the
Acorn
The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy
New land donation accepted
Robin Ferry, Bob Weeden and Linda Gilkeson
celebrate the new acquisition
photo by Derrick Lundy
Readers of the Gulf Islands Driftwood will know that
the Conservancy signed papers this summer accepting an
anonymous gift of 18 acres of forest land in northern Salt
Spring Island. Our fourth area owned in fee simple, this
brings our holdings to 380 acres.
For a while we’ll call it North View Reserve; when we
get better acquainted it will be named more suitably. Several
Conservancy members have strolled on half-overgrown
logging trails into the area’s interior, and biologists have
looked and listened and taken notes for a few hours, but a
more skookum ecological assessment is next on the to-do
list. Our Land Restoration and Management Committee
will draft a management plan, and several committees
http://saltspringconservancy.ca/events
Number 39, Fall 2008
will get together to draft a conservation covenant which,
once completed, will be held and monitored by two other
conservancies or land trusts.
Not incidentally, we owe several Conservancy volunteers
abundant thanks for their essential work on this acceptance
project. I used to think that you got on a gift horse, avoiding
any glance at its teeth, and rode off. Not so. There is a startling
amount of paper work, e-mailing and expense involved in
accepting donated land. Roses to Robin Ferry and members
of her Acquisitions Committee, and to director Ashley
Hilliard, for guiding us through the maze.
North View Reserve is almost entirely covered with
trees, and forest is its stable vegetation type. No rock-and-
moss balds, no grassy marshes. The forest is vigorously
regrowing after perhaps three partial logging episodes since
the late 19th Century. All that activity mixed a lot of maples,
cherries, alders and arbutus with the conifers that naturally
would claim the site: Douglas fir, grand fir, western red cedar,
western hemlock. It is a familiar forest to Gulf Islanders. You
might have a home in such a landscape.
Personally, I’m eager to learn what birds and lesser
animals (everything else that’s brownish) live there. A few
drip-dodging trips in November will start a resident bird list.
Next spring we’ll enjoy the
sounds and sights of sex
among feathered migrants. Inside:
Join us, will you? President’s Page .................. 2
We can’t say, yet, what Director’s Desk . ................. 3
human uses will best suit Inside SSIC
this land. We do know for School Program................ 4
sure that the Reserve will Events Calendar................5
be fixing carbon, yielding Fundraiser........................ 6
oxygen, absorbing, filtering Feature
and slowing water on its On Being Alive................7
way to sea and sky, quieting Natural History
days and nights for Western Painted Turtle..... 8
neighbours, and offering Stewardship
wild things a place to live, Oystercatchers.................9
for a long time to come. Good Stewards
~ RW Salt Spring Books...........10
President’s Page
Earth Day Reflections
I. Somewhere Else; Something Else
Every Earth Day – this year’s was the 39th – we are reminded
that Gaia weeps, as surely it does. We are exhorted to do
our part to heal Earth’s wounds, as surely we should. And
every year a scatter of voices tells us not to knock ourselves
out. Before things get really desperate, they say, we will be
colonizing another body orbiting in space.
I heard the voices this year with my usual ambivalence.
The enthusiast in me, the boy who read Jules Verne and Buck
Rogers, feels a rush of excitement just imagining such an
incredible event. The doubter wonders whether the dangled
prospect is hope or delusion, hubris or cowardice.
Some late-night cud-chewing has cleared up one thing:
humans will never live anywhere but on Earth. Even if there
is another inhabitable place we can reach, we will not long be
human there. Our bodies will respond genetically to extreme
stress, and we will dump every vestige of the language, history
and culture that defines us today as human. Homo sapiens
will evolve into H. transplanticus.
Suppose, for instance, that we find a planet with
breathable air, usable water, and carbon-based life that
photosynthesizes. Let’s say that the planet is just enough
bigger or smaller than Earth so that gravity is quite different.
Not enough greater to crush bones, or enough smaller
to make every step a two-minute experience in levitation,
but easily noticeable. An immediate effect is to disrupt the
rhythm of breathing that is the basis of poetry, vocal and
wind-instrument music, speech and even the cadence of
writing. We also notice that hand tools and small machines
are the wrong heft and balance, that we have to redefine a
day’s work, and that the rules of beloved games have to be
rewritten. Basketball hoops 30 meters above ground, soccer
fields 10 km long: have fun imagining examples!
