Denman Conservancy Association
P.O. Box 60 Denman Island BC CANADA V0R 1T0
Newsletters
March 2005June 2005
September 2005
Newsletter - March 21, 2005
2005 Annual General Meeting
Submitted by John MillenThe AGM was held at the Old School on Monday 21 March. Roxanna Mandryk presided over the attentive crowd of forty members.
Treasurer Concha Dennis presented her last financial report./P>
Yoshihara thanked retiring directors Bentley LeBaron, Concha Dennis and Dorrie Woodward for their years of service to the Association. Token gifts of silly garden ornaments were presented to the retiring directors, seemingly as much for the entertainment of the audience as for the gratification of the retirees. (It appears that a commitment to DCA has to be for life. Ed.)
DCA Directors elected for 2005 are:
David
Freeman
John Millen
Patrick Fawkes
Laura Pope
Carol Freeman
J Thornton
Susan-Marie Yoshihara
Brian Miles
Denise
MacKean
LeeAndra Jacobs
Roxanna Mandryk
Patti Willis
Legal Case against 4064 Ltd.
On 16th March the Legal Committee of Denman Conservancy met with Henning and Tomas Nielsen, at their request, to discuss the DCA suit against 4064 Investments Ltd. As was published in a flyer in the Grapevine last week, the Nielsens are in the process of acquiring 4064 Investments, Ltd. One of the 'subject to' conditions of their agreement concerns the DCA legal case.
Among the agreed conditions for the meeting was that the discussion would be confined to the legal case, as distinct from the larger subject of any future development plans for the 4064 lands.
The Legal Committee reiterated that the DCA has always been open to a settlement offer and provided the Nielsens with principles that outline the conditions necessary for asettlement of the case to be acceptable to DCA. The Nielsens suggested that if a settlement were agreed on, it could come into effect on the same date as the transfer of title, at the end of August. It is understood that the Nielsens intend to prepare a settlement proposal.
DCA's legal case against 4064 Investment Ltd. is aimed at securing covenants around the Railway Marsh and along the Komas Bluff. The Hancock sales contract required that these lands have covenants placed on them. The rights of Hancock to enforce that contract have been assigned to DCA. The suit seeks the covenants as well as damages to compensate for the logging in the Railway Grade Marsh area that the covenants would have prevented.
In the meantime, the DCA intends to protect its conservation interests by continuing with the litigation.
John Millen
Highlights of Reports to the AGM
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
The board adopted a policy on development in 2004. The basis of the policy is that the DCA board does not take a position in support of, or in opposition to, a development proposal whether it is on or off Denman Island, and that we do not undertake projects that include development as a component.
WINTER WREN WOOD
Peter Karsten’s signs were placed along a summer nature trail from June to October. A short extension to this trail with a boardwalk over a small swampy area is planned and will be done when the water is lower this summer.
A monitoring schedule involving neighbours in the area during the hot, dry summer was established. Signage was made clear and the parking area was closed for a short time at the high fire risk period last summer.
This summer the nature trail will be marked again for use. A school workshop day is planned for June similar to the successful event held two years ago.
INNER ISLAND NATURE RESERVE
The Inner Island management committee has recently amended and submitted the Management Plan for the Reserve as required by the Islands Trust Fund.
HOME & GARDEN TOUR
The 2004 Tour was the most successful ever with sales of 1377 full-day tickets.
>This years HOME & GARDEN TOUR will be on 18th & 19th of June. The number of tickets will be limited to 1500 and they will go on sale on May 15 at the Denman Craft Store and other outlets. Leslie Dunsmore and Roxanna Mandryk will be co-ordinators this year.
LINDSAY – DICKSON NATURE RESERVE
A trail plan has been approved by the owners, Islands Trust Fund, and trail construction (mainly clearing out existing old roads) will commence soon. Two entry points will have signs. Both will be from Mallard Road.
COVENANT PROJECT
DCA’s expertise in creating covenants is being pulled together to establish a user–friendly system to support the placing of Conservation Covenants on Denman lands. The pilot project has been to work with Daniel Terry to create a covenant for the bluffs section of his property at the top of the big hill, the location of his proposed chocolate factory.
A workshop to provide information about covenants to all interested Islanders is planned for later this year.
