the Acorn The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Number 33, Autumn 2006

They Need More of This!

“They need MORE of this!” said one elementary teacher, love with the land. If we can get students to understand how referring to the Stewards in Training School Programs that ecosystems work and how everything is connected to the took all grade 4/ 5 students on all day field trips to Ford Lake health of everything else, they can’t help being awed with and Burgoyne Bay beach. Grade 6/7 students went to a Garry the wonder of it all. Our hope is by that understanding and oak meadow at the Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve. love they will become better stewards of the land than our A volunteer in the program was just as excited when she generation has been because they will “get it”, in a way that stated, “I wouldn’t have missed this experience for anything! we didn’t. Without a healthy environment we have nothing. Thanks to the superb creativity and organizational skills it Everything starts with and depends on a planet whose was great for both volunteers and kids.” ecosystems are intact and healthy. ”A grade 5 student exclaimed, “I have learned so much. This is a long introduction to let you know that the Thank you for arranging these field trips.” As one particular Conservancy is proud to announce that we have received enthusiastic grade 7 student put it, “I love Garry oaks. I never funding to continue with our Stewardship in Training heard about them before but now I love Garry oaks”. Program this year thanks to the Gaming Commission and to “I love Garry oaks” That is it in a nutshell. Falling in Continued on page 11 Inside: President’s Page ...... 2 Director’s Desk ...... 3 New Planner ...... 3 Features Salt Spring Coffee Co. .. 7 Natural History Bent Twigs ...... 4 Events Calendar...... 6 Event Notes...... 6 Inside SSIC Green Pilgrims Guide.... 8 Hilary Brown...... 8 Deborah Miller...... 9 Ashley Hilliard...... 9 Ten-year Members...... 11 Garden Benches...... 13 Staff Biologist...... 14 Stewardship Snake Sites...... 10 Essential Details...... 15 http://saltspring.gulfislands.com/conservancy President’s Page Authenticity: The Rise

I usually catch things on the third bounce, so “authenticity” probably had joined the Top 100 Buzzwords by the time I heard a business leader use it this spring while chatting and Fall of Meaning about the place of tourism in our community. ingredients for the authentic community. Necessary, but not “The best thing we can do to attract the visitors we sufficient. At least two more are required. want,” he said, “is to be an authentic community. Just be Any settlement can have authentic individuals in it, and ourselves.” still miss the mark at the level of community. The move from Then I remembered seeing the term in our 1998 Official person to community is more than a matter of arithmetic. Community Plan. One of the Plan’s goals is “To ensure that It involves a shift from I to We, from the self-achieving, our community continues to function as an authentic, idiosyncratic self to the organic community that surrounds resident-centred community in the face of internal and us, that embraces or rejects us, that makes us more or less than external pressures to change and grow…” we can be alone, that pre-dates and outlives us, that shapes “Authentic.” It has the truth of the oboe’s “A” that brings and is shaped by our wholehearted residence. Community other players to pitch. I like it. authenticity is harmonious with the character of current I was still mulling it over two months later when the members, but out of its longer history and comprehensive host of a CBC talk show remarked that people who are memory it emerges into something more. creative with computers can live where they want to, and The other element essential for the authentic community that they are shopping around for authentic communities. I is rich relationship to landscape. In part this is the trial – and was glad enough to hear my positive reaction seconded; if a – error work of adjusting community form to local nature. phrase is on talk radio it’s mainstream. I took a bit of issue Common sense eventually shapes a community to fit safely, with the way the whole conversation developed, however. conveniently and efficiently within the floodplains, bluffs, These folks, lucky enough to be creative with the medium of swamps and shorelines of its surroundings. Beyond that is the millennium, seemed to be shopping for authenticity as the never-finished work of adapting communal to natural they did manicured lawns, brew pubs, views of mountains function. The authentic community lives with its landscape, and colourful autumn foliage. Something to buy into. My not on it. The land provides, the community cares. The ruminations had taken a different direction: some old- community asks, the land replies. The community’s fashioned notion like “if it is worthwhile you probably have boundaries are not the obvious limits of dense habitation or to earn it.” the political territories of governance but the entire area of Still feeling picky, I thought that to be authentic a thing continually adjusting, mutually dependent human and non- only has to be true to its character; genuine but not necessarily human societies. admirable. A town could be authentically bigoted or violent. I do think the term “authentic community” is full It could even pretend to be genuine and still be authentic, if of meaning and instruction. Yet, I’m afraid for its future. it had the character of a con artist. I’ve seen new and hopeful phrases rise and fall before. “Quirky,” I thought,” but I’d better pick up a cooler “Sustainable development,” for example, was offered in 1970 kartoffel.” by an ecologist who hoped it would do more than smooth It takes time for a community to achieve authenticity. off the rough edges of human expansion – that it would New places rarely possess it. Remember the New Towns express limits to growth, turn us from “more” to “better.” that were the concrete expressions of Utopia after WW It spread, became a cliché, cheapened, and finally became II? Planned by visionaries and hired consultants, they had interchangeable with “sustainable growth,” a simple-minded every feature avant-garde engineers, architects, landscapers, bovine for sure. Today the revolutionary intent of the term sociologists, educators and designers of infrastructure could has vanished, drowned in misuse and perverted into a want. But they didn’t have authenticity, and most didn’t marketing gimmick for yet another gated housing project. last long enough to get it. And think of the thousands of We greenies haven’t been very careful with our own new bedroom towns fringing every older city in North language. My eyebrows arch every time I hear the term America. Most are less than half a century old. Some are “sensitive ecosystem,” for instance. I just don’t know what forming right now, tight-packed groups of obscenely huge it accomplishes. Every ecosystem (another fuzzy word homes and condos springing out of yesterday’s dairy farm, when it leaves the ivy tower and reaches Earth) is sensitive leaving just enough space for the formulaic mini-mall and to something. The biota of the remotest arctic ice pack is short-grass dog latrine. The computer gurus aren’t looking being clobbered by a one or two degree rise in mean annual for authenticity there. temperature. Tundra plants are damaged easily by the Time and joy-packed, failure-ridden living are essential Continued on page 14

