Community Action on Salt Spring Island

In early November 1999, Salt Spring Island residents learnt that land developers had purchased 10% of the island, including large tracts of forest uplands, farmlands, and almost all the lands surrounding the near pristine waters of Burgoyne Bay.  Within a week of purchase, the company began clear-cut logging the lands.  The new owners logged heavily, despite the community's repeated request to slow the rate of logging, and to use sustainable logging practices. By the end of 2000, over 400 ha of forest had been logged. This story concerns the efforts of the activist community on Salt Spring Island to protect their sense of place.  For the most part, it is a success story.  The land purchase is a result of extensive community involvement as well as involvement from many organizations such as Capital Regional District (CRD) Parks, Islands Trust, The Nature Trust of British Columbia, Forest Renewal BC, The Land Conservancy of BC, and North Salt Spring Water District.  Although much of the forest was logged, land was also bought for conservation. Burgoyne Bay protected area resides within a larger conservation area of 1800 ha of park, ecological reserve and community watershed lands.

 Photo© Howard Fry

The conflict over land resources on Salt Spring Island is one of a clash between simple market economics as a more holistic consideration of the value of land. It also raises questions of private vs. public rights and responsibilities to land use, and the ability of local communities to determine the future of ecological resources that provide them with valuable natural and cultural capital.

The Texada Land Corporation is within its legal rights to log these lands as they see fit subject to a few limitations relating to logging in creeks and avoiding extreme slopes, but there are very real long term concerns of the ecological integrity of watersheds and old and second growth forest, the contribution of the forest landscape to the island tourist based economy, and the previous recreation use island residents had had in these lands.

• Positive community vision
• Community cooperation, and cooperation with larger, external organizations
• Wide range of activism carried out by independent self organising affinity groups involving extensive research on options and players, direct action, arts events, rallies, media engagement, fundraising and lobbying.
• The support of government and non-governmental organisations to provide funding and to act as purchasers and stewards for land.
• The Provincial and Federal governments were in the midst of the Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy which involved the purchase and transfer of lands for island parks. This meant there was money available for land purchase that would not have normally been present.
• The Nature Trust of BC and Capital Regional District also had ongoing campaigns of land purchase which contributed to the fund.

cmcewen@saltspring.com

• Continuous and varied community pressure.  Tactics of direct action and media events such as a “Lady Godiva” ride though downtown Vancouver did eventually, through pressure from their main investors, lead Texada Land Corp. to limit logging and allow the community time to raise funds for purchasing the land.

• The involvement of government agencies and NGOs helped in providing the funds for land purchases and means for protecting the lands for conservation to take place.

• The ability of public and community bodies to buy land for protection at market prices at market speed.
• Government inaction at Federal and Provincial levels with slow delivery on promises and policies to restrict private logging operations, and lack of enforcement on existing laws, led to the conditions under which private logging could operate with little ecological or social consideration.

Funding to support direct action activity came from private individual contributions, public contributions at the monthly community town hall meetings, and from donations made to the Green Party of British Columbia.

The Salt Spring Appeal of The Land Conservancy of British Columbia coordinated the fundraising to buy the Burgoyne Bay land and played a pivotal role in negotiations for land purchase of Burgoyne Bay provincial park lands.  The Save Salt Spring group raised money separately and applied its raised funds to watershed land purchase.

A 475 ha region of land surrounding Burgoyne Bay was bought as Provincial Park. The Nature Trust of British Columbia, with financial assistance from Forest Renewal BC, purchased 280 ha of adjacent area.  The area contains the largest stand of Garry Oak woodlands in Canada. The North Salt Spring Water District purchased 130 ha of land within the Maxwell Lake community watershed. 

Funding: CRD Parks, TLC of BC/Salt Spring Appeal, and The Province of BC 
CRD Parks: $1.5 million

* Total contribution: $1,500,000 
* $500,000 in 2001 
* $1,000,000 over five years (i.e., 200,000/year from 2002 to 2006)

Much of the land purchased by the CRD has since been sold to the Provincial Government.

The short term time horizons and largely economic considerations of private landowners are likely to come into conflict with local communities, especially if the land they are operating in has significant value to those communities or if the area of land being modified is significant. In this case the land in which logging was proposed had significant cultural and ecological value, as well as a history of recreation use and a significant value to the islands tourist economy.

