Winter 2008 Acorn Newsletter - Salt Spring Island Conservancy

8/8/2019 Winter 2008 Acorn Newsletter - Salt Spring Island Conservancy

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Acornthe

The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Number 37, Winter 2008

http://saltspringconservancy.ca/events

Transitions:

SSIC gets a new Executive Director

Inside:Presidents Page .................2Directors Desk ..................3Library Program ................3Green Calendar .................3Yellow Montane Violet ......4Stewardship Project ..........5

Natural HistoryWinter Pond ...................6Events

Calendar .........................8Inside SSIC

Stewards in Training .....10Book Review

Sacred Journey ..............11Environmental Action

Day ...............................12Peregrine Falcon ..............13Essential Details ...............15

Karen is and always has been passionate about the

environment. Many o the photos I ound showed Karen onthe land; searching, observing, appreciating and sharing herpassion with others. You couldnt help but eel excited andpositive around her. Karens success resulted rom her abilityto channel her passion and commitment into ocussedthinking and actions. A very quick learner who initiatedmeaningul projects which oten included partnerships withmany on and o island organisations.

The Eco Home Tour wasnt just a undraising event, italso contributed to the understanding o sustainable livingor the public. Our stewardship projects werent just grantdriven they resulted in the protection o land and rare species

through land owner contacts. The respect and the presencethat the SSIC enjoys in the community is the result o Karenswork over the past six years: From a small, cramped room, to an inviting, ecient ocewith wired workstations or our; From no stewardship projects to a record $114,000 in2007; From no employees to ve or most o last year; From 125 members to 910 and counting; From a small society, to a large, respected , well knownenvironmental conservancy;

From a limited budget and no assets to an organizationthat owns land and has unds.And wow, can Karen multi-task, she put us all to shame

(well me anyway). Karen never did only one thing at once! Iwondered how she could be on the phone, on the computer,and be totally aware o everything going on in the oce, allat the same time.

Im going to miss Karen. I respect her passion, herdevotion to her daughter, her common sense, and herpriorities. Im going to miss her and Im going to miss Chet,too. Samantha Beare

It is a daunting task taking over the job o running the

Conservancy: there are daily administrative chores and longterm planning strategies to learn, and there is the challengeo trying to ll Karen Hudsons hiking boots.

Linda Gilkeson,who took over as theConservancys ExecutiveDirector this January, isprobably not trying to llanyones boots but her own but i anyone is qualied

to bring the organizationthrough the next leg o itsjourney, she is the womanto do it. We recently shareda pot o tea and talkedabout her thoughts on hernew position.

Lindas impressiveresume includes workingwith the provincial

Karen >> >> Linda

Continued on page

Linda in her oce


2/16 The Acorn - Newsletter o the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

In spite o our vows, we will let the link between Karen andthe ne and practical things she accomplished blur andade with the detritus o time, like a trail too rarely traveled.In spite o our personal certainty tonight we will not longremember the way Karen strode with us through dripping

woods to the crest o Mt. Erskine, or looked up rom her deskand smiled her democratic greeting, or kept alert throughturtle-race meetings.

Karen will be orgotten as I and thee will be, and that isas it should be. We live only in our own time. We will makeroom or others.

What matters is that or Karen, her time with us wasone when riendships were made, when her understandingo people and the meaning o community grew apace, when

her daily achievements were tangible and satisying. What matters is that in Karens years with us our

burgeoning membership and loyal volunteers elt served,supported, energized.

There is a depth, I believe, at which we and all liearound us share an awareness, a memory below commonmemory, a mute but resonant partnership. I that is true,there is a permanent record in our community, as there is inhill and orest, o Karens time.

There is, or example, a harum-scarum, boy in schoolwho doesnt yet know the many decades he will remember a

Things That Last

Presidents Page

Volunteer wardens Terry Ridings and Larry Appleby building anexclosure or Yellow Montane Violets on Mt. Tuam

spring day at Ford Lake when, blindolded, he elt the coldquick strike-and-go o leaping treerog, the day he tasted hisrst thatcher ant, a lemon spark on his tongue.

There is a grown woman who tends her woods withnew understanding and unquenchable love.

But your woods are so wild! a riend exclaims.I am as chaotic as my orest, she replies. The woods

are as orderly as my lie.We witness under the same surprising sky.This is your work, Karen.An oak and a r and an arbutus watch sun and storm

and sea together, clinging to ancient rock, chancing thecompusions o circumstance as all lie must. To be given thechance to take your chances: this is the rst hope o beingThis these three have, because o you.

Dont ask that we always remember, that neuron and

synapse, disk and le, preserve your mark orever.Know, instead, that your song has been heard, that it is

and always will be a melody in the Islands grand choraleThese, your works, have that ineable and timeless qualityKeats must have had in mind:

A thing o beauty is a joy orever.Its loveliness increases, it will neverPass into nothingness, but will keepA bower or us, and a sleepFull o sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.


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Directors DeskAs o the rst o January I took up the Executive Directorpositionand I have been running ast ever since to catch upwith the wide variety o activities o the Conservancy. Apartrom the enjoyable experience o having a job so close tohome, I am really excited by this opportunity to play a part

in work o the Conservancy. I know it will take me awhile toget up to speed (Karen is a hard act to ollow!), and I ask youto bear with me while I learn the ropes.

In the short time I have been at the job so ar, I havebeen very impressed with the knowledge and commitmento our sta, our Board and the other volunteers that I havemet. I look orward to meeting many more o you as wework together on Conservancy projects this year.

Something I would like you to check i you haveprovided us your email address or messages is whether youhave been receiving email rom the Conservancy. We have avery high number o rejected messages coming back rom

various servers, which may be because we no longer have acurrent e-mail address or you (please send us an update ithat is the case: [email protected] ).

