the loss o a violinrom a 50-piece orchestra, we might never notice it has gonesilent. But i a ew more strings alter, and a couple o clarinetscornets and oboes (no, scratch oboes, whose absence somewould count as a blessing) are lost, the whole is thin and

ragged. Just so with ecosystems with pieces missing: weak asMother Hubbards gruel and only a beat or two rom seriousmalunction.

We know instinctively that the loss o species isnt acracked-rib, gut-ache kind o human health issue, it is aproblem o the spirit. One such loss impalpably diminishesus; many losses sadden and even righten us.

Abusing nature, we abuse ourselves. Restoring naturewe restore ourselves. In the destruction and in the rebuildingthere are both the act and the end result to ponder. To restorepart o the world to sound, ully-unctioning condition healsthe healer. At its completion the land resumes its stream o

gits to us.Aldo Leopolds dictum is deeply wise. Anything is right,

he said, when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability andbeauty o the biotic community. It is wrong when it tendsotherwise.

We need good science to uncover cryptic connectionbetween human and ecosystem health. For instance, Id loveto see a thorough study o Ganges Harbour. Gravity ensuresthat everything we throw out, and some things discardedby others a long way o, collects in harbours as i theywere witches cauldrons. My point is that we can do a lot o

things we know are right while we are waiting. We know weshould treat nature better than we are today. Experience hasit laid out in picture albums. Common sense arms likelydirections. Our hearts compel us to try. Bob Weeden

Small Steps to Health

Presidents Page

Ilse Leader on her covenanted property


3/12 Fall 2007

Farewell...This will be my nal report as Executive Director as I ammoving on rom my position at the Conservancy to pursuegraduate studies. I have been accepted into the Universityo British Columbia (UBC) or a Master o Library andInormation Science program beginning January 2008.

I eel very ortunate to have had the opportunity to bethe Salt Spring Island Conservancys rst employee, andto have developed and coordinated programs or such awell-respected and successul organization. I have enjoyedworking on so many interesting campaigns and projects.The highlights that I will remember most are the Mt.Maxwell Watershed undraising concert with Shooglenity;sitting backstage at ArtSpring with Birgit Bateman and PeterMatthiessen beore the launch o The Birds o Heaven: Travelswith Cranes; the Mt. Erskine campaign; seeing my daughterand all o the schoolchildren soaking up the outdoors onschool programs; the dedication ceremonies or SSICs two

nature reserves; and nding new locations on Salt Springor Species at Risk. Most o all I have enjoyed meeting andworking with all o YOU! I have met hundreds o amazingpeople who have inspired me with their dedication toprotecting what is important to them and to Salt SpringIsland

I have learned so much in my time at the Conservancy.Even with a background in grassroots organizing andinternational conservation, I never imagined the complexityo multiple grant writing, or the time commitment necessaryto undraise and coordinate large events! But I learned a lot

and looking back, I appreciate having had the opportunityto broaden my skills (and even ound that I enjoy grantwriting).

Ater working on local conservation issues or 8 years,I eel like it is time to take a break and go back to school.Many o you have also seen me volunteering over the yearsat the library and thereore may not be surprised that I ampursuing a graduate degree related to my other passion,library and inormation services. I dont know where thisstudy will lead, but rest assured that I am not leaving SaltSpring, and will still be involved with the Conservancy onsome level. I am keen that the important projects I have

initiated and worked on will continue, so expect to see mearound.

Though we dont know yet who we will be training tostep into these busy shoes, you can be condent that SSICwill continue to work on all o the important projects thatwe are working on now. My sincere gratitude to the amazingdirectors, committee members, and volunteers at SSIC or allo their assistance and riendship. Many thanks to all o thepeople I have worked with rom near and ar your workand commitment is an inspiration. Sincerely, Karen Hudson

Directors Desk

Full Slate or Stewardship Project

The Conservancy was excited to receive $101,645 in undingor the Land Stewardship Project this year. SSIC received thegrants rom the Government o Canada Habitat Stewardship

Program or Species at Risk, Vancouver Foundation, VictoriaFoundation (Islands Trust Fund), Garry Oak EcosystemsRecovery Team, and the Salt Spring Island Foundation.

Due to this outstanding level o support rom ourunders, we were able to hire two new sta to assist withthis years stewardship activities. Assistant Project ManagerBrenda Beckwith, is an ethnoecologist by training and shesplits her time between her Conservancy work and teachingin the School o Environmental Studies, University o VictoriaSeasoned eld biologist and new Salt Spring Island residenLaura Matthias, joins the team as Assistant Biologist.

Building on our years o successul stewardship

programs, the Project continues to locate and map plantsand animals that are threatened and endangered, andeducate island residents about how they can help protectthese species and conserve their habitat. Islanders canlearn to identiy, sustain, and enhance natural habitats ontheir land through one-on-one consultations and site visitswith SSIC personnel. Complimentary services available tolandowners in target areas include a tour o their propertywith a qualied biologist, ollow-up consultation andresearch, and assistance with the adoption o appropriatemanagement planning strategies.

