INSIDE! SSI Historical Archives Islands Real Estate 129 McPhi11ips Ave Magazine Salt Spring Island, BC 01/01/97 ulf Islands Wednesday, August 14,1996 Vol. 38, No. 33 Your Community Newspaper Salt Spring Island, B.C. $1 (incl. GST) Ferry Officials cx)nfj_rm hits cougar ti.c\ t It's official: provincial Fish and Wildlife Branch officials Piers believe there is a cougar on Salt Spring Island. Conservation officer Gary Horncastle said on Tuesday enough sightings have been Island reported in the past three months By VALORIE LENNOX or so for his office to conclude Driftwood Staff that a cougar is on the island. A suspected mechanical failure The most recent call came forced the Mayne Queen onto the Tuesday morning when a Baker shore of Piers Island at 9:25 a.m. Road resident called the Monday, turning a 35-minute trip branch's Duncan office to from Swartz Bay to Fulford into a report a cougar sighting. But five-hour marathon for the 88 pas­ most reports have been in the sengers aboard the ferry. Ruckle Park area during the "All I heard was a big, grinding past month. sound," said Walter Davis, a Salt Horncastle said a park natu­ Spring resident on his way home ralist saw a cougar one month aboard the 9:15 sailing. "Then it ago in the south-end provincial took a sharp turn to the left... then park. Just over three weeks ago this wonderful sound of metal upon a dead sheep was found in the rock." area. Its neck was broken but He reported a jolt when the ferry the carcass bore no puncture or struck but said there appeared to be claw marks. no injuries or damage to vehicles. Before the jolt, Davis said it Many of the sightings have sounded like the ferry had missed been made early in the morning, gears or a shaft or propeller had bro­ Horncastle said, but his office ken before the ferry turned toward often doesn't hear of them until the island. A pink fluid — hydraulic late in the day. oil from a broken propeller housing "In this hot weather, we've — oozed from the stricken ferry into got three hours before the the water but was contained by a scent's gone." boom spread by crew members. Conservation officers are "ready to help out," he said, but FERRY 3 they need confirmed reports in the right time frame before they Records broken can act, and remove the animal. Records were set in both golf There is a healthy cougar pop­ and swimming on the weekend. ulation on Vancouver Island at A course record was set at the present, Horncastle said. A con­ Salt Spring Golf Club Saturday trol officer is catching 10 to 15 a when a visiting golfer scored 69 month. The animals are either over 18 holes. That record was destroyed or relocated, depend­ tied by another visitor on ing on the circumstances. Sunday. If the cougar is deemed a And in Victoria, local swim­ WRONG WAY: Ten minutes out of Swartz back to Swartz Bay. Eighty-eight passengers threat to the public, it is mer Christina Penhale broke a Bay, the Fulford-bound Mayne Queen lies were stranded on the vessel until it returned destroyed. 50-metre backstroke record. aground on Piers Island Monday, where it to the terminal. Photo by Tony Richards Sightings can be reported to Details — Page 22. remained for five hours before being towed the Duncan office at 746-1236. Pender bylaw seeks protection from bee stings By VALORIE LENNOX He notes no one has ever com­ Driftwood Staff But not only do honey bees rarely sting, five acres is not enough plained about his bees. "If a per­ Leave the bees be. by concern over beekeeping in blamed (but) they're innocent." included in the draft bylaw. son has bees and looks after them That's the buzz from North urban areas and the possibility of North Pender Trust Committee But before the land use bylaw is properly, they're not going to go Pender beekeeper John Crawford people with allergies being stung. member Gail Jamieson admits passed, the trustees will research and attack people. They're very and Larry Lindahl, Ministry of But Lindahl notes honey bees restricting bees to lots over five beekeeping further. placid." Agriculture bee inspector for are the sweethearts of the bee acres could be ineffective. "I "I think it is going to be thrown If bees were eliminated from an Vancouver Island and the Gulf family. It is scavenging wasps, think bees are one of those things out, frankly," predicts John area, Lindahl predicted growers Islands, over a Pender Trust yellow jackets and hornets that that you can't keep in your yard Crawford, one of a dozen bee­ from backyard gardeners to pro­ Committee bid to restrict bee­ most often stab their stingers into no matter how large your yard is." keepers on the Penders. "The fessional operations would lose an keeping to lots of five or more humans. "It's very rare — unusu­ The trustees included the clause value of