PRESS

Challenges: final run at Creekside goal

By Gail Sjuberg - Gulf Islands Driftwood - March 12, 2008

Twenty days left to gather funds

As the Save Salt Spring Rainforest Appeal doggedly scrapes together the last $97,000 needed to purchase the Creekside property via The Land Conservancy of B.C., islanders’ competitive natures have been called into play.

Following the Salt Spring Centre School’s Eagles class challenge to other island school kids to bring in money for the Creekside land purchase, the business and realtor communities have followed suit.

On Monday, Creek House realtor Phyllis Bolton pledged $500 to the appeal and is challenging other realtors to match that amount.

A couple of weeks ago, Salt Spring Books owner Andrew Haigh asked island Chamber of Commerce members to pledge $1,000 to the campaign.

As of Monday, those who answered the call were Driftwood Publishing Ltd., Windflower Moon, Salt Spring Natureworks, All Seasons B&B, Mouat’s Trading Co., Bold Bluff Retreat, Three Point Properties and Patrick Environmental.

Other businesses making significant pledges are Spindrift at Welbury Point, Volume II Books and Elements home design, a new company on the island.

Pharmasave has pledged $2,500.

All donations receive a tax receipt through TLC.

Campaign coordinator Maureen Moore notes that other businesses have helped hugely by displaying informational materials or, as in the case of the Harbour House and Salt Spring Inn, paying their servers to work at the fundraising gala in February.

But again, it’s the children who have provided much of the inspiration.

One extremely generous woman said she was moved to contribute because of her grandchild’s connection to the land.

“Recently, one of my grandchildren went on a school trip from Salt Spring Centre School to the Creekside Rainforest,” she said through the TLC. “In the winter they take care of the wild salmon fry in tanks in their classrooms. They watch them grow and on Earth Day each year they release them into the creek below the school. The little salmon make their way to Cusheon Lake and then down to the Creekside Creek and into the sea . . . My grant is in honour of all the children, parents, grandparents and teachers on Salt Spring Island.”

“We are always amazed by the action one community takes when it comes to saving a gem in their neighbourhood,” said TLC executive director Bill Turner in a press release issued Monday. “This important project would not have succeeded without the tireless efforts of the wonderful people of Salt Spring Island led by Maureen More. It also would not have happened without the efforts of the children and grandmothers. TLC is proud to be able to assist and to add this special place to our family of projects.”

To help finish off the campaign, contact Moore at 538-1732, the TLC at 1-877-485-2422 or the website at www.savesaltspringrainforest.com.

Rainforest deadline Feb. 29
$1 million sought to preserve 'the Green Valley'
 
Glenda Luymes
The Province

Monday, January 21, 2008

Time is running out for a group of Saltspring Island residents dedicated to saving almost 20 acres of pristine rainforest.

The islanders hope to raise $1 million by Feb. 29 to buy Creekside Rainforest, to be preserved in perpetuity by The Land Conservancy of B.C. They have collected about $600,000 so far.

"There will be a lot of broken hearts if we lose it," appeal co-ordinator Maureen Moore said after a walk through the forest.

The residents feel the land should be saved from development for both personal and environmental reasons, but the agreement giving them first option to buy it expires in a little over a month.

Moore said the rainforest is a peaceful place that provides a "powerful expression of nature." Her six-year-old granddaughter calls the area "the Green Valley."

"We need to preserve this land for our children and grandchildren," she said.

The land is the last available parcel of temperate rainforest in a riparian area on Saltspring. A small salmon-bearing creek and several old Douglas fir trees support diverse wildlife, including the vulnerable red-legged frog.

"Less than 10 per cent of the island is protected," said Moore. "If this doesn't go through the land would be subdivided and eventually logged."

The race to save the rainforest is supported by the Salt Spring Island Conservancy, which has pledged about $25,000 to keep it green.

"We want to do this because it's available. In many cases we can't do it, but here we have an opportunity to purchase it and have it kept as a forest forever," said president Bob Weeden.

To critics who say saving the land will drive up land prices in an area already in high demand for holiday homes, Weeden replies that acres of undeveloped private land remain on the island.

Island resident Matt Tobey said the purchase of the rainforest won't prevent people from buying on the island.

"It will save a piece for everyone to enjoy," he said. "Real estate prices keep going up, but these little areas that are ecologically significant need to be preserved."

TLC has negotiated a deal with the numbered company that owns the property to buy it for $975,000, plus tax. The funds must be raised before the end of February or the deal expires and the land will be sold to the highest bidder.

"We hope we can pull off another Saltspring miracle," said Moore.

