the
corn
The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy
New members elected to the Conservancy
Board of Directors at the AGM included Ruth
Tarasoff, Peter Lamb, Jean Gelwicks, and Sam
Lightman. They joined sitting Board members
Featured
artist
artist ––
Peter
Eyles
see
see page 14
page
Inside:
New faces......Page 1
Editorial.........Page 2
President........Page 3
Director..........Page 4
Reiss...............Page 5
Logging..........Page 6
Maxwell..........Page 7
Texada............Page 9
Stones................Page 10
Water..................Page 11
Co-op................Page 12
Black-out............Page 12
Feedback............Page 13
Eyles..................Page 14
Events...............Page 15
New president, new faces,
new energy
by Sam Lightman
The ink on the April Annual General Meeting
minutes had hardly dried when major changes
swept through the Salt Spring Island
Conservancy.
Samantha Beare, Gary Holman,
Andrew Lewis, Andrea Rankin, Bob
Weeden, Doug Wilkins, Maggie
Ziegler, Maureen Bendick and Ann
Richardson.
But surprises were in store. Just one
month later, at the Board meeting in
May, Maureen Bendick stepped down
as President, citing a wish to “get my life
back”. Maureen will continue serving on the
Executive Committee as Vice President.
At the same time, Bob Weeden agreed to
accept the gavel from her, moving to
President from his previous position as
Secretary. The Executive was rounded out
with Ruth Tarasoff being named as the new
Secretary and Samantha Beare continuing on
as Treasurer.
Ann Richardson, whose usual good health has
been less than robust of late, resigned from
her position on the Board. She will continue
working on the pivotal Covenant Committee.
Andrew Lewis will be rejoining the Board after
taking a leave of absence to run as a Green
Party candidate for this riding in the recent
provincial election. In a solidly Liberal riding,
Lewis polled a very respectable 25% of the
vote. While as a registered non-profit society
the Conservancy must remain politically
neutral, the Board is nevertheless pleased to
have him back.
Number 17 June, 2001
Also on hand for the May meeting was Karen
Hudson, newly appointed Executive Director,
the SSI Conservancy’s first (and only )
employee. Members will remember Karen as
the Director of our recently completed
Stewardship project. Karen’s first report
appears on Page 4.
Joining her in the office as Coordinator for
our Water Stewardship project is Murray Reiss,
who was selected from a field of very
impressive candidates (see Page 5). A
Covenants:
Three Complete, Ten
in Progress, Several
under Discussion
by Charles Kahn
Quietly and painstakingly, the Covenants
Committee has been working to have
conservation covenants placed on the
properties of interested islanders. The
committee – consisting of Charles Kahn
(chair), Maureen Milburn, Ann Richardson,
and Doug Wilkins – periodically sponsors
seminars to interest property holders in the
covenant process and then follows up by
examining prospective properties and
discussing the process with the owners.
Some owners may decide not to proceed
further. With others, the next step – baseline
inventories of the subject properties – are
conducted. Often surveys must be performed,
and eventually a detailed contract is
completed between the Conservancy and each
continued on page 5
1
 Editorial
Convert your neighbour
...if the world is saved, it will be saved by people with changed minds. Not by programs. By people with
changed minds. –Daniel Quinn – “Story of B,” p. 73.
Salt Spring Island – a difference of opinion surrounded by water. – Valdy
Valdy’s bon mot rings like a bell. Trying to get
people to unite around an issue on Salt Spring
would be a laughable exercise in futility if it
weren’t for the consequences.
The last time we saw anything approaching
unity was when Falconbridge Mining came
here with plans to establish a mine on Mount
Bruce. They were blown away on a wind of
universal outrage at a public meeting at
Beaver Point Hall. But that’s longer ago than
most people have been here. Most often, we
just disagree.
When Mac Blo decided to sell out and the
buyers commenced to clearcut Mount Tuam
and their other holdings, the island divided as
usual along the lines of private property versus
public good.
When Weldwood ripped a hole in our Fulford
Valley viewscape, only ten or fifteen people
came out to the public meeting to speak
against it. (Weldwood told us their cut
wouldn’t be visible from the road. They lied.
Imagine that.)
When Texada Lands arrived to create the
current havoc, only a relative handful of
people came out in opposition. The Salt
Spring Island Conservancy held a Stump
Stomp to raise funds and drew 450 people – a
major event. But that meant that roughly 9450
people stayed away.
Chris Schmah was quoted in the Barnacle as
saying that the community is quite divided on
this topic. We think it’s worse than that. In the
case of Texada, the minority is a little larger
than usual, but it is still a small minority. The
silent majority sat on its hands. Even when the
watershed was threatened.
The reason the community is divided is clear:
it’s the pioneer spirit, the western fixation with
2
individual freedom versus public good. There
is a visceral fear out there that government is
going to tell people who’ve always cut their
own firewood or opened up a building site
that they can’t do it any more. Ever. Anywhere.
It’s ridiculous but there it is.
Rationality isn’t the point. If it were, people
would see that what we are doing as a species
is hopelessly and fatally irrational (cf. the
recent Globe and Mail series, “Death Wish”, on
this subject). And we’d get a grip on our
behaviour, individually and collectively.
But it’s not rational. This is emotional, on
both sides. One side looks down the road and
sees a cliff, and the other is enjoying the ride
so much they don’t want to hear about it.
But the cliff is real and it’s getting closer. The
argument now is really only about how close it
is and how fast we’re approaching it. In that
regard, the Globe series has some sobering
numbers regarding such speed indicators as
rates of species extinction, desertification, and
climate change.
Clearly, if we want to slow down the approach,
we’re going to have to change our behaviour
drastically. And the rules that govern it. But
that’s going to require majority support,
locally and globally. Right now we don’t have
it. Not even close.
How to get it? Start changing minds. A
Herculean task, but simply crucial. Start with
your neighbour. The one who figures “they’ll
grow back”.
Don’t expect miracles. And don’t give up.
A
President’s Report
A Year of Stress and Accomplishment
The community and the Conservancy have donation by one of our members, we can now
been through a year of environmental add to the resources of our heretofore entirely
struggle, of hopes raised and hopes fading, volunteer covenant team. The signing of a
then rising again. In that time, Block 9 on covenant by Art and Doris Morton, protecting
Maxwell Lake has been secured. Some their beautiful groves and land, was a
portions of Burgoyne and the Garry Oak milestone and it shows the way to others who
meadows will be in preservationist hands. want to make the meaningful commitment to
Thanks to the dedication and generosity of its preservation in perpetuity.
people, protection and restoration of Salt
Spring’s natural environment can continue. I am stepping aside as President, which means
This past year has seen the Conservancy more time for broom-bashing, fundraising and
pledge resources to watershed protection and irate letter-writing to various government
to management plans for Ford Lake, to a departments and bureaucrats.
scholarship fund, to educational events and My time as President of the Conservancy has
fundraising. A successful and significant strengthened my understanding of these
stewardship project saw many landholders sometimes dryly worded, but staggeringly
engage in learning more about preservation important, concepts: education, stewardship
and enhancement of the natural features of and covenants.
their land. In practical terms this means
things like more Garry Oak groves sustained Thank you all again for your support for this
and enriched, eco-forestry practices organization that forges a greener, more
established in forested land, streams earthy and stronger future for the Island.
protected, and flora and fauna given a better There are some people that think that only
chance for long-term survival. people have emotions like pride, fear and
We have a scaled-down, but very important, joy. But those who know will tell you all
Watershed Stewardship Project just starting. things are alive…
We are also now very pleased to have taken a “Daughters of Copperwoman,”
big step forward by harvesting and Anne Cameron
husbanding our resources. We were able to
hire our first staff. We are fortunate in having A
Karen Hudson, who did such a stellar job on
the Stewardship Project, as our Executive
Director. She brings experience,
commitment, knowledge and fresh ideas to
this new and critically important dimension of
our Conservancy.
The expanding
awareness of the
importance of
legally-binding
covenants to
protect the natural
features of our
land is creative
and challenging
for the
organization.
Thanks to a very
generous

