Paper Angel Wishes

December 16, 2021

Paper Angel Wishes

Donna Wooley

Looking at how to show we care for each other regardless of where we are on our journey. The journey that I am on now has me looking at creating a local paper angel tree in memory of Benjamin and many others we have lost this past while. I have a wish that we can give a gift to someone we won’t know who it is. The wishes may be a pair of gloves for a person stacking wood, or wood, or a elder would love a box of homemade Christmas cookies, or a child would want a art set, or a family needs new kitchen pots, a treasured mug or as simple as a gift card. I will leave a envelope at the Bistro and at the free post marker PAPER ANGELS put your sealed wish in there with name and contact inside (I won’t share that information). I will gather them and place angels on a tree in the bistro with your wishes. People can come choose a angel and create the gift, then wrap it and return to the tree with the angel. I will make sure that they are delivered Christmas Eve. I hope to share a little joy with others both from giving a gift and receiving a gift. There is no questions asked anybody can make a wish for themselves or someone else. I hope we can fill some wishes and add a little joy.

Arts Denman Membership Drive

December 16, 2021

ARTS DENMAN

membership drive

As most people on Denman have noticed there is a lot of new public Art on Denman. The whirly mill at recycling, salmon leaping at the Arts Centre, bird mobiles fluttering about downtown this summer, along with the famous Denman flags, the huge mural on the Activities Center and sculptures at the Museum.

All of these were commissioned by Arts Denman through BCAC grants. Arts Denman has also put on a mini Readers & Writers Festival, Baroque Festival, live concerts, online concerts and online workshops. There is a whole lot planned for the coming year. Starting with the Burlesque Show on New-years Eve. Covid has curtailed what we do but hasn’t stopped us.

For the Arts to be so fruitful we need the support of everyone on Denman Island through memberships. They’re only $10 and they show every level of Government funding that we have the support of the community. Without the prolific funding Arts Denman gets there would hardly be any Arts on Denman. Without membership there would be hardly any funding.

More than ever we need your membership. We will start selling 2022 memberships at the Arts Centre at Moonlite Madness on December 17th starting at 5:00PM. Come by we’ll look forward to seeing you.

Dart Satellite

December 16, 2021

Bouncing Particles

December 2, 2021

Crazy Clown in a Bowl of Hero Soup: a perspective

December 2, 2021

Crazy Clown, in a bowl of Hero soup: a perspective. Robbie Newton.

Yes it’s time for me to focus on my Hero’s, a celebration of some of the pleasures that Denman has offered me in the times that I’ve spent here.

So now for an easy Hero, Esther Muirhead, whose determination to save the trees of the Fairy Creek area is now‘legend’ for us on Denman. Her reporting of what she has seen and been involved with has promoted many others to join in that campaign.

Personally my disgust is at a new high for those who identify with that once respectable NDP label. And Teal-Jones. the logging company who say they are providing for a market of ‘cedar shakes’; a product that is easily available from any cedar tree; suggests an unhealthy lust for power, in a society which already overindulges in that same lust.

One of my might have been Heroes was Andrew Scruton. I’d watch him tangle in the DIRA ‘arena’ that I still like to call “Ratepayers”, where the ‘possessive’ natures of residents still stir strong emotions. He did well there, taking criticism and rising above it; and thoughts about running for the Trust became public. However an admiring Bill Engleson attached himself to that goal; which stirred up the satirical pen of Ron Sakolsky; and Engle/Scruton, linking their names together becoming the butt of this lively piece of writing. Bill was outraged but sensibly Andrew added nothing of his own; and Andrew wasn’t elected; so as an “unadorned Hero” he remains.

My heroes, yes, but who are yours? I’m just one observer, there are so many more of you.

Think of who you would choose, and why; there’s too much negativity, it surrounds us: make your own positive notions known; free yourself and feel the relief.

Grumpisms

December 2, 2021

Poor communication and mistrust of Islands Trust governance, new regional poll ﬁnds

December 2, 2021

MEDIA RELEASE

Poor communication and mistrust of Islands Trust governance, new regional poll finds

EMBARGOED UNTIL:

Monday, November 29, 2021 9am For immediate release

SALT SPRING ISLAND, BC — The Islands Trust Draft Policy Statement should be deferred until the next municipal election mandate in Oct. 2022, say 85% of those surveyed in a recent poll. Another 69.3% say “scrap it” entirely. These were among the main findings from a new Southern Gulf Islands resident and business poll held over two weeks in November. Approximately 450 locals who joined a public website, via flyers, word of mouth and social media, were invited to complete the survey. The survey had a 42% response rate, representing 189 individuals of diverse ages from Salt Spring, Galiano, Mayne, Pender, and others.