More importantly, the space pioneers will see nothing
they know. Nouns by the dictionary-full will lie dying in the
mind. Not a few will be attached second-hand to something
superficially like the earthly original. Thousands more words
will have to be coined at a bewildering pace, each at the
beginning no more than a naked label for something not yet
relatable to anything else. We might resort to using numbers
in place of nouns – basis, indeed, for a graceful body of
poems!
Worse, all our metaphors, uprooted from earthly
nature , will be nonsensical, a disaster of wisdom more than
language. Metaphors have meta-meaning, vehicles for our
need to express the inexpressible, as Ellen Meloy wrote, “the
something more.”
Incidentally, forget art on Planet X. Art is almost
entirely metaphorical. Unpacked from a space vehicle, earth-
art would be irrelevant, unused, and forgotten.
 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy
Forget history, too. In fact, forget a story of any kind that
gets its culture-binding, pleasure-giving, teaching value from
a planet left behind. Earth stories, personal or communal,
would not be merely irrelevant, they would hamper and
delude. Space emigrant minds would be severed from reality,
adrift without rudder or anchor.
I can only wonder about the impact on brain and
mind of an abrupt obsolescence of such crucial structures
of culture. Workshop where language, thought, memory and
body instruction are fashioned, the brain would be crippled.
And we know that the mind, the locus of self and soul, is
almost entirely story. It is the largely fictional but absolutely
essential narration of who we are, creating a self whose
absolute uniqueness is its possessor’s greatest treasure. As
Wendell Berry wrote,
“... a mind is not even much like a brain. Insofar as
it is usable for thought, for the association of thought with
feelings, for the association of feelings with words, for the
connections between words and things, words and acts,
thought and memory, a mind seems to be in constant need
of reminding. A mind unreminded would be no mind at all.”
Sever, among our pioneers on Planet X, all clear connections
between communal and individual earth stories and the
blank pages of new experience, and you leave minds tangled
and desperate in their search for guiding associations.
Tails distinguish monkeys from humans; tales distinguish
humans from monkeys.
“Then what is the answer?” Robinson Jeffers asked, in
the opening line of his famous poem.
“... Not to be deluded by dreams ...and not be duped
By dreams of universal justice and happiness. These
dreams
Will not be fulfilled.
To know this, and to know that however ugly the parts
appear
The whole remains beautiful. A severed hand
Is an ugly thing and a man dissevered from the earth
and stars
And his history ... for contemplation or in fact ...
Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness,
And the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things,
The divine beauty
Of the universe. Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man’s pitiful
confusions,
Or drown in despair when his days darken.”
I reckon that space pioneers who survived the trip
from here to elsewhere soon would go mad from longing
to return. Those who endured would do so in a new physical
Continued...

and cultural form. Remember, too, that neither biological
nor cultural evolution is guaranteed to be progressive: to
lead in successive increments to a “better” condition. The
only criterion of adaptation is survival. Suppose, for instance,
that a few humans colonized an unearthly place with slightly
lower atmospheric oxygen. Survivors might well have
lesser brain function but bigger lungs or, alternately, a more
lethargic body. Is that progress?
To go somewhere else is to become something else.
And you can’t go home again.
II. Home for Supper
If gazers found the finest star
And we packed a lunch
And traveled far;
If we found a land of honey
Where three-armed beasts
Gave us stacks of money;
If lighted by the brightest fires
Were piles and piles
Of our heart’s desires
We would not stay –
No, not a day! -
We couldn’t hug the beasts, you see,
Our arms no match in number
Forever tangled we would be
One arm over, one arm under.
Of course the honey would be sour,
Dripping from the weirdest flower
And no furry pudgy Bear is there
To share – Within the hour
We’d stuff our crumbs back in a pocket
Then fire up our faithful rocket
And zoom as fast as we are able
To see if Dad has fed the cat
And Mom has set the table.
Linda, Robin and Bob walk North View Reserve
photo by Derrick Lundy
Fall 2008
Director’s Desk
Director’s Desk
It is fall and time to begin our fundraising efforts in
earnest. Look for various events and announcements as
part of our ‘Conservation Celebrations!’ month throughout
October. And do plan to come to our benefit on October 30th
at Artspring.
In 2007, over 190 people donated funds to the
Conservancy and we are very grateful for all of that support.