The Stewardship Project has a ull plate o activitiesplanned or the year. The landowner contact and site visiprogram will be expanded as more residents recognize thepotential o nding rare species on their land. A lie-sizemodel o an adult sharp-tailed snake, a local endangeredspecies, will be created and used as a teaching tool orlandowners and or presentations, neighbourhood meetingsand displays.The SSIC will overhaul its database, and producea new conservation covenant brochure and species at riskpostcards and stickers to provide up-to-date inormation tolandowners considering long-term habitat protection. OnOctober 12 there will be a workshop or island residents on

the protection and stewardship o endangered ecosystems onprivate land, highlighting our unique Garry oak ecosystemsGarry Oak Ecosystems 101: Cultural History, Protectionand Stewardship (see Upcoming Events) will be acilitatedby Brenda Beckwith and Conservancy Biologist RobinAnnschild at 7:00 pm at Lions Hall.

The Salt Spring Island Conservancy is interested inhearing rom landowners who have land containing Garryoak trees and species at risk. I you suspect you may havesensitive natural habitat, please contact Laura Matthias [email protected] or 538-0318.



Shared Time, Shared FruitBob WeedenIn the orchard the September sun sets ripe ruit aglow. Thehand seeks hal-hid gleam, the ngers brush warm skin to

nd and pinch the stem, the palm lits the weight. Resistance,then release; the hand swings cupped ruit to waiting basket.Again the gleam, the clever hand, the swing rom nature toartice. In the repeated act, in the sunny aroma o harvest,in the silver shower o sound rom winging bird, I hoverbetween wonder and dream. I am nowhere, I am here.Common waking thought stealthily becomes the uller trutho imagination. The sweep o time is nothing, there is aGarden, a range o mountains in a desert, a bear, a caravan,a boy among windalls, a village market...

I foat through 40 million years o yesterdays, turntoward all the tomorrows between dream and awakening. A

orest hums around me. The Time o Names has not come,yet I seem to know all the Protean roses, sweet by any name:viny roses, shrubby spiraeas, tree-like haws, sturdy pearsand apples. Close by is an apple, its dangling, bitter ruitsmall and undistinguished. A halo o possibility rainbowsaround it.

The orest is east o Eden, beyond Nod, on a sprawling,ertile plain which later will be called China. I am in a cloudo unmarked time, walking north. I cross a portal whereoceans sometimes part, stride deep into North America. Iturn my pockets. Pips o apples all, grow. A duty done, I

walk back into Asia. In my absence apples have spread romcentral China toward the harsher northwest even as ar asthe shores o the Mediterrainean and Atlantic. The try-workso time - changeul climates and the tides o glaciation andmountain building - have created two-score apple kinds outo the primordial one.

I ollow the way o the apple, still more than a millionyears rom home, slip between the Gobis arid steppes and theincredible wall o the Kunlun Mountains. Crumpled rangesall into dry basins. Rivers shout, then grow silent. Sear odesert heat one instant becomes sting o alpine snows thenext. Yet, there are green intervales o urgent invitation, well

watered and well wooded, along cool northern mountainfanks.

I am in an exquisite meadow. A orest o ruit treessurrounds the tawny grass. Most are apples, and oneabundant species is a miracle. Jealous o its qualities, itrejects the pollen o other apple kind, yet rom its own kindproduces trees, leaves and ruit o bewildering variety. I picka yellow apple striped with carmine. Savouring it, I hearheavy, mufed ootsteps. A bear shambles into sight, nosehigh and neck swinging. It stops at a tree, raises a oreleg,runs a paw with its long, curved nails along a laden branch.

Tian Shan and ChuanSmall ruit slips between the claws, but bigger apples areknocked to the ground. The bear crushes the ruit in its jawscider drips. The sweet ruit lures the bear into a near-renzyo gorging. Satiated, it waddles away like a urry puddingIn its gut are pips rom earlier meals, their chestnut coats

scratched and etched, the germ inside prepared or a newbeginning. The seeds eventually all rom the bear. Somend good ground.

A moment passes, and it is a million years. From myrise o ground I hear a new sound, the music o the humanvoice. I see a line o horses and camels with lumpy burdenseach animal led or ridden. The primeval landscape is dottedwith villages woven together by shuttling caravans. Ouo China they come with blue lapis lazuli, with dried rootsand leaves, with the bres spun by caged moths. Along coonorthern slopes o the vast Kunluns, the thousand miles othe Tian Sh ans, the will o ve ngers irresistibly draws

the hooves onward. Ponies eed in my meadow and in theringes o the ruit orest. They eat the sweetest apples, arecalled again to pack rope and bridle, plod west always wes- dropping seeds beside yet another singing coulee wherewater runs rom snowy heights to its end in the stoney andsandy sinks.

Thus the sweet apple o the Tian Shan moves as invisiblecargo to Tashkent, to Samarkand and Ashkhabad, to Tehranand Baghdad, and again to the abled Garden. Where it growsit remains true to itsel, yielding its honeyed and multi-huedmiracles to all.