the bees, especially in the estimated 20 per cent of their acres. al — for honey bees (to sting)." in the proposed land use bylaw as neighbourhood, is for pollina­ crop. The pollination done by Bees don't recognize lot lines, A honey bee will only sting part of a general attempt to tion." bees is so valuable that some Lindahl pointed out. "Bees fly a under duress, perhaps while remove agricultural activities Even if the five-acre restriction growers pay beekeepers to keep five-mile radius around the hive. defending its hive or being from areas like Magic Lake subdi­ is passed, Crawford doubts it their hives in an orchard or berry Restricting bees to five acres is squished by a human. When a vision, which Jamieson describes would be enforced. He has raised patch, Lindahl reported. sort of a joke." honey bee stings, it dies. as "very urban. At the moment bees for 30 years, both commer­ Should restrictions on beekeep­ Under the North Pender Trust "Honey bees are not aggres­ you can have horses and sheep cially and as a hobby. ing be proposed again on North Committee's proposed land use sive," Lindahl said, noting that and goats on quite residential Despite a bylaw against it, he Pender, Crawford plans to speak bylaw, beekeeping would be experienced beekeepers often properties." kept bees on a 33-foot lot in up. "I hear they want some pro­ restricted to lots of five acres- don't fully suit up when handling Some residents expressed their Vancouver. He now raises bees fessional advice on this situation. plus. The regulation was sparked their bees. "Honey bees get concerns so the restriction was on a three-quarter-acre lot. I'll be glad to give it." WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14,1996 N EWS B EAT GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Here's an island plan that puts local economy first he most intriguing bit of information in the Vineyard's regional plan focus on economic Statements in the plan reflect that. TRegional Island Plan for Martha's development and capital planning, with the first "Encourage efforts to diversify the island econ­ Vineyard is found near the end of the 44-page part of that section looking at the need for a bal­ omy within the quality and character of document It tells that the draft of the plan was TONY anced year-round economy. But it also recog­ Martha's Vineyard." "Private initiatives will released in March 1990. The period for public nizes the island's unique natural features by influence the fiiture of the island at least as review and comment? Nine months, April RICHARDS calling for the promotion of sound local much as government regulations. Encourage through December. economies by conserving the island's unique creative and environmentally sound economic But that's not the only difference between Kennedy's Islands Trust Bill, which failed to values and protecting them from developments initiatives. Ensure that regulations affecting land use planning on the Vineyard and on Salt win congressional approval in the early '70s. that may cause damage. small businesses do not cause unnecessary bur­ Spring, where community plans are supposed Our own Islands Trust was formed by provin­ After all, what's the point of protecting a dens..." to be digested quickly and fast-tracked to cial legislation in 1974.) chunk of land if few can afford to enjoy it? The plan moves on to policies on fanning approval. Operating under state legislation, the com­ Asked about the plan's bias toward a healthy and fishing (encourage them), commercial Prepared by the Martha's Vineyard mission's purpose is to ensure that land use is economy, commission administrator Thomas growth (keep existing business districts vital Commission, that island's regional plan bears compatible with the island's "unique natural, Simmons was blunt. Martha's Vineyard has and workable), affordable housing (one woman no resemblance to Salt Spring's OCP. But then historical, ecological, scientific, cultural and double-digit unemployment, he said in a tele­ and some Mends, working on the island for the the commission has a slightly different man­ other values." phone interview, and the highest rates of alco­ summer, were paying $2^00 a month for what date from our Islands Trust Formed in 1974 To be more precise, the commission is to holism and teen pregnancy in the state. "We her father called "a dump''), before addressing after the concept was approved by island vot­ ensure that land usages to be permitted "will need jobs," he stated, but jobs that are appropri­ land use half-way into the document ers, the 21-member cornmission has a mandate not be unduly detrimental to those values or to ate to the island People have to live, eat and Two islands, a continent apart geographical­ to oversee land use.