It may also be because your spam ltering sotware isintercepting the messages. This has been a problem or anumber o our members, so i you havent been receivinge-mail, please check your spam older. I you nd theconservancy messages in the spam older you can designatethe address as not spam or something similar, dependingon your sotware. Linda Gilkeson

Directors Desk

New Conservancy Green 2009 Calendar

Because o a special donation by Michael Levy, theConservancy is producing a green calendar or 2009 that willgo on sale this spring in the Saturday Market. All proceeds

rom this calendar will go towards unding our Stewards inTraining school program or 2008/9.

Michael came to the Conservancy and said he was goingto do a 2008 calendar but ran out o time (running The Fritztheatre). He wondered i we would like his images and thework he had done on the design and set-up, including abusiness idea, as a donation. He thought the calendar wouldmake a good undraiser or the Conservancy. The SchooCommittee had been looking or new ways to und theSchool Program, so we said yes, and thank you Michael orthinking o us!

The School Committee quickly put together a CalendarCommittee made up o school program volunteers (BristolFoster, Claudia Pickstone, Donna McWhirter, TangacheeGoebl, Victoria Skinner, David Denning and Jean Gelwicks)and went to work.

Part o Michaels business plan was to have greenbusinesses sponsor each month o the calendar. This wehave done and are proud to announce that we have justabout sold the entire year. Our green business partners areSSI Cheese, Moonstruck Cheese, The Salt Spring CoeeCompany, Salt Spring Books, Harbour House, Foxglove, ThePinch Financial Group, Stowel Lake Farm, Gul Island Schoo

District 64, Harlands Chocolates, SS Nature Works, and TheFritz Threatre. We are pleased to endorse these businessesand happy they want to support the school program.

When we say green calendar we dont just meabecause the Conservancy is producing it, it is green. Oreven that our sponsors are trying to be green as possibleWe mean our calendar will be produced on 100% recycledpaper; is the size it is because this means no paper is wastedin the printing o the calendar; the inks used are the mostenvironmentally riendly and there is no extra paper wastedin packaging. Careul thought has gone into making thiscalendar earth riendly.

There will be a ormal launch o the calendar on April20th, 2008 at The Fritz Cinema. Conservancy volunteers wilbe selling them at the market, Fall Fair, educational eventsand Christmas crat airs.

Please look or our new calendar and support ourantastic, one o a kind school program. We want to thankMichael Levy, all members o the Calendar Committee andour Green Sponsors. I this calendar is a success, we hope tomake a Conservancy green calendar an annual undraisingproject. Jean Gelwicks

SSIC Partners Again with the Library

Last summer six o our members presented interactive talksto children ages 4 to 9 at the library. The theme was Catchthe Reading Bug and our members presented topics such asbees (Deb McGovern), mosquitoes (Faye Morgensen), woodbugs (Donna McWhirter), dragonfies (Nancy Braithwaite),ladybirds and other insects that eat aphids (Linda Gilkeson),pond bugs (David Denning).

This time the program runs on the last Friday o themonth rom January to June, as well as Wednesdays andFridays o spring break. The library sta members read astory to the children and our members provide an interactive,hands-on talk with lots o visual aids.

Speakers or the spring series are: Nancy Braithwaite,Bristol Foster, Jean Gelwicks, Deb McGovern, BrianSmallshaw, Andrea LeBorgne, and David Denning.

So see you at the library with your child, grandchild,neighbour or riend. The time is 1pm and the un awaits. Deborah Miller

Education/Schools



When og rolls over the mountain even the most amiliarlandmarks a skeletal snag, a leaning r or a stately Garryoak become strangers looming abruptly out o the mist.Visibility drops to 5m or less and even the brightly colouredjackets o volunteers Kees Visser, Lynn Thompson and Mark

Ritchie ade to cloudy white. We are all moving slowly,staring at the ground, a handul o bamboo skewers in ourhands. Every time we spot the telltale gray-green hairy leao a Yellow Montane Violet, we mark it with a skewer, oneo over 10,000 eventually purchased or the project (you getodd looks when you go into Pattersons and buy 500 shishkebab skewers, and they start asking questions when youcome back the next day and do the same thing!).

We are mapping and counting the ederally threatenedYellow Montane Violet, one small plant at a time. The plan wasa simple one, suggested by Dr. Hans Roemer in 2006 whenwed ound ar more patches o YMV on the mountain than

anyone thought were there. We had estimated the populationon the mountain to be a couple o thousand. Hans idea wasthat rather than estimate the population by marking o plotsand counting within the plots and then multiplying by thearea covered by the plants as he had done or several years atthe site o the largest population o YMV in Canada, SomenosGarry Oak Preserve, we would actually count individualplants. We would use pin fags to mark the perimeter o apatch o YMV, then use skewers to mark individual plantsstarting at one side o the polygon and working towards theother. Hans gave me instructions to purchase skewers and

paint the tops o them white, to increase visibility. When Iarrived at the site on that rst sunny morning in April with1500 white tipped skewers in a box, both Hans and PaulLinton, tireless warden o Salt Springs Ecological Reserves,laughed, saying well never need that many!. We beganstaking the polygon which we believed to be the largest.The violets grow so tightly together here that they ormed asolid carpet. Hours later, we had used all 1500 skewers andhad begun pulling up and counting them. Count and dropa bundle o 100 and then you can walk around picking upand counting bundles o 100, instructed Hans. That rstpolygon contained 4530 plants more than we had thought

grew on the whole mountain! It was by the time wed countedabout 2/3 o it that we began to reassess this project. Countevery single yellow montane violet on Mt. Tuam? What werewe thinking? These are the sort o thoughts that go throughyour mind as you careully place the 1500th skewer into theground beside a small plant, looking ahead at a miniatureorest o violets, extending as ar as your eyes mere inchesrom the ground can see. I began to think about ways tobring in reinorcements, or it was clear that the three o uswould not be able to complete this task in the short windowwhen the violets are up and beore the grass overtakes them,

making them virtually impossible to nd.In the end, a staggering 19,278 plants were counted

conrming this population as the second largest in Canada22 volunteers contributed 206 hours to this project.