My dream begins to eel strange. I stroke rom greenand limpid depths toward light. One moment a ormlessimmortal spectator, I am in the next instant possessed o abody, and o a beginning and end. I join the gardeners oChina, rst, then o Persia, who nd and develop the art ograting. It transorms the cultivation o grapes, pomegranatesgs, peaches, quinces, apples. The best that nature producesdoes not have to run the hazard o seed production, wherethe characters humans most covet oten disappear. Nomatter to what rooted orm the scion is grated, it alwaysproduces the exact variety commanded by its genome andmay be perpetuated through the centuries in the copy-cat

orchards o region ater region. Meanwhile, the Tian Shanmiracle, Malus pumila, let to its own lie, continues like theSorcerers Apprentice to produce thousands o new ormsFrom those thousands the sleepy bear once selected thebiggest and sweetest. Now the grating knie and selectiveeye o the gardener, loving both ood and prot, becomesmaster arbiter.

Suddenly I know that I dream. Fantasy dissolves. Herehas a name, an island called Chuan in the Salish Sea, anda specic locale, an orchard on a small arm. Now has anidentity: it is east o the sun, west o the moon, and soon night

Features


5/12 Fall 2007

will rise rom the low ground near the pond. I am, I think,a man imitating an orchardist. I hold a basket, the basketholds the harvest o 10 million years. In it is a decorativebranchlet o Lady apples, cheerully red and green, exactcopy o a ruit ound or brought by the westering soldiers o

the Roman Empire, saved rom barbarians later by Cisterceanmonks. There are Calvilles, lumpy and reckled but lively tothe taste. Claude Monet painted this apple; Richard Harris,ruiterer in East Kent, brought supplies o this kitchen queenor the enjoyment o Henry VIII during beheadings.

I have picked three Catheads in hope that they willbecome a well-cinnamoned pie. The Cathead was grown inEngland when Acadians and Pilgrims readied or sailings tothe New World. Given its productivity and rebellious shapes,twigs o the Cathead might well have been among the cargoo the tiny ships.

About the same time a ne, sweet, big apple was

discovered in Germany, brought in 1699 to Denmark and inthe 1820s to America. It was admired wherever it went orits truly memorable favour and its versatility in kitchen ordining room. This Gravenstein is my choice early in autumneither in its original red-striped yellow orm or in its ull redcoat, the git o a chance mutation discovered in 1858.

There are Kings in the orchard, too, their ull nameKing o Tompkins County, a chance seedling ound in NewJersey in the last years o the Eighteenth Century. By the mid1800s its ne colour, size, taste and keeping qualities hadmade it popular throughout the Northeast and sent it across

the continent to the Gul Islands, Vancouver Island andPuget Sound. Thoreau must have known o the Kings in theorchards o nearby Concord; how he could keep a straight acewhen he lectured about the superiority o puckery seedlingsover their insipid, tame cousins, I do not know. He certainlydidnt keep his ace straight when he ate the wildlings out-o-hand with his bad teeth. In airness, Thoreau did say thatwild apples must be eaten in the abandoned pastures wherethey are discovered, preerably by a walker already tired andmiserable in the gloaming o a November day, i they are tobe enjoyed. The Saunterers apple not even a saunterer caneat in the house, he said. The November air is the sauce to

eat it with . . . But i . . . I taste it in my chamber I nd it .. . sour enough to set a squirrels teeth on edge and make ajay scream.

A ew fat-round Bramley Seedlings are in my basket aswell, distinguishable without a glance by their slightly greasyskin. Destined to become the avourite culinary apple in theUnited Kingdom, the Bramley was in 1879 on its rst roundo public exhibits meant to assure its recognition by theRoyal Horticultural Society. On a cold January evening thatwinter Alexander Borodin sat in a Russian theatre to hear therst perormance o his opera, Prince Igor. At the end o Act

II young Polovtsian women sang with wistul beauty o theihome villages ar away in the Tian Shan highlands amongthe orests o ruit trees.

The Cortland came out o Cornells AgriculturaExperiment Station in 1915, one o thousands o new plant

varieties you could consider as the children o Liberty HydeBailey, naturalist, scientist, teacher, rural sociologist a giantin the 70 years o his ascendance, now hardly rememberedThe Cortland is counted a modern apple, but not so modernthat its natural bluish powder, so inconveniently dulling itsglossy, dark red skin, has been bred away.

