The Eagles Estate Heritage Garden in Autumn

TLC will be hosting a series of educational workshops this winter and spring at the Eagles Estate Heritage Garden in Burnaby – just a short drive away from Vancouver.  The workshops focus on sustainable gardening and some of the topics covered will be basic pruning and tree care, vegetable gardening, invasive species control, mason bees, and backyard bumblebee conservation.  Registration is now open for the following workshops.  Register early to avoid disappointment.

Mason Bee Workshop

Learn how to have happy healthy mason bees in your garden with Brian Campbell. Brian has a certificate in Permaculture Design, is a Certified Bee Master, and is very active in food security and conservation issues. In this introduction to the Blue Orchard Mason Bee you will learn about their life cycle and how to attract and get them to stay in your garden. There will be a hands-on opportunity to wash cocoons and identify some common diseases and pests of these gentle beneficial insects.

Summer Vegetable Gardening

Get growing this spring with a lively ‘tips and tricks’ workshop led by Sharon Hanna – instructor for Gaia College’s “Growing Food in the City” program, creator of school gardens and writer for GardenWise and Gardening Life.  Learn about the best varieties to grow in our region, the best seeds to buy, and when, where, and how to plant them.  Explore the use of organic matter vs. fertilizers and do some hands-on planting.  Please come with lots of questions!

Fall and Winter Vegetable Gardening

Do you know that you can grow food all year in coastal BC?  Join Sharon Hanna – instructor for Gaia College’s “Growing Food in the City” program, creator of school gardens, and writer for GardenWise and Gardening Life to learn more about extending the growing season.  Winter veggies need to be started as early as June through to early July.  Find out what you can grow throughout fall and winter and explore the use of cloches and coldframes.

Backyard Bumblebee Conservation

Urban spaces tend to be highly fractured ecologically, join Brian Campbell to learn how to make your neighbourhood more bee-friendly. Brian has a certificate in Permaculture Design, is a Certified Bee Master, and is very active in food security and conservation issues.  Bumblebee biology and life cycles will be covered and you will learn some simple techniques to encourage and support these beautiful and important creatures.  Help make bee corridors through our city environment so bees can continue helping us grow lots of food!

Go to one of your special places in B.C. and tell us via photo or video why you think it’s important for TLC to save natural areas, heritage sites, and agricultural lands throughout the province.

There will also be a special prize category, Million Reasons Challenge, for individuals who document themselves and their different reasons at as many different TLC properties and events as possible. Event opportunities for the Million Reasons Challenge can be found in the TLC Summer Event Guide and on our website under our properties landing page.

For more information and how to submit, check out the Million Reasons Contest page.  Select photos and videos will appear on TLC’s website. Participants will also have the chance to be included as one of the vibrant faces within TLC’s Million Reasons Membership Marketing Campaign.

So tell us, what’s your reason?

Photo of Harrison Trail by M.E.Sanseverino

The Capital Regional District (CRD), The Land Conservancy (TLC) and Western Forest Products (WFP) have reached an agreement in principle for the CRD to acquire 2350 hectares of lands in the Jordan River, Sooke Potholes and Weeks Lake areas for recreation, conservation and watershed protection. The agreement, which includes over 3.5 km of shoreline from Jordan River to Sandcut Beach, will require the assistance of partners to help fund the acquisition.

Photo by Sylvan Mably

The lands in question are being sold by Western Forest Products and lie within CRD boundaries. “The WFP lands are a subject of great interest to the Board and the agreement in principle generated significant discussion and support at the March 3 Special Board meeting.” said Geoff Young, CRD Board Chair. “I would like to acknowledge the hard work that JDF Electoral Area Director Mike Hicks has played in moving this process forward. Acquisition of these lands will help to further the CRD’s strategic priorities, protect our water supply in the Leech Watershed, conserve sensitive ecosystems and support recreation.”

“We recognize the public interest in these particular parcels, and we’re pleased to be making headway with the CRD towards keeping them available for public enjoyment” said Steve Frasher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Western Forest Products. “Our goal has been to make this a win-win for ourselves and for the CRD. We’re happy to see this taking shape.”

One of the CRD’s major land acquisition partners on this project is The Land Conservancy, which has stepped up with a strong commitment to raise the necessary funds to make this acquisition happen. “With this purchase we are going to add one of the last remaining pieces to the Sea to Sea Greenbelt,” said TLC Executive Director, Bill Turner. “To match the CRD Parks levy, TLC will reach out to its members and others in the community who understand how important it is to help make this purchase a reality.” 

“The lands in both the Jordan River and Sooke Potholes areas have high recreation and conservation values,” said Regional Parks Chair Christopher Causton. “We are very interested in keeping them in public hands so that everyone both today and in the future can enjoy them.”

To make a donation to this acquisition, please visit TLC website. View the maps of the Jordan River parcel group and CRD Agreement in Principle Lands.

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For further information, please contact:

Gary Ley, Western Forest Products                      Bill Turner, Executive Director
Tel: 604.685.5485                                                       The Land Conservancy of BC
Cell: 604.787.5467                                                     Tel: 250.589.8024
Email: glpa@telus.net                                                 Email: bturner@conservancy.bc.ca 

Sheila Taylor, Manager, Community Relations
Corporate Communications
Tel: 250.360.3308
Cell: 250.216.4427
Email: staylor@crd.bc.ca

Sandcut Beach. Photo by Josh Lewis.