3
 From the Director’s desk
Setting up shop
As your newly hired Executive Director, I
thought that I would tell you what my role for
the Conservancy will be, as well as tell you what
I’ve been up to in my first few weeks on the job.
The purpose of the Executive Director is to
strengthen the Salt Spring Island Conservancy
through support of its Board, committees and
volunteers. As the Executive Director, I will
work under the direction of the Board to
implement the goals of the Salt Spring Island
Conservancy, with our main priorities being
Covenants, Education, and Stewardship.
The first thing that I did in my new position was
establish office hours as Mondays and Wednes-
days from 10 AM to 2 PM. For those of you who
have not yet been to the Conservancy office, it is
located at #204, Upper Ganges Centre at 338
Lower Ganges Road. (We tell most people who
call that we are located above the Chinese
Restaurant.) Please stop in and say “hi”.
I am looking for a few volunteers to staff the
office so we can have longer office hours, so
please let me know if you would like to help
out a few hours a week. During office hours,
all that is required of volunteers is that they
answer the phone and assist any visitors with
conservation information. It’s a great way to
get involved and learn more about the
Conservancy. We are also looking for more
volunteers to help in areas such as Biology,
Covenants, and Educational Events. Those of
you
with
computers
can log on to our
local volunteer
website to read about those
other positions:
http://www.volunteersaltspring.com.
4
Another role of the Executive Director is to
represent the Board at meetings and educa-
tional events and report back. At the end of
April, I attended the annual Land Trust
Alliance Conference in Nanaimo. There was
an impressive list of speakers this year on
diverse topics from fundraising to baseline
indicator studies. I was most impressed by the
local First Nations speakers who were the focus
of the conference this year, and their struggles
to preserve their sacred sites against the forces
of development. Were you aware that the new
parkway in Nanaimo goes through an area that
was sacred to the First Nations in that area? I
am grateful to those speakers who shared their
stories with us over that informative weekend.
As the Conservancy is about to begin another
Education Project, this one focusing on Lake
Stewardship, I will be spending a lot of time
assisting and training our new Project Coordi-
nator. The Hiring Committee, in which I
participated, has completed the difficult job of
selecting a single individual, Murray Reiss, from
a very strong list of candidates. Watch your local
papers for upcoming water-oriented workshops
and educational events this summer.
I want to thank our energetic volunteer,
Marilyn Thaden Dexter who, with the help of
Peter Lamb, is providing educational guidance
to new landowners on Salt Spring. The
Welcome Wagon is now distributing our
brochure ”Stewardship of your New Land” to 15-
30 newcomers a month. Many realtors on the
island have also agreed to pass along this
brochure, which will assist landholders in
stewarding their new land. Stop by the office
to get this brochure, as well as our other
brochures, Conservation Covenants, and Scotch
Broom Removal.
A reminder to anyone fighting the good fight
against broom, we have several broom pullers
available to borrow. You can phone Phil
Vernon 537-5614, Jim Spencer 537-9919, or
Brian Smallshaw 653-4774 to borrow one of
these handy tools. A suggested donation of
$5/day is requested to help cover the costs of
these tools, and to enable the Conservancy to
buy more.
See you this summer. A
– Karen Hudson
continued from page 1