Once we mapped the size and location o the patches

o Yellow Montane Violet, we built a number o exclosuresto keep out sheep. In the next ew years, we will assess theimpact o grazing by sheep on the yellow montane violet bycomparing how violets are inside the exclosures with thoseoutside them.

The SSIC and the violets would like to thank theollowing contributors to this project we couldnt havedone it without you!

Volunteers, consultants and sta: Amelia Argu, An Anderson, Ann Richardson, Brenda Beckwith, CarolyMasson, Chris Junck, Dave, Todd and Yannick rom GOERTHarp Gill (Transport Canada), Jane Richardson, Joan Werner

Joe Crowley, Kate Leslie, Kees Visser, Kinkade MatthiasLarry Appleby, Laura Matthias, Lugh Annschild-LoveringHans Roemer, Lynn Thompson, Mark Ritchie, Paul LintonRachel Ogis, Saraphina Ogis, Terry Ridings.

Funders: Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team (GOERT)Interdepartmental Recovery Fund, Salt Spring FoundationThe Government o Canada Habitat Stewardship Programor Species at Risk, Vancouver Foundation. Robin Annschild, SSIC Biologist

Yellow Montane Violets Found

Yellow Montane violet, Viola praemorsa praemorsa


5/16 Winter 2008

We thought you might enjoy reading about some othe highlights o the Conservancys th grant-undedstewardship project.

I you live in the areas o the island where the Sharp-tailed Snake are ound, you may have attended one o our

Sharp-tailed Snake neighbourhood meetings sort o like asnake tupperware party. We typically invite landowners closeto a known site or the snake and give a short presentationon the snakes. We invite landowners to participate in ourSharp-tailed Snake detection project by signing up or a sitevisit by our own snake expert Laura Matthias and placingarticial cover objects on your land to help nd the snake.Using this technique landowners have more than quadrupled

the number o known STS sites on SSI rom our knownsites when our Species at Risk projects began in 2004 to 18known sites in 2007!

Our project wasnt only about snakes! Our projectmanager Brenda Beckwith gave a presentation aboutGarry Oak Ecosystems last all and provided stewardshipinormation to several landowners with Garry OakEcosystems on their land.

It was exciting to count and map the second largestpopulation o Yellow Montane Violet in Canada this spring onMt. Tuam as part o this project (see the article in this Acorn).I you live in Peregrine Falcon or Phantom Orchid habitat,you may have recently received a letter rom us inviting you

to get in touch should you happen to see one o these rarebeauties (see the article on the Peregrine Falcon in this issueo The Acorn or more details). We will soon be searching ousome old historical sites or Macouns Meadowoam a smalephemeral plant that grows in vernal pools in early spring

It is known rom Ruckle Park and there is one historicalsighting rom the shoreline southeast o Ruckle Park. Everyyear as part o our project we hire a program evaluator topoll some o our project participants to help us evaluate theeectiveness o our program and improve it in uture yearsI you participated in our project in any way, you may receivea call rom Jill Peers who will be doing the evaluation or usthis year.

The Conservancy received $101,645 in unding romthe ollowing unders in 2007: the Government o CanadaHabitat Stewardship Program or Species at Risk, Vancouve

Foundation, Victoria Foundation (Islands Trust Fund)Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, and the Salt SpringIsland Foundation. Any o you who dropped by the oce inthe last months o 2007 probably heard the sound o severacomputers groaning with the eort o writing anotherround o grant applications to und our 2008 program Well, perhaps the computers werent groaning, but youhard-working sta were! We will nd out in April whetherour eorts were successul in securing unding to continueour work with landowners to locate and protect our raresttreasures the rare species o Salt Spring Island. Robin Annschild, Biologist

Stewardship Project Wraps Up

Photo by Paul Linton


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7/16 Winter 2008

Natural History

is yellow-orange. A thicket o wild roses, deep wine-red inwinter thaw, becomes a thorned cavern, beloved by quail, inheavy snows.

Then a storm comes, wind an audible sur at rst,drowning the neighbours woods. Then it pounces on my

surprised rs. For an instant only the high branches sway,then the middle limbs wave in the expanding wind, andnally the massive trunks lean, return, lean again. Battalionso air swarm the orest. Chaos comes as an unpredictable

orce meets innitely varying resistance rom tall or shorttrees, thicker or thinner trunks, limbs within or beyondshelter, fexible or sti. Branchlets snap, cones rattle to theground. Millions o Douglas-r seeds whirl like miniaturemaple samaras onto new ground.

Do you know Emily Dickinsons poem, The Sky Is

Low?

The sky is low, the clouds are mean,A traveling fake o snowAcross the barn or through a rutDebates i it will go.A narrow wind complains all dayHow someone treated him.Nature, like us, is sometimes caughtWithout her diadem.

That is one truth; I have elt it. There is an equal truth - Ithink Ms Dickinson would agree which is that even when

the clouds are mean and the wind whines in complaint, the

diadem may glitter.When snow and ice beset the pond, then, willy-nilly, I

study snow and ice. In the subarctic winters such a watchcan be a slow business. Here the winter air wanders aboveand below the thresholds where ice and water become each

other. A pond rarely looks the same two days running. Foreyes accustomed to fickering screens the action may drag,but it pleases me.