What many of our members do not know, however, is that
for the last several years we have had one extraordinarily
generous donor whose gift has provided half of our operating
funds.
As a long term goal, we need to diversify our sources
of operating funds as well as to build up our long-term
endowment and our land acquisition funds. So fundraising
has become my number one priority as ED (and it’s not just
because I want to keep my job!). The Conservancy must have
a strong financial foundation to ensure that it continues
as a secure organization, able to protect the conservation
covenants and lands entrusted to us in perpetuity. At the same
time, we want to continue our schools and public education
programs, our work with land owners and protection of
species at risk—and to continue to work on many valuable,
yet to be dreamed of, projects in the future.
Keep on Using Those 3 Painless Ways to
Contribute:
* Through a Thrifty Food SMILE card: Pick a card up
while you are in our office, or drop us a note and we will be
happy to mail one to you. The 5% of your receipts that we
receive goes to our Stewards in Training schools program.
* Through the GVM receipt box: Putting receipts into
the Conservancy box at the GVM helps fund our operating
expenses.
* Credit the Conservancy when you take bottles to
the Salt Spring Refund Centre (the Bottle Depot beside
GVM).
Items Needed:
We need two adjustable office chairs—suitable for people
who spend far too much time working at their computers,
therefore need good back support.
More Thank You’s!
* Many thanks to Renee Koplan who has been joining
Dick Willmott as a regular helper in the SSIC office.
* To the folks at Electronic Ark for supplying a tiny
missing part for our computer at no charge.
* And to Paul Linton, who donated the oak seedlings we
sold at the Fall Fair!

inside ssic

Stewards in Training
School Program Finishing Up
its 5th Successful Year! Make Christmas Easy
The SSI Conservancy’s school program, Stewards in Training, Let us help make your Christmas trouble free. You say, “It is
will be running the final program of its 5th successful year a bit early to be thinking of Christmas.”…. but actually there
this fall! The program was created in 2004 by the Schools are only three months and if you want to get your gifts in the
Committee to introduce Middle School students to the idea mail and arriving on time, you really have only two months.
of stewardship of our island by taking them to the Garry So here is our idea. Buy everyone on your mailing list a 2009
Oak meadows of the Andreas Vogt Nature Reserve. In 2006, Conservancy Green Calendar. All you will need to do is fill
the program was expanded to include trips to wetland and in their addresses and mail them. What could be simpler?
seashore ecosystems with Elementary School children. We Not only will you be sending a lovely gift that might
expanded the program again in 2007 and now, it is hard to remind them of their special visit to Salt Spring, or lure
believe, after this year’s fall program we will have provided a them to come for a visit or just make them envious of you
free field trip to over 1500 children! for getting to live here,….. you will also be supporting the
Even more astounding is that our wonderful volunteers Conservancy’s Stewards in Training School program and
have given us almost 4000 hours of their time. They have doing a really good thing.
been volunteering on our School Committee, folding Please support our much valued and important Stewards
journals, setting up equipment and of course, working in the in Training School Program and buy many calendars for all
field. We have been so impressed with the dedication and your friends and family. Buy a gift and do a good thing at
enthusiasm of our volunteers! The teachers really appreciate the same time.
our volunteers as well: “The kids absolutely loved their day spent We want to say a special thank you to all our calendar
with you and your volunteers. They were so proud of their field business sponsors: SS Natureworks, Stowel Lake Farm, SS
books and really felt like they learned a lot. The small student Island Cheese, SS Coffee, The Pinch Group, The Harbour
groups matched with knowledgeable volunteers leading the House, Moonstruck Organic Cheese, SS Gelato, SS Books,
stations made the experience very informative, personable and School District #64, The Fritz Cinema, Foxglove, and the
very hands on…active learning at its best!” Kari Holmes. Institute for Sustainability, Education and Action. Without
We are getting ready to run a program that is one of the these partners the calendar would have not been possible.
favorites with the volunteers, with many thanks to the BC ~ Jean Gelwicks, School Committee Chair
Provincial Government, TD Friends of the Environment,
Thrifty Foods and Mountain Equipment Coop! In late
September/early October we will be heading to Burgoyne
Bay Provincial Park with Grade 2/3 students. We will be
doing four activities (two before lunch and two after lunch)
with four groups of 5 or 6 students. The activities relate
to learning basic compass use and some history of the bay,
a sensory search of the forest, a journaling activity and a
seashore exploration. Our motto is “1) stay safe, 2) have
fun, and 3) learn something.” We think that the kids (and
adults!) will be having lots of fun on this program and we are
sure that we will all learn many new things about our special
island!