Strong opposition to the current draft stems from the belief the Islands Trust regional government used a top-down, secretive process to ram through the 51 new regulatory directives, everything from banning desalination despite chronic water shortages, prohibiting new docks in areas with poor ferry service, disallowing tiny homes during a housing crisis, limiting farming, retail options or even the ability to cut a single, diseased tree on your property. “The draft plan,

developed by consultants and bureaucrats who don’t even live here, was presented with little room for public engagement or recognition of the uniqueness of each island,” says Jamie Harris, 51, a forestry worker with three children and group spokesperson from Salt Spring Island.

An Indigenous resident and construction sector member, Ron Spencer says: “This unaccountable “big brother” governance model is broken. We’ve already seen spectacular fails by similarly appointed regional governments like Metro Vancouver’s billion-dollar sewage plant boondoggle, leaving taxpayers on the hook.” Although he noted 58.7% of respondents are demanding a grassroots consultation, an even greater number, 75.1%, “aren’t even confident the Trust will integrate community concerns into a new Draft Policy.”

Despite these apparent trust issues, poor communication or public engagement to date, Harris and Spencer still believe a new community-based plan can balance environmental protection and integrate Indigenous values while expanding fresh water supply & affordable housing options without harming the local economy or food sources.

POLL HIGHLIGHTS:

Island Trust Public Engagement to date has been “very poor” (78.3%) of respondents.

Majority of respondents learned about the new Islands Trust Draft Policy Statement from their neighbours through word of mouth (50.3%) or a neighbour email (43.4%), followed by social media (18%) or their local newspaper (16.9%). Only 15.3% identified the Islands Trust as their source of news on the proposed new mandate.

74.1% were “strongly opposed” to the new Draft Policy Statement after viewing its content.

Similar to other cities and regions in BC and Canada, Affordable or Workforce Housing was cited by 24.9% as one of the key challenges facing the Gulf Islands. However, that was surpassed by the 35.4% who

pointed to the Islands Trust, Regional Governance, Local Government, Capital Regional District as the “biggest challenge”.

People were most concerned with the Islands Trust Draft Policy Statement impacts on the following areas of their lives and livelihoods, in ranked order of importance. Multiple answers were permitted.

Tree Cutting: a new requirement for every landowner to pay for a permit to cut a tree on private property (84.1%)
Taxation: taxes on local residents and business will substantially rise to support this expanded Islands Trust mandate that is proposing to include climate change, affordable housing and Indigenous reconciliation normally addressed by higher levels of government (83.1%)
Top-down approach to engagement: presenting a fully baked plan with little opportunity for input/changes (82%)
Moratorium on new public docks despite the lack of or limited ferry service between islands. People rely on boats to buy groceries, visit hospitals, or evacuate in emergencies (76.7%)
Doesn’t recognize uniqueness of each island (75.1%)
Livelihood: restrict local businesses, retailers, tourism, hotels, short-term rentals, farming, artists/artisans (69.3%)
Prohibition of desalinization plants that would help increase freshwater supply (64%)
Housing: size limits would decrease seasonal housing & rental housing options (63%)
Farming & Agriculture Restrictions: Island communities rely on local farming produce for their livelihood and food, as well as tourism opportunities with farm-based B&B (62.4%)
Heritage and Sustainability Values Defined by the Islands Trust not individual Community Plans (49.7%)

BACKGROUND:

Survey collation by Google Forms Excel spreadsheet tabs, source data Social media graphic

INTERVIEWS:

Jamie Harris, Volunteer, Salt Spring forestry worker

oldstonessi@gmail.com Due to limited mobility service, please text his cell: 1-250-530-9663

1. Ron Spencer, Volunteer, Salt Spring, Excavating Contractor of Indigenous descent. Ancestor was Tlingit noblewoman Anisalaga (Mary Ebbets Hunt). ronspencer@shaw.ca cell: 1-250-537-7493
2. Mairead Boland, Saturna Island maireadgboland@gmail.com cell: 1-520-241-2954

SELECTION OF SURVEY COMMENTS

All comments may be viewed in the excel spreadsheet in backgrounder.

“I asked what was the cost of the implications of the trust’s decision…was promised an answer, never got it.”

“The Policy Revision places way too much control in the hands of the unelected and unaccountable staff in Victoria.”

“Islands Trust needs to stick with its original mandate of land use and not try and expand its purview into areas of jurisdiction of other government agencies.”