These values provided the motivation to a concerned portion of the island community. Given strength by their beliefs about the value of the land and from the cross section of community solidarity, as well as the sheer scale of the proposed logging operation, the community maintained a variety of activities to put pressure on the landowner and government agencies and to preserve the profile of the campaign in the media. The strength of the vision around which this activity took place was key to the success of the campaign, and the social capital that was created in the process led to the maintenance of pressure and ultimately a significant degree of success.

The Island Demographics:

Lying within an archipelago of islands in the Strait of Georgia, off Canada’s southwest coast, Salt Spring Island is the largest and most populous of the Gulf Islands.  Geographically Salt Spring Island covers an area of 18,535 ha and has a population of over 10,000 people (Garvie. 2001). By virtue of its population size Salt Spring has all the amenities of a small urban centre, such as educational, social, and health services and shops, despite its isolation as an island.  Most of these services are located in one centre, Ganges, with lesser centres offering gas and groceries near two of the BC Ferries terminals, at Fulford and Vesuvius.  The island economy includes tourism, agriculture, and the service industry, as well as telecommuters.  Salt Spring Island is a favourite vacation destination. The population swells with tourists and seasonal residents in the summer and the weekly Saturday market of local farmers and artisans draws as many as 3,000 visitors (Friends of Salt Spring Parks Society, 2003).

Although Salt Spring Island continues to have a reputation as a community of artisans, farmers and retirees, recent demographic analysis suggests a changing population profile.  Garvie’s (2001) report offers the most comprehensive and recent analysis of island demographics. Island population has increased approximately 50% every decade for the last 30 years. Population growth on the island during the ‘90’s increased at twice the rate (2.4%) projected.   The dominant age sector in 1996 was slightly older than a comparative BC average. A significantly high percent of the working sector is self-employed (34% compared with 14% in the Capital Regional District {CRD}). About half the income reported on the Island comes from non-employment sources (versus 31% in the CRD), including government transfer payments, corporate pensions, and investment income. Incidence of low income on the Island is significant, with 47% of the households reporting income of less than $30,000. In contrast to this, since the 1996 Census, buyers of high-end properties are noticeably more affluent than in the past.  Salt Spring Island has become a preferred address.

Land ownership

In 1962 German Prince Johannes von Thurn und Taxis was visiting the area and purchased the land.  The lands became known as Texada lands after the name of his company, Texada Logging Company.  Until the Prince’s death in 1999 logging activities were operated with a long-term harvest horizon.  The lands developed a history of use by island residents for hiking, camping, and hunting.  The uplands represented the largest continuous tracts of forest on Salt Spring Island, to the effect that the lands were unpopulated and relatively wild.

Prince Johannes von Thurn and Taxis was the second richest man in Germany with assets exceeding $2.5 billion. Following his death, by 1999, the assets had dwindled to $500 US.  This was due in part to the lavish, jetsetter lifestyle of his 20 year old wife. The heirs to the Prince’s assets chose to sell the lands on Salt Spring Island, in addition to other land holdings on Vancouver Island.  Texada Land Corporation, owned by Rob MacDonald, and in association with Derek Trethewey, purchased the lands with the intent to log the land of its merchantable timber in two years and afterwards sell the land.

What was at Risk?

The Texada lands represent 10% of Salt Spring Island. The lands include: large areas of natural habitat and ecologically sensitive habitat; lands within the watershed of drinking water for Ganges, the island’s main centre; salmon bearing streams; and the surroundings of a near-pristine marine bay.

“The south and west part of Salt Spring, within which the Texada lands fall, is one of the largest undeveloped areas in the southern Gulf Islands with over 6000 hectares of mixed public and private lands mostly under forest, park or agricultural zoning and use.  This area contains one of the largest continuous second growth stands of Douglas Fir in the Gulf Islands.  Otherwise Douglas-fir forests of the regions are fragmented, creating a loss of larger species that require greater tracts of land, as well as species sensitive to the forest edge. The two largest peaks of the Gulf Islands are in this region, as well as 18 km of undeveloped coastline and the highest concentration of sensitive ecosystems and rare and endangered species in the region.  Development has been slowed in this region because of its relative inaccessibility and the high costs of road development”. (B. Penn, “Background information about the “Texada Lands,” unpublished documents, 1999)