If you are a regular volunteer, be sure to set aside some
time in the fall to come out with us again. If you have not
volunteered for the Stewards in Training program before, this
is a perfect program to start with! We provide a training
photo by Wendy Hilliard
session for all volunteers where they can become familiar
with the program and decide if they would like to lead
an activity or just lead a small group of children around The Conservancy and the School Commitee wish
for the day. Just contact the SSI Conservancy Office, to express a special thank you to our generous
(250) 538-0318, or email ssiconservancy@saltspring.com, and supporters with the Salt Spring Foundation.
they will put you in touch with the program coordinators.
~ Sarah Bateman Recent donations include a portable P.A. system,
a speaker system, and a computer.
 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy

Stewardship Program
for Species at Risk
This year the we are delighted to announce that we have
received a grant from the Habitat Stewardship Program
for $112,500.00 to continue our extensive Stewardship
Program featuring many Species At Risk on the island.
Additional funders include Bullitt Foundation and Garry
Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team (GOERT).
Some of our exciting new projects with landowners
include installing Barn Owl boxes in some of the historic
barns on the island, surveying for the endangered Western
Painted Turtle in lakes and ponds, installing and monitoring
Western Bluebird boxes, surveying for rare butterflies, such
as the Dun Skipper and the Zerene Fritillary, monitoring our
rare plant populations such as the Yellow Montane Violet,
Macoun’s Meadowfoam, and the Phantom Orchid, as well as
surveying for owls and other threatened and endangered bird
species. We will continue our work monitoring and searching
for the endangered Sharp-tailed Snake on our island, where
we have many landowners participating in efforts to search
for the snakes. We will also be involved in working with
landowners to inform them of the impacts of invasive species,
such as the Bullfrog, which have established colonies on the
island. Other invasive species to receive attention will include
Scotch Broom, St. John’s Wort, English Ivy, and more.
The Conservancy will also be updating its website,
adding more informative pages and photographs about
Species At Risk on Salt Spring Island, how to identify
them, and conservation tips for various species. Look for our
upcoming owl page where you will be able to listen to owl
vocalizations on Salt Spring so you can identify who’s who
in your neighbourhood. We will also continue to map our
Species At Risk occurrences and sensitive ecosystems on the
island.
There will also be a number of educational presentations
and neighbourhood meetings hosted to engage our local
community about Species at Risk in their neighbourhoods.
Landowners will also be contacted through informative
postcard mailouts and locally published articles. We will also
host a public workshop for landowners to attend and learn
about private landowner conservation options on the island.
Look for us at educational events throughout the year, as
well as at the Fall Fair for more Species At Risk give-aways
and interactive displays.
We are always eager to hear about new sightings of our
Species At Risk on Salt Spring Island. If you think you have
seen any of them, or would like more information on any of
our federally and provincially listed Species At Risk, please
contact the Salt Spring Island Conservancy at 250-538-0318
or info@saltspringconservancy.ca.
Fall 2008
Conservancy Events
Upcoming Events
September 26 (Friday) - David Denning will present
Rowing Through Time: Adventure and Natural
History in the Grand Canyon. This is a multi media
presentation at the Community Gospel Hall. 7:30 pm.
September 28 (Sunday) – Salt Spring Apple Festival
Theme: Celebrating Red-Fleshed Apples - THE
APPLES OF THE FUTURE
9 am to 5pm Starting Point: Fulford Hall
A chance to visit Apple Heaven while still on earth!
http:saltspringmarket.com/apples
October 3 (Friday) - Krista Rossinger will present her
research on the sandhill crane.
Lion’s Hall. 7 pm.
October 30 (Thursday) - SSIC Gala Fundraiser
Featuring a talk by BC biologist Dr. Bob Peart and
words of wisdom from ‘Lord of the Ants’ biologist,
E. O Wilson. The evening will provide insight into
our experience of the natural world and that of our
children and the value of biodiversity..... come for the
food, the fun and the food for thought!
ArtSpring, 7:00 p.m.
Tickets $21 at the ArtSpring Ticket Centre:
(250) 537-2102.
