Acornthe

The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Number 40, Winter 2009

http://saltspringconservancy.ca/events

Inside:President’s Page .................. 2Director’s Desk .................. 3Inside SSIC Stewards in Training.........5 Events Calendar................5 Volunteer Thank You ....... 6Stewardship.........................7Natural History Salt Spring Grouse............8 Who’s Who of Owls........10Features Nature Deficit.................9Good Business....................11

Secure a Green Future:

Like all non-profit groups, the Salt Spring Island Conservancy depends on charitable donations as our major source of support. Many of you have given generously to our most visible fundraising campaigns for land acquisitions, contributed to a variety of benefit events and our annual appeal. Less visible, however, has been our planned giving program. So this year we are taking steps to promote this donation option more widely. Also called deferred giving, it usually means leaving a charitable gift in a will (there are other possibilities, described below). Such a gift leaves a legacy that benefits everyone in the community by helping us to protect Salt Spring’s natural environment for future generations. Through deferred giving, people that cannot give as much support during their lifetime as they would like can still leave a valuable conservation legacy.

The gift can be given without restrictions to be used for our greatest need as determined by the SSI Conservancy Board. Or, you can designate it to go to our Land Fund (for purchasing and protecting land) or to our Salt Spring Island Conservancy Endowment, which is held by the Victoria Foundation.

In 2008, the SSIC Board prepared the groundwork for a focus on promoting planned giving in 2009. With valuable guidance from Nora Layard, who was the project coordinator for the Green Legacies donor’s guide for BC, we adopted policies on donor rights and how we want to handle gifts of different types of assets. We also produced a brochure: Conservation in Action: Leaving a Conservation Legacy, which is available on our web site and from our office.

A well planned gift can help you (or your estate) realize valuable tax savings and benefits while supporting the SSI Conservancy. Here are some ways to leave such a legacy:

BequestsAny gift can be left in a will, including money, securities,

real estate or personal property. You can specify a dollar amount or a proportion of an estate, or of the residue (that is the assets that are left after your heirs have been provided

for and expenses paid). We provide donation receipts to the estate for the value of the gift.

There are two main kinds of property gifts; we issue charitable tax receipts for both. The one most commonly left in a will is the gift of real estate, with or without buildings, that is given with the understanding that it can be sold to raise funds to support our work. The other type of property gift is land given with a prior agreement that it will be protected. By donating it to the Conservancy, you can ensure that the land is protected forever. Donation agreements are flexible and can be tailored to suit your interests. For example, some donors may want to keep a ‘life interest’ so that they (and possibly their children) have the

Continued on page 6

Leave a Conservation Legacy

Martin Williams leaves a permanent legacy--the Manzanita Nature Reserve.

� The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

President’s Page

Limits

~ RW

Our Island is knee deep in politics all the time. Not long ago the tide came in and politics came out our ears. Here’s hoping that the flood recedes far enough to let us breathe again, even to walk naturally.

Should the Conservancy be involved in politics? If politics is the communication between citizens and government, then we are, should be, and are allowed by law to be involved. But as a charitable society there are rules that set boundaries for us. We absolutely cannot promote one party over another or one candidate over another. We absolutely can tell representatives of the government, elected or civil service, how we feel about their policies and actions as long as the subject is clearly related to our constitutional purposes and as long as “public awareness campaigns,” to use a common euphemism, are subordinate to our contitutional purposes.

There are lots of rules. Some of the details are relevant to us. One, for instance, allows participation in working groups advising government on policy. We could have participated in this way in the focus groups of the recent OCP review, ‘though we chose to let individual members, on their own, do that. Our official involvement was through a half dozen letters sent over the two plus years of the process. Likewise, we could have named a representative on the present task force to examine the industrial zonings on the Island.

All in all, it is pretty easy for SSIC officially to stay well within the bounds of political activity as defined by Revenue Canada. But this is only the legal dimension of the question. The other is perceptual: What do our actions lead folks to believe?

Imagine that a Conservancy member volunteers at our booth at Saturday Market. It’s a late September Sunday during a federal election year. A friend strolls by. They chat. The volunteer remarks that he (she) hopes that candidate X from Y party wins. Now do a “Sliding Doors” thing: in one scenario the Conservancy booth is clear of any election paraphernalia, the volunteer is not behind the booth and doesn’t wear candidate pins. Problem? Vanishingly small. In scenario 2 the volunteer is leaning over the booth, is wearing a candidate’s pin, and there is party literature on the booth top. Wow! A passer-by will do what passers-by do, which is to pass by at that instant. Next week’s Driftwood smokes in the mailbox.

We can’t and won’t steal any member’s civic tongue. But we who are Directors or staff, or even just members Islanders closely associate with the Conservancy, have a responsibility beyond just assuring that our official skirts are clean. We also need to alert members to both rule and perception, which is one purpose of this commentary. It isn’t hard, but it is crucial.