TLC Executive Director Bill Turner said today that there are several properties with significant environmental and recreational values that need to be protected for public access and use.  In particular, he referred to the lands adjacent to the Sooke Potholes Regional Park, lands that provide access to and protection for Sandcut Beach near Jordan River, and the waterfront areas of Jordan River. 

“All of these sites are critical from a conservation perspective,” Turner said.  “They must be protected for the public, and TLC will step in to make sure that happens.  As we have done before with properties like the Sooke Potholes and Abkhazi Garden, we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure that the public can retain access to these wonderful sites.”

Harrison Trail by M.E.Sanseverino

Turner indicated that TLC has been interested in these properties since they first came on the market two years ago, and now the opportunity is realistic.  TLC is actively working to help bring together a significant partnership with others interested in protecting these lands, and that he expects such a partnership will include various levels of government.  “There is a great deal of interest from the public and from many organizations wanting to protect these sites, and I expect we will all be in a position to move forward soon,” he said.

TLC has begun to raise funds to protect these sites, and already has pledges of more than $250,000.  Donations can be made on the TLC website or by calling 1-877-485-2422.

In addition to these conservation properties, TLC is open to considering a further offer to include other lands that may be more suited to other uses such as community woodlots that could help sustain local employment and economic development.  “That would depend on whether we could find suitable partners interested in pursuing those activities,” Turner said.

Jordan River. Photo by Josh Lewis.

Offers will be made to Western Forest Products after the March 8 target date set by WFP.

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Contact: Bill Turner, Executive Director, The Land Conservancy, bturner@conservancy.bc.ca, cell: 250-589-8024, work: 250-479-8053

TLC is committed to protecting the Western Forest Product lands adjacent to the Sooke Potholes Regional Park including the Historic Harrison Trail, properties around Sandcut Beach, and the waterfront areas of Jordan River for future public access. In order to save these properties for their significant environmental and recreational value, TLC needs your support. Please donate now to protect these critical lands.

Jordan River

Sandcut Beach – Properties that provide access to the Beach and protect the Beach from residential development.

Jordan River Waterfront – Properties that protect the very popular surfing beaches and ensure public access between Jordan River and Sandcut Beach.

Sooke Potholes Extension – Properties adjacent to the Sooke Potholes Regional Park, including the Historic Harrison Trail, a crucial link in the Capital Region’s Sea to Sea Greenbelt connecting the Sooke Hills wilderness with Sooke Potholes.

It’s still pretty cool, though. You can just walk down a street in Kaslo and *BOOM* there it is…a giant, super old ship. Plus, I’ve seen pictures of what the Moyie looks like inside. It’s pretty beautiful. Though Kaslo is a pretty small looking town, the Moyie and the heritage association that manages it seem to play a big role in the community. It also really brings home the fact that the Kootenay region was a bustling hub of development even over a century ago. That’s a lot for one ship to represent, but I can’t think of anything so effective as the S. S. Moyie for connecting people to their heritage and to one another. TLC is lucky to have it as an associated site.

Skeena with Ryan Price at CFAX

Anyhow. I heard Bill Turner, the head honcho at TLC, was going to do an interview on CFAX 1070 with Ryan Price in Victoria to talk about adopting a Grizzly Bear or cougar for the holidays, so I staged my own “Spirit of the Skeena Swim” and paddled over to join him. I was going to announce the beginning of my journey to all the listeners, but we ran out of time.

So, here I am introducing myself via the World Wide Web. I always knew in my heart I was a modern bear, so it was just a matter of time before I became a travel-blogging bear. That’s exactly what I’ll be doing over the next little while – travelling around B.C. and blogging about it for all to read.  Stay tuned for my next installment!

Skeena enjoying the fire

By the way, for those of you who couldn’t attend our holiday open house in Burnaby at Eagles Estate Heritage Garden you missed a cozy fire and lots of yummy homemade goodies.

CFAX Interview – Gift Ideas for the Holidays with TLC

Keating Farm Estate

Cowichan River Cabin

From the initial planning process the project proceeded with a mapping fair in the early spring followed by many mapping workshops in small communities all over the Cowichan Valley. People were invited to share knowledge of their community under the three themes of food, land, and people. The result was conversation, community building and the acknowledgement that everything is vitally connected. Everyone had a special place that they wanted to see on the map.

Included under the theme of food are farms with protected habitat including five farms that are part of TLC’s Conservation Partners Program and additional information about the program. Also included in this list are farms protected through acquisition by a land trust such as TLC’s Keating Farm Estate.

Under the theme of land is TLC’s Cowichan River Cabin which is located near the Cowichan River and is available for rent through TLC’s cottage rental program.

The hard work and dedication of those involved is apparent in this first ever Cowichan Valley Green Map. The print map is a visual pleasure worthy of gifting to others and the online map, hosted by UVIC has the potential for ongoing input, thereby making it possible for this map to continue to grow.

Please visit the online map at http://www.cowichanlandtrust.ca/projects/greenmap