Here is a sequence in December:The pond reezes, stays clean and gleaming all day.

Night brings a snow squall, two centimeters o snow cover

the ice. The snows weight sinks the ice ever so little. Allaround the shore a dark band orms where water leaks upinto the snow. Beore the dark zone completely rings thepond, two, then three, grey circles appear in the whitenesso center ice. Perhaps leaves caught by reezing water laterabsorbed cloud-ltered sunlight and became weak spots. Or

unevenly expanding ice ractured at pressure points. Hourby hour the dark peripheral band and stray circles expand.By days end there are ten circles, a ew touching another orthe shore band.

The temperature holds just above reezing. In themorning the remaining circles look like car wheels: black

hub, dark grey hubcap, white tire. Each circle is a meter ortwo across. The ragged black center looks like a starsh andthere ancy runs amok. Anyone can see that several starsh

either ell rom the sky or burst out o the pond overnight.They grow tired o too-salty meals, I muse, and clasp

their arms around diving cormorants, hitch-hiking to thesky. Giddy with air, they all, swooping like risbees, andplunge with a bruising bellyfop through the thin, thawingpond ice. I wish it werent so deep, so dark; I might nd

them there yet.Another day, another and colder night. The mushy snow

rereezes. Looking through the wisp o steam rom hot coeeI see a transormed pond. There is a broad, eatureless bandaround it, taking up hal o its area. Within that zone is awandering-edged polygon, its shape roughly refecting the

uneven rim o the pond. Inside the polygon are alternatinglight and dark ribbons, the several outermost ollowing theedge o the polygon but, inward, re-orming into squareswithin squares. There is even more complexity: each lighband actually is made o alternating light-dark transversestripes: a necktie gone aquatic. I sketch the patterns, ponder

the action o reeze-thaw pressures I know nothing aboutIn the end I put the cerebral stu aside. Im happy to haveound the diadem.

I must be true to mysel, and give the last word to abird.

Winter is losing its hold. Tree rogs think they have

speech to make, work on a drat. I was stopped in my tracks

yesterday, as I walked past our leafess perennials, by theloud, sweet odor o witch-hazel in bloom. To me, its contraswith the neutered and chilled wet-earth smell o winter wasas great as seeing a sarong in Beijings sea o Mao jacketsToday I look at the morning rom my usual perch. The pond

is dusky and still. The ar bank is a semicircle with an accenline dividing refection rom original. I hear a goose and lookup to see two. They few over the roo above me and arealigned or the pond. Their wings are set in a glide, theirbacks the warmest o browns and as imbricated as shakeson a barn.Their glide is too ast or landing. Just a wingspan

apart, they lit their breasts, cup their wings and hold faredtails stify against the resisting air. For an instant theirbodies are twinned, lovely brown against the glossy pondthe white U o their tails the only vivid lines on the entiredark canvas.

The birds land, swim to the open box on a post driven

into the shallows. The goose fies onto the box, steps in. Headerect and alert, she sits down on the soaked and moldy hayrom last years nest. A moment only, then she jumps downto join the gander.

It will be a noisy spring on the pond. Bob Weeden



Features

Continued rom page

Linda Gilkesongovernment on environmental issues since 1991. She beganby putting together programs to reduce and eliminatepesticide use, and since rom 1992 until 2007 headed theState o Environment Reporting Unit. She is also a well-known

author and teacher o gardening and pest management.

With State o the Environment reports occurring everyve years and the most recent led in December, the timingwas excellent or Linda to take over or Karen without leavingher responsibilities unmet. We just nished the ourth Stateo the Environment Report and the best one yet, Lindasaid. I was able to nish up the project and have it saely

delivered and out the door, including having it posted on theweb. Beore taking over ull time in January, Linda learneda lot about the Conservancys broader picture by attendingDecembers strategic planning session.

Linda sees the job o Executive Director as a balancebetween giving direction and taking direction; while she willbe acting at the direction o the Board, and she will also be acentral person with a great deal o responsibility.

In terms o her administrative tasks, her years workingwith the government have given Linda great organizationskills and problem solving capabilities. Heading a group o

65 people rom all dierent levels and areas o knowledgekeeping them active and on top o things, and getting thereports in on time has certainly honed her managementskills.

Linda is also very excited by upcoming big projects

including a major undraising campaign. What we reallywant to do just make sure theres nancial stability, sheexplained. This means keeping the great core pieces great such as habitat stewardship, public education, and landcovenants. It also means nding more options to keep tothe path that the Conservancy wants to go.

While the Conservancy is certainly blessed to havacquired Linda on the team, she has equally anticipated theopportunity to work with the organization.

Linda has also been looking orward to the chance togive up commuting to Victoria; not only will she leave herhouse and get back home at reasonable hours, shell be able

to see her garden in the daylight and even attend nighttimeunctions not permitted by a 5 a.m. wake up routine.

Ive missed out on a lot o things I would have likedto participate in, she said, adding that she looks orwardto meeting all the Conservancy members. She also plans ongetting to know the island a lot better geographically, makinga systemic eort to hike everywhere, including nding atrail rom her home on Mount Belcher to the oce.

With undraising, benets and long term protectionplans in her uture, as well as continuing to teach masterclasses on gardening in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island

Linda may nd she still isnt getting time to hike everywhereBut its sae to say that we look orward to her progress asmuch as she does. Elizabeth Nolan

Dr. Hans Roemer using skewers to count Yellow Montane Violetson Mt. Tuam

Board member Charles Dorworth and Karen Hudson mount signor the Mt. Erskine Conservation Area


9/16 Winter 2008

Conservancy Events

February 15 (Friday): Co-sponsored event with Islandpathways: Peter Buckland rom Cougar AnniesGarden, 7pm, Community Gospel Chapel.