“Of Burgoyne Bay – the sheer physical beauty of the place is obvious – beneath the magnificence of Mount Maxwell an unpaved country road meanders through Douglas fir forest on one side, open fields on the other, to a sparkling bay where a tow-hold [sic] of industry flanks a sweeping bay fringed by forest. . . . The place is called Hwaaqwum (hwaw-kwum) “place of the sawbill duck” a name that described its most important resource. Saw-bill ducks were harvested by the hundreds (by First Nations) with large aerial nets during the summer and autumn months, speared, singed and dried for winter use.  Herring was raked in the bay and sea-mammals hunted.  The shoreline harboured rich clam beds and a stream with coho and chum salmon taken in summer and dried.  Further inland were clearings of red-clover and camas fields, cedar groves and berry patches.” (C. Arnett, “PLACE – The Final Frontier”, unpublished document, 1999)

The land within and around Burgoyne Bay harbours historical and cultural values from thousands of years of human activity; although the area has had human impacts (e.g. land clearing for farming, log sorts on land and in the water), it has had relatively little modern development. The Burgoyne valley and bay retains an atmosphere embracing the cultural and spiritual values of local First Nations and the heritage of one of BC’s first inter-racial settler communities (Arnett, 2003)

Conservation vs Development

“. . . three women are perched against the largest arbutus tree in Canada within an ancient Douglas-fir forest.  There are five species at risk living within 100 metres of this tree.  The whole slope is a high risk for soil erosion.  Under our community plan no one can log here, but under the Forest Land Reserve regulations, there’s nothing stopping anybody.” (Penn, 2000)

The Islands Trust Act was enacted through municipal legislation in 1974 with the specific focus “to preserve and protect” the unique natural features of the Gulf Islands.  The Islands Trust was created in the same year to oversee land-use regulations on the Gulf Islands.  On Salt Spring Island, two trustees are elected from the Island population to carry out the “preserve and protect” mandate.

Through the Islands Trust Act, island communities have each developed their own Official Community Plan (OCP) that effectively serves as a land use plan. Municipal by-laws are passed to support the OCP.  After years of public consultation and community advisory groups, the Salt Spring Island OCP was adopted by the elected local trustees in 1998.

The Forest Land Reserve (FLR) Act and Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) Act are provincial legislation intended to preserve forest and agriculture land.  (FLR designation was removed from such lands after the period this case study covers). Priority on these lands is given to those activities that support forestry and agriculture, respectively.  Most of Texada’s lands lie in either ALR or FLR. 

B.C.’s Forest Practices Code applies only to forestry on crown lands.  Until April 2000, there were no regulations for logging on private lands.  As of April 1, 2000, a number of regulations came into effect for logging on private lands in the Forest Land Reserve.  These regulations focused on protection of riparian areas, slope stabilization and erosion prevention.  The regulations are considered by conservationists as weak and not adequate to protect small, ecologically sensitive forested areas.

The British Columbia government made an agreement in 1995 with the federal government to commit $30 million to the Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy Trust for land acquisition for parks in the Gulf Islands.  The Salt Spring Island community reminded the government of this promise and urged the release of funds for land purchase on Salt Spring to this end.

In June 2000, the community pleaded to the federal government to buy Texada lands – especially Burgoyne Bay which would double the area of the proposed Gulf Island National Park, and protect the largest Garry oak meadow in Canada. In July, the Capital Regional District (CRD), with an interest in buying 1000 hectares of the Texada lands for a regional park (they previously made land purchases with a vision for more regional parks in the forest area) left the negotiating table.  After four months of negotiations, valuations, and appraisals, the CRD could not reduce the value Texada had placed on the timber resource, making it unaffordable.

In September, 2000, politicians from four levels of government endorsed a proposal to make Burgoyne Bay a national park.  The proposal was hand-delivered to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien with an autographed calendar, Salt Spring Women Preserve and Protect, 2001. In January 2001, the federal government considered a $140,000 biodiversity package for purchase of unique lands in British Columbia.  The SSI community lobbied Environment Canada to consider the Texada lands around Burgoyne Bay.

Community organizations believe privatization could, if handled creatively, be one of the keys to protecting B.C.’s forests in the next millennium, as it could allow sustainable forestry practices with a promise of a future.  The Islands Trust is one organization hopeful of this. The Cortes Eco-Forestry Cooperative and West Kootenay Harrop-Proctor Watershed Protection Society are two organizations (there are many)

that have received support from BC Forestry Minister as they press for community groups to buy private forest land and carefully harvest it, however there are numerous examples of private land owners who do not consider the future long-term for the forest.  Texada Land Corp is clearly focused on a short term horizon (2 years).  Texada’s clear-cutting activities are 5-15 times the sustainable rate - on lands that represent 60% of the Island’s Forest Land Reserve. 