 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Director’s Desk 2nd Eco-Home Tour a Huge Success On August 6th, the Salt Spring Island Conservancy and Salt operating costs. Hearing these dedicated homeowners speak Spring Island Earth Festival Society showed close to 600 so passionately about their creative and sustainable building residents and visitors ten eco-homes and home renovations practices was definitely a highlight of touring the unique by Conservancy members on the second annual Salt Spring homes and beautiful gardens. Eco-Home Tour. Sustainable home technologies on the The Eco-Home Tour and Sustainable Home Building tour included: windmill power, rammed earth, hemp straw Forum was only possible with the overwhelming support bale, cob, water-catchment, masonry heating, solar, and of the following homeowners, volunteers, businesses and grey water systems. With support from the Conservancy, organizations: the Earth Festival Society organized a Sustainable Building Earth Festival Society, Adina Hildebrandt & Andrew Forum on the eve of the tour. Haigh, Paul Burke & Anna Gustafson, Denis Hoddinott, Elizabeth White, Rita & Denny Thomas, Becky & Paul Niedziela, Axel Dollheiser & Juliet Smith, Marcus Gasper & Eva Kuhn, Sandra Harrison, Marion Pape, Pat Parkes, Ann Stewart, Mark Broderick, Ellen Taylor, Meror & Mike Krayenhoff, Maxine & Steve Leichter, Chris & Carole Scott, Manfred Pape, Helen Goodland, Peter Ronald, Katherine Atkins, Eila & Holly Allgood, Zillah Parker, Nora Layard, Daniel Logan, Charlotte Argue, Maria Dammel, Elizabeth Buchanan & Larry Woods, Nancy Braithwaite, George & Nancy Slain, Lois Sprague, Katherine Atkins, Roger Middleton & Sylvia, Leslie Wallace, James Falcon, Ruth Tarasoff, David Borrowman, Linda Horsfall, Dick Willmott, Chris Drake, Ruth Tarasoff, Elehna De Sousa, Thrifty’s, Island Star Video, The Royal Canadian Legion, Alan Goldin To kick off the weekend’s events, architect and keynote & Manon Levesque @ Morningside Organic Bakery & Cafe, speaker Helen Goodland, Executive Director of BC’s Adina, Andrew, Gretta & Carrie @ Salt Spring Books, The Sustainable Building Centre in Vancouver, spoke to a crowd Driftwood, EcoNews, Ian Garthshore, Nicolette Brinkhoff, of more than 200 at Meaden Hall. Goodland listed cost and a lack of time and knowledge as common myths of integrating sustainable practices into home construction or renovation. She said events such as the Eco-Home Tour prove Salt Spring Island is at the cutting edge of sustainability and do a significant part to debunk the myths. By telling others about their successes and failures, homeowners taking part in the tour are the role models of a movement that is still relatively new in other parts of the country. The next day, the homeowners, who in most cases built their own homes, spent the day explaining the features incorporated into their home designs on continuous guided tours. On this year’s tour, the homes included an organic farm with solar hot water heating, a masonry heater with built-in bake oven and plumbing for hot water, I-WOOD construction that uses 30% less lumber and less waste, the island’s first legally permitted cob dwelling which has walls GISS, Natureworks, Bob Weeden, Bill Goddu, Samantha made from sand, clay and straw, and insulation made from Beare, Pam Barry, Mark Starik, Margery Moore, ISEA, recycled blue jeans; and a hemp straw bale home. Straw Ometepe, Chamber of Commerce, Jean Gelwicks, Mark bale walls are highly insulative (up to R40) and sound Haughey, Lisa Lloyd, Environment Canada, CRD, Peter proof. Other technologies on the tour include an energy Lamb, Islands Trust, Energy Savings Plan, and all of the folks retrofit of a 1950’s cottage with a solar hot water system, and who carpooled and helped in any way to make an extremely several water catchment systems. The homes were packed successful Eco-Home Tour. with ideas to reduce energy and water usage, and associated – Karen Hudson

Autumn 2006  Natural History Bent Twigs The Open Window sluggish insects among the bottom debris, and once in a Summer days were often hot. The family worked through while dark fish swam by. them, each day much like the last in its hopeful start and At pond’s edge the father showed the boy how to loop listless finish, but changing as time strode between first seed the worm onto the pin and, with a lifting pole, arc the line and final harvest. The young girl laboured steadily, filling and worm outward into the amber trembling water. The the spaces between her own chores with hours on call at boy waited. He was fascinated by the reflections of leaves, garden, kitchen, poultry run, hay wagon and milking barn. branches and bits of sky that painted themselves from his Sometimes the quest for a straying heifer took her out among feet out to open water. the daisied distant fields. Mostly she worked immersed in the Then his father, watching the line, whispered, “You have smells of chaff and dust and diesel, the sounds of harness and a fish!” As if a trigger had tripped, the boy jerked the pole horse and tractor, the sights of buildings and machinery. over his back, and with it, a small fish. He dropped the pole At night, in her room, she would open her window and rushed to pin the flapping fish to the forest floor. He and wide. It seemed to her that news of a different world came to his father bent together to marvel at its glistening colours: her on the night breeze. In the barn the cows were quiet, in greenish black on back and tail, yellow-orange on the belly, the darkened farmyard the outbuildings and machines were sides speckled with green, yellow and red; where the gill shadows sought by silent, wide-eyed cats. Something wild covers opened and closed, a single blue dot. crept across the sill, something in the space between firefly Six decades passed. The boy never forgot the revelation and star, something not of the workaday world. She never that summer day of the busy lives lived secretly around him could paint that feeling in words, but its nightly presence became a never-satiated curiosity about nature. He became a brought peace and yearning. research biologist, then a teacher. He committed himself to The schoolgirl liked biology. The endless variety in the conservation. No matter what work kept his mind busy, he forms of life, in their ways of living and in their combination learned to welcome nature onto the paths of his senses and of self-reliance and depthless dependence amazed her. High into the depths of his heart. school opened into college, college to graduate school. There she first ventured into the wild country to the north Spreading Corn - “This must be where the night wind is born,” she thought Since the 1920s these broad fields, reclaimed from - studying birds in Algonquin Park. The short years brought boreal forest, have grown the grass that feeds the cows that long steps west and north, marriage, a move to Alaska, make the milk for the people of this northern town. In the children. Always the air from far fresh places, the spacious farmer’s annual calendar are days marked early each April beauty of alpine heights, the discovery of new forms of wild for spreading the winter’s accumulated manure. Dark on life, filled her with joy. Garden flowers bloomed for her. The the gleaming white fields, the manure absorbs the sunlight countryside’s bounty came into her house, onto her table, and melts the snow earlier here than anywhere else in into the growing bodies that sat around it. hundreds of wilderness miles. The early banquet of stubble Bless this food, and all food. and barn sweepings entices exploring geese, cranes, ducks Bless this family, and all families. and shorebirds. People drive or stroll from town to see them Bless this life, and all life. tumble out of the sky, so empty all these months, and to listen to the bird’s happy clamour. Pumpkinseed Early one Sunday morning late in April two boys, 4 and All of the grown-ups the boy knew worked hard. His 7, walk onto the fields with their parents. Each boy carries father, a car mechanic for wages, maintained house and a pail of corn in two hands. At every tall-booted step the garden. His mother created and tended the home. The boy pail swings and meets a shin, but the excited boys carry the and his sisters had small chores. Rarely did the family relax awkward weights far out into the snow-blotched field. The together, but one summer Saturday, out of the blue, the boy spread the corn, sometimes throwing it toward a skein of father said to his son, “How would you like to go fishing?” fence-skimming geese as though hoping the birds will catch The answer was an incredulous but loud “Yes!” it in mid-air. Father and mother tell the boys about the far- With a peeled sapling, 10 feet of string, a safety pin, and flung rooms in the homes of these migrants, interrupting the six earthworms dug from a shady corner of the garden, they tale to point to a flight of pintails, a dart of golden plovers, a walked to where a brook had been dammed to supply water harrier teetering as it scans the ground for mice. for a cloth-dying factory. The boy knew the pond contained The corn is spread, the family walks to field’s edge and fish, because once in winter, after he tumbled while skating, the birds in hundreds move in to feast. he peered through clear ice into the depths. He could see The boys become men. One is a painter of houses and