March 4, 5 (Tuesday, Wednesday): Building GreenConerence & Tradeshow. Exhibiting green buildingtechnologies available on Vancouver Island, FlorenceFilberg Centre, Courtenay BC.

March 14 (Friday): Co-sponsored event with Trail andNature Club: Wayne Campbell on Shore Birds, 7pm,Lions Hall.

March 15 (Saturday): Wayne Campbell workshop andwalk to three marine sites.

April 11 (Friday): Keith Ferguson, lawyer withEcojustice Canada; ormerly Sierra legal deense, 7pm,Lions Hall.

April 20 (Sunday): Formal launch o the 2009Conservancy Green calendar, at The Fritz Cinema.

May 16 (Friday): Matt Fairbarns on Native Plants,7pm, Lions Hall.

May 17 (Saturday): Native Plant walk.

June: Look or announcement or Bullrog Project event.

Upcoming Events

http://www.saltspringconservancy.ca/events

The Legend o Cougar AnnieDuring the early years o this century, pre-emptions o landwere commonplace on the West Coast. In Clayoquot soundonly one wilderness homestead has endured. This is thehomestead o Ada Annie Arthur, well known on the coast as

Cougar Annies Garden.Margaret Horseld and her book Cougar Annies Garden

won the Haig-Brown Prize at the 2000 BC Book AwarenessSome 16,000 copies o the book have been sold and it is nowin its third printing. This story continues to cast its spell.

Margaret, along with Peter Buckland (who single-handedly restored and embellished the gardens, and whohas a story as interesting as Cougar Annies), will be hereFebruary 15, 2008 rom 7:00 to 9:30 at the CommunityChapel to give a slide show and talk. A suggested donationo $5.00 (includes rereshments) will help cover costs. This

event is being co-sponsored by the Paddling Club and theConservancy.This talk should be o interests to Garden Club members

history bus, hikers, kayakers, naturalists and anyone whoenjoys a good story.

Our school program gets kids into the woods!

Lugh and Paul nd Yellow Montane Violets

Karen Hudson keeping her dog on a leash on Mt. Erskine



Inside SSIC

Anchorage Cove B&BBaker Beach CottagesBeddis House B&BBlue Horse Folk ArtBold Blu Retreat

BootacomputerCaprice Heights B&BCedar Mountain StudiosCreekhouse Realty Ltd.Duck Creek FarmElsea PlumbingFoxglove Farm & Garden

SupplyThe Fritz Movie TheatreGanges Village MarketGreen Acres ResortGul Island School District

Harbour House Hotel &Restaurant

Harlans ChocolatesIsland EscapadesIsland Star VideoKaren Dakin, AccountantMonsoon CoastMoonstruck CheeseMorningside Organic

Bakery & CaeNeil Morie, Architect

Thank you to our business members:Murakami Auto Body &

RepairsPharmasaveThe Pinch GroupPretzel Motors

Rammed Earth CanadaRaven Isle GraphicsRock Salt CaeSandra Smith, Royal LePage

Salt Spring RealtySalt Spring Adventure Co.Salt Spring BooksSalt Spring Centre o YogaSalt Spring Centre SchoolSalt Spring CheeseSalt Spring Coee

Company

Salt Spring KayakingSalt Spring Natureworks

Natural FoodsSalt Spring SeedsSaltspring SoapworksSpindrit at Welbury PointSprague AssociatesStowel Lake FarmTerra Firma BuildersThrity Foods

Windsor Plywood

The Conservancys Stewards in Training School program hasgrown rom one grade to seven grades in our years. TheConservancy has a crucial need to compile all the inormationcreated about our program into a manual so we dont lose it.In the our years we have had our coordinators, and over 60

volunteers involved in the delivery o this program. Someo this inormation is in the heads o past coordinators andvolunteers, various les and notes stored in notebooks andboxes.

We need a manual we can give to new coordinators,volunteers and teachers, principals, school trustees and otherinterested individuals and groups. Lucky or us MountainEquipment Coop (MEC) understood our need and hasgiven us a grant o $3500 or our coordinators to pull allthe inormation together and put it into one place. Thismanual will explain the purpose o the program, the mainlearning objectives, curriculum links at each grade level,

and will serve as a how to or running a program, romrecruiting and training volunteers to thanking volunteersand more. This manual will be on our web page or anyoneto access and also in printed orm. Volunteers, teachers, andother conservancy groups will be able to access the manual.We would like to very much thank MEC or their generousdonation that has made this project possible.More Good News About Grants

Besides the grant rom MEC we have also received twoother generous grants this year. One is rom the GamingCommission (Direct Access Program Grant) who we rely on

every year to support the school program, and the other isrom the TD Friends o the Environment Foundation. Thesetwo grants insure our program will be oered again this year.We cant say thank you enough to our grantors.Volunteers Needed or the Spring

The Conservancy will be running three Stewards inTraining programs this winter and spring and is activelyrecruiting volunteers.

Volunteers typically spend one or more days at one oour beautiul eldtrip sites, working with small groups ochildren. We provide a training session or the volunteersso they can decide i they would like to shepherd a small

group around to activities or teach an activity. I you enjoyspending time in nature with children, please come to atraining session to see what the program is all about. Wetry to have two or three adults or each group o 6 to 8students, so enthusiastic volunteers are always needed andwelcomed.The upcoming programs are:

March (rst 3 weeks), grade 8s at Ganges Harbourstudying reshwater and marine water chemistry andinvertebrates.