Information and donation details can be found at www.savesaltspringrainforest.com

Saving a rainforest
Gulf Islands Driftwood, Wednesday, December 19, 2007 

By staff

Unfortunately for Creekside Rainforest Appeal campaigners, the object of their desire doesn't have the visibility of a Mount Erskine or the threat caused by logging trucks running around it like the Texada lands did several years ago.

And it's only 19.46 acres, not the 100 acres of Erskine or the thousands owned by the Texada Land Corporation.
But it's still a rare piece of endangered ecosystem and a beautiful sanctuary for plants, animals, spawning salmon and humans on this island.

Sure, a million bucks is a big schwack of money, but it's starting to sound not so outrageous for any substantial chunk of the Gulf Islands and the associated transfer costs.

And the only sure way to protect green space on Salt Spring is to buy it at the asking price, or covenant it. Salt Spring Island is a long way from build-out. Even if future local Trust committees never allowed another rezoning on the island, lands will be sold, subdivided and houses will be built on them as long as there's profit to be made and people want to live here.

In the case of the Creekside parcel, its owners plan to subdivide the property into three acreages, says their representative Eric Booth. If the purchase deal negotiated by The Land Conservancy of B.C. (TLC) falls through, “the owners intend to proceed with their plans early in the new year,” says Booth.

While people can be assured TLC would not have gotten involved if its board did not feel the land was worth saving, they should see it for themselves. Guided walks run the next two Saturdays at 10 a.m. and on Sundays at 1 p.m.

Fundraisers have used special events like the Art for the Rainforest exhibit and silent auction on at ArtSpring until December 21 to raise funds and awareness of the campaign, but this effort now needs big money — the kind that ends with the land becoming a park bearing a major donor's name.
If there's individuals or families out there who'd like to make the ultimate and most permanent kind of investment in Salt Spring Island, now is the time to contact the campaign. Its website is www.savesaltspringrainforest.net.
It's also the right time of year for a miracle.

Artists put creativity in rainforest purchase race
Driftwood Article Wed.Dec 12th

The campaign to save Salt Spring’s Creekside rainforest continues at a feverish pace with Art for the Rainforest, a special event beginning on Saturday at ArtSpring.

Fourteen local artists are donating part of the proceeds from the sale of selected pieces, which will be exhibited alongside paintings of the Creekside rainforest completed by children from Salt Spring Elementary and child-artists from other island schools.

Organizers Andrea Collins, Maureen Moore and Adina Hildebrandt believe that showing the kids’ paintings with the adults’ work will help bring a special kind of magic to the event. It also emphasizes the fact that the campaign, if successful, will benefit children, grandchildren and future generations.

“Most of the donated work depicts the natural world in diverse and passionate ways, so the overall effect will be very dynamic,” said Moore.
Pieces like Fulford sculptor Karen Reiss’ Deer Protector Salt Spring Island, and Steven Friedman’s photoscapes of the rainforest are some of the stunning pieces that will be for sale.

Other well-known contributing artists are: Robert Bateman,Birgit Bateman, Allan Bibby, David Borrowman, Janet Dwyer, Tamar Griggs, Susan Huber, Shari Macdonald, Theresa Mackey, Osman Phillips, Samantha Sanderson, Kevin Steinke, Phyllis Webb and Andrea Collins, who will be showing her photos for the first time here on Salt Spring.

The exhibit is open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until the close of December 21. Everyone is welcome to the opening reception on Saturday, December 15 from 3-6 p.m.

A silent auction will also run simultaneously with the art show in the same room. It features numerous donated treats, ranging from feasts cooked in your own home by gourmet chefs to book art and spa appointments. The silent auction closes at 5 p.m. on the exhibit’s final day.

So far more than $200,000 have been raised in the race to make the tight property purchase deadline. Last weekend’s Reading for the Rainforest event at ArtSpring raised some $1,300.
“We’re in a million-dollar race,” said Moore on Monday.

The group has until December 30 to raise the required $975,000 plus GST, with the actual purchase occurring on January 14. It’s possible to pledge to make a donation in 2007 and receive a 2007 tax receipt, or in the first week of 2008 and receive a 2008 receipt issued by The Land Conservancy of B.C. (TLC).

As a Victoria-based land trust, the TLC negotiated the Creekside deal. It’s also supported by Salt Spring Island Conservancy, Island Stream and Salmon Enhancement Society, Friends of Salt Spring Parks and Salt Spring Water Council.

“Everyone agrees this is a precious resource for Salt Spring and when people see the land on our guided walks, some led by naturalists every Saturday and Sunday, they’re overwhelmed by the beauty, fragility and biodiversity of the Creekside rainforest that we want to protect forever.”