 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy canvases. From his apartment in old San Francisco he and passion to act. The girl-child will become woman, citizen, his partner foray into the Sierras and Great Basin. They leader, executive, family centre, poet - infinite possibilities explore back roads, hike to high lakes, ostensibly to catch for a life of value which always values other life. and release diminutive golden trout but truly to be in the These stories are as true as fond memory will allow. peace and beauty of the mountains. He is not a joiner, but I am the young fisher who held the sunfish, Judy opened he votes as green as he can in a nation over-impressed with the window to feel the untamed summer breeze. Our sons’ olive drab. small hands flung corn to the geese, and our granddaughter The other boy lives with his spouse and children in the trembled to the heartbeat of the captured bird. log house in which he grew up. He has taught pre-school Children will learn. Of all the lessons they must absorb, but now spends the school year parenting. In summer he love of nature is the easiest to teach, the longest to endure gardens, organises family expeditions to blueberry patches and the most crucial to pass on. From infancy to puberty a and creekside picnics and guides busloads of tourists north child’s best teachers are adult family. Parents. Grandparents. to the Arctic. He writes science fiction, poetry and prickly You. letters to politicians who see only dollars in the northern – Bob Weeden landscape.

A Bird in the Hand OCP Review: Once a Decade This August Sunday of the Millennial Year the bird banding station invites visitors. The woman in charge keeps This fall we have a special chance to review and change the the nets properly strung and tended, oversees the banding Official Community Plan (OCP).Trustees have gathered and keeps up a teacherly banter with the curious tourists ideas from the community about sections of the Plan that and their often silly questions. Late in the day she looks up should be reviewed this round. They just announced the when four people approach - a family, she thinks, seeing committees that will be formed to address key issues: Ganges look-alikes there. She finishes weighing and measuring a Village and Harbour; Fulford Village; Energy; Farm Plan; kinglet, her pliers clenching the minute band around the Economic Sustainability, Jobs and Tourism; Environment; toothpick leg. and Population, Housing and Settlement Patterns. “Do you want to hold this bird?” she asks, quieting it In case you’ve half forgotten, the OCP sharpens the expertly in her palm. She looks at the boy. “About 5,” she broad language of our Islands Trust Policy document and thinks, “and confident-looking.” He stretches out his hand, makes it specific to our Island in terms of the goals for land then backs away with his hands behind him, suddenly shy. use. It provides a community vision for future land use The woman turns to the slim girl, less than 3, who watches and defines the actions and policies that could achieve that intently. The girl steps close and lets the woman position her vision. The OCP does not define how land can or cannot be hands and fingers to receive the bird. used; that’s the job of our Land Use Bylaw. The girl never has held a warm live thing before. She The OCP does set out some tools for guiding land use. is amazed, a little frightened. The bit of fluff hidden in her For example, “density transfers” can be used to move the right cupped hands is trembling. “It has a heart like me!” she to build a house from an area of high ecological value to an thinks. She knows she could squeeze and hurt it, but she is area of more ordinary attributes. These donor and receiving awash in a tender protectiveness. Then, between her thumbs, areas are mapped. Developers trigger the process by asking a dark, bright eye glances up and meets her gaze. The tiny the LTC to consider a specific density transfer request. girl and tiny bird see each other, the bird’s eye hawk-wild, The OCP also contains a planning tool of high potential the girl’s nearly half-wild. She has known only the eyes of value for protecting nature, the Development Permit Area home: parents, brother, cats, dog and friends. The bird’s (DPA). These are places (mapped) where people undertaking stare is from another world. Suddenly the trees and hills that construction of a defined type must show that their proposed have been the inert setting of her life - less to her than the activities meet certain criteria before receivingv a permit from carpets and furnishings of her house - become an enlivened, the LTC. Current DPAs include shorelines, lakes, streams, enormous mystery. wetlands, unstable slopes and erosion hazard areas. The years may bury this moment in such an overburden Please consider volunteering for one or more of these of other experiences and interests that it becomes a tantalising important advisory committees. Speak your mind: you won’t half-memory, seen only out of a corner of her mind. be representing SSIC, just yourself, so you are free to say Or it may be a decisive bending of the twig, dozens of what you wish on any topic close to your heart. later events enriching its emotion with knowledge and a – Maxine Leichter