Covenants
property owner. The whole, intricate process
can take from many months to a couple of
years to complete, as the contractual
arrangements are legal and binding, and both
the Conservancy and the property owners
must be in total agreement on the details. And
the process does not end there, as the
Conservancy must continue to monitor its
covenant agreements forever.
While the process is extremely slow and results
sometimes seem minuscule, progress is being
made. We now have three covenants
completed, which we hold jointly with The
Land Conservancy of British Columbia. Ten
others are in various stages of negotiation. We
are also helping with three other covenants
that will be held by TLC and the Islands Trust
Fund, and we are talking to others who have
expressed interest in conservation covenants.
For further information on covenants in
general, have a look at the Conservancy’s
publication “Conservation Covenants:
Protecting Your Land in Perpetuity,” which is
available from the Conservancy’s office. A

Reiss Appointed Water Stewardship

Project Coordinator
Murray Reiss has been selected to serve as which he has read on several occasions at
coordinator for the Salt Spring Island various island functions.
Conservancy’s new Lake Stewardship Project.
He also volunteers with the Community Justice
Murray moved to Salt Spring in 1979 with his Program and the library, and sits on the board
wife Karen and daughter Kaya and, with the of the Growing Circle Food Co-op.
exception of four years in Vancouver working
for Tools for Peace, has lived here ever since, Murray is excited about being part of the
roughly half of that time in “537” land and the Conservancy’s efforts to help conserve and
rest in “653”. protect our island’s watershed environments,
looks forward to working with its members and
He’s coordinated campaigns for Amnesty board, and welcomes your comments,
International, working to prohibit Canadian questions and suggestions. A
arms exports to countries that might use them
for human rights violations. He also worked
for Tools for Peace, helping to build a
solidarity network in Canada that provided
material and political support to the
popular movement in Nicaragua after the
Sandinista revolution, and pioneered links
between environmentalists in both
countries.
Closer to home, Murray has sat on the
Island Planning Association and the
Advisory Planning Committee and has
been active for the past year and a half in
the campaign to gain community control
of the Texada lands.
He’s brought his professional skills as a
writer, researcher and editor to all of these
campaigns, as well as his training and
background in counseling and mediation,
and organizing skills as an activist. Many
Salt Springers know Murray for his poetry,

5
 B.C.’s Standards for Private Land
Logging Worse Than U.S.
Sierra Club of British Columbia recently
released its report “Private Rights and Public
Wrongs”, documenting the continued
environmental and social impacts of private
land logging in BC by TimberWest and other
industrial logging operations including
Texada, Raven, and Weyerhaeuser.
Sierra Club is calling on the new government
to conduct a review of BC’s Private Forest
Practices Regulation, and to bring BC private
forestry standards up to the same
environmental levels as Washington State.␣
“Private Rights and Public Wrongs”,
researched and written by BC writer Ben
Parfitt, highlights several cases where current
private forest practices regulations have failed
to protect wildlife, fish, water quality, workers,
and endangered species from the effects of
industrial scale logging on private lands.␣
In his forward to the report, Salt Spring’s Dr.
Bristol Foster writes, “One year ago, British
Columbia introduced a wholly inadequate
regulation governing logging on private lands.
The regulation failed to limit logging rates,
did little to conserve streamside forests, and
next to nothing to protect wildlife.”
Foster quotes the acting Deputy Minister of
Forests Bronwen Beedle as saying, “private
6
forest land being regulated represents 1
percent of the provincial land base, and all
private land represents approximately 5
percent. Government feels its efforts to
manage wildlife are best focused on the 95
percent of British Columbia that is public
land.”
Foster points out that, “While a small
component of the overall landscape, private
land is still hugely important in some areas.
On Vancouver Island, for example, about 20
per cent of the forest is privately owned, and
this percentage is concentrated on the east
coast and neighbouring Gulf Islands. Some of
the most endangered ecosystems found
anywhere in British Columbia are on those
lands, including Coastal Douglas-fir forests,
and Garry Oak meadows.”
Dr. Briony Penn is also quoted: “I live adjacent
to the Forest Land Reserve. I can’t clear more
than 200 metres square of trees or add on to
my outhouse without a permit as I live in a
water catchment area. My neighbour, Texada
Land Corporation, can clear cut their 5000
acres, destroy my watershed and endangered
ecosystems without even a plan to pass
comment on. We live in a society of two rules:
one for the corporations and one for the rest
of us.
“ The challenge facing us is to develop an
equitable code of practices that embraces all
forested lands, deters strip and flip
corporations and rewards good
stewardship. Calling this an issue of
private rights versus community
rights is a corporate smokescreen to
evoke emotive responses. This is an
issue of corporate versus community
rights and the time has come for
them to have to paint their roofs the
same colour as the rest of us.”
To download the report, go to
http://bc.sierraclub.ca/News/
Media_Releases/TW_AGM.html
and click on the link to “Private
Rights and Public Wrongs”.
A
Mt. Maxwell Field Trip Notes