April/early May, grade 2/3s, at Ford Lake studying

wetland ecosystem. May/early June, grade 6/7s at Andreas Vogt Nature

Reserve studying Garry Oak ecosystem.Please contact the Conservancy oce, 538-0318 or

[email protected], i you are interested in

supporting any o these programs as a volunteer.

Stewards in Training Program News

Lunch break during one o our school programs


11/1611Winter 2008

Jean Gelwicks instructing students in the schools program

Time or a New Story

Book Review

Review: Sacred Journey: Git o Earth and Spirit.Robert C. Wild*, Traord Publ. 2007.

A lietime ago Methodist Sunday-school teachers told me achilds version o the Christian story. Later I began to absorb

more complicated versions. Then amily, proessional lieand environmental activism lled my days. Religion dritedinto a rarely-opened closet.

I re-opened it in an odd way. For close to 20 years aninherent optimism propelled me through one environmentalcampaign ater another. Surely, I thought, our argumentsor the average Joes common sense will win the day soon,and well all see the error o our ways. No matter how manybattles were won and there were enough to keep hopesspark rom winking out success in the war daily outran ourreach. Why do the Philistines keep coming, I wondered.Some time in the late 70s I stumbled onto a new and growing

trove o essays suggesting an answer: the undamental out-datedness, i not wrong-headedness, o parts o the Christianstory.

This is where Sacred Journey gives its git. Harvesting30 years o his own thinking and that o scores o others, BobWild gives us a clear summary o Christianitys Old Story andits contribution by application or misapplication to todaysenvironmental crises. His criticisms o Christian orthodoxyare all the more persuasive or the gentle modesty o theirwording and or the experience that o a retired Anglicanpriest on which they are grounded. However, it is in his

sketch o the New Story, now being written by Christiantheologians urgently concerned about our present relationto nature, that Wild makes his most valuable oering.

May I arouse your appetite with a ew o his comparisonsbetween Old and New Stories? In both Biblical Testaments,Yahweh is the external creator o the universe. Space, timeand matter are the work o this Creator, who, like the wind,is known only by his/her/its works. Thus, Christians havedistinguished a superior , Holy One, and themselves asmade in the Creators image, rom secular, inerior nature.We are ree to objectiy nature and treat it as a cornucopia.In the New Story the Sacred Presence (Wilds avoured term

or God) is immanent, hidden within and disclosed by thematerial world . Our everyday world is sacred not goodnews or bulldozers.

In the Old Story ethics and morality come to us throughDivine revelation, as the Ten Commandments did. They aresupernatural. There is no reason to look to nature or moralinstruction. Because the New Story nds the Sacred Presencewithin nature as well as beyond it, nature can be teacher.When our behaviour brings emphatic response rom naturewe can codiy the lessons as ethical principles and moralrules rules that apply to our treatment o all lie and Gaia

itsel because both are moral subjects and moral objects.A third consequence o the New Story is that humans

are encouraged to nd the Sacred Presence in what sciencehas ound out, not in what it cannot explain. Christiantheologians traditionally have been dismayed by scientic

discoveries and have denied or opposed them because theythreatened the parables and miracles that gave the OldStory much o its power. Evolution is an obvious exampleThe New Story accepts and marvels at evolution, even asDarwinian ideas mortally righten and anger big segments oChristian believers.

Sacred Journey is slim and readable, yet within it aremore riches than I can describe here. I you are a Christianread it to see whether your behaviour toward nature is mosrelated to the Old or the New Story. I you are religious bunot Christian, ask yoursel whether the basic teachings oyour belies are responsive to the issues Wild explores. I

you arent religious read this book to understand the textthat underlies Canadas history and explains many o theundamental values o Canadian society and politics. Bob Weeden

*Bob Wild, neighbour and riend o many Islanders, iswidely respected or his community work. So is AudreyBoth are longtime members o the Conservancy. They liveon the north end o Salt Spring Island, closer to the SacredPresence.



Gul Islands Secondary School28 February 20088 am to 4:15 pm

Gul Islands Secondary Schools Environmental Action Day

(EAD) is a positive action event to not only raise awareness inthe school and community about environmental and climatechange issues, but also to provide ample opportunities totake action. Students planning EAD eel it is vital to presentpressing issues in an atmosphere that isnt solely negative,and to encourage students to oster a positive attitudetowards the possibilities o tackling the diculties we areacing globally today. The goal is to not only give studentsa way to take action now, but also to promote them living amore sustainable lie into the uture, and to encourage othersto do the same.

Environmental Action Day will eature opening

and closing keynote speakers and approximately twentyworkshops under the major categories o Food Issues,Ecosystem Destruction, Consumerism, and Climate ChangeClose to Home. For a taste o sustainability, local ood willbe served or students and presenters, in the caeteria atlunch. The event will involve all 600 GISS students andthe community will also be invited to attend the keynotespeakers and several o the workshops.

As our opening speaker, we have activist and youthmotivator Simon Jackson, 25-year-old ounder and Chairmano the 6 million strong, Spirit Bear Youth Coalition. He will tell

his unique, Power o One story. It includes how he overcameroadblocks and skeptics to help make the spirit bear one othe worlds oremost environmental issues and how he helpedcreate an historic land use agreement. Our closing speakerwill be Dr. Andrew Weaver, award winning UVic Proessor,Earth and Ocean Sciences, who was a lead author o the UNIPCC, third and ourth scientic assessments. He will speakon the Science and Politics o Global Warming, and hispresentation will cover the domestic and international policyoptions that can be introduced to deal with the issues.

