If you were thinking of donating to protect Lot F, May is the time! A generous supporter has offered to match every donation received — up to a total of $10,000 — between now and May 15. Any donation you make will be doubled! We have raised 79% of Lot F’s likely total purchase price. Read more about Lot F and why it is so vital to our island’s groundwater and potable water AND to our forest fire and climate change resilience. Donate here.
We’re happy to share with you some hope-filled good news, for which we are inviting your support. A couple of conservancy organisations have been working with the local neighbours group and individual volunteers the past few months to bring a good outcome of protection for Lot F in the Larmour Lands project. Now we have in place a strong and workable plan to achieve that. Our goals for Lot F, the second of the two 20-acre lots, follow on from our successful purchase in October of the adjacent Lot H.
Our plan centres upon making the best use of Lot F’s various natural zones, by providing long-term protection for the mature forest stands of Coastal Douglas-fir, cedar groves and Bigleaf maples; and also for the two significant wetlands as well as several creeks and ponds, that are found across the property. Meanwhile the already productive arable lands, existing meadow areas, greenhouse and heritage orchard located within the Agricultural Land Reserve portion will once again be put to good use, producing food for Salt Spring’s population for decades to come.
To that end, we’ve been searching the past while for the ideal partners with whom we can ensure protection and active conservation of Lot F’s important ecological values. We considered the various proposed intentions, priorities and planned uses for the land outlined to us by half a dozen interested parties.
We’re happy now to have as partners a youngish couple of conservation buyers who enthusiastically share our aims for this part of the Larmour Lands – protection in perpetuity for the natural areas; organic food production and a home/farm for a new generation, on the already farmed area of Mike Larmour’s much-loved land.
Some very beneficial environmental restoration projects on the land are already under discussion, that the buyers want to tackle.
Collaborating in this way with conservation buyers enables us to protect Lot F’s valuable ecological features much more affordably, while ensuring both agricultural and home-making potentials are also realised.
Our conservation buyers’ contribution of a majority of the purchase price will permit donors to the Larmour Lands project to achieve – at a manageable cost – the full, enduring legal protection over Lot F’s large area of irreplaceable natural habitat.
We feel this can be a true ‘win-win’ scenario.
Some parts of our preservation strategy are still under negotiation of course, with the future covenant-holders, the vendor and the buyers. Our hope is for between half and two-thirds of Lot F to be under legal protection eventually.
Maintaining the natural connections is key to this project. Once linked with the adjoining already-covenanted properties, Lot F will provide vital habitat connectivity across more than 50 acres of the proposed Mike Larmour Protected Area.
It’s a rich and very varied piece of terrain, from valley bottom creeks with frogs, dragonflies, mallard and otter, to ridgetop mossy rock outcrops where Band-tailed pigeon and Varied thrush feed among the arbutus, and Nighthawks and many bats hunt insects on the wing. On the forested slopes, the stately columns of old Douglas firs and cedars -some of the largest trees on the island – rise from among the salal, ferns and ocean spray straight up to the forest canopy high overhead. Great- horned owls, Pygmy owls, Screech owls and Barred owls all frequent the forest here, with hawks, wrens, eagles, woodpeckers and vultures. And many others too – plants, lichens, fungi, Royal rein orchids, Calypso and Coral-root orchids.
So much valuable diversity of species, from tiny to large.
We need your help, your support, your generosity, so that we can bring to
completion our good plan to preserve and protect all of the Larmour Lands, and the biodiversity they contain.
Recent changes in both real estate and timber prices mean that we’ve now secured about 65% of Lot F’s likely total purchase price – exact asking price is not yet known. Which means that we have until the beginning of May in which to find $320-350,000. We believe this is a feasible amount to raise, “with a little help from our friends”.
The community of Salt Spring, and so many others beyond, have shown a
wonderful level of support for the protection of the Larmour Lands, a deep conviction that these lands – the habitats, plants and animals they are home to – are of real importance and long-lasting value. We would be so sincerely grateful for your generous help now, to see them saved from clearcuts, paving and subdivisions. We can do this.
Thank you truly for your support,
Rodney Polden
To donate, please visit:
http://www.ssiwaterpreservationsociety.ca/protectlarmourlands.html
Happy to address any questions: (250) 537-5082, or penrod@saltspring.com
- Protect Forests & Wetlands
- Conserve Biodiversity & Species-at-Risk
- Create Connectivity for Ecosystem Health
- Honour Mike Larmour’s Legacy
- Mitigate Effects of Climate Change
All donations over $20 will be secured in a trust account and tax receipts will be issued once the property is purchased and protected. If for any reason the project cannot be completed, all donation amounts will be returned to donors.
Please forward this information to your contacts who may be interested.
Appreciation for your support – your help is invaluable.