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This article appeared in the Thursday, Feb 15, 2001 edition of the Victoria
Times Colonist.
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Park gets the green light
Land Conservancy expects to clear financing hurdle with $2-million
boost from Ottawa
By Malcolm Curtis, Times Colonist staff
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The sweating
is over.
With just two days to go before a financing deadline, The Land Conservancy
of B.C. got the word Wednesday from Ottawa: Environment Canada is
handing over $2 million to help acquire a key piece of parkland
in the Sooke Hills.
The information was communicated by Environment Minister David Anderson
in a letter faxed to Bill Turner, TLC's executive director.
"It's absolutely wonderful news," said Turner. The federal
contribution means TLC can proceed with a deal to acquire 1,400
hectares of property from Seraphim, a Canadian holding company.
The Capital Regional District has already committed $3 million for
the forested land that forms part of the evergreen backdrop to the
west of Victoria.
The Seraphim lands are the last large pieces of real estate needed
to complete the sea-to-sea park stretching from Tod Inlet in Central
Saanich through the Gowlland Range and the Sooke Hills to the Sooke
Basin.
The TLC had until Friday to line up financing for the $5.3-million
deal, which followed eight months of fund-raising and campaigning.
"I never truly doubted that the Canadian Wildlife Service (a
department of Environment Canada) and Mr. Anderson were on side,"
said Turner, "but it's great to hear that it's finally happened."
The land conservancy raised more than $500,000 towards the purchase
price. The organization is now faced with rasining an additional
$475,000 to cover interest, legal costs and taxes but Turnner said
that should not be difficult.
The official purchase date is set for March 9. The TLC will place
a legal covenant protecting the property before transferring it
to CRD Parks for addition to the Sooke Wilderness Regional Park.
The acquisition consists of rolling, forested land north and south
of Sooke Mountain provincial park. It encompasses three lakes, Mount
Manuel Quimper and sections of the Ayum and Charters rivers.
Part of the "rain-shadow forest" of which just three per
cent is protected on Vancouver Island, the land provides habitat
for such species as bears, elk, cougars, wolves, owls and murrelets.
"I'm just so thrilled," siad Alison Spriggs, a TLC campaigner
who has been lobbying for a sea-to-sea park for more than seven
years. "We've been waiting so long . . . I know there are going
to be a lot of very happy people in Victoria today."
Anderson, Liberal MP for Victoria, was unavailable for comment.
But in his letter to Turner he said: "Like you, we view the
land in the Sooke Hills as being of key importance in connecting
protected areas in the region, from the base of the West Coast Trail
over to the Victoria area."
The federal contribution is believed to be part of a bigger biodiversity
package that will see Ottawa and the B.C. governement speding $110
million to create a national park in the Gulf Islands, while protecting
other areas in the Fraser Valley and the Cowichan Estuary.
Turner said the TLC, which is involved as a partner in this package,
said the overall deal is taking time to put together.
The Seraphim Lands purchase could not wait because of the financing
deadline, so it was announced ahead of the rest of the package.
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Links: Map of Harbourview (90Kb)
We're very pleased that $5-million of our tax dollars are going towards
closing off this wonderful recreation area. <CYNICAL
RANT MODE ON>The hoopla over endangered and threatened species that
apparently live there has been remarkable given that the logging and other
recreational use the area has sustained over the last sixty years has
not affected any of those species in any measurable way—until now
that the environmentalists have set their sights on acquiring it. Suddenly
it's the “airport” for endangered owls and goshawks, and apparently
the most prodigious breeding ground in North America for elk, bear and
cougar, and marbled murrelets. I'm surprised that it hasn't been touted
as the last safe haven for moas, sabre-toothed tigers, and sasquatches
as well. </CYNICAL RANT MODE OFF>
Oh, but we should be plying our recreation in areas less environmentally
sensitive. Like, for instance, that outdoor recreation park that the Cowichan
Valley Regional District is proposing to create west of Duncan. Doesn't
that sound great?! It sure does. But predictably, the Sierra Club is already
mounting opposition to the creation of that park because the animals won't
like the noise. And there's no doubt the skeleton of the missing link
in human evolution is buried in that area too. No kidding, there's been
threats of blockades to prevent access to the area already, and it hasn't
even been created yet!.
"Ah well, you guys always have tons of logging roads you can use."
Yeah, right. The gates to Butler/Boneyard are closed again at Sooke -
leaving not a single trail open to travel on within 50 kilometers of Victoria.
What to do? Support the visionaries that are trying to create the Cowichan
Valley Outdoor Recreation Park up island. They need our help in many ways,
including placement of advertising signs to get the word out and garner
support from the public.
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