I bu a Cortland on my torn sweater, an act that recallsbicycle rides on October Saturdays, the shed on JohnnyHodgkinsons arm where I leaned my black-and-orangebike. At 12 I am cheap enough as a labourer or Johnnyto set me picking windalls out o tangled grass and tiredleaves. I walk so many rows that way, so many to the let or

right, to nd the assigned trees. The smells o the tried-and-true varieties New England apple buyers expected in thosetimes wat to me: Golden Russets, Northern Spies, BaldwinsMcIntoshes, Rhode Island Greenings, Cortlands and that Jezebel, the Wol River, promising all but delivering only apretty ace. I set down my hand cart, kneel into the scatteringo yellow, red, and green ruit. Unwittingly imitating the bearo the Tian Shans, I rake sweet and hety apples rom thegoldenrods, the asters, the grass. When the cart lls I hauit to the cider shed. The juice will be jugged, the pomacewheeled into ermenting piles where yellow-jackets get tipsy

in the sun. Crows and blue jays will nd the trove. Theywill gulp pip and pulp, fy through the aairs o anotherday, deposit the seeds under roadside wires or beside oldwalls tumbled by the rozen- ground- swell that causesarguments between neighbours, and ulll their ancient roleas air reight provider to Malus pumila.

The dream is gone, the reverie done, and in the practicapresent I sort my harvest: this to the bin to be pressedthat to the stream o resh ruit I bring to Chuan villagemarkets. There, customers will pick over the ruit with morediscrimination, perhaps, than they used in choosing a mateSome will see only suraces, taking the rest on aith. Others

will exclaim over an apple whose like they have not seensince childhood, or put an apple to their nose, close theireyes, and eel the atavistic tug o historic and prehistoricmemory, and ar below that the appetites o Eohippus luredinto the edge o a ruit orest in central Asia.

The apple came long beore us and could long outlastus; meanwhile we shall raise our trees And pluck till timeand times are done, The silver apples o the moon, Thegolden apples o the sun.

Notes: The rst 40 million years o this essay are

Features

Continued on page 10



Features

and potentially invasive species in a particular ecosystem whether its in your garden or in a nature reserve you cancombat these ecological outlaws and come up with ways to

control or eradicate them.

The (Not So) GoodSome o the most ecologically successul invasive plants

in our region are native species. The landscape in whichwe live today has co-evolved with human intervention,long-standing patterns o land stewardship by First Nationspeoples. Plants took advantage o these repeated, diusedisturbance patterns by becoming more productive andabundant. The landscape was a dynamic patchwork oecosystems, each one adapting to a range o cultural practicesand ecological processes.

Today, many native species are expanding their rangebecause past disturbance patterns natural or cultural no longer keep them in check. Like the word invasive,we tend to view the word disturbance as negative becauseour recent experience has demonstrated that human-causeddisturbance, such as clearcuts, dam construction, housingdevelopments, can be destructive, extensive, and in somecases irreversible. Disturbances, on dierent scales, arenecessary or the maintenance o healthy ecosystems andbiological diversity over time. Some o the local nativespecies that could be considered as invasive include:Common Name Scientifc Name

Cleavers Galium aparineDouglas-r Pseudotsuga menziesiiField Mint Mentha arvensisFireweed Epilobium angustioliumNootka Rose Rosa nutkanaSnowberry Symphoricarpos albusStinging Nettle Urtica dioicaTrailing Blackberry Rubus ursinus Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor

The Bad

People are notorious or spreading plants around theworld. Captain Walter Colquhoun Grant is credited with(accused o?) rst introducing our most notable invasivespecies, Scotch broom, to Sooke in 1850, merely sevenyears ater the British colonization o Fort Victoria. Sincethat time, many species o plants have been introduced oragriculture, horticulture, or just because they reminded thebearer o home.

Garden escapes are plants that have been introduced,albeit well-intentioned, into our yards, and then have spreadpast the property lines and into the neighbouring ecosystems.

Ecological Outlawscontinued from page 1

Although oten lovely to have in your garden, these speciescan quickly get out-o-hand and change ecosystem unction,including altering soil nutrient regimes and cross-pollinatingand competing with native species. These species o plantscan be beautiul and benecial: some can be used in

technology (bamboo) or as ood (dandelion); some bringup mineral nutrients rom deeper soils with their taproots(common mullein), and; some are introduced because thesenaturalize so readily and completely (common oxglove,Caliornia poppy). The plant species commonly ound inwildfower mixes show exceptional invasiveness and thegardener should be very careul when using these assortmentso seeds. Dont be ooled, the species o wildfowers oundin most packaged mixes are not native to this region. I theinvasive behaviour o these species is not controlled and theplants are not contained, the environmental eects can bemonumental. A ew o the more common garden escapes

are:Common Name Scientifc NameBamboo Bambuseae (many species)Caliornia poppy Eschscholzia caliornicaChicory Cichorium intybusCommon Dandelion Taraxum ocinaleCommon Foxglove Digitalis purpureaCommon Mullein Verbascum thapsusCommon St. Johns Wort Hypericum peroratumCreeping Buttercup Ranunculus repensDoveoot Geranium Geranium molle

English Daisy Bellis perennisMorning Glory Convovulus arvensisOxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgarePeriwinkle Vinca majorPineapple Weed Matricaria discoideaPurple Dead Nettle Lamium purpureumQueen Annes Lace Daucus carotaRose Campion Lychnis coronaria Yellow Salsiy Tragopogon dubius

