Hornby Island Land Steward Permanently Protects Sensitive
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the Islands Trust Fund Winter 2016-2017 A newsletter from the IslandsHeron Trust Fund, a conservancy for Canada’s Islands in the Salish Sea Land steward Karin Fischer shows us her favorite morning coffee spot under the oak trees. Photo K. Emmings Inset: Camas flowers in bloom at Fischer Covenant on Hornby Island Hornby Island Land Steward Permanently About Garry Oak Ecosystems Protects Sensitive Garry Oak Habitat • Garry oak ecosystems are found on arin Fischer is the most recent land steward to protect fragile island ecosystems through southeast Vancouver Island, the Gulf Ka conservation covenant. Karin’s special ridgetop property on the south side of Hornby Islands and in two locations in the Island is home to towering veteran Douglas-fir trees and undulating Garry oak meadows Fraser Valley. They are also found in that erupt every spring with native grasses, chocolate lilies, white fawn lilies, camas lilies and Washington, Oregon and California shooting stars. Her property provides habitat for bald eagles, garter snakes, giant silkworm (often referred to as white oak). They moths, the propertius duskywing butterfly and western pondhawk dragonfly, both provincially exist nowhere else in the world. rare and coastal wood fern, a federally listed Species of Special Concern. A conservation • Hornby Island is in the northernmost covenant is now registered over 6.12 ha (15.1 acres) of the property, protecting it forever from part of the range for Garry oak development and human disturbance. Conservancy Hornby Island co-holds the covenant with ecosystems. the Islands Trust Fund and played a key role in developing the covenant with Karin. • Garry oak woodland and terrestrial Karin and her husband purchased the Hornby Island property in 1980 after moving from herbaceous ecosystems of the Geneva, Switzerland. In 1979, they visited coastal B.C., renting a car and touring the Gulf southeast coast are rare, fragile and Islands searching for their new home. Originally planning on retiring on Gabriola Island, they also vanishing under the pressure of ventured farther north, discovering and falling in love with Hornby Island and the property human settlement. Karin has now protected. The couple returned to Geneva, packed their belongings and travelled back to Canada via the Panama Canal, settling in their new Hornby Island paradise • Today, less than 5% of the Garry oak where Karin lived with her husband until his passing nine years ago. ecosystems in Canada remain in a near-natural state. “I have no children, and with my husband gone I wanted to be sure the property is protected,” says Karin. “I have my first cup of coffee under the oak trees. I enjoy watching the deer, • More than one-fifth of the rarest especially the young fawns in the spring,” she continues. “In the winter when the leaves fall off plants in B.C. are found in Garry oak the trees and it snows, the landscape looks like a black and white painting. It is just beautiful, it ecosystems. is very special.” • More than 100 federally and The second Islands Trust Fund conservation covenant registered on Hornby Island, Karin’s provincially listed ‘species at risk’ property provides habitat connectivity that allows animals, including the deer she loves, to live in Garry oak ecosystems. travel across the landscape. The protection of this property is a tremendous gift to nature and to the community of Hornby Island. “I was afraid that if I did not put a covenant on the land it would be developed and all of the natural features would be lost,” says Karin. “I am very grateful to the Islands Trust Fund, I feel reassured to know the property is protected.” 2 The Heron | Winter 2016-2017 | Islands Trust Fund Pictured: Tara and Dan Hodgins, Farm Managers, Clam Bay Farms Clam Bay Farms Protects Mature Forest Re-zoning results in nature protection n October 26, 2015, the owners of Clam Bay Farms signed a a requirement of a re-zoning application submitted to the Islands Oconservation covenant with the Islands Trust Fund protecting Trust. The landowner chose the Islands Trust Fund to hold the more than eight hectares of endangered forest ecosystems adjacent covenant and contributed to the Islands Trust Fund’s Covenant to Clam Bay Road on North Pender Island. Management and Defence Fund to assist with long-term protection and management of covenanted lands. The Clam Bay Conservation Covenant permanently protects mature mixed stands of Douglas-fir, Western redcedar, grand fir Clam Bay Farms provides an example of a property where multiple and bigleaf maple, including two exceptional veteran Douglas-fir values and uses – ecological, agricultural and residential – are trees estimated to be 500 and 800 years old. The covenant protects integrated and legally formalized through both zoning and a important habitat for a wide diversity of native species, such as conservation covenant. fairyslipper and coralroot orchids and Western Tanager, a forest