The Water Preservation Society has been in the doldrums recently, even close to dissolution. At the October 2008 AGM four reluctant directors were found to keep the group alive: the necessary fifth director later was conscripted for an interim term. In December members debated the Society’s future at a special AGM. Three new volunteers emerged to form a board with two continuing directors.

The Water Preservation Society has done fine things in its 27-year history. It began after a successful campaign to increase minimum lot sizes in the Maxwell Lake drainage (from 10 to 30 acres). The Society squeaked an agreement out of the Local Trust Committee to increase lot sizes around St. Mary Lake shortly afterward, but after heavy lobbying by developers the Provincial minister overturned the decision. That wasn’t “end of story” however. A deal with Channel Ridge developers saw an exchange in which the number of lots to be sold more than doubled, Duck Creek Park (20 acres) was created, and 270 acres on the east-facing slope of Channel Ridge, draining directly into the Lake, was given to the Society. This area is now under Conservancy-held conservation covenant.

In 2000 the Water Preservation Society led an initiative to buy 270 acres of the Maxwell Lake watershed. Your Society contributed $35,000 and ratepayers of the North Salt Spring Water Works pledged the lion’s share.

St. Mary Lake is a quieter and safer place because WPS persevered in an heroic, 10-year lawsuit that banned gasoline-powered boats from the Lake. All of Canada has benefited from this confirmation of a precedent set in 1987 by the District of Invermere, but it took a march to the Supreme Court of Canada to do it.

The upshot is that the Water Preservation Society fought nearly alone in the 1980s and early 1990s to win crucial environmental battles. Water issues still abound. The Conservancy will help the WPS all it can to re-energize for this work.

Back from the Brink

�Winter 2009

Director’s DeskDirector’s Desk

Top of mind for me these days is working on our major fundraising plan for long-term security of the SSI Conservancy. We do not know how the uncertain economic situation will play out for non-profit organizations dependent on donations and grants. Already, some major sources of grants, such as the Vancouver Foundation, have dried up with their recent investment losses. On this note, we are very grateful for the Salt Spring Foundation, which had done its best this year to distribute funding to as many groups as possible, including the SSIC, which means will be able to replace a very old computer in our office.

A major fundraising goal for us is to build up our Land Fund over the next few years so that we can act quickly when ecologically valuable lands come up for sale. Also part of the long term plan is substantially increasing our endowment fund. Eventually, this would give us a stable base of funds each year that we can use to cover annual operating costs. These costs are rarely covered by grants (which are usually for special projects), yet they are for essential administrative ‘grease’ that keeps the organization running.

We had a very successful benefit at ArtSpring on October 30 and it was great to see so many of our members and supporters enjoying the evening. With the auction and ticket sales we netted over $3000—and had a lot of fun doing it. Meanwhile, back in the office, we have been very happy to see that so far that dozens of members have become Conservation Friends of SSIC by donating $250 or over in 2008. Along with the satisfaction of knowing they are making a major contribution to the future of conservation, they will also be invited to an annual donor appreciation day. This is an opportunity to learn more about our island ecosystems and wildlife, hear the latest results of our work and share ideas for conservation on Salt Spring.

Finally, beginning in 2009 we can now set up monthly withdrawals from bank accounts for members who would like to donate regularly to the SSI Conservancy. Just contact the office to set this up. Remember, no gift is too small—and even small gifts, when given monthly, add up to a substantial contribution over a year. ~ Linda Gilkeson

Thank YouSpecial thanks this month go to Brenda Guiled, who has compiled a beautiful slide show of native wildflowers that we can run on the screen while the audience is getting settled at our events. Also, to our friends Clare Cullen and Michael Lahay at Gecko Green Living, who donated the proceeds of their recycled Christmas stocking auction to SSIC--thanks for thinking of us! Thanks also to Marg Threlfall, Beth Cherneff, Samantha Beare, Linda Gilkeson and the many firewood contributors for their donations to our October 30 auction.

Left: Mount MaxwellTop: Andreas Vogt Nature ReserveBottom: Mount Erskine

� The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

inside ssic

Volunteer Profile: Bristol FosterBristol Foster has been one of the most faithful and long-participating volunteers with the Conservancy’s Stewards in Training Program. As many of you know, this program is has been offered since 2004, and now gives every child on Salt Spring between the ages of 7 and 13 a free field experience in nature supported by our tremendous community mentors. Bristol Foster has been working with the school program since it first started at the Conservancy’s Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve. Of course, his passion for teaching and the natural world began long before he moved to Salt Spring in 1984. His biography reveals a fascinating and exciting life.