As announced with a flyer in last week’s Grapevine DCA has established The Ruth Terry Conservation Covenant Fund to assist Denman Islanders who may require financial support to place conservation covenants on their lands. Please consider making a donation to support the Ruth Fund.
SOLICITOR DOUG OLSTEAD HONOURED
Since the first days, writing the constitution and by-laws of the Denman Conservancy, Doug Olstead has provided us with his carefully thought-out advice. With his semi-retirement from practice, he is also retiring from his role as DCA’s solicitor, although he has agreed to see a few ongoing files to their conclusion.
The extent of Doug’s contribution to DCA is hard to measure. As he didn’t send us any bills we don’t even have a $$$ count that would be some indication. From the legal leverage he devised for us to intervene, and ultimately to preserve the Lindsay-Dickson lands, to the creation of new tools for covenanting, Doug has helped DCA throughout its existence. His clear explanations of the law to baffled Board members will certainly be missed.
To honour Doug’s service DCA has created the Doug Olstead Award of $200, which will be awarded annually for the next five years to a Denman Island youth aged 15 or 16.
The award for community service (not academic achievement) will be presented at the AGM to a youth from Denman who is judged to have contributed most to conservation or other community purposes.
Upcoming DCA Events
April 2 Medicinal Plants: talk by Sheila Salas (see item in today’s Grapevine)
April (date tba) Clamming with Mike Morrell
May 7 Walk to Tree Island: Dorrie Woodward
Denman Conservancy Notes
Submitted by John MillenNewsletter - June, 2005
Home & Garden Tour
On June 18 & 19 Denman Conservancy will host our 15th annual Home and Garden Tour. Our Tour is renowned for the relaxed, friendly atmosphere of the Island and the unique homes and landscapes.
Amazing rose collections will be found on this year's Tour in the exquisite gardens of Sudasi & Swann Gardner, Joan & Roger Vinnedge, and Sandy & Des Kennedy. After a few year’s absence from the Tour, Glenn & Linda Pollitt, Mikell & Tobey Callahan and Harlene Holm will open their gates once again. On display are artful gates, xeriscaping against drought and the sea and some new custom-designed additions.
New to the Tour this year is Mark Prior and Mitra Ghaffari's wonderful oceanview property on East Road. With the help of a local designer, and after a 6-month flurry of activity, these 2 artists have completely renovated their home and property.
The homestead of Des and Sandy Kennedy has been a popular attraction every year. The Kennedys built their home, more than 30 years ago in the 'back to the land' era, using recycled and hand-hewn materials. (But they have recently been renovating extensively; this year it’s the roof.) A covered deck adjacent to their large pond, is where you will probably find Des on the Tour days.
Joan & David Scruton will open their beautiful custom-built home, furniture workshop, and refurbished barn with a full collection of farm animals, vegetable and fruit beds and a 100' long rose-clematis curved pergola.
Ella Day's home with its curving lines sited atop the high waterfront Komas Bluff also returns this year. Here you weave through the forest past stunning flower gardens, gentle pavilions for healing the body and soul, organic vegetable plots, a Japanese stone garden, and water features.
The idyllic retreat created by Jean Cockburn and Jack Mounce, nestled amongst Douglas firs and only a few feet from the sea, is an oasis of gentle colour, simplicity and peace.
Jack Mounce and Jean Cockburn's curved bridge crosses a stream near the kitchen herb garden. photo by Doug Olstead
A homemade lunch will again be served in the Community Hall, the proceeds going to a local community group and a team of self-employed islanders. Our reservations phone line has been ringing off the hook with calls from across the continent and the special e-mail address is being well used.
Tickets went on sale May 15th in stores up and down Vancouver Island and at the Denman Craft Shop. Get yours soon. Total ticket sales are limited to avoid overcrowding and we usually sell out. A day pass ticket costs $15. Hours are 9.30 am to 5 pm each day.
________________________________________
DCA Officers for 2005 are:
Chairperson ------ Roxanna Mandryk
Co-Chairperson -- Laura Pope
Treasurer --------- David Freeman
Secretary --------- Susan-Marie Yoshihara
Legal Case against 4064 Ltd.