Calendar Poem
Now that the summer is finally here
Lots of friends come to visit - it’s that time of year.
Or perhaps you are travelling - maybe taking a trip
It’s for just these occasions that I have a great tip!
When you are looking for something - some token or gift,
That small “piece of Salt Spring” - if you catch my drift.
I’ve got just the thing - the ideal souvenir,
It’s easy to pack, plus it lasts a whole year.
It’s not too expensive - it’s a gift for all seasons,
So buy a whole bunch with all these good reasons.
The Conservancy calendar - there, I’ve told you at last,
Just don’t wait too long - ‘cause they’re bound to go fast !
~ Michael Pickstone

inside ssic
Annual Fundraiser
October 30th –
Come to our Conservation Celebration!
Our annual fundraiser this year takes the form of a wonderful
evening of fun, food, displays and food for thought. It
will feature a talk by noted BC biologist Bob Peart and a
showing of the 2008 NOVA program ‘Lord of the Ants’ on
the work and wisdom of biologist, E. O Wilson.
The evening will provide insight on the value of
biodiversity to all of us and how important it is to experience
the natural world—for our health and the health of our
children.
The benefit is at ArtSpring. Doors open at 7:00 pm with
displays and refreshments in the lobby. The main program
starts at 7:30. Tickets are $21, available from the ArtSpring
ticket centre (250-537-2102).
About Bob Peart:
Bob is a registered professional biologist, with a
background in biology as well as education. He has worked
for the past 30 years in parks planning and advocacy as
well as public conservation education. Earlier this year, the
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society awarded their J. B
Harkin Medal for Conservation to Bob Peart for “his lifetime
of extraordinary commitment to parks, nature conservation
and environmental education in Canada”.
Bob has been instrumental in the creation of many BC
parks including the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary.
Among other roles, he has served as Executive Director of
the BC Outdoor Recreation Council, as a Parks Canada
naturalist and Assistant Director of the Royal British
Columbia Museum.
Bob has also long been a champion of efforts to
promote nature education. From his home base in Victoria
he is leading an initiative with the Kesho Trust, working to
connect children and nature. After reading Richard Louv’s
groundbreaking book Last Child in the Woods: Saving our
Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Bob was inspired to
bring together like thinkers at the Dialogue on Children,
Families & Nature conference in Victoria in 2007. Louv
coined the term ‘nature-deficit disorder’ and links a lack of
nature in the lives of today’s youth to such disturbing trends
such as childhood obesity and depression. Like Louv, Bob
Peart believes that the solution is just outside, often right in
your own backyard or neighbourhood park.
About Lord of the Ants:
This is a new program produced for NOVA, being
shown at our benefit by permission from PBS. Actor and
environmentalist Harrison Ford narrates this portrait of E. O.
Wilson, the ceaselessly active scientist, writer and humanist,
who has accumulated two Pulitzer Prizes among his many
other honours. David Attenborough says of him that “he will
go down as the man who opened the eyes of millions ‘round
 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy
the world to the glories, the values, the importance of—to
use his term—biodiversity.”
Over his long career, E. O. Wilson has moved from
the narrow boundaries of a particular line of research and
has gone on to alter our perspective on the natural world.
He was a true ‘lord of the ants’ who started out studying
insects, but has become an acclaimed advocate for biological
diversity. His work has shown him more than ever that the
complex web of life in which he has delighted since a child is
under threat in many of the most biologically diverse regions
of the world. He now fights for the survival of nature and
biodiversity through his worldwide conservation efforts
and has become a tireless organizer and spokesman for the
world’s threatened species. With all that, he still devotes time
to projects that allow children to learn about species that live
in their neighbourhood park—and so to begin a life-long
appreciation of nature.
Call for photographs
Do you have a camera and a creative eye for what makes Salt
Spring unique? Would you like one of your photographs to be
published in the Conservancy’s 2010 fundraising calendar?
Please donate your time and creative talent to making the
2010 fundraising calendar as terrific as our 2009 Calendar.
We are looking for 12 images from anyone interested in
photography, Salt Spring, and the Stewards in Training
School Program.
Theme of 2010 Calendar (To be produced
in early 2009): Capture the Spirit of Salt Spring
Submissions will be accepted between until November 1,
2008. Up to five photographs may be submitted by any
individual. Any image that captures the theme “Spirit of Salt
Spring” may make an acceptable submission.