Rainforest campaign kicks into high gear
Gulf Islands Driftwood, Wednesday, December 05, 2007

By chris stephenson and gail sjuberg

The Save Salt Spring Rainforest Appeal is gaining momentum, with its sights set on achieving the $1-million mark by the end of the year.

Campaign coordinator Maureen Moore said her organization has raised almost $200,000 for the 19-5-acre Cusheon Creek property so far, thanks to generous support from islanders.

“I’m getting a fantastic response from the community,” she said. “More and more people are joining the campaign every day.”

The campaign is now running in high gear as it tries to beat the clock. The first December fundraiser is the Reading for the Rainforest event at ArtSpring on Friday, December 7. A lush-as-a- rainforest writers list includes Arthur Black, Chris Smart, Kathy Page, Mona Fertig, Peter Levitt, Murray Reiss, Shirley Graham, Sandi Johnson, Derek Lundy, Kelsey Mech, Elizabeth Woods, Briony Penn, Nadine Shelley, Pat Barclay and Brian Brett, all reading from work with some connection to the natural world. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for youth. Offered as a door prize is a copy of Alice Walker: A Life, by Evelyn White, which will be personally dedicated by the author. The reading begins at 7 p.m., but doors open at 6:30 with live slide guitar music from Donn Tarris and a slide show of the Creekside property.

Another benefit set for ArtSpring is an art show and silent auction running from December 15 to 21. Award-winning photographers Steven Friedman, Birgit Bateman and Janet Dwyer are among a throng of donating artists, and items as diverse as a gourmet feast, firewood and book art can be purchased to benefit the cause. The exhibit will also feature artwork created by children after they’ve had a tour through the rainforest property.

The opening event is on Saturday, December 15 from 3-6 p.m. The rainforest campaign is now offering guided walks through the lot every weekend for residents wanting to learn more about the area’s diverse ecosystem. Walks take place every Saturday in December at 10 a.m., and at 1 p.m. each Sunday.

“We feel it’s important that the public get a chance to see this amazing forest in order to fully appreciate its ecological value and beauty,” said campaign team member Matt Tobey. “Meet at 107 Hillview Drive, uphill from Beddis Beach and just off Creekside Drive.”

Moore urges people to experience the property for themselves to see why it should be saved.

“This is a key riparian area sheltering Salt Spring Island’s second largest salmon-bearing stream,” she said. “It’s vibrant with life, supporting Blue-listed and threatened species such as red-legged frogs, rough-skinned newts, flickers, kingfishers, pileated woodpeckers, varied thrushes, sapsuckers, winter wrens, owls, bats, red squirrels, and other creatures and plants.”

If the property is subdivided and developed for residential use, which is what will occur if it’s not purchased through the campaign, the land will never recover, she said.

The Save Salt Spring Rainforest Appeal is supported by The Land Conservancy of B.C., Salt Spring Island Conservancy, Island Stream and Salmon Enhancement Society, Friends of Salt Spring Parks and the Salt Spring Water Council.

For more information on the campaign, contact Moore at 538-1732 or visit www.savesaltspringrainforest.com.

Pledge forms are available on the website, at the Salt Spring Island Conservancy office, Salt Spring Books and Patterson Market, with brochures in various bookstores and cafes.

A plea for Salt Spring’s lost wilderness
 
By ARTHUR BLACK

There is a creek on this island that trickles (cascades in the rainy season) out of the nether end of Cusheon Lake and meanders down to the Pacific a few crooked miles below.

It is Cusheon Creek and over the last few eons that never-ending trickle/cascade has worn a cavernous, vaulting fertile groove through Salt Spring's sedimentary flanks. A groove that teems with giant mossy firs and ancient, moody cedars, broadleaf ferns, huckleberry bushes, mushrooms, big leaf maples — hell, I'm no botanist — I couldn't name half the flora that flourishes along Cusheon Creek. I only know it's a wonderland of more greens and grays and browns than I knew existed. Walk Cusheon Creek and you “get” Emily Carr.

Nor could I name a tenth of the fauna that lives there. There are of course, the usual residents — deer, ravens, raccoons and slugs. But also otters, salamanders, mink, pileated woodpeckers and at least one resident barred owl.

And every fall, like clockwork, you can watch bruised and battered coho impossibly humping their way from sea to spawning grounds up cataracts and around deadfalls.

Cusheon Creek is less than six miles from the bright lights of Ganges, yet it is just about as pristine as land gets on Salt Spring. Aside from a couple of rural, crossing driveways and the culvert it passes through under Stewart Road, Cusheon Creek looks about the way it did before the weird ships with the white sails appeared on the horizon.