Autumn 2006  Conservancy Events Upcoming Events Event Notes and more Islanders are needed to contribute sightings and October 13th (Friday): Endangered Sharp-tailed Snake. data to the scientific work Engelstoft has been conducting Christian Engelstoft will speak at 7pm at the Lion’s Hall. on the Island. This colourful, illustrated, presentation will October 20th (Friday): Otter Limits: All About Otters. teach about sharp-tailed snakes and our three local species Joe Gaydos will talk about sea and river otters. Slide of garter snakes, all of which are highly beneficial, especially show and talk at 7pm at the Lion’s Hall. to gardeners. This presentation is part of the Conservancy’s November 3rd (Friday): Are Our Deer Dear? Slide Species at Risk Stewardship Project. show and talk on local black-tailed deer by biologists Otters River Otters and Sea Otters are the topic of the Christian Englestoft and Todd Golumbia (Parks Canada). Conservancy’s presentation on October 20 at 7:00 pm at 7pm at the Lion’s Hall. the Lions Hall. The illustrated talk is presented by wildlife January 19th (Friday): Predator Prowl: About Cougars veterinarian, Joe Gaydos, a resident of Orcas Island. Joe has and Bears. Slide show and talk by Bob Hansen and been involved in otter studies and otter conservation efforts Danielle Thompson. 7pm at the Lions Hall. for the last five years. River otters are common inhabitants Feb. TBA: Batty about Bats of Salt Spring Island. Slide along Salt Spring’s shores, but their secretive habits make show and talk by Dave Nagorsen. them animals of much mystery and intrigue. Join this event Suggested donation: $5.00 to help cover our costs. This to learn all about our local river otters and about the sea includes coffee/tea/cookies. otters whose populations and territories have been expanding along the West Coast. Deer Just how dear are our deer? This question Mammals Rank High On Conservancy will be the focus for an illustrated presentation by Todd Presentation Schedule Golumbia, Wildlife Ecologist for the Gulf Islands National Deer, otters, cougars, and bats! This season’s fall/winter Park Reserve, and Christian Engelstoft, Wildlife Biologist lineup of speaker presentations from the Conservancy with Alula Consulting. These scientists will report their Education Committee has a definite furry focus. findings from several years of studying deer on the Queen Snakes The reign of mammals really gets kicked off in Charlotte Islands and in parks of the Capital Regional late October, but before that is a chance to slither into the District. The talk will cover deer feeding and their effects on mammal realm with a special presentation on an unusual forest communities, and will include a brief look at another reptile. On October 13, Christian Engelstoft speaks at the potentially problematic browser, the cottontail rabbit. The Lions Hall at 7:00 pm. on the endangered sharp-tailed snake. event will take place on November 3, at 7:00 pm at the Lions Salt Spring is a key location for the study of this elusive species Hall. Love ’em or hate ’em – deer are here. This presentation will help you better understand our deer and their roles in the ecosystem. Thank you to our business members: Cougars and Bears Populations of wolves, cougars, and bears seem to be thriving on Vancouver Island. Amazingly Anchorage Cove B&B Salt Spring Centre of Yoga over the years, a few of these large mammal predators Baker Beach Cottages Salt Spring Centre School (cougars and bears, at least) have managed to make it to Balmoral By The Sea B&B Salt Spring Coffee Co. Salt Spring Island. Bob Hansen and Danielle Thompson Barb’s Buns Salt Spring Home Design from Parks Canada will provide an illustrated look into the Beddis House B&B Centre lives of these predators, their lifestyles, habits, and human Bold Bluff Retreat Salt Spring Island Chamber encounters’. The main focus of the evening will be on Bootacomputer of Commerce cougars and their interactions with humans. As Parks Canada Creekhouse Realty Ltd. Salt Spring Kayaking Wardens in Pacific Rim Park, Hansen and Thompson have Green Acres Resort Salt Spring Way B&B been involved in detailed research on predator behaviours Gulf Island Picture Framing Saltspring Linen & Dry and conservation for the last few years. This talk, Predator Island Escapades Cleaning Prowl, is scheduled for January 19 at 7:00 pm at the Lions Island Star Video Saltspring Soapworks Hall. Neil Morie - Architect Spindrift at Welbury Point Bats As the winter drags into February, many Salt Murakami Auto Body & Sprague Associates Ltd. Springers begin to go batty, and our presentation for this Repairs Terra Firma Builders Ltd. month is designed to help you along in this direction – at Salt Spring Books The Wine Cellar least in a natural history sort of way. In late February (TBA), Continued on page 14

 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Features Member: Salt Spring Coffee Company Walk into the Salt Spring Coffee Co.’s Ganges café at organization Trans Fair became available to Canadians in almost any time of day, and you’re sure to find a bustling 1998, they were one of the first five or six to register; now environment. There’s often a lengthy, although fast moving, there are a couple hundred licensed businesses. lineup at the till, and a smaller one of folks waiting for As most of our readers probably know, with Fair Trade specialty drinks at the bar. The tables and comfy couch are practices more money goes to farmer because the middleman put to good use by all sorts of customers, from families to is taken out. Oxfam estimates that the farmer who grows the hiking clubs to tourists. beans often gets less than 10% of what the consumer pays There’s a good reason for the café’s popularity – The for coffee. According to the SS Coffee Co.’s web site: coffee is excellent. Most of us are also aware that Salt Spring Coffee Co.’s ethical business practices make it a great place to support. What you may not know, is that the Company is a pioneer in offering certified organic, fair trade, and shade grown coffees, and has helped open up a market for green and ethical coffee consumption in North America. Founder and president, Mickey McLeod says, “the Salt Spring Coffee Co. grew out of a passion for a great cup of coffee.” Formerly called the SS Roasting Co. (as it is still referred to by many locals), the business idea sprung in part from the fact that McLeod and his partner, Robbyn Scott, were constantly trying to source organic coffee for themselves. They were also aware of the growing market for specialty coffees in America. Looking at the demographic of Salt Spring, with its strong component of people wanting to support organic growing, sustainable SS Coffee Biodiesel-powered truck development, and ethical business, McLeod foresaw an Before the organization of Coffee Cooperatives, coffee excellent opportunity. farmers were at the mercy of intermediary traders called “I did quite a bit of research and realized yes, it would Coyotes. Coyotes make up an integral part of the local villages. be a viable business,” McLeod says. “I also realized coffee is They act as bankers, provide local transportation system, and an amazing product and involves so many aspects of life: like often own the general store. This virtual monopoly allows farming, which I have an interest in, environmental issues, them to control nearly all the economic activities of a village. social issues, being able to travel, which we like to do – all They offer loans to peasants but usually on the condition those things were wrapped up in there. And then also so that farmers sell them their coffee at reduced prices and many people drink coffee it was a great tool to let them know repay their loans at extremely high interest rates. about organic and fair trade values.” Farmer-run cooperatives work with fair trade When they first started roasting beans here in the spring organizations to bypass these unethical intermediaries and of 1996, organic coffee was available from just two sources, receive a better share. This is obviously more desirable for an Mexico and Nicaragua, and it was “before fair trade was even ethically-centered business practice, but it isn’t always easy. on the radar”. The company kept asking their California- The cost of paying a licensing fee to TransFair Canada for based importer to find more organic sources, and eventually using the Fair Trade logo has at times made running the SS they got one in Sumatra. Nowadays, all of their coffee is Coffee Co. at least a bit challenging. However, while McLeod certified organic and there are “many, many” coffees available, knows they may not reach the level of profitability of a large but as McLeod notes, they were the real pioneers, and had to corporation, he feels it is more important to be doing the wait for the industry and the marketplace to catch up with right thing. them. It was a similar type of thing when it came to Fair As McLeod explains, the day-to-day running of the Trade. McLeod says that SS Coffee Co. has done a lot to build business to meet ethical and ecological concerns is of huge awareness of Fair Trade issues and to build good relationships importance to the company. This means things like using with coffee farmers and cooperatives. When the Fair Trade Continued on page 12