Possible subjects include (but not limited to) apples
and apple growing, hiking local trails, Saturday Market,
wildlife watching, organic gardening, art festivals, music
in the park, special natural places on Salt Spring, etc. Size,
format and composition: For further information or to
have questions answered, please contact David Denning by
email at: ddenning@saltspring.com. Good luck  – we look
forward to seeing a great collection of images beginning in
late September.

On Being Alive: two members compare notes
There recently came to our attention a note by Mary Toynbee
describing her reaction to a part of the Conservancy’s annual
meeting this May. The questions she raised prompted Bob
Weeden to reply. In the letters that followed were some ideas
worth sharing. The exchange you read here is faithful to those
ideas, but little remains of actual quotes.
Mary: At the annual meeting we were told about and shown
pictures of some of the endangered species of plants and
animals on the island: in particular, the pretty little red-
legged frog and the lovely little yellow montane violet. The
native red-legged frogs are being threatened by bull frogs, an
invasive species introduced to the island by unwitting people,
and feral sheep are grazing the little yellow flowers. Members
were invited to join the effort to set things straight.
When it was mentioned that at a Conservancy festivity,
roasted feral sheep could be on the menu, and frogs’ legs
should perhaps be included as an extra delicacy, everybody
clapped and laughed. I was surprised, as I had assumed
that the Conservancy folk were among the most aware and
compassionate people on our island; did they realize what
they were laughing about?
Now who is the most invasive species on this planet
today? When nature seeks to cull our numbers by cyclones
and earthquakes, famine and disease, should we all clap and
laugh?
Bob: Laughter is a funny thing, isn’t it? We are pleased to
think that only humans laugh, but considering that most
laughter is at the expense of someone else, I don’t know why
we should feel so proud. We laugh at the bumbling failures
of clowns, and know they are our own: why don’t we weep?
Maybe laughter often is the misleading response we give in
public to hide the accurate one that would make us vulnerable.
Does that fit the case at the annual meeting? I don’t know.
Maybe we just laugh at any surprising turn of words.
During the whole evening we were very willing to take
sides for or against different forms of life, and that intrigues
me. We do it all the time. Humanity’s prime measure, of
course, is utility: what good (or bad) is it? But I can’t name
a species that is all good or all bad to all people all the time.
The verdict hangs on the situation and the judge.
The sheep that started this are good examples. No one
claims them. They wander, eating what they can, which
sometimes includes lovely violets that we value all the more
because they are rare. We shout, “Kill the sheep!” If the same
sheep were husbanded on a private farm, or were wild but ate
Scotch broom, we would be slower to judge, wouldn’t we?
Lawmakers occasionally make rules about allowable
treatment of some species. For instance songbirds can’t be
killed on purpose (but “accidents” in the form of windows
Fall 2008
feature
and cats and lawn poisons are all right), and rare plants and
animals are partly protected. But truly general rules can’t be
found.
Mary: It seems to me rather a question of what other
creatures mean to each of us: our own personal circles of
empathy. Even nonhuman animals have their own circles
of concern, as they care for each other. We all need to be
sensitive to the circles of others, as we hope they are to ours,
but none is right or wrong; it is just the way each of us sees or
feels the world in which we live. I like the vision of all these
overlapping circles of compassion, together reaching out and
around all creation.
Bob: Great metaphor! I love your thought that other species
possess circles of empathy. I agree, and feel obliged to respect
them, too. Everything alive deserves a basic respect for the
simple but miraculous fact of being. Life is equally unearned,
equally precious to all forms of life regardless of whether
we like or have use for them. Recognizing this fundamental
deservingness, we can acknowledge a responsibility for their
care in proportion to our responsibility for their condition.
We have to eat, build shelter and beget offspring as all
life does. Harming other life out of necessity is no crime.
However, there are two huge caveats. One is that our needs
can’t be defined more broadly than those of other life. To be
blunt, wants can’t be confounded with needs. I don’t say we
can’t want things beyond survival: what lies beyond survival
is the best as well as the worst of being human. I only think
that where wants begin, so begins the imperative for taking
greater and greater care of beings affected by our satisfaction
of wants. Building a waterslide theme park should meet a
higher standard of wildlife protection, for example, than
building a hospital.