Bristol was born in Toronto where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and his Master’s in Mammalogy on a rare subarctic rodent. By then he had been in school for 21 years and figured it was time for an adventure. He took off around the world for 18 months with Robert Bateman in a Landrover crossing Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Australia. Bristol then went to Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands) to study the evolution of the native mammals of the archipelago for his PhD at UBC. He had caught Africanitis when he crossed Africa with Bob Bateman, so Bristol drove down from London to Nairobi to teach wildlife ecology at the University of Nairobi for 5 years. Here he wrote a book on his studies of giraffe. He then returned to BC to become the Director of the Royal BC Museum for the next 6 years. When the novelty of this desk job wore off he led a government program to establish Ecological Reserves throughout BC for the next 10 years. Since then he has made 14 documentary nature films for TV and helped to lead natural history adventures on four continents.

My first memories of Bristol are of visiting his home in Victoria when I was 10 years old. We launched his Zodiac in front of his house at Ten Mile Point. Once we were a little off shore, he jumped out of the Zodiac and dove. Each time he surfaced, he brought with him a more amazing creature. He would either point out some incredible adaptation and throw it back or pull out his knife and show us its innards. I was amazed and a little horrified. I don’t think that I ate any of his famous Five Phylum Stew that night.

My family and I have been lucky enough since then to travel with Bristol down the Nahanni River by canoe and from Tofino to Hot Springs Cove. For some reason, my main memories of Bristol from those trips are of him being immersed up to his chin in hot springs, eating termites (an old habit from his days in Africa perhaps) or burying salmon so that he can come back in a few days and see if it is still good to eat (I didn’t hear how that turned out). When talking to my dad about why these experiences stand out he said that Bristol shows us that we are one of nature’s children, we are connected to nature and we don’t need to be afraid of nature.

Bristol’s nature adventures continue. He has been generous enough to donate a day, whenever he can, to share his passions with the children of Salt Spring. He decided to volunteer for the Stewards in Training program because he recognized the great value of the mentors he had as a kid at camp and in the Junior Field Naturalists Club. He also is very clear about why nature education is important. According to Bristol, “Nature is the only thing that is real, everything else is an ephemeral human construct that often has no relation to the reality of our survival as a species; nature amazes us with its beauty, and spectacular adaptations, its endless mysteries. The more I learn the more I realize I do not know. A humbling experience. We all need more humbling. Kids need to know how they fit ecologically in a well functioning community. A natural community can show that.”

Robert Bateman says that as well as Bristol being his best friend, he is the best networker he knows. Bristol does have a magnetic personality and through his work he is in contact with many world renowned scientists and environmental activists. He probably brings them together over a bowl of Five Phylum Stew where they can share stories and strategies to preserve our beautiful planet. We with the Conservancy’s Stewards in Training program are so lucky that some of the networking Bristol does is with children on the beaches, by the streams and in the forests or meadows of Salt Spring Island. ~ Sarah Bateman

“And yet we cannot define the charm of Prince Edward Island in terms of land or sea.

It is too elusive – too subtle. Sometimes I have thought it was the touch of austerity in

an Island landscape that gives it its peculiar charm. And whence comes that austerity?

Is it in the dark dappling of spruce and fir? Is it in the glimpses of sea and river? Is it in the bracing tang of the salt air? Or does it go deeper still, down to the very soul of the land? For lands have personalities just as well as human beings; and to know that personality you must live in the land and companion it, and draw sustenance of body and spirit from it; so only can you really know a land and be known of it. “

The Alpine PathL. M. Montgomery, 1917

�Winter 2009

Conservancy Events

Upcoming EventsStewards in TrainingProgram UpdateI have been lucky enough to watch Bristol Foster work with a group of students. Not only is he full of amazing information and connections, he is relaxed, funny and a great story teller. When volunteers come out to work with us, we have a plan for them to follow and ideas to get across. But the wonderful thing about Bristol, and many of our volunteers, is that they don’t “stick to the script” of the lesson plan, they bring their own stories and experiences and our program is so much richer because of this.

I am so grateful that we have volunteers like Bristol who will give a few days each year to share their passions with the children of our community. I could write an amazing profile of any of our volunteers that have worked with us over the years. But, they do not all have PhD’s in biology or degrees in education. Some of our most dedicated volunteers could be a retired nurse or run a B&B. What they all share is a passion for nature, a desire to mentor and a good sense of humour.

Many, many thanks to the organizations and people who are going to make the 2009 school program possible. Thrifty Foods Smile Card has agreed to double its previous amount of funding. The British Columbia Government, Direct Access to Gaming Funds grant will once again cover the coordinator’s salaries. Nature Canada’s Parks and People Program has been able to come through with funding for the equipment and materials. The manual containing all of our programs will be ready for the spring, with thanks to a grant from Mountain Equipment Coop.

