Webinar: Living with Fire: a panel discussion for those living in the Salish Sea

Join Islands Trust for the ‘Living with Fire’ webinar to find out more about the current state of forest health and the interconnections between healthy watersheds, native biodiversity, and fire resilience in the Trust Area

Discover actionable steps for building resilience in communities, including techniques like ecological thinning, and wetland restoration to create a more fire-resilient future. The distinguished panel of experts will discuss the current state of forest health, fire risk, and actionable steps for building resilience in communities.

This Zoom webinar is on March 26, 2024 at 7:00 – 8:30PM. Participants will receive the Zoom link upon registration.

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with the Islands Trust community, gain valuable insights, and contribute to the preservation of the islands within the Trust Area.

PANELISTS:

  1. Conor Corbett – Registered Professional Forester, Frontera Forest Solutions
  2. Robert W. Gray – AFE Certified Wildland Fire Ecologist, President of R.W. Gray Consulting Ltd
  3. Becky Miller – Forest Ecologist, Parks Canada Agency

MODERATOR

Ruth Waldick – Climate Adaptation Research Lab, Transition Salt Spring

Islands Trust Council Statement on the Scope and Meaning of Section 3 of the Islands Trust Act (Object Clause)

In September 2023, the Islands Trust Council reflected on its interpretation of the Islands Trust mandate and released a statement about its interpretation. The Islands Trust mandate is set out in Section 3 of the Islands Trust Act, which states:

The object of the trust is to preserve and protect the trust area and its unique amenities and environment for the benefit of the residents of the trust area and of British Columbia generally, in cooperation with municipalities, regional districts, improvement districts, First Nations, other persons and organizations and the government of British Columbia.

BACKGROUND:

The 2022 Governance Review emphasized that there was a deep division amongst both Trustees and constituents on the meaning and implementation of our “preserve and protect” mandate. Such division was described as a fundamental existential challenge. The current Governance Committee, appointed in December, 2022, decided that it was a priority to review the mandate and report back to Trust Council on that review. Today’s presentation summarized and clarified all previous legal opinions with the intention to assist the current Trust Council to find consensus on which to build our strategic direction. Our strategic planning policy initiatives, project priorities, and efficiency of operations and accountability and performance measures, will follow.

Frequently a mandate is created by an organization but since the Islands Trust was created by Provincial legislation, therefore the mandate is an enacted law: it may be interpreted and such interpretation may be challenged, but it can only be changed by the Legislative Assembly.

Over the years, as various issues have arisen, Islands Trust has asked for and received several legal opinions about how our mandate relates to specific situations. Islands Trust staff have collated those opinions, the Governance Committee has studied and discussed them, and today there has been a presentation and discussion by Trust Council. The legal opinions referred to were in response to specific questions and therefore were and are subject to solicitor-client privilege and as such needed to be discussed in closed meetings.

This report is to make public the results of our discussions and share with our constituents how the current Trust Council intends to interpret our mandate, which in turn will help inform our strategic planning.

The process of creating a strategic plan was another recommendation of the 2022 Governance Review and is another priority of the Governance Committee. That effort has been championed by a subcommittee of the Financial Planning Committee which has been endorsed and encouraged by the Governance Committee, and will be subject to separate and future discussions.

CONSENSUS:

The object of the Islands Trust is to preserve and protect three specific elements:
     a) the trust area;
     b) its unique amenities; and
     c) [its unique] environment,

for the benefit of the residents of

     i) the trust area, and
    ii) of British Columbia generally,

in cooperation with municipalities, regional districts, improvement districts, First Nations, other persons and organizations and the government of British Columbia.

Trust Council’s determination is that every decision must include a reasoned recognition of all the elements specified in the mandate. While one element may gain priority, reasons for that decision must be clear and have considered the other elements.

There has been some debate in the past about the meaning of unique amenities. Trust Council’s view is that unique amenities are broad-ranging and may include issues such as, but not limited to, housing, livelihoods, infrastructure and tourism. However, land use planning in the Trust Area must always
include a focus on preserving and protecting the environment and communities of both local trust areas and the Trust Area generally and in a manner consistent with Reconciliation.

In any given decision-making situation, there must be recognition of the importance of each of the essential elements and where there is competition between those elements there must be a careful and reasoned balancing of the importance of preserving and protecting the Trust Area, and its unique amenities and environment.