The other caveat is that beyond some point neither
humanity nor nature needs – or can even tolerate – more
people. We’ve gone far past that point. Some day we will see
that 2 or 3 billion people can satisfy more material wants per
capita than 3 times that number. To put it another way, 6.8
billion humans is the greatest disrespect for other life we’ve
yet devised.
Mary: For sure. And now we’re back to invasive species.
Homo sapiens is the worst of all.

natural history
The Western Painted Turtle
Crysemys picta bellii
What They Look Like
The Western Painted Turtle is named after the bright
yellow stripes on its head, neck, tail and legs, and the glowing
red on its plastron (shell covering the belly) and carapace
(shell covering its back). Occasionally, the carapace also has
a light yellow pattern of worm-like markings. The red and
yellow patterns contrast with the olive-green of the skin, and
the dark colouring of the carapace.
Painted turtles have webbed hind feet, and slender
claws on their front feet. Males have much longer claws than
females. Painted turtles can grow to over a foot in length
with the carapace measuring up to 25 cm long – roughly the
size of a dinner plate!
The Western Painted Turtle is the only native pond
turtle left in B.C. It can be confused with the introduced
Red-Eared Slider. To tell the two species apart, look for the
telltale red “ear” marks on the Slider. Painted turtles do not
have any red markings on the neck or head.
Where They Live
The Western Painted Turtle is the most northerly
occurring turtle in North America. They can survive under
water in ponds that are 2 degrees C and covered with half a
 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy
photo by Todd Harmer
metre of ice!
They prefer the margins and shallows of lakes and ponds,
ditches and sluggish streams with muddy bottoms and lots
of aquatic plants. These areas provide important habitat for
feeding, basking, shelter from predators, and hibernation.
Painted turtles also require nearby upland nesting areas
without vegetation.
To avoid predators, Painted turtles like to bask on
vegetation mats and logs completely surrounded by water.
On a warm summer afternoon, they can be found stacked a
few turtles deep at particularly good basking sites.
Most adult Painted turtles spend the winter hibernating
in the mud at the bottom of ponds and lakes. Once
temperatures warm up and the ice leaves the water, Painted
turtle courtship begins.
Love Life
Courtship begins with a chase, during which many
males swim after a single mature female. Once the female
is willing, the two sink to the bottom of the pond to mate.
Females do not always wait for the males to initiate mating,
and sometimes a female will pursue the suitor of her choice.
In June or July, female turtles lay 6 to 18 oval eggs, about
Continued...

3 cm long or the length of a two dollar coin, in a carefully
prepared nest. Nests are usually dug between dusk and dawn.
Females are very watchful for predators, and scan the shore
several times before venturing onto land. They look for open,
south-facing sites with loose soil and without a lot of plants,
roots, and rocks. These sites can be up to 150 meters away
from the water, and females may have to cross roads to reach
a good site.
As long as predators do not find the nest, the hatchlings
(baby turtles) break out of their eggs around September.
Even though their shallow nests can reach -5 degrees C,
most hatchlings stay in the nest until the following spring.
Survival is quite low due to freezing and predation of both
eggs and hatchlings.
What They Eat
Western Painted Turtles are opportunistic omnivores,
enjoying a wide variety of aquatic delicacies. This includes
insects, snails, earthworms, frogs, tadpoles, algae, aquatic
plants and carrion (dead animal matter). As juveniles, they
are more carnivorous. As they mature, they tend towards
herbivory, although this seems to depend on what is available
to them. Regardless, they always swallow food underwater as
they seem to have trouble swallowing dry food.
Painted Turtles in northern climes eat more protein
than their southern counterparts. This helps them grow more
quickly, providing more energy and resources to survive the
cold winters.
Threats
Predators such as mink and raccoons and some birds
will consume the young. However, the greatest danger comes
from humans in the form of destruction of habitat.
How We Can Help
At present, the Pacific Coast population of the Western
Painted Turtle is federally listed as endangered. This means
that they are considered vulnerable to habitat loss, and
susceptible to human and natural disturbances. Habitat is
being lost because of pollution and waterway interference
due to damming, agriculture and development of wetlands
and waterfronts.
The Western Painted Turtle is at the northern limit of
its range in B.C. These populations are unique compared to
southern populations because turtles here grow faster, grow
bigger, mature slower, and reproduce less often, but make
more eggs. As B.C.’s only remaining native pond turtle, they
need our protection.