The Stewards in Training program does rely almost completely on grants, but we now have some money in the bank because of the many generous people who have purchased our 2009 Green Calendar. Thank you so much to everyone who bought a calendar and helped to sell them at the Saturday Market, Christmas Craft Fairs and all through the year!

Of course, thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers. We hope to see you out in the field with the school programs this spring!

We always welcome new people who would like to come out for a day and give our program a try. We will be running three programs this spring, starting in March, and would love to have some new volunteers to add their own unique experiences and passions. Just call or email the SSI Conservancy office and they will put you in touch with the coordinators. ~ Sarah Bateman

February 13th (Friday) - Tax Benefits of Conservation. Lion’s Hall. 7 pm. (See story below.)February 20th (Friday) - Owls of Salt Spring. John Neville. Lion’s Hall. 7 pm. Please Note there is a change of date for this talk, formerly scheduled for January. March 13 (Friday) - Clams. Rick Harbo, Briony Penn and friends. Lion’s Hall. 7 pm. June 5 (Friday) - Intertidal Life. David Denning. Lion’s Hall. 7 pm.

Tax Benefits of Conservation EventThe Salt Spring Island Conservancy is hosting a free Tax Benefits of Conservation event for island landowners wishing to learn more about conservation options on their land. Have you ever considered protecting your land in perpetuity? Did you know that you may be eligible for property and income tax reductions by placing a conservation covenant on your land? Have you wondered about what options might be available to you when considering conservation of your special land? If so, this is an important event for you to attend. Bring your questions and get informed about your options for protecting the land that you love!

Salt Spring Island is located in aand unique ecosystem in Canada (Coastal Douglas Fir). It is home to over 45 federally and provincially listed Species At Risk. Our island is being developed at a rapid rate due to its favourable climate and proximity to Victoria and Vancouver. We have one of the highest population growth rates in the Capital Regional District, with the population projected to increase from 10,000 to 20,000 over the next 20 years. Our fragile island faces 10 times the average rate of population growth of other areas in rural Canada! Nearly 90% of the island is privately owned, so conservation and stewardship is in your hands.

The Tax Benefits of Conservation event will take place on Friday, February 13, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the Lion’s Hall. If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact the Salt Spring Island Conservancy at 250-538-0318 or ssiconservancy@saltspring.com. If you are a landowner of property with high conservation value and are interested in learning more about Salt Spring’s Species at Risk and having one of our biologists visit your land, please contact the Conservancy to arrange a free site visit by one of our biologists. ~ Robin Annschild

� The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

right to remain on a donated property for the rest of their life. For property with particular ecological values, you may be able to increase your tax benefit under the federal Ecological Gifts Program (Contact us for more information or see: www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/ecogifts). It is easy to leave a gift in a will by simply specifying the charity and the gift. However, a charitable bequest cannot take effect unless you state your intention in your will. Without a will, you lose control over your property after death. Your property and finances are settled according to provincial laws whether or not they coincide with your and your family’s wishes. Whether or not you choose to tell us that you are leaving a bequest is entirely up to you. If we know in advance, we may be able tell you about opportunities for giving for a specific purpose.

Other possibilities for planned giving: Gifts of Life Insurance: You can name the Conservancy as a beneficiary of a new or existing policy. Your estate will receive tax credits for the donation, which may amount to many times the amount paid in premiums. You could also donate an older policy that is no longer needed.Charitable Remainder Trusts: Assets that you wish to leave to the Conservancy are transferred to a Trust. This allows you to receive a donation tax credit now, without losing the income from your assets during your life time. Upon your death, or of a surviving spouse, the assets in the Trust go directly the Conservancy, without going through probate. Charitable Gift Annuities: This allows you to donate a lump sum and, in return, receive both a charitable receipt and guaranteed income for the rest of your life. Gifts of RRSPs or RRIFs: Depending on the agreement, a portion of the amount you give is kept to support our work or deposited in our endowment fund (whichever you prefer), for which you receive a charitable receipt. The rest of the amount is used to buy an annuity from a life insurance company that will produce the income you receive. We recommend that you consult with your lawyer, financial advisor, insurance or tax advisor to plan your charitable donations. A professional advisor can tell you about the tax benefits of planned gifts and make sure you receive the maximum tax and legal advantages allowed for your gift. We cannot act as your advisor or offer professional advice but we would be pleased to work with your independent advisors to help you in making your decision. ~ Linda Gilkeson

Conservation LegaciesContinued from page 1

Volunteer Thank You: Mary Patience DashneySome years ago an important volunteer appeared at SSIC. Here was someone who wanted to help us with our financials. Imagine! I was shocked but sooooooooooooo happy! Mary competently took us from manual bookkeeping to the 21st century effortlessly. In looking back, we all marvel and ask ourselves. “How did manage without Mary? Now I could continue to sing her praises on the accounting end but what I want to share with you her personal side.