‘Crucial for acquisition’

To: Mr. Chris Kissinger After meeting at the summit of Mt. Maxwell, in
BC Parks the Provincial Park, and being briefed by
Victoria GOERT chair Marilyn Fuchs, we␣ drove down
the mountain (north) roughly 1 km and
From: Gordon Brent Ingram, side stream parked on the␣ road about 200 north of the
environmental design boundary of the provincial park (and north
200 metres before where the upper part of
RE: brief notes on the field discussion on Mt.
the ecological reserve touches that road —
Maxwell, 7 May, 2001
where the big boulders were recently place).
Dear Chris, This land is owned by Texada Logging and
we walked through the extreme western
As promised, the following is the little portion. This parcel is the extreme
‘report’ that you suggested. These notes only northwestern 16th of Section 80 and the
represent my opinion, as a researcher with a parcel west of the road represents a critical
23-year involvement in this area, and in no triangle touching both the provincial park
way represent the opinions of this RAG and the ecological reserve. Because it is not
[Recovery Action Group] or GOERT [Garry very steep this has been my preferred entry
Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team]. point to the lower elevations of the
On May 7, we had a group of 10 up on the provincial park and the ecological reserve.
provincial park and ecological reserve on Mt. At the road, this␣ tract appears swampy but in
Maxwell. As I mentioned earlier, that area is going west slopes down and dries out. I note
an excellent location for a field trip for that this triangular tract has highly
discussing landscape ecology and marketable old-growth Douglas fir, away
conservation planning. from the road and␣ adjacent to the
Our group included␣ employees of␣ or officers boundaries of the provincial park and the
in BC Ministry of Forests, Parks Canada, the ecological reserve, that␣ could be easily
Habitat Acquisition Fund, Nature logged — disturbances that would have
Conservancy of Canada (NCC), the Salt relatively deleterious negative impacts on the
Spring Island Conservancy, Salt Spring Island integrity of the west face of Mt. Maxwell.
Trail & Nature Club...most of whom are Descending through the Douglas fir parkland,
members of the GOERT Conservation we came into the oak meadows to the point
planning & site protection RAG. where the extreme northwestern corner of the
Our group did not have time to discuss the provincial park touches the point exactly mid-
importance of particular adjacent tracts of way along the eastern boundary of the
land to the provincial park and ecological ecological reserve. Wayne Erickson of the
reserve – that have been the topic of much Ministry of Forests gave us an overview of the
discussion of acquisition. There is some talk plant communities that he has detected and
that some of these ‘deals’ have already been classified in the ecological reserve.
finalized – which is heartening! Compared to other times in similar times of
In making the notes below, I am looking at a year over the last two decades, I noted
1969 map of Salt Spring with a scale of ‘1 an␣ exceptional number of Calypso orchid,
inch = 1320 feet’ (roughly 1: 16,000). Calypso bulbosa, and was pleased to see one
Erythronium sp.␣ at about 1500'. Brian Reader
Along the route described below, we had a of the new Gulf Island National Park office
number of discussions about GOERT’s of Parks Canada in Victoria noted that he
mandate, the Conservation Planning & Site saw several more blooming Erythronium
Protection RAG of GOERT, landscape nearby. The grass biomass appears to be
ecology principles, plant association greater than normal for this time of year —
classifications of Garry oak perhaps because of the warm winter and wet
ecosystems,␣ grazing, and fencing. spring. But there are fewer signs of sheep than
continued on page 8