In the meantime, the DCA intends to protect its conservation interests by continuing with the litigation. July 20 has been set as the date for the Examination for Discovery of Mr. Jenks.
DCA has a new lawyer on the case:
Cathie Parker. Our law firm, Arvay-Finlay is down-sizing. As a
result, Cathie will be forming a new firm with some of the other
lawyers from Arvay Finlay. We have agreement from West Coast
Environmental Law that our funding from the Environmental Dispute
Resolution Fund will continue with Cathie in the new law firm.
DCA's
legal case against 4064 Investment Ltd. is aimed at securing
covenants around the Railway Marsh System and along the Komas Bluff.
The Hancock sales contract required that these lands have covenants
placed on them. The rights of Hancock to enforce that contract have
been assigned to DCA. The suit seeks the covenants as well as damages
to compensate for the logging in the Railway Grade Marsh area that
the covenants would have prevented.
It is possible to access
the old Railway Grade from Northwest Road. It is about a
three-quarter hour hike to the overlook of Eagle Marsh. There are a
few windfalls to negotiate on the second half of the hike.
The
railway grade is about 20 or 30 meters south of the creek and marsh
and it looks like another skid road except that is more straight and
level than your usual skid road. It dates from the era of railway
logging, early last century. Old stumps have roots that can be seen
to have grown after the side embankments of the grade were formed,
validating its age. John Millen
A Reminder: DCA has created the Doug Olstead Award of $200, which will be awarded annually for the next five years to a Denman Island youth aged 15 or 16.
The award for community service (not academic achievement) will be presented at the AGM to a youth from Denman who is judged to have contributed most to conservation or other community purposes.
Conservancy endorses ‘Park Principles.’
The Board agreed to join about 60 other conservation organizations to endorse 11 Principles set down by the Valhallah Wilderness Society. Concern about the management of our BC Parks by the provincial government was the main reason for this initiative. The ‘Principles’ seem to have undergone some mutations as they appeared in different locations. One version appeared in a flyer BC Parks in Peril that was released before the recent election (without our name associated with it.) Another version appears on the Valhalla website www.vws.org where DCA is listed among the organizations that have endorsed the Principles.Conservation Covenant Project
Last year DCA initiated the DCA Conservation Covenant Project in order to make DCA's work on covenants better structured, sustainable and user-friendly. Daniel Terry's proposed covenant on his new property, where he hopes to relocate Denman Island Chocolate, has been used as a pilot project. It has provided a vehicle to develop procedures, informational materials, and templates to facilitate placement and maintenance of conservation covenants on Denman.In April, in a cost-sharing arrangement between DCA and the Land Trust Alliance, a technician undertook a Baseline Study of the Terry property. The Study documents the existing characteristics of the covenant area and serves as a baseline for covenant monitoring and management in perpetuity. In an effort to increase on-island expertise about conservation covenants, Denman Islander, Erin O'Brien, assisted the technician and was trained in Baseline Study procedures.
Among materials being developed as part of the project are two informational brochures for general distribution on Denman later this year -- Conservation Covenants - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Financial Costs/Benefits of Conservation Covenants: FAQs.
DCA has established the Ruth Terry Conservation Covenant Fund to assist Denman Islanders who may require financial support to place conservation covenants on their lands. Please consider making a donation to support the Ruth Fund.
Deer on Denman
Very shortly we will enter the time of year when the does on Denman have their fawns. This generally happens between the 1st and 2nd week of June. The does, which we have been seeing all over the island, suddenly seem to disappear. Indeed they have, gone into their safe areas to deliver their one or sometimes two fawns.This last year (2004) fawning season differed slightly in that fawns were delivered over a longer time period, and new fawns were still showing up as late as the first week in July. This could be a result of a reduction in bucks, perhaps taking longer to locate and breed the does. Or it could be due to some other seasonal influence we know nothing about.
This last winter saw a very high mortality rate for the nearly one-year-old fawns from last summer. There is no knowing why some years have higher die off rates than others. In asking around (a time honoured way of doing research on Denman!) I talked to John Isbister.