Mary is calm, thoughtful, professional and meticulous (it was only 50 cents but she had to find it!). It isn’t easy dealing with a myriad of individuals and questions and keep on smiling. Endless questions, questions and more questions! Endless calls for help, help and more help! Mary just continues to respond not only patiently but with good humour. Not only is Mary a whiz at our bookkeeping but she also became a good friend. That’s the thing about volunteering; you meet people who become life long friends. What a bonus!

And “Patience” isn’t her middle name, but it should be.Mary Dashney, on behalf of the Board of Directors and

everyone in the SSI Conservancy (and especially me), I want to say thank you, thank you, and thank you. It has been a pleasure! ~ Samantha Beare, Treasurer 

inside ssic

Commemorative GiftsGiving a gift in memory is a special way to honour the life of a friend or loved one while at the same time leaving a conservation legacy. You may wish to establish a named fund or contribute to an existing fund within the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Endowment. Sending a gift to the Conservancy in the name of family members or friends is a wonderful way to celebrate weddings, birthdays, religious holidays and other special events. When you make your gift, a beautiful card will be sent to the person you are celebrating, acknowledging your generous gift. We will also send you a tax receipt for your donation.

Barn owl

�Winter 2009

Acorn removed from dictionary

The decision of the Oxford Junior Dictionary to drop a couple of dozen words from nature such as beaver, heron and kingfisher, plus more words from our religious and cultural tradition is deplorable. I was first saddened and then angered by the move.

Since the 1960s, I have been decrying the disappearance of our natural heritage and human heritage which is being replaced by a kind of Instant Pudding world, packaged and marketed. This is another nail in the coffin.

An unfolding tragedy is the fact that young people are staying away from nature in increasing droves. In his landmark book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv cites recent research. These studies show that if kids play around out in nature [not soccer fields or cement playgrounds which are all right too] here is what happens. They have less obesity, less attention deficit disorder, less depression and suicide, less drug and alcohol abuse, less bullying . . . and higher marks. In his book he quotes an eight year old as saying,

“I like to play indoors because that is where the electric plugs are.” We are heading towards an Orwellian world of a generation unconnected to the real world of other living things.

Incidentally, these words have been eliminated to make room for more up-to-date words such as blog and MP3 player. One of the wisest sayings of the 20th Century was by Andy Warhol: In the future everything will be famous for 15 minutes.

Where is the four track tape recorder now? In an effort to be “with it,” the editors of this dictionary are replacing meaningful, timeless things with fashionable ephemera. Some of the new words such as biodegradable are worth adding, but let’s hope nature is here to stay.

Robert BatemanSalt Spring IslandDecember 11, 2008

stewardship

Recently, a private company named Bearsden Enterprises has applied to the provincial government’s Crown Land Resources for permission to build an access road from its property just north of Mt. Tuam Estates through the Hope Hill Crown land to reach Musgrave Road. This road would destroy a popular hiking trail (locally known as the Tipi Trail), would diminish the land’s wild qualities, and would encourage further development in the area.

As it turns out, Bearsden already has road access to Musgrave Road, which runs through a corner of its property. As well, Bearsden has a right of way on its land title through the Mt. Tuam Estates strata road. Mt. Tuam Estates is beside the Bearsden property. Thus, Bearsden has two possible accesses to its property and does not need to put a road through the Crown land.

Many islanders have enjoyed the natural beauty of the Hope Hill Crown land at the southwest end of Salt Spring. According to the Island Trust’s Vacant Crown Land Profiles, this land contains some of the most beautiful and extensive examples of the endangered plant ecosystem made up of Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, and grey rock-moss, and is the only area on Salt Spring that combines Western white pine stands, some geologically important sites, and numerous knolls covered with moss, ferns, second-growth fir and hemlock.

The Hope Hill Crown land is also an area that the CRD wants to acquire as part of its Regional Parks Master Plan. The land is currently zoned “Parks and Reserve” (PR5). The environmental integrity and recreational value of this beautiful piece of land is currently threatened by this development proposal.

Friends of Salt Spring Parks (FOSP), an organization that seeks to enhance community awareness about issues related to park and Crown lands, is deeply concerned about the Bearsden application for a number of reasons. First, the use of the Crown land is unnecessary. Second, if the application is approved, it would set a precedent, encouraging other landowners to seek easier access to their properties through public land that is currently used for recreational purposes.

If you would like to write Crown Lands with your opinion, contact Gord Smaill, Senior Land Officer, Crown Lands and Resources, 142–2080 Labieux Rd., Nanaimo, BC V9T 6J9 or at Gord.Smaill@gov.bc.ca .