7
 continued from page 7
Crucial
there were even a decade ago: there is far less fresh
scat and no tell-tale tufts of wool along the trails.
Now at 1200 foot elevation, we walked south-
east into the oak meadows only partially
protected within the boundaries of the
provincial park.␣ We then went back, northwest,
into the ecological reserve going down to as
low as 800 feet. This is the elevation mid-way
down the slope and mid-way ‘down’ the
ecological reserve.
Continuing through the ecological reserve at
that elevation, we came to the fence that you
repaired earlier this year. This is indeed an
impressive achievement and the new gates
(which we carefully closed) make research
much easier. My colleague from the Salt Spring
Conservancy and I took a very quick half hour
reconnaissance — with a
particular interest in forbs1 .
the private piece at the Unfortunately, there were no
southwest corner of signs of the removal of sheep
Section 80 and the two grazing.␣ There has been
insufficient time for the
triangular shores tracts herbaceous layer to recover.
in section 81 are
After the fence was first
absolutely crucial to constructed, about 1983 (?), I
maintain the integrity of think that it took about 5
years before I began to see␣ a
this dynamic mosaic few common Camas Camassia
quamash and one Fritilleria
[lily]2 species in that enclosure.
Incidentally,␣ Tim Ennes of
GOERT and NCC found a␣ Camassia blooming
on a cliff nearby in the ecological reserve, that
sounds more like the larger␣ species of Camas.
Outside (and inside) of the exclosure, the rate of
recent oak regeneration also appears to be
greater than it was decades back — though I did
not keep records or establish permanent plots.
Heading southeast again and contouring
upward, we␣ passed that exploratory ‘mine’ that
goes in about␣ 5 metres.␣ The floor was
exceptionally dry but there were no signs of the
small bats␣ that used it two decades before.
As for the currently unprotected portions of
this mountainside, I think that the extreme
northwest corner of Section 81, west of the
park road and owned by Texada Logging, is
crucial for acquisition — especially to
maintain the cliff seepage system that flows
8
through the southeast half of the ecological
reserve. As for the entire Garry oak mosaic,
across this mountainside, the private piece at
the southwest corner of Section 80 (bounded
on two sides by the provincial park) and the two
(privately owned) triangular shores tracts in
section 81 (touching two sides of the ecological
reserve) are absolutely crucial to maintain the
integrity of this dynamic mosaic of oak,
grassland, and old-growth Douglas fir (with
relatively rare seepage communities). If these
parcels are not purchased in the coming
months, I will be asking whether these sites
should be evaluated as priority areas for
protection under the terms of this RAG (with a
mandate that may one day have a legal basis).
For our recovery action group, the discussion of
the partial conservation provided by the
boundaries of the ecological reserve and the
provincial park allowed us to illustrate some
conservation planning principles that we will be
working with over the coming years. I hope that
you can also find time to attend at least some of
our meetings and join us for field trips.
With best wishes,
Gordon Brent Ingram, Ph.D.
side stream environmental design
321 Railway Street #108
Vancouver, BC V6A 1A4
telephone: 1(604)669-0422␣
email: gordon_brent_ingram@telus.net
PS: There are few large landscape mosaics of
old Garry oak and old-growth Douglas fir
left anywhere — and especially in the
northern portion of this ecosystem that is in
Canada. The west side of Mt. Maxwell has
one of the largest and most complex␣ set of
Garry oak ecosystems — and one of the least
damaged by␣ broom infestation (though it is
there). In 1981,␣ I completed my M.Sc. thesis
in ecosystem management on the ecological
reserve there and␣ on others␣ in the region in
1981. As a conservation priority, Mt. Maxwell
was discounted for years because of the feral
sheep␣ and their heavy toll on the forbs and
grasses.␣ But these pressures have diminished
(and can be further controlled through
fencing and predation). On the other hand,
Mt. Maxwell has some of the best remaining
areas of standing and fallen dead wood (oak
and fir) which is key to some aspects of these
ecosystems and␣ this slope is one of the␣ most
promising areas for re-introduction of burning
continued on page 9
Texada Lands Use Process Expands
by Dan Kahn
The Salt Spring Island Conservancy has been
invited to participate in a process which aims
to create a model of stewardship, education,
and sustainability on the current Texada Lands.
The ad hoc group which coalesced around
The Land Conservancy of British Columbia at
the outset of the Texada controversy is now
opening up their process in an effort to
develop a community vision for the use of
the lands. The group has already expanded
its membership from an original 16 or so to
about 50.
The province plans to acquire a
portion of the Texada lands to
be designated as parkland.
Indications are that the province
wants input regarding funding/
management partners to feed into its
negotiations before the end of June. A
process is now underway to create, by June
14th, a document which will serve the
community’s interests.
The purpose of this process: to catalyze
tangible community plans for stewardship,
protection, and practical, prosperous,
educational relationships with those lands.␣
The hope is that these very preliminary plans
will help the province acquire more lands at a
better price and leverage more private
financing. In addition, the plans would help
the community to develop protected areas,
cooperative farming and eco-forestry
projects, safe drinking water, environmental
continued from page 8
Crucial
and even aboriginal gathering of traditional
species such as camas. A
1
Forbs are a host of low herbaceous plants that
aren’t grasses. When flowering, many forbs are just
called ‘wildflowers’. They are delicate. But for most
of the year, these low green plants sort of fit into the
grasslands as if they are grasses but they aren’t. In
a summer drought ecoystem like Mt. Maxwell, parts
of Oregon and California, Mediterranean Europe
etc., forbs die back by June but dominate the
groundcover through the wet months. A forb doesn’t
have much of a stalk — in contrast to a low shrub
which isn’t a forb or a grass.
Sheep actually don’t like grass that much. If they
education, and other ecologically sustainable
and responsible projects. The more human-
intensive activities would serve as a buffer
between “core protected areas” and the
surrounding, more vulnerable landscape.
The idea is to develop a document which
contains several distinct scenarios, each one
involving various integrated and/or isolated
uses. The “final” document is intended to be a
community resource which contains
information about various options for land use
and avenues for funding particular uses and
would be available to any local groups or
individuals willing to employ it. The
expanded ad hoc group hopes to use this
document to persuade the Land Conservancy
board to acquire funding to help secure the
land, and other organizations that similarly
might be willing to raise or borrow funds