Autumn 2006  Inside SSIC

Green Pilgrims Guide In Her Debt: Hilary Brown The Green Pilgrims Guide to the Southern Gulf Islands is The breadth and depth of my ignorance continues to surprise a 70-page, 4”x 9” book held in a larger, book-shape folder me, though others have come to expect it. For example, I containing brochures with maps for the larger islands in one was reading Arthur Sweet’s “Islands In Trust” this fall and pocket and a notepad in the other. came across his passing mention of Hilary Brown. How, I The guide tells the broad story of the southern Gulf wonder, could I have thought and talked about the Islands Islands, from their formation through eons of change to the Trust all these years and not know of her? life forms and communities that now call it home. It tells Hilary Newitt Brown is a woman who speaks her readers where to look for sites and information of particular mind, and it is a mind worth speaking. Early in the 1970s interest, to nature-lovers. she spoke well and forcefully about the need for a public This guidebook is designed to travel tidily, and to make body nurturing and protecting BC’s interests in the unique a great keepsake. It’s for islanders themselves, as well as the archipelago known as the Gulf Islands. Her reward - perfect gift for company and clients who’ve been here or occasionally punishment - was to be appointed chair of the family and friends we’d like to woo. General Trust in 1974, mandated to implement the brand Green Pilgrims are tourists with a difference. Whether new Islands Trust legislation. Salt Spring Island’s own Marc far afield, in their own back yards, or making an armchair Holmes served with her that year as vice-chair. (Jean and tour, they look for what’s special about a place. They’re the late Marc Holmes are longtime Conservancy members.) already primed to revere nature, but can benefit from a brief Ms. Brown’s remarks to the Trustees at their first meeting, natural history overview of an area hopeful and practical, set the tone for a bonnie start. and some key defining details. How did the right person pop up at this fleeting, crucial Green Pilgrims can then make beginning of the Islands Trust? their own personalized tour of Hilary Brown, born in Scotland in 1909, was blessed southern Gulf Islands’ nature, with parents who taught her the importance of a good paying their respects to such education and the responsibilities of active citizenship. She things as: learned thoroughly. She was at the University of Frankfurt • the forms and colours studying languages and history, as the Nazis rose to power. of arbutus trees, no two She forged a strong partnership and friendship there with alike; Harrison Brown, journalist and anti-war activist. They • myriad mosses sending up married. They weren’t appreciated by Adolph Hitler. Forced calyptras when the rains to leave Europe, the Brown’s settled on Hornby Island in come; 1937. (Hornby Island? How in the world...? There is a story • sandstone sculptings on massive and Lilliputian there, if I knew it.) scales; 1937 also brought Hilary Brown’s first book to the • Garry oak meadow rarities, surviving despite native and public. “Women Must Choose” is a study of women in non-native invaders; democratic, socialist and fascist states. Her second book, • California quail, Mexican turkey vultures, Scotch broom, “Half of Humanity,” carried a North American perspective and Himalayan blackberries, all relatively new to the on the tasks ahead for both men and women if the world islands and loving them; hoped to avoid further wars. To round out her publishing • Star-bright nights, rich with subtle and sudden sounds… career, Ms. Brown found time for studies in China which There’s more, worlds within worlds more. came to fruition in “Tomorrow’s Ancestors,” regarding that Resources abound for travellers. This guide points nation’s elderly. readers in the right directions, with an eye to keeping Hilary Brown is alert to the need for reforms at every them light on their feet, ever open to what’s available and geographic and political scale. Local issues aren’t “beneath” happening, while staying light on the islands themselves. her; to the contrary, she embraces them with heart and Cost: $25, including taxes; $5 goes to the Salt Spring body as well as the intellect. Hilary and Harrison Brown Conservancy for copies they sell. To get $5 off the $25 homesteaded on their chosen island, naming it “Heron purchase price of the new Green Pilgrims Guide to the Rocks.” They founded a co-op store and credit union on Southern Gulf Islands, go to the Conservancy office at #201 Hornby Island and helped to establish Elderhousing “Village” Upper Ganges Centre, 338 Lower Ganges Road, Tues-Thurs within walking distance of the store. Hilary represented BC 10 am. - 3pm. in The Womens’ Institute and Voice of Women, and worked For more information, check out www.greenpilgrims. for Oxfam. com or call Brenda Guiled at 653-4722. Continued on page 13