For further information, call Charles Kahn (FOSP) at 250-537-1899.

Please help keep Hope Hill pristine

Please send your updated email address to: ssiconservancy@saltspring.com Many of our emails are being bounced back.

� The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

Around the northern world it goes Feathered feet, feathered nose. It burrows nightly in the snows Lest nose and toes, Too long exposed, Froze. (Old Chukchi Riddle)

You can live alongside grouse a long time without knowing it. Here on our island, for instance, there are two kinds of resident grouse, yet many people – even birders – have never seen one. In 30 years of midwinter island-wide bird counts, the years when none has been recorded, or only one has, predominate. They are woodsy coloured, quiet, and fly infrequently.

However, your chances are better in March and April, even in May, to find one. Climb Hope Hill or one of the other half-dozen summits on Salt Spring Island on a quiet early spring day, up to the high slopes where blue grouse winter. Male blue grouse get their empty gallon jug out of storage then and blow across its mouth. At least I think that’s how they make their four-or five-parted hollow hoot to announce their territory. You are almost sure of hearing a few grouse that way, but whether you will see them is, as they say, a whole other thing. And looking up into towering firs is a pain in the neck. Our other local grouse, the ruffed grouse, lives in moist woods with openings and a fair proportion of willows, maples, and other broad-leafed trees. The good news is that you find them in valleys and lower slopes. The bad news is that the male’s advertisement sound is a heart throb, a muffled drum, a rippling disturbance that some people cannot hear at all. Birders strolling near the beaver pond on Ducks Unlimited’s Ford Lake property, on one of the Conservancy’s May walks, get lucky some years. We even saw a brood (hen and several wind-up chicks) once, a rare treat.

The drumming is the noise of air compressed by the amazingly quick and strong beating of the male’s wings. Biologists argue whether the sound is from upbeats or downbeats. Like Jonathan Swift’s citizens of a far country, who disagreed over the proper end to open when eating a boiled egg, perhaps we will go to war over it some day when we run out of other excuses.

Ruffed grouse are confident enough to hide in plain sight when you stride through their woods, but get nervous if you walk slowly and stop often. I see rather more grouse than many hikers. The first sign I have is the high-pitched “I’m just about to fly” call of the skittish bird. Then the explosive flight, the unbelievable slanting manoeuvres between trees, and total disappearance.

Ruffed and blue grouse are two of a family of bird species found across the entire north-temperate and boreal zones, and (because ptarmigan are in the family) the Arctic. Depending on whether you like things cut fine or chunky, there are 11 or more other species of Tetraonidae. In North America there are spruce, sage and Gunnison’s sage, and sharp-tailed grouse, lesser and greater prairie chickens, and three ptarmigan (willow, rock, white tailed). Eurasia has rock and willow ptarmigan and the red grouse, a ptarmigan that doesn’t get white feathers for winter; and its own species of grouse (capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse) using habitats much like North American counterparts. The famous capercaillie, pressed hard by habitat loss and poaching, is humungous: almost as big as a wild turkey.

Notice that there are no grouse native to both continents. Most grouse are loath to fly long distances, especially over water. Ptarmigan are a lot more mobile: some populations are downright migratory. Remembering that the Arctic is a small-circumference zone, with relatively short water barriers, you won’t be surprised that two of the three species are circumpolar. Rock ptarmigan, especially, have a wide distribution. They live on Ellesmere Island and the far north of Greenland, on Spitzbergen, and on Novaya Zemlya, while also finding mountaintop tundras in the Pyrennes, the Alps, and on Hokkaido Island tolerable places to live.

Thinking of an expedition to find a ptarmigan? There are willow ptarmigan in Banff and Jasper National Parks, and rock ptarmigan in Jasper (but high up!). The closest ptarmigan are white-tails. I found some on Mt. Arrowsmith in May 1958 while floundering around on snowshoes, and they startle skiers occasionally on Mt. Washington. My favourite place, though, is Cathedral Lakes Provincial Park in the Ashnola/Similkameen drainage. If you haven’t yet camped at Quinisco Lake in the Park, do!

If you aren’t really sure about your current hiking abilities, you should test them by hoofing it from base to 7500 feet or so. Judy and I, quite certain of our condition, preferred to test the for-hire jeep, which looked a bit shaky. From our tent at

A Shy Company

�Winter 2009http://saltspringconservancy.ca/events

natural history

the lake we could stroll to alpine flowers and ptarmigan habitat in one or two hours. On a trip in July 2003 we found a dozen or so white-tailed ptarmigan broods – and a prairie falcon as a bonus. One afternoon a small boy ran sobbing to his family’s tent with a tale of being attacked by a big bird. His leg was bleeding from peck wounds. Listening for hints, we walked back along his backtrail and found the “perp,” a male spruce (Franklin’s) grouse with an excess of hormones and shortage of discrimination.