Watershed Protection

In 2000 Texada confirmed plans to log Mount Maxwell’s secondary watershed area.  Maxwell Lake has been a drinking water source on Salt Spring since 1916 and is currently the main water supply for almost half of north Salt Spring, including Ganges and its business community.  This watershed’s near-intact forest cover is unique on the island, and maintains the consistently high quality of Maxwell Lake water. Water quality in almost all other lakes on Salt Spring has deteriorated significantly. If the Mount Maxwell area is logged water quality may be threatened for five years into the future and the cost of protecting this land from logging today would be less than the future cost of water treatment (Holman, 2000). Texada has agreed not to log the secondary water basin during the wet, winter months when heavy machinery would increase sediment and create erosion (Wilde, 2000).

Although about 75% of Lot 9 is in a Development Permit Area (DPA) which precludes logging, the Water District feels that the only way to control access and agricultural activity is to purchase this lot.  Unless the Water District can pay for the value of the land plus the timber, Texada apparently intends to clear cut the 25% of Lot 9 outside the DPA, and most of its extensive holdings in the “secondary” watershed (Holman, 2000).

Vision & Networking:

“The vision of the land protected for ecoforestry, organic farm trusts, community watershed, and parkland is compelling and keeps me involved.”  Elizabeth White, Campaign Appeal Fund Coordinator in Penn, 2000

Organisers of the community action were advised early on by a resident life coach, Bruce Elkin, to create a vision. Assessing the details of the reality of the circumstances and focusing on the vision, one can start to move towards realizing the vision.  Knowing the reality requires research and investigation of the facts, actors and any leverage either party has. Thinking big and taking small steps to get results creates an energy that leads to building momentum.  And this momentum was clearly a feature of the Save Salt Spring cause.

The “cause” had organization but it had no overall leader.  Instead, people worked within groups to which they had an affinity by virtue of their interests and skills, hence “affinity” groups.  These groups operated independently of other groups and also in concert with a shared overall aim – to stop the industrial scale clear-cut logging and save the land. One group met weekly to strategize and served as a coordinating body between the affinity groups. 

One of these affinity groups was the direct action group.  Using non-violent, public disobedience as a tactic for stopping the logging and creating media attention, the actions of lockdown to logging trucks were among the bravest actions, as was the acceptance of arrest and a potential criminal record

There were many affinity groups and their existence, as a characteristic of the organization of the “cause”, enabled a wide variety of community residents to join into the action in a creative and individual way.  Just as important as the independent actions of the affinity groups was the critical link between the groups.  This was achieved in large part by a few specific individuals who had the means to appreciate the foci of the various groups and were able to move between and among the groups. As with a systems approach, each affinity group was independent but in relationship with other groups and together defined the greater form or cohesive body of action to stop the logging and save the land.

Exposing Media

In order to gain significant mainstream media coverage community organisation carried out a number of revealing ‘stunts’ or art and cultural related protests. The first was a calendar:

“Women who have staged protests, blocked logging trucks and taken out ads in local newspapers to save Salt Spring Islands’ trees are now baring it all for the cause in a charity calendar. 
The stripping strategy by the island’s “female eco-warriors” – the latest in a series of tactics by residents attempting to save Salt Spring’s trees – has barely raised an eyebrow in the community of 10,000.”  Salt Spring women ardent tree buffs. The Globe and Mail, Aug. 17, 2000

Exposing the body often flies in the face of social taboos. If done in “good taste” (and this is subjective) and for a good cause, society may enjoy its whimsical quality and its suggestion of eros, but it is a statement much greater than providing entertainment.  For those women who participate, it is a strong statement, provoked from their inner self and aligns with their sense of place.

If the calendar had raised the profile of the island and the cause of the community, then more flesh might yield more exposure and greater effectiveness:

“I have a Ph.D. and no one listens.  But if I take off my clothes and ride my horse through Vancouver, there are suddenly seas of media and people who show up to listen.” Briony Penn quoted in Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, Jan. 24, 2001

Briony Penn rode Lady Godiva-like around Howe Street, Vancouver’s finance section, and the office of Texada Land Corporation.  Upon her steed she wore a long blonde wig with garland and flesh-toned panties while escorted by other bare-breasted eco-warriors and calendar women.