The workshops cover a wide range o topics, while thepresenters themselves represent a gamut o approaches to

environmentalism, providing students with exposure not onlyto key issues, but also to a variety o ways in which they can

take action. Local workshop presenters include Briony PennKaren Hawboldt, and Brandon Bauer. The majority o ourpresenters, however, are coming rom Vancouver and Victoriaand they include Richard Hebda, BC Royal Museum, TerryGlavin, author and conservationist, Dr. John Blatherwick

retired MHO Vancouver, and Environmental Activist, BettyKrawczyk. Organizations that are also providing acilitatorsare WWF, Sierra Club, Check Your Head, Earthsave CanadaLiving Oceans Society, and Ocean Sciences.

To-date, contributions towards the unding o EAD havebeen received rom Islands Trust, Rotary Club, Gul IslandsCentre or Ecological Learning, The Womens Institute, SSConservancy and three anonymous donors.

EAD coordinators are working in consultation withthe Superintendent and the school board, the schooadministration, several interested teachers, Global Awarenessand Leadership groups in the school, and the Earth Festiva

Society. It is anticipated that EAD will give students o GISS astarting point or various initiatives and ollow up to this daywill continue throughout the rest o the school year.

Since it is beyond the capacity o the high school caeteriato also provide lunch to the community.

Could anyone attending rom outside o GISS please beresponsible or their own lunch. General public admissionby donation.

8:00 8:45 Signup or workshops For general public attendees (students will pre-register)9:00 10:10 Keynote speaker Simon Jackson, The Power o One10:15 11:30 Workshop 111:35 12:50 Workshop 212:50 1:50 Lunch Local/regional ood in caeteria or students/presenters1:50 3:05 Workshop 33:10 4:15 Closing Speaker Dr Andrew Weaver, The Science and Politics o Global Warming

Environmental Action Day

Volunteers Lugh Annschild-Lovering and Ann Anderson collectskewers in a Yellow Montane Violet plot


13/161Winter 2008

The Peregrine Falcon is ound almost around the entire globe,with the exception o Antarctica, Iceland, and New Zealand.There are three recognized subspecies o Peregrine Falconsin Canada; Anatus Peregrine Falcon, Falco pereginus anatum;Tundra Peregrine Falcon, F. p. tundrius; and Peales Peregrine

Falcon, F. p. pealei. The Anatum Peregrine Falcon occurs onSalt Spring Island and this subspecies has recently receiveda ederal assessment to move the status o the alcon romThreatened Status to Special Concern Status in Canada dueto increased populations rom large-scale reintroductionsprograms across North America.

The peregrine alcon is oten known or its stealth as ahunter, plummeting to pluck its prey out o the sky at speedsover 300 km/hr. It preers nesting on cli ledges or crevicesusually with a southern exposure, and is territorial during thebreeding season, pairs nesting 1km or more apart. Femaleslay on average 3-4 eggs in a shallow hollow that they scrape

into the cli ledge, adding no other nesting materials. Bothadults incubate the eggs or about 32 days, with the youngfedging rom the nest 35-45 days ater hatching.

The crow-sized raptor can be recognized in fight by itsbent wing silhouette. Other distinguishing eatures includethe dark cheek stripe below the eyes, slate-blue crown,back and upper side o wings. The underside o the alconis typically white or bu with some brown barring on thelower parts o the body, legs and underwings.

The Peregrine Falcon preys on birds primarily, includingseabirds, shorebirds, waterowl, songbirds, and pigeons.

Because it predominantly hunts rom the air, the alconpreers areas that are open, such as non-orested lands,including shores, marshes, elds, and river valleys.

Peregrine Falcon populations had long been notedor their stability. However, populations in both Europeand North America began plummeting ater the WWIIand their declines were soon attributed to intensive use opost-war persistent chemical pesticides, such as DDT. Aspredators at the top o the ood chain, the Peregrine Falconsbioaccumulated the pesticides in their tissues by preyingon birds and animals that had ingested and accumulatedpesticides that were ound on sprayed grain crops and

poisoned insects. The result o these chemicals causedreproductive ailure primarily through hindering eggshellormation, causing populations to plummet.

By the early 1970s, both Canada and the United Stateshad restricted the use o chemicals such as DDT. Large-scale captive-breeding and reintroduction programs tookplace across Canada and the US and are the main reasonor the successul increases in populations o PeregrineFalcons today. However, persistent pesticides, includingDDT, continue to be used in other countires where PeregrineFalcons overwinter, and where some o their prey species

migrate rom as well. New pesticides being permitted inCanada may also pose a potential threat to uture reproductivesuccess o the Peregrine Falcon, as well as declining seabirdpopulations, human disturbance at nest sites, and illegaharvesting or alconry. The success o the reintroduction o

Peregrine Falcons into the wild has allowed the public toremain aithul that we have some ability to shit the tidesin the ace o environmental disaster through such means asenvironmental stewardship. Hopeully, it has also instilledin us the need to change the way we view our relationshipwith the planet, and the incredibly ragile scale that we aredancing on at the tip o the ulcrum.

I you have seen Peregrine Falcons on Salt Spring Islandplease contact the Salt Spring Island Conservancy with yoursightings at 538-0318 or [email protected]:

COSEWIC 2007. COSEWIC assessment and update

status report on the Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus (pealesubspecies - Falco peregrinus and pealei anatum/tundrius -Falco peregrinus anatum/tundrius) in Canada. Committee onthe Status o Endangered Wildlie in Canada. Ottawa. vii +21 pp. (www.sararegistry.gc.ca/status/status_e.cm).

Canadian Wildlie Service. January 2008. Hinterland Whos Who: Peregrine Falcon. http://www.hww.ca/hww2asp?id=60 Laura Matthias, SSIC Biologist

Peregrine Falcon Still Soaring High

Enjoy Spring Birds!