I’ll relate only one more trait of grouse and ptarmigan that I think is pretty cool. All species eat a wide variety of high-quality veggies during the spring and summer: flower buds, berries, new leaves of whatever species are there. Chicks eat a lot of insects during their first month. But after a transition in autumn when ripe berries become important, each species settles down to a diet of buds (sometimes needles) of a few tree or shrub species spread throughout a region. Their gut gets full of one-celled organisms that can break down roughage (every try chewing spruce needles or willow buds?) to release the carbos. Each species has a primary food, different from the favourite of other grouse in the same region. So, for instance, you might find willow and rock ptarmigan in the same valley in winter: willow ptarmigan will be popping willow buds like mad alongside rock ptarmigan eating birch catkins. If white-tailed ptarmigan are there, too, they will eat a bit of birch, a bit of willow, and a lot of alder. If the white-tail is the only ptarmigan present, as often is true in places like southern BC and high in the US Rockies, they will eat willow buds in preference to anything else.

Among the true grouse, in winter sage grouse eat almost nothing but sage, spruce grouse eat spruce needles, blue grouse eat fir, sharp-tails prefer birch buds, etc. Regionally, a common name for the ruffed grouse is “willow grouse.” Guess what they eat? Aspen. ~ Bob Weeden

Friday AM: November , 2008 – nature deficit I remember a particularly happy afternoon chipping banded agates from an enormous boulder in the back woods of our yard, just below the Enderby cliffs. I was eleven. Except for Judy, our black Lab, rustling around in the bushes, and my pet crow Jackie watching from a sunlit tree above, I was on my own and superbly content.

Lyle, born in Saskatchewan, remembers being five and the thrill of rafting with other kids on huge prairie ponds of spring melt. These holes must have been less than two feet deep because he couldn’t find them when he returned as an adult. For my mother and her brother, seventy-five years

Nature Deficitago, it was cycling across the English countryside to catch eels for supper. Who does not have a childhood memory of outdoor days when the hours stretched in front of us, full of unsupervised possibilities?Well, it turns out, not so many children these days.

In his recent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, author Richard Louv says children today are missing out on an intimate connection with the natural world around them. Incredibly, stats show us that the average child today spends six and a half hours a day in front of a screen, be it a TV, a computer, cell phone or game videos.

BC biologist and friend of Louv, Dr. Bob Paert, spoke on Salt Spring recently and voiced his concerns that only five per cent of children today experience unorganized outdoor play in nature. He and Louv will be hosting a conference at Royal Rhodes in March, 2009, on this topic. “For proper brain development, all the senses have to be engaged at the same time. This is particularly important between the ages of three to thirteen”, he told us. Outdoor play in a nature setting provides this opportunity. Focus on a screen cannot.

At the University of Illinois, researchers are finding that a little bit of time in nature dramatically reduces the symptoms of ADHD. Conflict resolution skills increase with outdoor education. Schools with outdoor immersion programs are finding that science test scores go up by twenty-seven per cent. The new field of eco-psychology tells us that direct exposure to nature gives us more resistance to stress and depression and that our visual environment profoundly affects our physical and mental well-being. Ask any gardener with their hands in the dirt, or a kid with a new puppy. We humans have an innate urge to connect with other living things, “biophilia” as Edward O. Wilson termed it. We find comfort there.

Louv is optimistic. From the new green urbanism imported from Europe, to outdoors programs (like the Conservancy’s school program), there seems to be a growing awareness of the benefits of connecting to Mother Nature. At a time in our history when twenty-five per cent of the earth’s mammals are predicted to become extinct within our grandchildren’s lifetime, it is frightening to think that our future citizens could grow up with no first hand experience of, or deep commitment to, the natural world. But it is also reassuring that Louv’s book is generating so much excitement across North America, and that his dream of “No Child Left Inside” could one day be a reality. As parents, grandparents and friends, one of the greatest gifts we can promise our kids this coming year are the happy memories of free play time spent outdoors in nature. ~ Jane Petch

A Shy CompanyContinued from page 8

10 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

natural history

Who’s who in Salt Spring Owls

Owls fascinate people. Being primarily nocturnal birds of prey, in the past owls have been associated with darkness, death, witchcraft, and prophetic doom. They have been both worshipped and feared. However, as ornithologists learned more about the nature of these birds, some of the mysticism was dispelled. Owls are now often viewed as a symbol of wisdom, filling people with fascination rather than fear.

A trait of owls that intrigues people is their ability to hunt at night. Owls use their keen senses of eyesight and hearing to detect their prey. They also have special soft feathers on their wings that allow them to fly completely silently, making them stealthy hunters as they swoop down on their prey. Owls generally eat their prey whole, swallowing bones and all. They digest what they can from their prey and then regurgitate the fur, bones, feathers and other remains in the form of a pellet. Some of their prey items include small mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, reptiles, and various invertebrates.