based on this document would be highly
encouraged to do so.
A number of possible avenues for the
Conservancy’s participation in this process
have been suggested and the ad hoc group is
welcoming collaboration. Any questions about
the process can be directed to Dan Kahn at
653-4244, or dan_kahn@hotmail.com. A
[Note: At press time, the SSI Conservancy Board
was studying the ad hoc group’s preliminary
document and considering what response(s) would
be most appropriate, meaningful, effective, and –
most important – doable within the limits of our
considerably constrained resources. –Ed.]
have the chance, they eat the tender forbs over the
tough grass — making lilies and other such forbs
particularly vulnerable from repeated grazing (which
is what has happened on Mt. Maxwell). As sheep
are moved off or better controlled through predation
(natural predators or hunting), the big change will be
in the expanded forb layers. The best time to see
the difference in a healthy forb layer is April and
May (until early June). Until maybe the end of this
week or next, if you compare a walk through the
camas meadows of Beacon Hill Park in Victoria to
the (ghost) camas meadows of Mt. Maxwell, in
Beacon Hill Park perhaps half of the plants in the
meadow are not actually grass — whereas on Mt.
Maxwell, the tougher grasses rule (for now).
2
Probably the Fritilleria lanceolata, a chocolate lily
found occasionally in the area.
9
 Stones, Words, and the River
by Bob Weeden
[This is a second reminiscence from a trip
taken by Don and Fiona Flook, and Bob and
Judy Weeden on an arctic river last summer.
The first appeared in Acorn #16.–Ed.]
While I walk the stony gravels of the beach of
our evening camp, I recall Loren Eisely’s
marvellous metaphor of stones and words.
Stones, he said, weather from the cliff of their
origins, fall into a river, and year by year are
carried along, always changing shape
as they grind and chip and split,
In the but always keeping some
fundamental essence of their
language of original nature. So, too, with
these stones, words, born somehow as a new
perception of life or the universe
river is a and then worn and changed in
verb, the tumble down through the
centuries, but always carrying in
their deepest structure the crystals
of their beginnings.
Remembering that, I feel the warmth of my
long admiration for Eisely, a respect tinged in
some unlikely way with kinship. Set aside
levels of achievement and fame: didn’t I, like
Eisely, yearn to be both scientist and poet?
My errant foot kicks a stone, and I look down
at the cobbled beach. These have come a long
way, I think, because the hills at my back are
pure limestone while these are a colorful
mixture of granites and gneisses, quartzes and
hardened slates, and many others I can’t
name. A variant of Eisely’s metaphor strikes
me: these are not like words, they are words.
Each of my hands can hold one stone, and
each is a word. In their wonderful variety on
this patch of beach where I stand, they
compose a thought – a sentence. In their
smoothness is embedded another thought,
and in their size, yet another. And if I knew
enough I could write a paragraph, even a
chapter, in the history of Earth.
Here is a word: a fist of granite, speckled grey-
white, black, and rose-pink. Worn smooth but
crystalline. It speaks of heat and weight and a
massive thrust to the surface.
Here is a sentence: a pail of blindly-collected
stones, wonderfully varied. Ocean sediments,
molten planetary core, compressed river
gravels. An immense broom has swept a
10
continental room of its furniture and left it,
jumbled together, in the watershed of this
small river.
No matter their color or structure or size,
these stones are smooth and rounded. No
jagged edges. No skipping stones whose
curving leaps I’ve counted all these delightful
years. Only sand-laden desert winds or tall
waves on a steep beach or the force of a wild
river can so smooth and round such stones.
And so another sentence lies around me,
waiting to be read.
And thus the paragraph, created from these
pebbles and glued together by what we saw
upriver a few days ago. In the beginning (I
shall call it that, though I know it to be false)
there was ice, ice of immense weight and huge
geography, covering this country. Thicker in
some places than others, and lying on uneven
ground, it plowed slowly outward from centers
of accumulation and from higher elevation,
seeking, as does water everywhere, its lowest
level. This glacier plucked and gouged the
country rock and loose debris of earlier times,
and pushed it ahead. In summer meltwater
streams formed and rolled some of this debris
before errantly throwing it aside. Eventually
the continental ice disappeared, leaving a
mantle of silt, sand and rocks behind. We
landed on a small lake in this mantle last
Wednesday and camped on a flower-covered
low ridge of gravel where the little river
begins. All around us was glacial debris,
hillocks and ridges and pockets now softened
by plant growth. The little river had busied
itself for millennia, carrying everything loose
toward the sea. Big pieces were left behind
early, near the place the ice abandoned them.
Our beach on this sun-lit night is a third of the
way to river mouth, and the cobble and gravel
is of a size humans love to turn over, pick up,
and admire. Farther downstream all will be
pebbles or smaller, except for bigger pieces
newly dropped by sidestreams or from cliffs
along the way. Where the river dies in the arms
of the sea, only fine sand and mud will be left.
In the language of these stones, river is a verb,
and so is ice. Above and through all, so is
time, the invisible guide of all action. A
A Call to Everyone Who Cares About Clean Water
Create a Ripple of Change
The media, government, cottagers, your
neighbours - everyone is talking about the
need for clean water for drinking and
recreation. Healthy natural shorelines - be
they along lakes, creeks, ponds, canals,
oceans, rivers, or estuaries - play an essential
role in protecting our water quality,
preventing erosion and safeguarding
shoreline property values.
What can you do to help to protect our water
quality and shoreline health? The folks at The
Living by Water Project are challenging all
Canadians to help make a difference by filling
out the Shoreline Action Checklist. Our
checklist contains easy actions that you can
carry out in your home, along the shoreline,
and on the water to help protect and restore
shorelines. Let us know what you are already
Words and Birds
The W. David and Marilyn Dexter
Conservancy Scholarship
fund was enlarged by $400
this spring, with the help of
tuition-paying students.
During four two-hour
evening sessions, a diverse
class let their minds
hopscotch around the
cosmos in search of an
environmental ethic. It
was so much fun that
they gathered three
more times to watch
and discuss Vision TV’s
five-part series,
doing and what things you’ll try by simply
checking the I’m doing or I will box next to
the appropriate action and receive a Shoreline
Ambassador Certificate in recognition of your
efforts. Your actions do make a difference!
Shoreline residents (year-round and seasonal)
are invited to complete the checklist found at
http://www.livingbywater.ca
Shoreline visitors are invited to complete the