The UglyWe are not commenting on appearance but rather the

aptitude at which these species have colonized our regionallandscape. Many o these species have the ability to not onlyinvade but to orm dense monocultures that signicantlyreduce biodiversity and threaten the long-term viability oan ecosystem. Furthermore, once they become establishedin a new area, it is very dicult to eradicate them. Theseplants can dramatically transorm a landscape, going as aras to alter the soil chemistry o an area, making it dicultor native species to survive or recolonize. Many o thempossess undesirable traits, such as the growth o prickles

Continued on page 10


7/12 Fall 2007

Conservancy Events

October 12th (Friday): Garry Oak Ecosystems 101:Cultural History, Protection, and StewardshipCultural History, Protection, and Stewardship withEthnoecologist Brenda Beckwith. Garry oak ecosystems

have attracted, sustained, and been nurtured by peopleor millennia. Learn how you can play a positive rolein the conservation o Garry oak ecosystems. RobinAnnschild will open with short presentation onEndangered Ecosystems o Salt Spring Island. 7pm,Lions Hall.

October 22nd (Monday): The Last Wild Wolves booklaunch with author Ian McAllister. Through rsthandobservations, captivating photos, and rare video ootageon DVD, this book describes his experiences ollowingtwo packs o wolves, in the outer coastal islands andin the heart o the Great Bear Rainorest, one o the

last places on the planet where wolves live relativelyundisturbed by humans. The behaviour o these animals(which depend on the vast old-growth orest and itsgits) is documented in words and pictures as theysh or salmon in the all, target seals hauled out onrocks in winter, and give birth to their young in thebase o thousand-year-old cedar trees in spring. Mostinterestingly, scientic studies reveal a genetically distinctpopulation o wolves: one that is increasingly threatenedby human incursions. This event is co-sponsored withSalt Spring Books. 7pm at ArtSpring.

November 28th (Wednesday): Living by Water - to beconrmed.

Upcoming Events

http://www.saltspringconservancy.ca/events

Library Program takes oI you were in the library earlier this summer on any

Wednesday you may have noticed a lot o children headingdownstairs or their Catch the Reading Bug program. Sixo our Conservancy members entertained and inormed

the children about bees and bee keeping (Deb McGovern)mosquitos (Faye Mogensen), pond bugs (David Denning)wood bugs (Donna McWhirter), butterfies (NancyBraithwaite), and lady bugs and benecial insects (LindaGilkeson). Sometimes over thirty young people crowdedinto the lower room to build ponds, look at bee keepingclothes and equipment, turn a child into a mosquito andlook closely at wood bugs and other amazing insects. Thechildren were also read interesting stories or non-ctionrelated to the bug. As an observer I would say a good timewas had by all. The Conservancy and Library team should

denitely be repeated next year. Thanks to our wonderulvolunteer speakers or their time and energy and thanks tothe library sta including Sheila Spense and Clare Cullen.- Deborah Miller

Time Proves Right or 11th HourOn September 21, a sold out crowd packed The Fritz cinemato see the premiere o The 11th Hour, and raised over $1,000or the Salt Spring Island Conservancy. The opening nighevent was sponsored by the Pinch Group at Raymond Jamesa socially responsible investment company rom Victoriawith deep green roots, as a undraiser or the ConservancyLocal ecology advocates were keen to view the lm, whichexplores how humanity is impacting the earths ecosystemsand what we can do to change our course.

Following the lm, a panel consisting o Briony Penn

Frank Arnold, Elizabeth White, and Margery Moore, leddiscussion o the lm and oered inormation and tips onhow we can take action as individuals and a community tomake a dierence. The Fritz also donated $1 rom all tickesales rom the ollowing showings to the Conservancy as acelebration o the Fritz one-year anniversary!

Thanks to Michael Levy and The Fritz; the Pinch Groupthe panel; Salt Spring Books, Laura Matthias, and AaronHanord or our door prizes; TJ Beans or the bar stoolsDeirdre Rowland or the media, and Cliord Knox or thesound system.

Ecological Outlaw: the bullrogReport sightings at:www.saltspringconservancy.ca/bullrogMore ino:web.uvic.ca/bullrogs/



Inside SSIC

Anchorage Cove B&BBaker Beach CottagesBeddis House B&BBlue Horse Folk ArtBold Blu RetreatBootacomputerCaprice Heights B&BCedar Mountain StudiosCreekhouse Realty Ltd.Duck Creek FarmElsea PlumbingThe Fritz Cinema

Ganges Village MarketGreen Acres ResortIsland EscapadesIsland Star VideoKaren Dakin, AccountantMorningside Organic

Bakery & CaeNeil Morie, ArchitectMurakami Auto Body &

RepairsPharmasave

Thank you to our business members:

Pinch Group at RaymondJames

Pretzel MotorsRammed Earth CanadaRaven Isle GraphicsRock Salt CaeSandra Smith, Royal LePage

Salt Spring RealtySalt Spring Adventure Co.Salt Spring BooksSalt Spring Centre o YogaSalt Spring Centre School

Salt Spring Coee Co.Salt Spring KayakingSalt Spring SeedsSaltspring SoapworksSpindrit at Welbury PointSprague AssociatesStowel Lake FarmTerra Firma BuildersThrity Foods

Windsor Plywood

To Sta Biologist, Robin Annschild1 September 2007Dear Robin,

You have asked me to describe my experience with thebullrogs in our neighbourhood.