songbird. “We find peace and serenity in spending time in the forest,” said Dan and Tara Hodgins, the on-site managers of Clam Bay Farms. “Knowing that the lush forest, mosses and veteran trees of the property will be permanently protected is a source of great pride for the owners and the Clam Bay Farms team.” The Clam Bay Conservation Covenant extends the network of protected places on North Pender Island, enabling forest species to move freely and safely through a variety of habitats. To the west is the Found Road Ocean Access managed by the Pender Islands Parks and Recreation Commission and a 30 hectare covenant held by the North Pender Island Local Trust Committee restricting tree-cutting. To the east, a one-hectare conservation Western tanagers nest only in second-growth and mature covenant held by the Islands Trust Fund follows the southern side conifer and mixed forests. of Clam Bay Road. The Clam Bay Conservation Covenant was Photo: D. Bend The Heron | Winter 2016-2017 | Islands Trust Fund 3 The Goal: To raise $ 560, 000 to acquire 16-hectares of Coastal Douglas-fir forest by June, 2017! Progress to date: 0 $140,000 $280,000 $420,000 $560,000 Pledges & Donations To Raise Fairyslipper Forest is home to species-at-risk such as the Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora) and Pacific Sideband Snail Monadenia( fidelis). Once protected, they will forever have a safe place to Fairyslipper Forest Nature Reserve call home. Campaign – the final year! See back cover for donation options Help support an island community with an inspiring conservation vision hree partners, Islands Trust Fund, Thetis Island Nature TConservancy and Cowichan Community Land Trust are now in the final year of a three year campaign to raise $560,000 to acquire Fairyslipper Forest – 16 hectares (40 acres) of rare, maturing second growth Coastal Douglas-fir forest on Thetis Island. Less than nine percent of the Coastal Douglas-fir Biogeoclimatic Zone is protected, and what remains is at high risk of being lost to development. This is especially significant on Thetis Island, where the majority of the Northern Red-legged Frog, Photo K. Mayes island is privately owned, and only one percent of the island’s natural area is protected. Campaign Background: This campaign is creating the first publicly accessible protected area on Thetis Island, offering a recreational trail and serving as an In 2014, the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy (ThINC), the outdoor classroom for island youth. The property also forms part of Cowichan Land Trust and the Islands Trust Fund began fundraising an important watershed, retaining and filtering water as it moves to protect the ecological values of the lower Burchell Hill property down Burchell Hill. - named after the fairyslipper orchid, Calypso bulbosa, that dots the forest floor every spring. Contributing to this campaign gives you a place in history. You can pay forward your delight in hiking under the grand Arbutus and Once the Trust Fund Board acquires towering Douglas-fir trees of Thetis Island. Imagine your children the property as a nature reserve, or grandchildren visiting the same forest decades later, finally a two local land trusts will recovered old growth Douglas-fir forest – one of the last remaining jointly hold a conservation in the world. Savour the feeling that you helped make it happen. covenant to further ensure its permanent protection. The leadership, forethought and generosity for conservation The terms of the covenant on Thetis Island are inspiring. We are so close to making this will allow only low impact community nature reserve a reality - please consider a donation to recreational, scientific and support the protection of Fairyslipper Forest. educational activities on the land. To learn more about Fairyslipper Forest visit www.IslandsTrustFund.bc.ca/Fairyslipper or www.ThetisIslandNatureConservancy.org Top left: Ruby Eliason, aged 7, peers through a cedar tree root, Photo C. Oberg Above: Fairyslipper Orchids, Photo R. Underhill 4 The Heron | Winter 2016-2017 | Islands Trust Fund Pender Island Conservancy Association (PICA) board members and ITF staff celebrating the successful installation of three interpretive panels at Medicine Beach Nature Sanctuary. Pictured left to right: Graham Boffey (PICA President, project leader), Davy Joel Rippner (Webmaster/Media), Nuala Murphy (ITF Property Management Specialist), Ursula Poepel (PICA Treasurer), Sara Steil (PICA), Eleanor Brownlee (PICA Vice President), Patti Badcock (PICA). Missing: Rhondda Porter (PICA Secretary) and Elizabeth Miles (PICA). Managing Protected Areas egal protection is only the first step in land conservation. The Islands LTrust Fund promises to protect land entrusted to us in perpetuity, which requires long term, science-based management. We believe the generations that follow us should have opportunities to witness the same beauty and ecological diversity we see today. Our priority with each property is protection and management of the ecosystems and natural features.