But you'll have to take my word for that, because right now the access trails that Salt Springers have used for generations to walk along Cusheon Creek have two-by-four barricades nailed across them with NO TRESPASSING signs plastered about.

This is the tiny, fragile wonderland that the Creekside Rainforest Appeal hopes to save from development — and it's doable.
They have support from The Land Conservancy of B.C., this province's largest preservation group. The TLC is working on funding, but it won't happen without back-up and commitment from Salt Springers. Can we do it? We've already raised $200,000 in pledges.

In my opinion this is one of the better Salt Spring bandwagons to jump on. It goes to the heart of what our island is all about. You'll find CREEKSIDE RAINFOREST APPEAL pledge forms at stores and cafes all over the island. You can also visit the website at www.savesaltspringrainforest.com. You'll even get a charitable receipt from The Land Conservancy of B.C.
I hope you'll support the Creekside Rainforest Appeal because when we get to take down those two-by-fours with their NO TRESPASSING signs, you won't believe what we nearly lost.
 
The writer is an acclaimed author, newspaper columnist and former CBC radio show host who lives on Salt Spring Island.

Creekside land campaign has stellar start
Gulf Islands Driftwood, Tuesday, November 13, 2007

By sean mcintyre

An agreement to purchase the 19.5-acre Creekside rainforest lot was signed on Friday, and the Salt Spring Island Conservancy wasted no time lending the campaign support to the tune of $25,000.

“We think it’s fine land and a great potential acquisition,” said conservancy president Bob Weeden on Monday after the conservancy board made its decision. “The big trees certainly stand out, but all of it has great potential for conservation.”

On Friday, November 9, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia announced it had reached an agreement to purchase the environmentally sensitive property for $975,000. Funds must be in place by December 31.

“During the Texada logging dispute, Salt Spring was able to pull off a miracle and we can do it again,” said Maureen Moore, the campaign’s coordinator. “We plan to host as many events as we can organize.”

With nearly $200,000 already pledged or in hand, Moore said she is hopeful Salt Springers’ generosity will help raise the funds needed to preserve a rare piece of coastal temperate rainforest by the end of the year.

“We have to take the long view. The numbers sound overwhelming, but in 100 years, the price will seem small,” she said. “Imagine how precious this forest and the salmon stream will be to Salt Spring Island in the future.” Preserving the property, Moore added, is important for saving the biologically diverse array of plants, animals, birds and fish that depend upon Cusheon Creek.

If the land is subdivided and developed for residential use, the significance of the stream and the valley as a wildlife corridor will be compromised or even destroyed, she said.

Bill Turner, executive director of The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, said he and his organization have spent roughly two months negotiating a price with Salt Spring’s Eric Booth, a representative for the numbered company listed as the property’s registered owner. “We think the price is right,” he said. “You can’t force someone to sell their land.”

Efforts by Moore and others involved with the Creekside campaign are an inspiration to community-based conservation projects everywhere, Turner said.

“There is a huge amount of interest already shown in the community,” he said.

“The support received has been an absolute inspiration.”

Turner said TLC’s clout as a provincially recognized non-profit association will help garner the interest of foundations and corporations across the province.

“We’ll be working mainly on that end of things,” he said.

Pledge forms are available at Salt Spring Books, the Salt Spring Island Conservancy office, Patterson Market and online at www.savesaltspringrainforest.com. Donors will receive a charitable tax receipt.

Fundraising news: The community has now pledged over 100 thousand dollars! Thank you!

Driftwood Viewpoint, September 12, 2007

Cusheon Creek Land Is Priceless

By MAUREEN MOORE

The August 29 Driftwood featured a piece with the heading Why should we pay for Creekside land? by Kimberly Lineger.
She was referring to forested Cusheon Creek land that's the focus of a recent campaign to protect this special place from subdivision and development.

As Kimberly said in her article, and I agree, the only way we can preserve and protect public spaces is if we are prepared to pay for them. We either pay for sensitive land by allowing development proposals that involve amenity zoning that results in additional development in other neighbourhoods and other land or we dig deep and save land outright with no strings attached.

Now the latter option is on the table.

Here are the reasons to save this endangered land.
It's the last available piece of temperate rainforest in a riparian (waterside) area along the second largest salmon-bearing stream on Salt Spring Island. Over 50 percent of the temperate rainforests of coastal B.C. have already been destroyed. The large, mossy trees that stand in this damp forest owe their size to strong, surface springs, the creek itself and plentiful subsurface waters that drench the sandy, fragile soil.