According to Stan Orchard, the biologist heading up theprogram to eradicate the bullrogs in the Langord, Glen andFlorence Lakes on Vancouver Island, the next two monthsare crucial or trying to stop the bullrogs rom migratingrom the home lakes to colonize new lakes. Female bullrogscan lay up to 25,000 eggs and the only predator large enoughto tackle the bullrog is the blue heron. A CBC radio programhas documented the comic and epic struggle that ensueswhen the heron takes on the bullrog unortunately thebullrogs greatly outnumber the herons so its urgent to ndother eradication means.

Stan Orchard says in an article in the Monday, August13, 2007 Times Colonist entitled Langord Keeps BullrogProgram Afoat that once populations are established andthe rogs start to grow they get big enough to swallow babyducks, baby turtles, garter snakes and orest nesting birdsthat come down to the waters edge to drinkit eliminatesall other species diversity at lakes, ponds and wetlands.Over the last three months, about 2,000 adult and juvenilebullrogs were electro shocked and scooped rom lakes andponds beore they had a chance to reproduce

Stan Orchard has received unding rom the CRD, WaterServices and CRD Parks and the City o Langord has agreed

to keep the program afoat ater the provincial governmentreused to provide any unding.

I live at 651 Stewart Road and our property containsa large pond (Tanner Swamp) that connects by TannerBrook to Stowel Creek. This is the rst year I have heard thedistinctive call o the bullrog although lately they have beensilent. The herons (I have two regulars) may have taken outmy bullrogs or they may have returned to Stowel Lake.

Over the last ew years, my neighbour, Wayne Langley,who lives on Saltair Lane just up rom the horse arm andStowel Lake, has killed about 30 bullrogs around his largepond using a pellet gun with a scope. I it werent or Waynes

quick action we might well be overrun by bullrogs in ourneighbourhood.

As well as decimating the local rogs, salamanders,sh, etc. the noise pollution caused by the deep distinctivemooing sound these bullrogs make - which can carry upto a kilometer - is most unpleasant and as the populationincreases you may eel you are living on a cattle arm.

It appears that the bullrogs have migrated up romStowel Lake. How they originally migrated to Salt Springis up or conjecture. Evidently the bullrogs were broughtwest and placed in rog arms to eed the urban taste or

French rog legs probably rom 1970-1990. The CBC radiodocumentary I heard suggested there is a large bullrogpopulation in the lower mainland especially in the Langleyarea. Obviously also on the Saanich Peninsula. As or SaltSpring, perhaps one o our ancy restaurants imported a

ew bullrogs way back then and this is the result. O coursebullrog eggs could have come over with aquatic suppliesetc.

Our pond has always supported a ew sets o mallardducks and many ducklings each year many o which I gotto see grow to maturity. For the past ew years I get one ortwo sightings o the baby ducklings and then they and theirparents are gone. Even the adult mallards are seldom in thepond now and I ear that soon they will not even return tonest here. I have been part o this property or over ortyyears and it is sad to witness these changes.

I think it is a critical time or local research and

education programs about the need to control and eradicatethe bullrog on SSI.Thank you. Joyce Campbell651 Stewart Road, SSI

Have you seen or heard a bullrog calling rom yourneighbourhood pond? Please contact the conservancyby phone 538-0318 or by reporting your sighting on ourwebsite: saltspringconservancy.ca

A Letter on bullrogs


9/12 Fall 2007

Brenda Beckwith and Karen Hudson at the Fall Fair

Blessed Unrest

Book Review

by Paul HawkensBook Review by Bob Weeden

One expression o ree will is dissent. Dissent jars usinto healing actions whose course and consequences are bigparts o our personal and societal histories. In all but the

latest pages o the human story dissenters could move toa dierent place, a place without people or where peoplealready lived whose rights were discounted, the indigenespushed aside. However, there has been no away or twocenturies, no virginal Shangri La. What does persist issucient dierence among regional cultures that those whocant accept one way o living, one pattern o believing, canhope to nd a congenial one elsewhere.

The broadest dissent o our time, and the one mostsignicant or the ate o all lie, cannot use the pilgrimsolution. Its catalyst is the world reach o monied andimperial power, which vacuums the globe or raw resources

and desperate labour, concentrates wealth while enlargingpoverty, and orces lives and societies toward norms thatserve imperial views. Those who hold power want the alseeciency and convenience o standardization o everythingpossible: structures o governance, technology, economy,education, and so on. As cultural dierences shrink, choiceis lost. It does little good to move away: the golden archesalready are there.