 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Inside SSIC

Deborah Miller Ashley Hilliard Last spring, when Ashley Hilliard retired after a 29 year career as a lawyer in Vancouver, he moved to Salt Spring Island. One of the first things he did was to volunteer his help to the Conservancy. Ashley and his wife Wendy have been coming to Salt Spring since the 1980’s and purchased 13 acres of land in 1989, on which they built their “island get-away”. A member of the Conservancy for many years, Ashley has been concerned about conservation issues all his life. Now, he says he is glad to be able to contribute towards environmental protection in a more hands-on way. He selected the Conservancy because he saw how well we are working to protect natural areas on our island and thought his skills could contribute to our work. His first volunteer position was with the Covenant Committee, where his legal expertise has been very helpful. photo by Maxine Leichter We are pleased that he has now joined the Boardof Directors Deborah Miller is a new Board member but she is far from and is serving on the Executive as Vice President. new to the Conservancy. She has been on the Education Having a large forested property is giving Ashley and Committee for several years. Her enthusiasm for the Wendy another opportunity to protect at least their piece Education Committee and the Schools program is not of our island. Their house was designed to minimize its surprising: she was a professional environmental educator footprint on the land. Trees from the site were incorporated before her recent retirement. into the structure. A combined well/rainwater collection Deborah has been teaching senior Biology, science, system supplies domestic water. Ashley and Wendy have also English and other subjects on Salt Spring Island since she joined the ranks of “baby broomers” and have enlisted with moved here as a beginning teacher in 1971! While raising their neighbours in the endless battle against this noxious three boys, and teaching she also chaired the Environmental weed. Educators’ section of the BC Teachers’ Federation and Ashley sees the Conservancy, with its dedicated advocated for environmental education to be incorporated membership, as being in a unique position to help address into the school curriculum. the pressures that Salt Spring’s popularity is placing on our Deborah’s expertise and contacts have been a tremendous natural environment. That’s our job in a nutshell! Ashley’s benefit to the Conservancy’s Schools Program. While she help is certainly appreciated. was still teaching, she promoted it and got other teachers involved. Since retiring, she has succeeded Kate Leslie as the Schools Coordinator and has written the curriculum for the new program for grade 4 and 5 students at Channel Ridge this fall. Deborah has also volunteered to be the next Chair of the Conservancy’s Education Committee. (Those are the folks that put on those marvelous Friday night education programs!) Now that she is retired, Deborah is hoping to also have time for hiking, painting, and kayaking, reading, gardening. Deborah wants to thank Conservancy Education event supporters for their donations at the door. These donations cover the costs of the meeting rooms, snacks and speaker’s transportation. She also invites you to help the Schools program which enables SSI Elementary and Middle School students to learn through directed experiences about our island’s natural places, an opportunity they would not have without help from our wonderful volunteers. If you can help, contact Deborah at 537-4797. photo by Maxine Leichter

Autumn 2006  Stewardship Three New Sharp-tailed Snake Sites Garter snakes give birth to live young, but sharp-tailed snakes lay eggs. Females lay between three and five eggs, and deposit them underground or in cracks between rocks. Because hatchings depend on the sun’s heat, sharp-tailed snakes use south/ southwest facing rocky slopes or small openings in Douglas-fir/arbutus forests for nesting, so it is important to protect such habitat. Humans and sharp-tailed snakes often live near each other, which means that snakes can become victims of cars, weedeaters, cats, and indirectly, a loss of their habitat to construction activities, including backyard projects. “Tidying” a property can also threaten its habitat. Gardeners may be pleased to learn that small slugs are most Three landowners in the north end of Salt Spring have found likely the favourite food of the sharp-tailed snake – an added the endangered sharp-tailed snake this spring and early incentive to provide suitable habitat. summer. All of the landowners who identified the snake had Salt Spring Conservancy’s project Habitat Protection attended a neighbourhood meeting or talk on the snake. The and Stewardship of Species at Risk has received $40,930 in three new sites almost double the number of known sites for grants from the Bullitt Foundation and the Government of this extremely elusive snake on the island. The Salt Spring Canada Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk. Island Conservancy has been educating landowners as part Now that we are entering another period of activity for this of its Species at Risk Stewardship project, and these new endangered snake it’s time to keep your eyes peeled. If you sightings come as a result of outreach to landowners and think you have seen a sharp-tailed snake, please try to take neighbourhood gatherings near the snake’s known locations a photograph and send it to: [email protected] on Salt Spring. The landowners are given tips on how to or phone the office with a description. identify the snakes and monitor artificial cover objects If you would like to be involved in this project, or just (ACO’s) in likely habitat identified by snake experts. The want to learn more about this elusive snake, please call Karen sightings were all verified by a digital photo. Sharp-tailed Hudson at the Conservancy office: 538-0318. snakes are found in only a few locations in BC, and all sites – Karen Hudson and Christian Englestoft on the Gulf Islands are located on private land, which means that they are unprotected by law. The future of the snakes depends on landowners to voluntary protect their habitat. Sharp-tailed snakes are non-venomous and completely harmless to humans. They may be confused with juvenile garter snakes but can be distinguished by the sharply pointed scale at the tip of their tail, and the distinctive black and white banding on their belly. Adult sharp-tailed snakes are brown in colour, about as thick as a pencil, and up to 30 cm long, which makes them one of the smallest snakes in BC. Hatchlings are bright reddish brown and the size of large earthworms. Sharp-tailed snakes are most active in early spring and fall. During the hot and dry periods in the summer they are hiding under ground. Even when they are active near the surface they are rarely found on the surface but hide under rocks, rotting logs, or debris. They sometimes venture out at night. Recent neighbourhood sharp-tailed snake meeting 10 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Inside SSIC Ten-year Members New friends bless us with fresh perspectives; longstanding Continued from page  friends give the gift of loyalty. Checking back to our first year a donation by a generous Conservancy member. of reliable records (1997) we discovered that 70 people are The Conservancy is proud of our school program. We now completing their 10th consecutive year as participants are proud of the job Kate Leslie did with the first school in our Conservancy. Among them, 17 have been directors program two years ago at the middle school level, and then and many have volunteered in other ways. Let’s thank all last school year the elementary component of the school these long-time friends with a smile and greeting when next we meet. program. We are proud of Deborah Miller who ran last year’s Stewards in Training program at the middle school Nancy Achilles David Kerman and who taught this autumn’s program to 4/5 students. We Paul Adams Jean King are especially proud of the 50+ volunteers who altogether Chris Anderson Juliette & Rick Laing volunteered almost 1300 hours of their time to the program. Rita & Leon Aptekmann Peter Lamb With out their commitment and passion this program would Birgit & Robert Bateman Walton Langford not be possible. Maureen Bendick Ilse Leader We are so happy we can continue to offer this great David Borrowman Sam Lightman program. Thank you to everyone involved. Nancy Braithwaite Heather Martin – Jean Gelwicks Debbie & Harry Burton Sharon McCollough Grace & Pat Byrne Cate McEwen Deborah Cran Maureen Milburn Bill Curtin Art Morton Dorothy Cutting Judy Norget Susan Evans Alisa Pearse Don & Fiona Flook Anton, Eva & Karen Pedersen Jim & Noni Fogarty Briony Penn Jean Gelwicks Andrea Rankin Sharon Glover Carole Reiner W. Thomas Gossett, Jr. Ann Richardson Donald Gunn Margaret Schubart Ted Harrison Art & Marg Simons Frances Hill Judi Stevenson Gary Holman Bill Turner John, Anne & Sara Bob & Judy Weeden Humphries Nicola Wheston Gavin Johnston Doug Wilkins Charles Kahn Irene & Tom Wright Nona, Sada & Gordon Keel