“In blasé worldliness, media, understanding all too well the prurient tastes of readers, listeners or viewers, will always pay more attention to naked flesh than naked truth. . . .  the bared female breast remains more persuasive, more powerful, than the disciplined female brain.” Hume, 2001 

Not to be outdone the ‘Hunks of Habitat’ set up a website in 2002 which proved successful in raising quick money when funds for the ongoing campaign were short. On the eponymous website leaves were offered up for purchase. 100 leaves at $100 a piece covered a shortfall in fundraising covering the costs of the land transaction. Although the last minute nature of this stunt precluded significant media coverage, although there was some in local environment and free papers, all these exposing events proved very successful in raising significant amounts on money quickly.

Activism and Rights

In February 2000 At least a dozen islanders were served notices of SLAPP suits, and the newspaper, the Barnacle, was served notice with libel. SLAPP suits – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – are civil actions aimed at enjoining people from defaming or interfering with a company carrying on its business.  SLAPP suits are a corporate strategy imported from the United States, although they have been eliminated from a number of states as well.  Premier Dosanjh had intended to make such suits illegal in B.C. but the bill was never passed before the NDP government lost control to the BC Liberals (Pynn, 2000). A SLAPP suit is a court injunction, not complying with a SLAPP suit is not against the corporation but against the Crown itself and the Court views breaking a court injunction harshly. Failing to observe the conditions of a SLAPP can result in imprisonment.

The Arts

The Arts, in all its dimensions, infused the actions for the campaign, if they weren’t in themselves the event.  Community rallies and monthly town hall meetings were often opened with a new song recently composed by a resident musician or the Raging Grannies, with playback theatre, or poetry. Road blockades often were accompanied with drumming or chanting.  Designing buttons and bumper stickers, photographing and filming community actions and those of the company’s logged land, and sign painting were foundational to community actions. Most of these creations arose spontaneously and were an individual or group of individuals’ personal contribution to the campaign and the cause. Music concerts were staged on the Island and in Vancouver, featuring big-names recording artists such as Randy Bachman, to raise funds for land purchase. 

Theatrical performances were staged in Victoria and Vancouver against Manulife Financial, the company financing Texada Land Corporation. Another event, Salt Spring Island, Where Art Meets Nature, started as an art auction, and blossomed into nearly a fortnight of talks and presentations featuring such renowned environmentalists as David Suzuki, Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster (Parkes, 2000). A documentary film, “Ah the Money, the Money, the Money: Battle for Salt Spring”, is directed by island resident Mort Ransen for the National Film Board of Canada and hears on CBC TV, The Nature of Things.

Texada Land Corporation’s response

After one year of operation the company was over half-way to meeting their goal of clearing the land of its merchantable trees within the space of two years. In January 2001 an island resident discovered flagging tape on the trees in the old growth forest in Burgoyne Bay.  Texada had given the community its word that it would not cut old growth forest:

“We will be harvesting second growth timber only; old growth trees will be left in place,” (Texada Land Corporation, Code of Principles, unpublished, Nov. 25, 1999).

One islander, Nina Raginsky, made a proposal to Texada to stop cutting the trees and allow the community to raise the money to purchase a conservation covenant to protect the old growth trees (>100 years old), in tandem with the more visible protests described above.  Texada agreed to halt the logging and allow time for the community to meet conditions for land purchase. Texada also placed a moratorium on further logging until the end of February and outlined conditions to be met in order for community land purchase to be possible.

On November 30, 2001, a deal was reached between all parties to purchase 665 hectares of lands surrounding Burgoyne Bay.

Land included in the deal covers an area from Mount Maxwell to the south shores of Burgoyne Bay as well as the slopes of Mount Sullivan, Mount Tuam and Bruce Peak. The landscape is mixed Douglas fir, Garry oak and arbutus forest with scenic rocky bluffs and lush valley-bottom groves of red cedar and ancient Douglas firs. Burgoyne Bay itself is the largest undeveloped bay and estuary left in the southern Gulf Islands. It contains significant conservation, recreation, wildlife, fish, and historic values. Two salmon streams run into the bay, which has about 2 km of sensitive tidal flat with extensive healthy eelgrass beds. It is also adjacent to the proposed Marine Conservation Area in Sansum Narrows.

Other now protected areas include: Maxwell Lake community watershed purchased by the North Salt Spring Water District totalling 127 hectares (317.5 acres) for $1.14 million, and 282 hectares (705 acres) on Burgoyne Bay purchased this spring by The Nature Trust of BC for $3.5 million. The Nature Trust bought the 282 hectare area of prime Garry oak meadow from Texada Land Corporation with funding from Forest Renewal BC's private forest biodiversity program.