checklist found at
http://www.caringforshorelines.ca
For more information, contact:
The Living by Water Project
Tel: (250) 832-7405, Fax: (250) 832-6875
E-mail: lbywater@jetstream.net
A
“Reinventing the World.” Who knows: you
might see a reincarnation of that energy in
some other form.
Several of those ‘phearless philosophers’, plus
new folks, honed bird-watching skills on three
fine April Saturdays. They will remember a
gem-like moment in Ruckle Park, with a warm
sun reflecting from the lemon-green blossoms
of huge old maples. Each tree hid spirit-birds,
fleeting shapes at the edge of vision,
confirming their doubted existence with
signature songs. Thanks to Ducks Unlimited
and Mark Hughes, we were able to enjoy the
sights and sounds of one of the finest wetland-
and-farmland landscapes on our Island. Barn,
violet-green, and rough-winged swallows
shimmered around Ford Lake, like electrons
around their nucleus. And, if quirky quarks
could call, surely they would sound like the
rattling chorus of invisible marsh wrens.
Bob Weeden had almost as much fun
organizing these explorations as the students
had in re-organizing them. A
11
 New Co-operative Forming
on Salt Spring
A new cooperative landscaping business,
called Earthworks, is forming on Salt Spring,
and is looking for a response from
Conservancy members. Earthworks
Cooperative will specialize in edible, medicinal
and aromatic landscaping. Its other main
focus will be the removal of scotch broom and
gorse, and revegetating with native and other
suitable plants. Coop workers will try to
discover the best methods of composting
broom, gorse, and other yard waste to turn
them into viable soil amendments.
Earthworks will also attempt to make other
useful and interesting products out of broom.
ROLL YOUR OWN BLACK OUT
[One of the more interesting suggestions to
come our way in recent months via eamil.]
In protest of George W. Bush’s energy policies
and lack of emphasis on efficiency,
conservation and alternative fuels, there will
be a voluntary rolling blackout on the first day
of summer, June 21 from 7 PM - 10 PM in any
time zone (this will roll it across the planet).
12
In addition, they are trying to redesign
existing broom control tools for greater ease
of use and make them available to the
community.
Earthworks is currently putting together a
business plan and need to do some market
research. They would greatly appreciate any of
your information or ideas. If you are
potentially interested in their services or want
more information about the co-op, please
contact Laura Morrison at 537 4816, or via
email at lauramorrison98@yahoo.com. A
It’s a simple protest and a symbolic act. Turn
out your lights from 7 PM - 10 PM on June 21.
Unplug whatever you can unplug in your
house. Light a candle to the sungod, kiss and
tell, make love, tell ghost stories, do something
instead of watching television, have fun in the
dark.
Forward this email as widely as possible, to
your government representatives and
environmental contacts. Let them know
we want global education, participation
and funding in conservation, efficiency
and alternative fuel efforts — and an end
to over- exploitation and misuse of the
earth’s resources.
ROLL YOUR OWN BLACK OUT. The
First Day of Summer, Thursday evening,
June 21, 2001, 7-10 PM worldwide, all
time zones. A
FEEDFEEDFEEDFEEDFEEDFEED
FEEDback
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 11:34:18 +0100
To: sam_lightman@saltspring.com
From: John Munro and Karen Clark
Subject: Herbicide Use on Salt Spring
Hi Sam,
I am a SSI Conservancy member and always
enjoy reading the Acorn. It continues to get
better and more informative.
I really support the Conservancy approach to
educating people as I often see that people
sometimes do things and don’t realize the
ramifications of their actions for the
environment and wildlife.
I was wondering if the Conservancy had ever
thought of having speakers or articles in the
Acorn on herbicide use. I see more and more
people here on Channel Ridge using
Roundup to kill broom or in some cases kill
all the Garry Oak meadow plants so that they
can plant a ‘lawn’.
I do think for some people if they were more
aware of the risks of using herbicides they
would not use them. There is a one acre lot
on Canvasback where the person has just
sprayed all of the native vegetation on their
property including the road-right-of way in an
area where small children and pets often play.
Most of the vegetation was garry oak meadow.
Channel Ridge Properties, the developer, has
been spraying with Roundup to kill broom
and is considering more widespread spraying.
I think if more people realized that in
Roundup it is only the glysophate that has
undergone toxicological testing whereas the
surfactants and solvents that are used to make
the herbicide adhere to the foliage do not
undergo testing because they are secret and
part of the patent held by Monsanto. There is
growing evidence that the solvents and
surfactants are quite toxic and are known to
kill fish and amphibians. There is also
evidence that glysophate is not as benign as
Monsanto would like everyone to believe and
that it is persistent for at least 90 days. Also the
primary factor in herbicide-caused illness for
landscape workers is Roundup.
Another issue is insecticides, which I know are
commonly sold and used in many gardens and
in general are quite toxic and persistent. Most
insecticides are neurotoxins, killing by
disrupting the nervous system of insects. To
assume that such a powerful chemical could
be so specific as to affect only insects and be
benign to humans, intuitively to me seems
quite naive.
I have been hearing also of the use of
pesticides by the vineyards on Salt Spring and
concerns about runoff and drift from these
areas onto surrounding lands.
The use of pesticides seems like an issue where
educating people on the risks of their use
could potentially go a long way, since at the
moment most people seem to rely on the
manufacturers for the safety information,
(which is obviously biased) and the TV
advertising (which strives to make you think
these are wonder chemicals).
I recently saw a woman trying to fit a 10kg
bag of ‘Weed and Feed’ and a large bottle of
Diazanon into her car around her three small
children and two dogs. I really wondered if
she realized what she was about to expose her
family to.
Thanks for thinking about this.
Karen Clark
A
Help Wanted
Computer whiz, volunteer, comfort-
able with Windows, to help out with
problems, installs and removes, etc.
Call Karen, 538-0318
13
 Featured
artist –
Peter Eyles
Peter Eyles received his degree in Visual Arts from
the University of Victoria in 1972. He worked as
a Natural History Illustrator for the Provincial
Parks Department from 1972 to 1976. He
worked in the display department which
produced outdoor display signs for provincial
parks and indoor displays for the nature houses.
Since then he has enjoyed drawing and painting
out of doors as well as in the studio. The landscape
remains a dominant theme in his work. Peter has
shown his work locally in galleries and group
exhibits. He lives on Salt Spring with his wife Gail
and his two sons. Their studio is on the tour where
woodwork as well as painting and photography are
on display. A