John's theory is that with the mild winters and lack of deep snow the deer have not foraged on the cedar trees, firs and balsams. The needles of these trees seem to act as a natural wormer that helps clean out the parasites from the deer’s gut. John feels there will likely be a boost in the deer population over the next few years. The more open areas up the north end will give the deer a habitat they like, and as we see less hunting there will be less pressure on them from this as well.
With the imminent arrival of the fawns we all need to exercise extra caution on the roads and keep dogs from running loose. Does are heavily pregnant at this time of the year and are very vulnerable to dogs. Fawns are erratic at best on the roads. Some good rules of thumb are to slow down, expect two when you see one, and give them some time to sort themselves out on which direction they will go. Often the fawns will panic and split up on the road, which can be tough for the doe. She will sometimes double back to try and pick up the lagging babe.
Of course we all know the rule about not disturbing fawns that are found stashed in the long grass or in the forest. It is always tempting to imagine they are abandoned - and of course very rarely they are. Always try to give at least a full day and night before deciding they have been left alone. Does sometimes leave them for extended times and fawns are always better off with their mom!
With patience and common sense we'll all enjoy the beauty of the new members of our large deer herd on Denman again this year. Laura Pope
Walk to Tree Island
On the May 7 low-tide weekend Dorrie Woodward led about 25 of us to Tree Island. It was a lovely sunny day but there was a little too much southeast wind for some, especially the canoeists. We heard about some First Nations and early settler history as well as the training activities there during the Second World War. Gun emplacement concrete and the bones of a landing craft remain as evidence of the latter.On the beach we saw shells of several exotic species introduced through shellfish farming and on the Island we encountered a few specimens of broom, an invasive species in this terrain that the Friends of Tree Island have been campaigning to eliminate. However the Friends do not seem to be so antagonistic to the introduced asparagus! We also climbed and admired the wooden steps installed by the Friends on a trail over the sand dunes to focus the foot traffic, which had been damaging the fragile vegetation.
But most we enjoyed the wonderful fields of wild flowers in bloom, many of which are not common in British Columbia as there is little sand dune habitat here and some are quite rare.
Dorrie is anxious to find new members for the Friends group as she is leaving Denman soon and would like to feel that she can leave here with the Sandy Islands Park in good hands.
salal and cedars by Annie Siegel
Membership
On the morning of July 9th the DCA will have a table at the Old School Recycle Centre for renewal of Conservancy memberships and to provide information about our activities. We hope this is a good time for our summer residents to catch up with us. See you there.Winter Wren Wood
The Nature Trail will be reinstalled in time for the Garden Tour weekend. Visitors are welcome to stroll this short lakefront trail. You could also look for the loop trail through the back half of the property that starts across the road from the driveway entrance.
Upcoming DCA Event
June 25 Low-tide walk with John Tayless
Watch for announcements in the Grapevine.
A Note from the Editor
An interesting discussion started at the Board meeting on May 16. It concerned the types of properties that DCA should seek to acquire. The issue was whether DCA should buy, for preservation, lands on which public access for recreation would not be permitted. Directors agreed that some of our land should accommodate walking trails for public use, as for instance does Winter Wren Wood.
The issue was whether we would ever buy land intending that there should be no access.
Members of DCA who are interested in this policy question are urged to talk to directors, or perhaps write a letter. Your editor would welcome correspondence on this topic. J.M.
Newsletter - September, 2005
Denman Conservancy Agrees to Settlement of
Legal Case Against 4064
On Friday, September 9th, Denman Conservancy Association (DCA) signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Henning Nielsen who represents the prospective purchasers of the remaining lands held by 4064 Investments Ltd. Mr. Nielsen is authorized by 4064 to negotiate a settlement to the legal case.
The settlement of DCA's Legal case against 4064 is conditional on the completion of the sale of the lands to Mr Nielsen's group. Should the sale not go through, DCA's suit against 4064 would continue.
During negotiations, the DCA did not discuss nor took a position on any development plans the purchaser may have for the 4064 lands and confined itself to obtaining a fair settlement of its legal claim against 4064 Investments Ltd.
The agreed settlement involves
registration of conservation covenants on the Railway Marsh lands and
on Komas Bluffs (the subject lands of the lawsuit), and the donation
to DCA of two parcels of land totalling 156 acres to the north of the
Inner Island Nature Reserve on Central Road.
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