Autumn 2006 11 Inside SSIC Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve Notes Plant Assays: Two years ago student aide Yvette Ruesen compact disk “Let It Rot” (Gulf Islands Film and Television spent three months on the Reserve laying out plant transects, School), which depicts efforts to help a cut-over forest area installing study plots and creating a strategy for counting develop toward old-forest status. (Why we want forests to plant species. Her time didn’t allow work on the south end grow old fast, while we resist the same process vigorously, I’ll of the property. This year Robin Annschild extended Yvette’s never know.) Part of the process involves spreading logging work. debris instead of windrowing and burning it. As a researcher thoroughly grounded in plant taxonomy We encourage you to bring some friends to the SSI and ecology Robin has given us site descriptions as a base Conservancy to view the presentation (6.36 minutes). Please from which changes in AVNR flora can be sketched. Thanks make arrangements with Karen Hudson (538 0318) at the to her efforts we now can track changes and consider them office in advance. in relation to climate change, human activity, invasions of – Charles Dorworth aliens like carpet burweed, and other shifts. You’ll see white wooden stakes at intervals on the Continued from page  property. Please leave them where they are, and don’t walk the BC Hydro Green Energy Certificates, using bio-diesel for on or disturb the area in a 25 metre circle around them. trucks, and encouraging the use of travel mugs (which they Plants and science both can be fragile! sell in environmentally friendly corn plastic and stainless Rot, Wot?: One of the features students study on the steel). AVNR is “wildlife trees,” which are dead or dying trees used Another very important aspect is providing “shade by animals and other organisms as sources of nutrients, grown” coffees, which contributes to sustainable agriculture. moisture and protection. Once fallen, the trees enhance the In its natural habitat, coffee grows as part of a mixed forest. soil as they rot. The SS Coffee web site explains, “Many of the larger “modern” The Galiano Conservancy kindly gave us a copy of their coffee farms have elected to remove shade trees and plant more “sun-tolerant” coffee varieties in dense stands for the hopes of higher production. While higher production is likely, the ecological price tag is higher on these farms due to the increased dependence on herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers as well as increased soil erosion and water runoff.” Using non-hybrid varieties grown in their natural setting allows farmers to keep the bio-diverse forest intact. Bird habitats are restored, which can be very beneficial in keeping out harmful insects and disease. The leaves of other forest trees provide important nitrogen and fiber to the soil. All of this also results in a better tasting bean. It’s quite likely that the Salt Spring Coffee Co.’s high quality product is the root of their success. With no set plan for growth and almost zero marketing over the past two years, the company has recently expanded through BC Ferry locations and into Vancouver, with a café location on Main Street. Exciting news is a new café slated to open at UBC in January. McLeod went to Vancouver September 21 to accept an award through the Georgia Straight magazine for best Fair Trade coffee in Vancouver. In addition, the company will appear in Waking Up the West Coast, an upcoming guide to conscientious consumer choices. When asked about the company’s future plans, McLeod says that generally, all they want is to keep doing what they are already doing, but to do it better. “We want to create better relationships with farmers and get to know them better; to continue doing work in the community. But really we just want to do the best job we can do.” Photo by Karen Hudson – Elizabeth Nolan

12 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Inside SSIC Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve Notes Garden Benches Find New Homes This year’s winner of the Garden Bench raffle is Maria Emerson of the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund. Maria had been buying tickets for the Conservancy raffle for the past several years on her visits to the Ganges summer market. She relates, “It was always a good souvenir for me when I visited Salt Spring. The benches are amazing works of art and I have always respected the work of the Conservancy, so the gamble is a good one either way. I would leave the market always hoping I would get a call.” While she never made it to this year’s Fall Fair to buy up the last of the tickets as she promised one Conservancy volunteer, Maria got lucky and one of her tickets was drawn. She is thrilled to have won and would like to thank the artist who made the beautiful bench for his donation and generosity to the Conservancy. Last year’s winner, Susan Harland, has donated her bench to the Lady Minto Hospital, where it will be a welcome addition to the Palliative Care Unit. She writes, “After what seemed like a lifetime of bitterly cold winters and sweltering buggy summers in Ontario, we decided we had had enough and started looking around for a less onerous climate, preferably one where a shovel and bug spray were not to be seen. A good friend recommended we visit Salt Spring Island before making up our mind where to live. He had spent time on the island visiting his brother who was ill in the Lady Minto hospital and thought the Island’s friendly and warm atmosphere would appeal to us. He was Susan Harland and Executive Director Karen Hudson right, for after we had been on Salt Spring for just three After admiring it in our garage for a few days, I contacted the albeit hectic days, we left owning a house near Vesuvius. Lady Minto Foundation and the timing was just right, for Once we had settled in, the friend happened to mention that they were in the planning stages of a palliative care unit and if I ever decided to do any voluntary work, could I direct it garden and were delighted to be offered the bench. I am very towards improving the garden at the hospital. During his pleased that it is now incorporated into a very well thought time visiting his brother there, they had found the garden a out garden, where one can sit and look at, and listen to, the restful place to sit. Shortly after, by a stroke of luck, I found lovely fountain. quite to my surprise that I had won the lovely driftwood “Many thanks to all of you at the conservancy for your bench that the SSI Conservancy had raffled last September. hard work and dedication.”

Continued from page  Hilary Brown is now an alert 97. She seems like the kind of person I’d like to be when I grow up, vital, passionate, and possessing the kind of muscular hope that admits no impossibilities. BRAVO!, Hilary Brown. Editor’s note: I’m much indebted to Meg Parrish, a neighbour and friend of Ms. Brown’s, who told her I wanted to do this brief profile, obtained permission, and discussed a draft with her. Thanks, too, to Andrea Lebowitz for sending her longer piece written to nominate Hilary for the Therese Casgrain Yellow montaine Violet - Federally listed threatened species found Volunteer Award. Andrea also improved a draft. on Salt Spring in Spring 2006 Photo: Robin Annschild – Bob Weeden

Autumn 2006 13 Inside SSIC Robin Annschild - Staff Biologist conducting a vegetation survey of the Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve. She also does landowner contact and site evaluation for the current Stewardship Project. In 2005, Robin had a son, Lugh (pronounced Lou). Robin and her partner Mik were deeply touched by the help and support given by their island friends when she had serious complications after giving birth. What a pleasure it is to see Lugh on Robin’s back at Conservancy events. In addition to being a mum, partner and biologist, Robin keeps a large vegetable garden and is one of the founding members of the SSI Biodiesel Collective. She enthusiastically spreads