14
 Coming Events
SALT SPRING WATER –
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

June 27, 7:30 PM. All Saints by the Sea Anglican Church
Gary Gibson - IS OUR WATER THREATENING OUR HEALTH?
Health hazards in water supplies and what we might be facing
Tom Wright – ARE OUR WELLS WELL?
An update on the condition of our ground water
Cost per session: $5.00 member $6.00 non members
Refreshments will be served.

Sponsored by :

the Salt Spring Island

C onservancy
The Acorn is the newslet-
ter of the Salt Spring Island
Conservancy, a local, non-
profit society supporting
and enabling voluntary
preservation and restora- Membership Application Participation
tion of the natural environ-
ment of Salt Spring Island Individual $15 I would like to participate in the work of the
and surrounding waters. Conservancy by volunteering in the following way(s):
Family $20
We welcome your feed- Underemployed $10 ¨ Research
back and contributions, by
email to
¨ Land restoration
Name:
sam_lightman@saltspring.com ¨ Office work
or by regular mail to the Address:
Conservancy office. ¨ Site evaluation and habitat identification
Editor/Designer: ¨ Computer work
Sam Lightman Postal Code:
¨ Mapping
Phone: Fax:
Board of Directors:
Maureen Bendick email: ¨ Fund raising
Samantha Beare
Please email the Acorn to me. ¨ Specific educational programs (your ideas
Jean Gelwicks welcome)
Gary Holman
Ann Richardson Donations ¨ Joining the Board of Directors (this Board is
Peter Lamb Tax deductible receipts are provided for every active, not passive)
Andrew Lewis donation over $20.
Sam Lightman ¨ Other (your suggestions)
Andrea Rankin In addition to my $15-20 membership fee, I have
Ruth Tarasoff enclosed my donation in the amount of:
the Salt Spring Island
Doug Wilkins
Maggie Ziegler
Bob Weeden,
$25 $50 $100 C onservancy
Ganges PO Box 722
President Salt Spring Island, BC
Other________ V8K 2W3

printed on recycled paper

15
 the Salt Spring Island
C onservancy
Ganges PO Box 722
Salt Spring Island, BC
V8K 2W3

16