On, May 10th (Saturday) and 18th (Sunday), Bob Weedenwill trade bird-watching tips and amble around one o Salt

Spring Islands best birding places, Ford Lake, with anyonewanting to join in. Bob likes to use ears, eyes and knowledgeo local bird behaviour and habitats to identiy all those lovelybut rustrating brush skulkers. Meet at the end o Garner Rdat 9am with binoculars.

Please pre-register by contacting the Salt Spring IslandConservancy oce, 538-0318 or ssiconservancy@saltspringcom, or Bob Weeden at 537-5403. You must be a membero the Conservancy. Annual society memberships are $10-$35, and support our education and stewardship programslocally.

Zorah Hudson-Wiltzen and a Fairy Door, Mount Erskine



Little and Oten : A new program orpeople who walk our protected lands

While you are walking a trail use a ew minutes o your timeto make a dierence; perhaps set yoursel a target o pulling

ten small broom plants along the trail on each visit - picka spot and make it your own. Also we would value reportso problems and in the spring the trail needs light regulartrimming. For the more hearty there are times when workparties are out pulling broom bushes or perhaps dealingwith a allen tree. Come and join us!

I you have an interest or would like more inormationplease email [email protected] orphone the Conservancy oce at 538 0318 Terry Ridings (AVNR warden)

Creekside Rainorest Campaign

There is no time to waste i the undraising campaign orthe Creekside rain orest is to succeed over by the end oFebruary. Volunteers are urgently needed to help with suchthings as publicity and outreach, the undraising dinner andother tasks. Please contact Maureen Moore: 537-1712.

Join the Water Preservation Society (WPS)

Have you ever considered the uture o our drinking water?

Approximately 70% o us take it rom lakes, and an est. 30%rom groundwater. In either case limited hydrologic data areavailable to tell us with condence how much water thesesources can continue to yield on a reliable basis. Continuinggrowth and development, uncertainties o climate change,and political and bureaucratic decision-making will eachimpact avail-ability in uture. Water quality is also aectedthrough human land use activities. Become better inormedand a part o the voice which cares about drinking water.

Water Preservation Society, PO Box 555, Salt SpringIsland, BC, V8K 2W3. Membership: $10/yr. Donations: asyou choose. Each receive tax deductible receipts. We promise

to keep you inormed. Please include your mailing addressand email.

Fundraising Success! Squitty Bay ProvincialPark Expansion

The Lasqueti Island Nature Conservancy and the Islands Trust

Fund reached their goal o raising $250,000 in a whirlwind

2007 summer campaign to protect the Iversen/Tyler propertynext to Squitty Bay Provincial Park on Lasqueti Island. With

our contribution, the Ministry o Environment was able topurchase this beautiul 38.46 (95 acre) oceanront property

rom Terry Tyler and Ingrid Iversen or $1,340,000, a pricewell below market value. The property owners provided

a signicant donation through Environment CanadasEcological Git Program because they had a vision o the

property being protected as a park.

This property is a Gul Island treasure. The protectiono this property will result in a our-old increase in the size

o Squitty Bay Provincial Park rom 13 hectares to morethan 51 hectares. The property eatures almost a kilometre

o coastline with sheltered bays and beaches, older orestsa heritage orchard, a salmon-bearing creek, and windswept

coastal blus. The property is also a ne example o the

endangered Coastal Douglas-r ecosystem, which is inurgent need o protection as it is under extreme pressure

rom agricultural and urban development.The Lasqueti community and Islands Trust Fund

donors, including the Nature Trust o BC and the Marine

Parks Forever Society, pulled together to protect this specialplace by contributing over $143,000 in donations. The BC

Trust or Public Lands provided $107,000 resulting in thecommunity reaching its $250,000 goal.

In celebration o the success, the ormer owners o theland sent this joyous note to all involved:

November 15, 2007

Congratulations on your new park. Enjoy it, love it, takecare o it, let the salmon run and run. Let the kiddies play

on the beaches. Let the orest thrive. Somebody get togethera pruning party or the orchard and distribute the apples

pears and plums ar and wide. Let the fowers bloom on theheadlands and the sheep roam everywhere else.

Its a place where a lot o very important and magicalthings happened to us, and Im sure many others (includingI hear, one birth). Hopeully this place will continue to

induce magic in a lot o people or a long time.Thanks to everybody who helped make this dream, or

us, and or a lot o Lasquetians, come true. Terry Tyler and Ingrid Iversen

The Islands Trust Fund along with the Lasqueti Island

Conservancy wish to thank all the conservation-mindedindividuals and organizations who answered our call or help

and gave generously to protect the Iversen/Tyler property.Karen Hudson contemplating her uture


15/161Winter 2008

Editor: Elizabeth NolanLayout: Brian Smallshaw

Executive Director: Linda GilkesonBoard o Directors:

Samantha Beare (Treasurer)Maureen Bendick

Jean BrouardCharles DorworthRobin Ferry

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

Jane PetchBrian SmallshawBob Weeden (President)Doug Wilkins

The Salt Spring IslandConservancy#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 credithe Conservancy when you take back your bottles to the Sal

Spring Reund Centre (Bottle Depot at GVM). A big thankyou goes to Cordula Vogt who collects and manages the

GVM receipts on our behal.

Ganges PO Box 722Salt Spring Island BC

V8K 2W3

Woodworker WantedWanted: Woodworker interested in building a set o small,wall mounted shelves or the Conservancy oce to displayour brochures.

SSIC President Bob Weeden and Karen Hudson


16/16

40026325Ganges PO Box 722Salt Spring Island BC

V8K 2W3

Documents

Winter 2008 Acorn Newsletter - Salt Spring Island Conservancy