Lugh and Robin the word about the availability of biodiesel at Pretzel Motors and she had her own car modified to run This year, the Conservancy has significantly improved its not only on bio-diesel but also on unprocessed vegetable ability to protect the natural environment by establishing oils. Did you know that using biodiesel helps fight Climate the position of staff biologist and hiring our former part Change and reduces exposure to hazardous fumes? time biologist Robin Annschild to fill the position. She is Robin says she is honoured by the trust and generosity well qualified, having a BSc in Environmental Biology with shown by the property owners who welcome her onto their a minor in ecological agriculture from McGill University. land to talk about stewardship. She feels privileged to be able She attended the MacDonald Campus which specializes in to see these special island treasures. We are privileged to have agricultural and environmental sciences. Robin doing this important work to protect our island. Robin originally came to Salt Spring in 2000 to take a – Maxine Leichter temporary contract with the Conservancy’s first Stewardship Program and she has been working for the Conservancy on Continued from page  and off ever since. In the process, she has become an expert on local ecosystems and plant life. weight of snowmobiles that pack the winter snow cover. Robin’s work is divided among the Conservancy’s British Columbia’s enormous expanses of inland forest are committees. She helps the Conservancy’s Schools Program, being chewed to bits by beetles that love warm summers. monitors covenants held by the Conservancy, and is The biggest trees in the world could succumb to excessive zeal by Smokey Bear. It is illusory, even dangerous, to map “sensitive ecosystems” for special attention when they may Continued from page  be no more likely to go belly up than run-of-the-mill woods. Dr. David Nagorsen will present an illustrated talk about bats. Show me an insensitive ecosystem and I’ll unplug my mike. The former Curator of Mammals for the Royal BC Museum, Meanwhile, let’s just agree that some combinations of plants, Nagorsen is the co-author of Bats of British Columbia, and animals and sites are rarer than others. he has done extensive research on bats throughout the Worthwhile ideas usually are complex. We invent a word Province. On Saturday morning following the talk, there will or phrase to stand for them because sound bites, photo-ops be a special session to cut and assemble wooden bat houses and high-speed internet browsing demand it. Following which you can mount on your house exterior or in nearby our favourite adage that “Anything worth doing is worth trees to encourage these valuable insect predators. overdoing” we repeat the term often and thoughtlessly, finally Please mark these talks on your calendars, and pass making it worthless. I sincerely hope “authentic community” along the information to friends. This fall/winter’s lineup is doesn’t meet that fate, flowering beautifully where first certain to answer all kinds of natural history questions and seeded but ending up scattered carelessly or mischievously provide a wealth of information about the furry cohabitants where it doesn’t belong, another weed we can’t get rid of. of our island and Province. – Bob Weeden

14 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Essential details Robin Annschild - Staff Biologist Office Update Garry Oak Seedlings Items Wanted: Thanks to a very generous donation by Paul Linton, the Donations of any of the following gratefully received. Conservancy now has about 600 Garry oaks, gathered as Office Items Other Items nuts in 04, planted, and now potted in 8” pots in good Air Miles Saws, clippers dirt. We are selling them as a fundraiser for $10 each, or Speaker phone Canadian Tire $ 3 for $25. We encourage Salt Spring landowners that live Laptop computer Field guides in current or former Garry oak ecosystems to plant oaks, Small refrigerator Hand secateurs and we can provide information on the best way to do so. Please call 538-0318 to arrange purchase of oaks, or for We would also appreciate donations of gifts, such as new more information about endangered Garry oak ecosystems books or items related to nature or conservation, to give to on Salt Spring. our educational speakers, who volunteer their time. Help Wanted: Small Things Help! • Do you like talking to landowners? Please remember to put your shopping receipt in the • Are you interested in endangered species? green Conservancy receipt box at GVM, and to say • Do you have 4-8 hours a month that you could “Credit #58” at the check-out at Thrifty’s. You can volunteer to the Conservancy? also credit the Conservancy when you take back your We need YOU to volunteer for our Stewardship Project! bottles to the Salt Spring Refund Centre (Bottle Depot Please call Karen 538-0318 for more information. at GVM). Every little bit helps!

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 [email protected] or by regular mail. Opinions expressed here are the authors’, not subject to Conservancy approval. Editor: Bob Weeden Layout: Brian Smallshaw Membership Application Volunteer Opportunities Youth (Under 16) 1 yr @ $15 _ We have a Volunteer Application Form Board of Directors: Samantha Beare (Treasurer) Senior or Low-Income: 1 yr @ $20 _ 3 yr @ $60 _ that best describes areas you wish to Maureen Bendick Regular Single 1 yr @ $25 _ 3 yr @ $75 _ help in. For now, which areas interest Nigel Denyer Regular Family 1 yr @ $35 _ 3 yr @ $105 _ you? Please check off: Charles Dorworth Jean Gelwicks (Secretary) Group/School 1 yr @ $35 _ 3 yr @ $105 _ r Office Work (typing, filing or Ashley Hilliard (Vice-president) Business 1 yr @ $55 _ 3 yr @ $165 _ computer work) Maxine Leichter r Information Table at Saturday Steve Leichter Deborah Miller Name: ______Market (May through September) Linda Quiring Address: ______r Education Programs Brian Smallshaw ______r Eco-Home Tour Ruth Tarasoff Bob Weeden (President) Postal Code: ______r Information Table at SSI Fall Fair/ Doug Wilkins Phone:______Craft Fairs Email:______r Joining a SSIC Committee (Land The Salt Spring Island Conservancy Restoration & Management, #201 Upper Ganges Centre, r Please send me the Acorn via e-mail. Fundraising, Covenants, 338 Lower Ganges Rd. (We NEVER give out member’s email addresses to anyone!) Acquisitions, Education, Mail: PO Box 722, Salt Spring Island BC r This is a renewal for an existing membership Stewardship, or Environmental V8K 2W3 Governance) Office hours : Tues/Wed/Thurs Donations r Other: 10 am - 3 pm ______In addition to my membership fee above, I have enclosed Phone: (250) 538-0318 Fax: (250) 538-0319 my donation in the amount of: Email: $50 _ $100 _ $250 _ $500 _ $1000_ $2500 _ $5000 _ [email protected] Web site: Other ______Ganges PO Box 722 http://saltspring.gulfislands.com/ Tax receipts will be provided for donations of $20 or more. Salt Spring Island BC conservancy V8K 2W3

Printed on 18% recycled paper Autumn 2006 15 Ganges PO Box 722 Salt Spring Island BC 40026325 V8K 2W3