It's a key riparian area that supports Blue-listed (i.e. vulnerable, very sensitive to human activities/habitat loss) threatened, red-legged frogs, rough-skinned newts, flickers, kingfishers, pileated woodpeckers, varied thrushes, sapsuckers, winter wrens, owls, bats, Douglas squirrels, and other creatures and plants. In addition, riparian areas and the water within them support life far beyond their borders. Fully 80 per cent of land animals including birds are dependent on riparian areas for survival. As for the fish in the creek, a healthy riparian area is a matter of life and death for them.

The salmon themselves would be at severe risk if the trees that now shade its water, filter runoff and hold earth together with the force of rebar were removed. Coho do not just pass through the creek. The newly-hatched fingerlings stay in its clear, cool water for almost a year feeding and growing until they are able to begin their saltwater life. If the creek's water temperature rises due to loss of deep shade, they die.
 
In its current state, this land that is part of a wildlife corridor of streams connecting three lakes to the sea, offers an outdoor classroom for our children and grandchildren to learn about salmon, the temperate riparian rainforest that nurtures salmon, the precious gift of water, and the link between freshwater and the ocean.

That's the answer to, Why should we buy this land?

An update. Since the campaign started, over $40 thousand has been pledged. These pledges will be called in only if we are successful in acquiring the land at a reasonable price. The Land Conservancy of B.C. (TLC), a large, charitable land trust, is actively negotiating with the owners agent. If a fair deal can be worked out, pledges will be called in. When they are honoured, TLC will issue charitable tax receipts and this land will be covenanted and protected forever.
 
Pledge forms and brochures are available in Ganges and Fulford: Salt Spring Books, Natureworks, Watermark Books, Volume 2, Patterson's Market, Rock Salt and Morningside Bakery. There are also pledge forms and more information online at: www.savesaltspringrainforest.com.

Thank you Salt Spring for all the generous support, kind messages and for cherishing future generations!

The writer is part of the Save Salt Spring Rainforest Appeal.

Driftwood Newspaper, Salt Spring Island - Aug 2007

By SEAN MCINTYRE
Driftwood Staff

A local author is trying to sway island residents to pitch in and help preserve one of Salt Spring’s most environmentally pristine areas before it is subdivided and sold off.

Maureen Moore estimates the 7.5 hectares (19 acres) of Douglas fir and cedar trees nestled along the banks of Cusheon Creek may be worth roughly $600,000, but says the land possess an environmental value beyond any monetary cost.

“This green valley’s moss-festooned rainforest is stunningly beautiful on an island where land is being destroyed bit by bit,” Moore writes in a pamphlet distributed to retailers, politicians and community organizations.
“Our children and grandchildren need and deserve to inherit beauty and mature trees that absorb carbon dioxide and support life. We want to buy, covenant and preserve this land forever."

The push to save the Creekside Drive property comes after the owners submitted an application to subdivide the property into four lots. Moore said she has received “encouraging support” from various levels of government and organizations, though none have yet to step up with a financial commitment.

She is working towards securing an agreement with The Land Conservancy (TLC) in hopes the B.C.-based group would provide up to 25 per cent of the funds required.

In 2005, the Salt Spring Island Conservancy helped mobilize community support to help raise a portion of the $625,000 required to purchase a portion of Mount Erskine, ensuring existing hiking trails and access to the peak remain available to the public in perpetuity.

Moore hopes for a similar public response once people realize the Cusheon Creek watershed’s ecological significance as well as the area’s potential to host environmental stewardship programs.

“I think it’s well worth the effort to save this land,” said Moore. “There’s a lot of action in that area and it used to be considered undevelopable but since development pressure is so great, even land that is hard to develop is getting developed.”

According to realtor Eric Booth, the single lot was taken off the market last month after the owner, a numbered company based in Duncan, submitted an application to subdivide the land into four lots for private sale.
Booth said the property’s owners have agreed to hold off in order to give Moore time to develop an offer.

“The owners are prepared to entertain an offer and are minimizing any disturbance of the land,” Booth said during an interview last week.
“If it doesn’t get purchased by the community or a conservation group, it will be subdivided,” he added.

The owners have not indicated they have any plans to log the area, he said, adding that signs posted to several older trees are part of riparian assessment.

The lot made headlines last year as part of a land-use proposal that would have seen the creation of more than 55 acres of parkland near the mouth of Cusheon Creek in exchange for the right to construct 21 homes higher up the valley below Stewart Road.

The proposal was unanimously rejected by the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee.

For more information on the Creekside Campaign, contact Maureen Moore at 538-1732 or via email at m@gulfislands.com