Timeline of events

Date	Action	Event
Nov 1, 1999	Land Purchase	Texada Land Corp. buys land from German princess
Nov 8, 1999	Dialogue	“Welcome to Salt Spring Island” breakfast 70 people of SSI community gather along the road allowance to one of Texada’s farm parcels and area of intended first logging cuts, to greet the developers and offer breakfast; the developers do not appear, but those present rally together, share all that they know collectively about the details of the land deal, and initiate the first self-organizing process back at Fulford Community Hall
November	Dialogue	Month spent organizing as community – town hall meetings with open mike and briefings by locals to determine what is going on in the uplands – strategic group organizes self – also affinity groups in general start to self-organize – strategic group, media goods, organizing community meetings, direct action, etc. - community organizes and researches – which laws and regulations apply, legal advantages, sources of fundraising, etc. -          bulk of Texada lands within provincial Forest Land Reserve – therefore no bylaws apply, rather BC regulations for forestry – which are nonexistent at this point in time, by April 2000 there will be three regulations that apply to logging on private lands -          Texada lands that are within the Forest Land Reserve or Agricultural Land Reserve are served by provincial legislation and regulations, not , therefore Salt Spring Island’s Official Community Plan and bylaws do not apply to these lands  -          obvious conflict between community interests and those of  the land owner, Island Trustees and BC provincial government tell community to speak with the owners, owners not moved by community interests – will cut 60% of all merchantable timber within 2-3 years and sell land -          re-emergence of  previous research and efforts for conserving these same lands by South and West Salt Spring Conservation Partnership -          community starts evaluation of areas of environmental significance
December	Dialogue	- Tea at Hastings House – organized by one islander, invitees include a selection of islanders and Texada owners and their representatives; tea was organized by an islander to initiate face-to-face communications with the new owners and community members; first time for community members to meet the faces behind the names - Local islander and forester serves as expert for interpretations of logging activities of Texada – estimates 100 acres of trees have already been removed in one month of logging - Texada logging to boundary with Buddhist monastery
	Fundraising Activism Dialogue	-launch appeal fund, The Land Conservancy of BC steps in as lead agency and fundraising body, a volunteer from the community offers to organize the fundraising (SSI Appeal Fund) -launch of letter-writing campaign – to politicians in Victoria & Ottawa -developers now say as much as $60 million needed to buy back lands -an anonymous islander donates the first $100,000 to the SSI Appeal fund - Texada commissions a conservation evaluation of its lands -community plans first rally at BC legislature, to remind government of its ’95 promise to allocate $30 million to The Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy Fund for park acquisition in the Gulf Islands - endless meetings – monthly community, weekly strategic
January 2000 Jan. 5	Direct action Vision Conservation	First blockade – ends with a hat being passed around the blockade group to cover wages of inconvenienced truck driver – who donates it back to the cause -Road rally, about 75 islanders present, 300 wooden crosses planted beside Fulford-Ganges Road, each cross for every truckload of trees removed by Texada, wooden crosses mowed down by truck, intentionally -community starts to develop vision – to buy back Texada lands and enable community forestry, farm land trust, and parkland - new website launched www.savesaltspring.com -volunteers open Information and Fundraising Centre in Ganges - Capital Regional District (CRD) conducts straw poll showing that most Victoria-area landowners approve of a property tax levy for the acquisition of parkland throughout region, including SSI (SSI being in the Greater Victoria Area) - over next 10 years, CRD promises acquiring 3 of Texada’s mountaintops (identified in CRD Parks Master Plan) with assistance from the SSI Appeal Fund, which has now grown to $250,000
Feb/March 2000	Direct Action Dialogue and visioning Activism - Manulife affinity group Fundraising & The Arts Direct action Whose Right? Legal action Fundraising	Road blockade – Sally Sunshine locks down to logging truck in her wheelchair -at monthly community town hall meeting, a former Howe Street investigative reporter and now an island resident exposes story on bad debt by Texada principals  – Derek Trethewey owes substantial debt to gambling casino, Caesar’s Palace, among many other debts; Rob MacDonald, the owner of Texada, also has a record of development dealings with nefarious Nelson Scalbania -mortgagers revealed – Texada has $16 million mortgage with Manulife Financial, ~$30 million with von Thurn und Taxis family - mortgage payments paid with logging revenue - local expert forester states Texada logging rate is 15-20 times sustainable rate despite the Islands Trust Policy statement: “It is the position of the Trust Council that on each island in the Trust area, the rate of forest harvesting should not exceed the rate of re-growth.” -some islanders pursue research on von Thurn und Taxis family – Princess Gloria known for encouraging eco-certified forestry in Europe -postcard campaign launched to Manulife – postcard picture depicts industrial-scale logging activities of Texada that are funded by Manulife -representatives of Ethical Funds (holder of Manulife shares) publicly question Manulife’s conduct -fundraiser – by local musicians “Woodstop” -creation of peace camp – to protest Texada using road through crown land to access its land; camp renamed “Emerald Forest” -threats to protesters by loggers grow -tree-sit and lock-down to logging equipment , one night protesters say a logging contractor’s employee attacked blockade members that were locked to equipment and sitting in trees, -assault charges laid against loggers by protesters; injunctions laid against protesters by Texada, restricting their presence on public roads, public blockade on road -idea of naked women calendar emerges by islander after seeing the calendar from Yorkshire Women’s Institute