The Trust Council’s consensus statement is also available here.

New Conservation Area on Lasqueti Island Protects Mature Forest for Species at Risk

For immediate release

Livingstone Forest Covenant on Lasqueti Island. Photo by Doug Hopwood.

Lək̓ ʷəŋən, METULIYE/Victoria, B.C.  ¾  The Islands Trust Conservancy’s new Livingstone Forest covenant protects 11.35 hectares of forest and wetland on Xwe’etay/Lasqueti Island. The covenant provides important habitat for species at risk including the Northern Red-legged Frog, Western Toad, and Little Brown Myotis Bat.

Christine Ferris and Doug Hopwood, long-standing conservation stewards, placed the conservation covenant on their land to ensure long-term protection of the property’s biodiversity and carbon stores. Ferris and Hopwood chose to register the covenant through the Islands Trust’s Natural Area Protection Tax Exemption Program (NAPTEP) which will lower future property taxes on the area protected by the covenant.

Lasqueti Island is located southwest of Texada Island in the Georgia Strait. The Livingstone Forest covenant is named after the Livingstone family, who stewarded the land for 60 years prior to Ferris and Hopwood’s purchase of the property in 1992. In August, both families will gather to place a plaque on the property to commemorate Kate Livingstone, who settled on the land in 1912 and raised her six children there. Several of her grandchildren retain their connection to Lasqueti today. The Livingstone Forest NAPTEP covenant is located in the territory of Tla’amin Nation and Qualicum First Nation.

The covenant protects a mature and productive second-growth coastal forest ecosystem and a wetland. The forest, with tree species including Coastal Douglas-fir, Western redcedar, and Red alder, acts as a natural carbon sink, while the wetland is an important water source for local species and provides filtration for groundwater.

“For close to 25 years, Doug and I worked for the Islands Trust Conservancy annually monitoring conservation areas, and we saw how a covenant can allow landowners to protect conservation values while retaining the use of the land. We met many owners who were so grateful to know that the features that make their properties so special will be protected for the long term,” said Christine Ferris. “A big factor in our decision to put a covenant on our land was our awareness of the climate emergency. Conserving forests, along with eliminating fossil fuels, is essential for the future of humanity and nature.”

“Livingstone Forest NAPTEP covenant is the Islands Trust Conservancy’s first covenant on Lasqueti Island,” said Linda Adams, Chair of the Islands Trust Conservancy Board. “We hope that this gift from Christine Ferris and Doug Hopwood will open the doors to other Lasqueti Island landholders who may be considering conservation options.”

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Quick Facts

  • The Islands Trust Conservancy (ITC) protects natural landscapes across the Islands Trust region. The support of individuals and partners has helped to protect more than 1,375 ha of land within 33 nature reserves and 79 conservation covenants on islands in the Salish Sea.
  • More than 65% of land on islands in the Salish Sea is privately held – meaning that individual, voluntary conservation actions are critical to protecting biodiversity and addressing impacts from climate change in the region.
  • A conservation covenant is an agreement that is registered on a land title to protect natural features on privately held land. It is designed to be perpetual and to bind future landholders.
  • The Natural Area Protection Tax Exemption Program (NAPTEP) offers a 65% property tax reduction on the protected portion of land when landholders place a conservation covenant on land with the Islands Trust Conservancy. The program is unique to the Islands Trust Area in British Columbia.
  • C. is the most biologically-diverse province in Canada – but it is also a hotspot for biodiversity loss.
    • More than 100 species listed in the federal Species at Risk Act as being at risk of extinction are found in the Islands Trust Area. Protecting habitat is one of the best ways to prevent species from becoming at risk of extinction and aid in the recovery of those currently at risk.

Press Assets

You can download the full news release from our News Release page.

High-resolution images have been made available for download to support this news release. You can access and download these assets from our Photo Gallery page. Please use only the images identified in the Islands Trust Conservancy Media Assets gallery in support of this story with credit to the appropriate authors (in the file name).

About

Islands Trust Conservancy is the conservation land trust for over 450 islands of the Salish Sea and is a part of Islands Trust. Since 1990, Islands Trust Conservancy has protected more than 113 properties, covering more than 1,375 hectares of island ecosystems. This success is thanks to the vision, support, and generosity of donors and partners.

Contact

For all media enquiries please contact Micaela Yawney, Communications Specialist, Islands Trust Conservancy