Salt Spring Island is home to several species of owls including Barred, Great-horned, Western Screech, Barn (Western population), and Northern Pygmy owls. Our featured owl in this article is the Barn Owl (Tyto alba). This species is found across much of North America. However, the Western population of Barn owls is federally listed as of Special Concern, primarily due to habitat loss.

Through our Stewardship Program, which focuses on Species at Risk, the SSI Conservancy has been working with landowners to help promote and reestablish Barn owl populations on the island. These owls inhabit barns and farm outbuildings where they can find shelter and nesting areas near their favourite prey, rodents. They are wonderful additions to a farmer’s land, as they help to keep the populations of rats and mice in check. We have installed a number of owl boxes in barns on the island, in an effort to provide nesting habitat for the dwindling Barn owl populations. As the larger and more opportunistic Barred owl (Strix varia) stakes its claim in highly suitable nesting habitat in the forest openings of Salt Spring Island, the Barn owls are being displaced. Installing owl boxes in barns offers additional nest sites for the Barn owls that may otherwise be displaced in natural habitats.

To generate effective conservation and stewardship strategies for Species at Risk, it is important to gain knowledge about the distribution and abundance of species, as well as trends in population sizes. Being high on the food chain, birds of prey can be at a greater risk for environmental contamination and habitat loss. Therefore, the more we can learn about where these species occur, how many there are on the island, and whether the populations are stable, the more we can identify which species are in need of conservation efforts. To help us assess our owl populations, the SSI Conservancy will be conducting owl surveys in the spring.

If you have seen or heard an owl and would like to report your sighting, please contact the Salt Spring Island Conservancy at 538-0318, with the date, location and species of owl that you heard or saw. You can also contact us by email at info@saltspringconservancy.ca. To hear audio recordings of our local owl species, please visit our website at: www.saltspringconservancy.ca. We thank you for your interest in our Species at Risk on Salt Spring Island!

Watch for our upcoming public talk: Owls of Salt Spring by local bird expert, John Neville. Friday, February 20th Lion’s Hall. ~ Laura Matthias, Staff Biologist

Paul Linton installs an owl boxphoto by Laura Matthias

11Winter 2009

DonationsIn addition to my membership fee above, I have enclosed my donation in the amount of:$50 _ $100 _ $250 _ $500 _ $1000_ $2500 _ $5000 _ Other ___________

Become a Conservation Friend with a donation of $250 or more.

Tax receipts will be provided for donations of $20 or more.

Please send me the Acorn via email. (We NEVER give out member’s

email addresses to anyone!)

ArtwerksBlue Horse Folk ArtBootacomputerCountry Grocer (GVM)Electronic Arc Flowers by ArrangementFoxglove Farm& Garden

SupplyGecko Green LivingGulf Islands DriftwoodThe Fritz Movie TheatreGulf Island School DistrictInstitute for Sustainability,

Education and ActionKaren Dakin, Accountant

Moonstruck Organic CheeseThe Pinch GroupSandra Smith, Royal LePageSalt Spring BooksSalt Spring CheeseSalt Spring Coffee CompanySalt Spring Gelato DeliziosoSalt Spring Natureworks

Natural FoodsSeaChange SavoriesSpindrift at Welbury PointStepping Stones B&BStowel Lake FarmWindsor Plywood

Good BusinessThe Conservancy thanks all of

our business members. Please support these local businesses.

Paul Linton installs a Barn owl box

Editor and Layout: Elizabeth NolanExecutive Director: Linda GilkesonBoard of Directors: Samantha Beare (Treasurer)Maureen BendickJean BrouardRobin FerryJean Gelwicks (Secretary)John de HaanAshley Hilliard (Vice President)Maxine LeichterSteve LeichterDeborah MillerJane 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 2W3Office hours : Tues/Wed/Thurs10 am - 3 pmPhone: (250) 538-0318Fax: (250) 538-0319ssiconservancy@saltspring.comwww.saltspringconservancy.ca

The Acorn is the newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy, a local non-profit society supporting and enabling voluntary preservation and restoration of the natural environment of Salt Spring Island and surrounding waters. We welcome your feedback and contributions, by email to ssiconservancy@saltspring.com or by regular mail. Opinions expressed here are the authors’, not subject to Conservancy approval.

Membership ApplicationYouth (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: _______________________________________

This is a renewal for an existing membership

Ganges PO Box 722Salt Spring Island BC

V8K 2W3

If your address label has an orange dot on it, it means that your membership has expired and this is your last Acorn. We don’t want to lose you -- so see the top of this page.

40026325