April 2000	Activism Legal action Activism & The Arts Fundraising Dialogue	-public protest on steps of BC Legislature – 200 people from 15 different island delegations, many in costume -Texada obtains injunctions against 10 more islanders, and files a libel suit against local paper The Barnacle, its owner, Jeff Outerbridge, and two of its journalists, John Pottinger and Shelagh Plunkett.  Rob Macdonald (owner of Texada) suing them for “defamatory and malicious intent, discrediting his personal and business reputation” -a local lawyer, John Davies, later defeats some of injunctions -rally outside offices of Texada and Manulife in Vancouver, including Raging Grannies, costumed participants, and national columnists including Elizabeth Nixon (The Globe & Mail), Arthur Black (CBC), and Sid Tafler - fundraising event, “Stump Stomp,” hosted by Salt Spring Island Conservancy – auction and dance Appeal fund now over $500,000 -community holds beach bbq and invites developers; one arrives, Derek Trethewey, in a floatplane with his girlfriend whom he introduces as “Cinderella”
May 2000	Activism - Direct action Whose Right?	Blockades and lockdowns and arrests continue -representation at Manulife’s AGM in Toronto, little response -attempts to meet with Princess Gloria – no meeting -clear-cutting continues
June 2000	Whose Right? -Legal action Dialogue	-nine arrestees by virtue of blockading and locking down have essentially defied the injunction, charged with contempt of court, elevated to criminal court Greg McDade, appointed by federal Pacific Marine Heritage League (PMHL) to review national park proposal, polls islanders – many plead for feds to buy Texada lands, especially Burgoyne Bay; this would double the area of proposed Gulf Islands National Park & protect largest intact and remaining unprotected Garry oak meadow in Canada - logging continues, now cutting in areas of CRD’s interest for park
July 2000	Conservation	-after 4 months of negotiations to buy 1,000 hectares of Texada lands for regional park, Texada is immovable on price – at 2-5 times the appraised value, CRD leaves table (Texada includes value of standing timber as component of land price, CRD only evaluates the land value)
August 2000	Conservation -watershed protection Fundraising & The Arts Fundraising & The Arts	-purchase of small parcel of land of primary watershed (around Lake Maxwell) for cost of land plus cost of timber – purchased by Island Water District Salt Spring’s marimba band Kushinga is hosted a benefit at Beaver Point Hall to raise funds for public relations around the campaign, media exposure of Salt Spring’s present forestry issues, and ongoing education about alternative forms of development and community managed forests. -Save Salt Spring Society hosts rock concert at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom, featuring islander Randy Bachman and others
September 2000	Fundraising & The Arts Activism Whose Right? Legal action against corporation Conservation Activism	- Saltspring Women Preserve and Protect, 2001 Calendar – goes on sale with much media exposure, locally, regionally and nationally Mass rally organized by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee at the provincial legislature in Victoria BC Land Reserve Commission fines Texada $13,000 for logging damage to Tuam Creek – a laughable sum considering the millions Texada is earning,  LRC found evidence of damage through the community’s website www.savesaltspring.com where photos of Texada’s activities were posted Nature Trust for BC offers $3.0 million on Garry oak meadows on Mount Maxwell, offer rejected by Texada -politicians from all levels of government endorse proposal to make Burgoyne Bay a national park – proposal hand delivered to Prime Minister with autographed calendar
October  - November 2000	Fundraising & The Arts Action	Salt Spring Island, Where Art and Nature Meet, an art auction and fortnight of evening presentations with local and guest speakers, including Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster, David Suzuki, and others - for Salt Spring Appeal Fund; while billed as fundraiser, the event was meant as much to expose the issues and raise the community consciousness of what’s at risk - lock down to logging truck
December 2000	Fundraising & the Arts	- by year-end, calendar has raised more than $100,000, continues selling into new year
January 2001 Jan. 22	Media Conservation offer Activism Activism Dialogue	Elizabeth Nixon publishes story in Harper’s  magazine, Where the bee sucks: A Northwestern island doth suffer a sea change, an article about Salt Spring Island, set to Othello The Nature Trust of BC, with funding from BC Forest Renewal, offers to purchase 280 hectares of Garry oak woodlands from Texada, to protect one of the largest and last remaining representative stands of Garry oak meadow in Canada Texada flags old-growth trees in preparation for more logging, they specifically stated they would not cut OGF, community cries of protest re-ignited, Nina Raginsky asks for time to raise funds for conservation covenants for the trees Briony Penn rides as Lady Godiva in Vancouver flanked by bare-breasted calendar models and others, Manulife tells Texada to sit down with community and negotiate Texada stops logging, offers time for community to come up with terms of purchase
February 2001	Conservation Legal Action	Time allotted to meet Texada’s terms for purchase sunsets and offer closes, another offer with different terms will emerge later -court cases of arrestees
March 2001 March 31	Activism Conservation The Arts	Eight protesters found guilty of criminal contempt of court for breaching an injunction prohibiting interference with logging activities.  Six are sentenced to jail terms. BC and federal governments announce agreement allowing purchase of Burns Bog and completion of creation on long-promised Gulf Islands national park Ah, the Money, the Money, the Money Mort Ransen’s film documenting the direct action for the Save Salt Spring cause premiers on Salt Spring Island before broadcast on CBC TV, The Nature of Things -tenants on Texada Lands given notice
	Conservation deal	-BC Parks and TLC reach deal with Texada, deal to close Nov. -due to Sept 11, much of money pledged can not be made good, community short hundreds of thousands - Make up that amount in last month with urgent appeal and generous support of islanders
June 2001	Conservation purchase	June 2001 – Garry oak purchase
November 2001 Nov. 30	Fundraising & The Arts Conservation Purchase	15 men bare all on the Internet.  “Hunks for Habitat” were covered by 100 leaves that donors can remove for $100 apiece. The B.C. government kicks in $13.4-million to create 770 hectares of parkland.  A further $1.5 million from the CRD and $1.35 million from local fundraising brings the total deal to $16-million.