More importantly, what Ill call the Great Dissent is notprimarily against globalization, it is or localization theimprovement o real lives in real places. Put more generally,

it is the intuitive conviction that diversity in nature andhuman society is the only way toward survival and evolvingdevelopment. The Great Dissenters must not move even ithey could, because theirs is the cause o the honest andnatural diversity o rootedness.

Blessed Unrest (Paul Hawkens, 2007, Viking Press) isa anare or this global dissent. Others have sensed andnoted the movement, but Hawkens is the most recent anduniquely comprehensive view. His awareness crystallizedwhen he reviewed notes and business cards pressed inhis hand by audiences at the thousand lectures he gave inthe past 15 years (on ecology, economy and society). The

people must have been interested in his subjects, but theamazing diversity o their work astounded him. Hawkenthen undertook an earnest search, nally estimating that theGreat Dissent encompassed at least one million, perhaps twomillion, subversive groups. The vast majority are small,local, community-centred, non-hierarchical, independent,networked, and more oten than not given weight andresilience by women. Their aims are practical, not ideological.Each groups goals seem narrow; random samples o thegroups show their concerns scattered across the whole rangeo human interests. Some struggle to resurrect lost languages,

others restore abused land, seek land reorms or betterpaid work, set up market cooperatives, create communitywater, uel and energy supplies, improve schools, establishhealth care clinics. In spite o that seeming ragmentationtwo themes are universal: individual empowerment and

acceptance o responsibility, and a ull, passionate bond withlocal community at home in its landscape.

Hawkwns book is rich in insight, ull o passion andbright with hope. It is oddly similar to a book written 27years ago by Marilyn Ferguson. The Aquarian Conspiracy, likeBlessed Unrest, was conceived ater research in one realm in Fergusons case, studies o brain and mind unexpectedlyrevealed a societal movement. In the 1970s science wasreporting evidence that brain, mind and psyche are ar morepowerul and resilient than thought beore. Throughout theUnited States people were experimenting with ways to usethose discoveries to heal their own wounds, dissolve their

own psychic barriers and develop new capabilities. Thispersonal empowerment was leading to and being enhancedby eorts to improve communities, the trademark activism othe 70s. In a 1976 editorial called The Movement That HadNo Name Ferguson announced the societal transormationaoot. She later called it a conspiracy, not as a secretcollusion to overthrow power but in its root meaningbreathing together. The conspiracy was, she discoveredpopulist, local, pragmatic, always or something but otenas well, against local expressions o absentee-controlledlarge-scale orces. Without violent conrontation or even

articulated argument, dissenters devised ways o doingthings themselves. They opted out o the larger system As de Tocqueville wrote o an earlier movement against monarchy, its ollowers one by one noiselessly secede.

At their core both the 70s conspiracy and the 07 Dissentconsist o millions o people saying I can. There, i nowhereelse, is the wellspring o hope. When people say I cannot,the powerul, hearing helplessness and surrender, smileWhen one person, several people, a village, a planet ull ovillages, say We Can, the temples o power shudder.



Thank you letters fromscholarship winners Fiona andHeather Munro

School Program ReportWe are running the Stewards in Training Program again thisall with a new session or Grade 4 and 5 students, thanksto the BC Gaming Commission and the Parks and PeopleProgram, an initiative o Nature Canada and Parks Canada.

This program explores the natural and cultural heritageo another beautiul part o Salt Spring Island. ChrisHateld has generously welcomed us to the property tha

he has donated to BC Parks at Cusheon Cove, adjacent toRuckle Park. We are taking the students through a series ostations that study how the land provides and stewardshipo that land through time. Once again, we are able to runthis program because o the time donated by Conservancyvolunteers who enjoy being outside with children. Anyonewho is interested in being a volunteer or any o our Stewardsin Training programs is most welcome and can contact theConservancy oce or more inormation. Sarah Bateman

and thorns (English hawthorn, gorse, Canada thistle), theability to suppress the growth o other plants (laurel-leaveddaphne, Scotch broom), and extreme toxicity (poison

hemlock). Some o the most invasive plants are:Common Name Scientifc Name

English Hawthorne Crataegus monogynaEnglish Holly Ilex aquioliumEnglish Ivy Hedera helixCanada Thistle Cirsium arvenseCarpet Burweed Soliva sessilisGiant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianumGorse Ulex europaeusHimalayan Blackberry Rubus armeniacusLaurel-leaved Daphne Daphne laureola

Poison Hemlock Conium maculatumScotch Broom Cytisus scopariusOne might think that plants are rmly rooted in the

ground, but this is not necessarily so. They adapt, move,and spread, adjusting to new environmental conditions andaltered ecological processes. These plants thrive in a worldthat is largely dominated by the greatest invasive species oall, humans. We make dramatic changes to our landscapeand then complain about the weeds that take advantage oour manicured spaces. Many o these plants have oundtheir way into our natural areas and set up camp. Wemay never completely eradicate some o the plants that

were rst introduced over a hundred years ago, but thereare many more, such as carpet burweed and the intertidalinvasive grass, Spartina, that we can deal with through goodmanagement that includes research, education, and long-term monitoring. We also can make better choices aboutwhat we plant in our gardens and take responsibility or theproper management o these plants.