“This is big brother at its worst.”

“The Trust needs to decide if Salt Spring is to be a tourist destination and pro-business or a nature reserve. There is a middle way!”

“Banning of docks, for those who use boats for work, community and helping neighbours, is absurd.”

“If people need to build on their land, let them! People should be able to make housing to rent which in turn will give jobs.”

ABOUT THE SOUTHERN GULF ISLAND RESIDENT AND BUSINESS COALITION:

We are an apolitical group of residents & businesses advocating for a balanced regional plan that protects the environment, includes Indigenous communities, expands freshwater & affordable housing options without harming our local economy or food sources. We are the grassroots of this community, people who raise families here, breed livestock, grow food and operate retail stores or create artisan wares.

W: Southern Gulf Islands Coalition E: concernedssiresidents@gmail.com

Comme ailleurs

December 2, 2021

Comme ailleurs

par Thomas Provençal

À Denman ça jase comme

partout dans le monde,

toutes les mêmes peurs

rongées à la ronde.

Les êtres humains

comme on le sait bien

sont pas mal pareils,

or, jusqu’aux orteils.

On aime créer une belle histoire,

comment la vie se vit.

Chez la voisine où l’on se compare

on renforce notre avis.

Comme tout le monde

on crée des cliques,

une chaleur sociale.

Quand on se croise au centre,

l’échange est cordial.

Comme ailleurs, on veut de la paix,

que la vie se déroule bien.

Que notre coin de la planète

soit un paradis humain.

Vaccination letter

December 2, 2021

The fear and anger caused by misunderstandings about COVID-19 vaccines and public health measures is deeply regrettable.

Consider the multitude of inaccuracies in just one sentence from a recent letter to The Grapevine: “Consider how you will become subject to the same…punitive measures…when you perhaps refuse to be injected every 3 months, refusing to suffer the inevitable repercussions of cumulative toxins in your body.”

The vaccines don’t contain toxins and they don’t remain in the body – they “do their job” teaching cells how to respond to the COVID-19 virus and then are shed after a few days. They aren’t required every three months: two doses of the mRNA vaccines are required initially for maximum protection and then we’ll probably have to have booster shots once a year as we do to protect ourselves from the flu.

The idea that pandemic public health measures are punitive and encroaching on individual rights is another misunderstanding. Freedom and rights are not the same thing. Everyone has the freedom to decide to get vaccinated or not but no one has the right to place others at risk due to their choices.

Ironically, unvaccinated people are the ones best protected by pubic health measures requiring masking and – in some cases – proof of vaccination. The situations where proof is required – such as indoor dining, recreation and entertainment – are conditions in which unvaccinated people are at greatest risk.

Vaccination requirements for workers are in place where employees might put others at risk. Strange that the recent letter writer decried these requirements for Denman ferry workers when this group experienced the first outbreak of COVID-19 on the island. Their close indoor crew quarters put each other at risk – not ferry travelers.

Comparisons of public health measures to fascism, Nazism, and totalitarianism are as wrong as they are offensive. In response, I offer a one-word edit to the poster text quoted in the Nov. 18 letter: “Your ignorance is prolonging this nightmare.”

Or how about this one: “Freedom – how you can reject modern medicine and die like a medieval peasant”.

Stephanie Slater

Fuel Management and Ecological Restoration go Hand in Hand at Helliwell Provincial Park

December 2, 2021

Fuel Management and Ecological Restoration go Hand in Hand at Helliwell Provincial Park

By Chris Junck, Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team

Historically, First Nations used fire as a tool to maintain important plants and other species associated with open Garry oak woodlands and meadows. In the absence of First Nation’s land management practices, and decades of fire suppression in the area, the fuel hazard has increased within the park with the number of dead and dying shore pine along the coastline trail east towards St. Johns Point.

This fall, BC Parks is embarking on a multi-year project to meet fuel management and ecological restoration objectives in Helliwell. The project is guided by the Helliwell Provincial Park Ecosystem Based Plan (2001) and Helliwell Provincial Park Wildfire Threat Assessment and Fuel Management Prescription (2021). It was introduced to representatives of the Hornby Island Provincial Parks Committee, Conservancy Hornby Island and Hornby Island Natural History Centre during a public information session in October. “We’re taking a slow and gradual approach to ensure park values are maintained and will focus on high wildfire risk areas first”, said BC Parks senior ranger Heather Steere.

The proposed sites for selectively reducing fire fuels in 2021-22 are scattered throughout the areas within the red boundary lines on the map.