-         Texada Logging Company (heirs to estate of Prince Johannes von Thurn und Taxis)

-         Texada Land Corporation (Rob MacDonald)

-         The Land Conservancy of BC (Bill Turner)

-         Mortgagers – Manulife Financial, & Princess Gloria Von Thurn und Taxis (one of heirs of estate)

-         Capital Regional District (CRD) Parks

-         Provincial government – BC Parks, BC Forestry (Forest Renewal BC)

-         Federal government – Environment

-         Islands Trust Committee

-         The Nature Trust of British Columbia

-         North Salt Spring Waterworks

Arnett, C. 2003.  Appendix 1 – Cultural and Historic Values of Hwaqwum – Burgoyne Bay, Salt Spring Island, BC.  In:  Friends of Salt Spring Parks.  Burgoyne Bay Background Report. Unpublished report prepared for BC Parks, Salt Spring Island, BC.

Friends of Salt Spring Parks Society. 2003.  Burgoyne Bay Background Report – March 31, 2003.  Unpublished report prepared for BC Parks, Salt Spring Island.

Garvie, E. 2001. A Window of Opportunity:  Economic Profile of Salt Spring Island – 2000.  Unpublished report prepared for Human Resources Development Canada, Salt Spring Island, BC.

Holman, G. 2000. Private profit versus the public good. Green Island Vision Newsletter, Issue #1, July 7, 2000, published by the Green Conscience Fund.

Hume, J.  2001. Naked flesh still outdraws naked truth.  Islander.  Feb. 4, 2001.

Penn, B. 2000. A Strange Year on Salt Spring – For 12 months developers have been logging Salt Spring Island.  Could nude island women bring chainsaws to a halt? Monday Magazine.  November 2-8, 2000, Vol. 26, Issue 44.

Parkes, A. 2000.  Art and nature meet on Salt Spring. The Barnacle newspaper, Oct. 24, 2000.

Wilde, A. 2000. Rally urges watershed protection. Gulf Islands Driftwood, July 26, 2000.