We have made our fowerbeds, not we must lie inthem.

based on Juniper and Mabberleys 2006 The Story o the Apple which gathers together years o genetic researcharchaeological detective work, and Asian expeditions

Apples did originate in central and southern China, didtravel by bird across the Bering Strait land bridge, did spreadby bird and later mammal into the Middle East and Europeeventually evolving into 46 species. One, Malus pumilaappeared 2 million years ago in the dynamic landscape andclimate o the Tian Shans, the Mountains o Paradise. Someo the anecdotal details o the essay also are rom this newbook, some rom books written by apple anciers. You wilrecognize the trivia rom my own lie and orchard.

The nal quote is rom The Song o Wandering Aengusby W. B. Yeats.

Chuan is the early name o Salt Spring Island, BritishColumbia, given by people whose ancestors might havetrudged across the oothills o the Tian Shan.

Tian Shan and Chuancontinued from page

Ecological Outlawscontinued from page


11/1211Fall 2007

Editor: Elizabeth NolanLayout: Brian Smallshaw

Board o Directors:

Samantha Beare (Treasurer)Maureen BendickJean BrouardCharles DorworthRobin Ferry

Jean Gelwicks (Secretary)Ashley HilliardMaxine Leichter (Vice-president)Steve LeichterDeborah Miller

Jane PetchBrian SmallshawBob Weeden (President)Doug Wilkins

The Salt Spring Island

Conservancy#201 Upper Ganges Centre,338 Lower Ganges Rd.Mail: PO Box 722,Salt Spring Island BC

V8K 2W3Oce hours : Tues/Wed/Thurs10 am - 3 pmPhone: (250) 538-0318Fax: (250) 538-0319Email:[email protected]

Web site:www.saltspringconservancy.ca

The Acorn is the newsletter o the Salt Spring Island Conservancy, a local non-prot society supporting and enablingvoluntary preservation and restoration o the natural environment o Salt Spring Island and surrounding waters. We welcomeyour eedback and contributions, by email to [email protected] or by regular mail. Opinions expressed hereare the authors, not subject to Conservancy approval.

Membership Application Youth (Under 16) 1 yr @ $15 _

Senior or Low-Income: 1 yr @ $20 _ 3 yr @ $60 _

Regular Single 1 yr @ $25 _ 3 yr @ $75 _Regular Family 1 yr @ $35 _ 3 yr @ $105 _

Group/School 1 yr @ $35 _ 3 yr @ $105 _

Business 1 yr @ $55 _ 3 yr @ $165 _

Name: ______________________________________

Address: ____________________________________

____________________________________________

Postal Code: _________________________________

Phone: ______________________________________

Email: _______________________________________

rPlease send me the Acorn via e-mail.

(We NEVER give out members email addresses to anyone!)rThis is a renewal or an existing membership

Donations In addition to my membership ee above, I have enclosed

my donation in the amount o:

$50 _ $100 _ $250 _ $500 _ $1000_ $2500 _ $5000 _

Other ___________

Tax receipts will be provided or donations o $20 or more.

Volunteer OpportunitiesWe have a Volunteer Application Form

that best describes areas you wish to

help in. For now, which areas interestyou? Please check o:

r Oce Work

r Landowner Contact

r Inormation Table at events

r Education Events

r Eco-Home Tour

r Inormation Table at SSI Fall Fair/

Crat Fairs

rJoining a SSIC Committee (Land

Restoration & Management,

Fundraising, Covenants,Acquisitions, Education,

Stewardship, or Environmental

Governance)

r Other: _______________________

Printed on 18% recycled paper

Essential details

Items Wanted:Donations o any o the ollowing grateully received.

Ofce Items Other Items Air Miles Saws, clippers

Speaker phone Canadian Tire $Field guides Hand secateurs

We would also appreciate donations o gits, such as newbooks or items related to nature or conservation, to give toour educational speakers, who volunteer their time.

Ofce Update

Small Things Help!Please remember to put your shopping receipt in the greenConservancy receipt box at GVM and you can get a ThrityFoods SMILE card at the Conservancy oce and 5% o yourpurchase will go to our School Program.. You can also credi

the Conservancy when you take back your bottles to the SalSpring Reund Centre (Bottle Depot at GVM). Every little bihelps!

Ganges PO Box 722Salt Spring Island BC

V8K 2W3

Just Pull It!Any time is a good time to pull or cut invasives like broom

and gorse, but the wet months are especially good or pulling.Call the Conservancy oce (538-0318) or Brian Smallshaw(653-4774) to borrow a broom puller.

Staff members Laura Matthias and Brenda Beckwith


12/12

40026325Ganges PO Box 722Salt Spring Island BC

V8K 2W3

Documents

Fall 2007 Acorn Newsletter - Salt Spring Island Conservancy