Heather Steere and conservation specialist Erica McClaren described other components of the plan:

Focus will be on reducing fine fuels and ladder fuels, while enhancing ecological values.
Selective, multi-year manual thinning and limbing of Douglas-fir and shore pine.
Iconic trees, Garry oak, juniper and arbutus trees will not be negatively impacted.
On site pile burning will be used to dispose of thinning debris along the coastal bluff trail area.
Continuous management of invasive species throughout the park.
Replanting and seeding of burn piles using native species.
This work will support and enhance the Garry oak and arbutus ecosystem.

Heather Steere invited the public to provide BC Parks with a list of locations within Helliwell that are significant for the community, and locals have flagged these areas to prevent unintentional damage during the project. A contractor has been hired and plans to begin limbing and thinning in mid-December and January with work completed by mid-February at the latest.

The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team and BC Parks thank the Cowichan Tribes, Halalt, Homalco, K’ómoks, Lake Cowichan, Lyackson, Penelakut, Qualicum, Snaw’Naw’As, Stz’uminus, Tla’amin, We Wai Kai, and We Wai Kum First Nations, for allowing us to restore ecosystems in their traditional territories. Thanks to Ilze Raudzins, Tina Wai, Neil Wilson, Rebecca Benjamin-Carey, and Serena Laskin for their insightful comments and questions during the October information session in Helliwell Provincial Park.

To find out more about fuel management or other aspects of the Helliwell Provincial Park Ecosystem Based Plan, visit https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/acat/public/viewReport.do?reportId=17734

~30~

Photos by Chris Junck unless otherwise noted.

BC Parks area supervisor Derek Moore described the coastal bluff Garry oak ecosystem restoration work that has been carried out in Helliwell Provincial Park in recent years.

Erica McClaren, BC Parks conservation specialist, told the group about the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly recovery project activities and a hydrology study that took place in the park in 2021.

BC Parks senior ranger Heather Steere discussed the various potential wildfire risks and the need to reduce the fuel load in the target areas while enhancing the ecological values.

Local community members contributed valuable comments about the fuel management plan during the public information session.

During a tour of the potential target fuel management sites, Heather Steere identified the kinds of fuels that need to be reduced and areas where ecological values will be enhanced. Photo by Erica McClaren.

Background Information

Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori)

Also known as Edith’s checkerspot.
Historical range was Hornby Island, southeastern Vancouver Island, Puget Trough and to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. In BC, they were once abundant at 10 sites in the Greater Victoria Area, one site each near Mill Bay and Comox, and sites on Hornby Island (including Helliwell Provincial Park).
They were thought to have been extirpated (became locally extinct) from Canada by 2000 when no Taylor’s checkerspots could be found in their last known sites on Hornby Island despite intensive searches. However, new populations were discovered on Denman Island in 2005 and near Campbell River in 2018.
It is federally listed as Endangered (COSEWIC, SARA Schedule 1), and is on the BC Red list of at-risk species.
Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies need open sunny meadows where they can find suitable host plants (food for larvae and nectar producing flowers for adults), such as woolly sunflower, common camas, small-flowered blue-eyed Mary, wild strawberry, sea blush, and yarrow.
Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation are major factors in the species’ decline. For example, the meadows along the coastal bluffs in Helliwell Provincial Park became less suitable for butterflies due to invasions of non-native plants and encroaching forests.
Habitat enhancement work (weeding, selective limbing +/or removal of conifers, re-planting and seeding with native species) has been ongoing in Helliwell Provincial Park for several years.

The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project

The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project is an initiative of the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team’s Invertebrates at Risk Recovery Implementation Group and our partners. It is a collaborative effort to restore Taylor’s Checkerspot populations in British Columbia through habitat enhancement, captive butterfly rearing and release, monitoring, public outreach, and other activities.

Team Members

Jennifer Heron (Chair), BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Vancouver, BC

Erika Bland & Andrew Fyson, Denman Island Conservancy Association, Denman Island, BC

Deborah Bishop, Denman Island, BC

Menita Prasad, Greater Vancouver Zoo, Aldergrove, BC

Eric Gross & Kella Sadler, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, BC

Crispin Guppy, Entomologist, Whitehorse, YT

Molly Hudson, Mosaic Forests, Nanaimo, BC

Chris Junck, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, Victoria, BC

Nicole Kroeker, Parks Canada Agency, Victoria, BC

Suzie Lavallee, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry, Vancouver, BC

Patrick Lilley, Private Consultant, North Vancouver, BC