If you see a Painted turtle, the best thing to do is keep
your distance. Be aware when in turtle habitat so that you
don’t trample the nest sites. And never take wild turtles home
as pets. Painted turtles often starve to death in captivity.
Often their plight is not apparent because their outer shell
conceals their real condition.
Love ‘em and leave ‘em – that’s the best policy.
~ Maureen Bendick
http://saltspringconservancy.ca/events
Fall 2008
stewardship
Note on Oystercatchers
A low spit of sand, shell and gravel separates warm, shallow
Walter Bay from the busy traffic on Ganges Harbour. The
spit is a traditional nesting place for black oystercatchers.
Nina Raginski can see it from her garden. She has watched
the site daily for many years during the breeding season of
oystercatchers, defending it as vigorously as they do. It is a
model record of dedication and stewardship.
In 12 breeding seasons the Walter Bay oystercatchers
have fledged only 11 young. To those of us who see robins
raise broods of three or four chicks two or three times a year,
or smiled at adult quail shepherding 10 or 20 tiny wind-up
toys , oystercatcher parenting seems to get way less than
minimum wage. On the other hand, black oystercatchers
that make it to flight and quasi-independence probably live
six to eight times longer than songbirds or quail, eventually
nesting a dozen times or more. A pair that fledges one chick
per year is replacing itself – and then some.
In Kenai Fjords National Park black oystercatchers laid
500 eggs on 35 territories in a five year span, producing only
51 fledglings. This production, roughly one fledged chick
per pair every three years, makes the Walter Bay birds seem
embarrassingly fecund. In the park, flooding (when winds
combined with tides to float eggs far enough from nests that
the adults couldn’t retrieve them) destroyed almost 30% of
nests. A lot were destroyed, too, by predators hunting the
strand lines, with predator losses proportionately higher on
nests on cobble beaches than on rocky islets.
The Alaska researchers were especially interested in
whether kayakers affected oystercatcher parenting. One
phase of their work mimicked beach visits by kayakers while
records were kept of incubation times and interruptions.
The disturbances reduced nest attendance about 40% while
people were on their beach. This doesn’t translate directly to
nest loss, but it isn’t good news. A bit of lucky timing favours
oystercatchers in the Fjords situation, but not at Walter Bay:
hatching is almost over by the time of peak kayaker use in
August.
Nina has given all her notes to Briony Penn, who
has worked them into a power point presentation. The
Conservancy is hoping to organize an event when Nina and
Briony can give us the full richness of the history of Walter
Bay oystercatchers. Stay tuned!
~ RW
Please send your updated email
address to:
ssiconservancy@saltspring.com
Many of our emails are being bounced
back - including electronic copies of
the Acorn!

good stewards
Green Business Partner profile: Salt Spring Books
Aidan, Andrew, Adina and Chloe
A few years ago when Andrew Haigh and Adina Hildebrandt
began construction on their hemp bale house, they didn’t
have a lot of time to spend at their business. Staff members
at their book store would explain to those trying to reach
them in person or on the phone that the pair was very busy
building their house. Then we realized we should specify:
“They’re building their house with their own hands.”
I have known Adina and Andrew for over 15 years,
and their decision to move here and open a book store was
instrumental in paving the way for me to move here, too.
They gave me steady employment and they passed on their
baby clothes. They’ve also impressed me with their dedication
to living as respectfully as possible, both at home and in their
business practices.
Many of Andrew and Adina’s green practices center
around their home. Their (still in construction) hemp bale
house has been a favorite on the Eco-Home tour, so many
of you will already be familiar with the fact that they live off
the grid and use an innovative pond system for dealing with
grey water and sewage. The small yurt that they currently
inhabit has a water catchment system, solar panels and a
straw bale addition bathroom. Their new home will also be
solar powered and will be much more energy efficient due to
the insulation the thick walls provide.
Andrew already knew a lot about alternative living
solutions as the owner of another business selling and
installing eco-friendly sewage treatment plants. Through
building their new home themselves, however, both Andrew
and Adina have learned a lot more about green building
10 The Acorn - Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy
practices and energy use. Although it’s not always easy to
practice your convictions, especially when your home takes
years to complete, it’s something Adina feels is necessary. “I
think to be green you have to lead by example, and that can
be a very tough road,” she said recently.
At Salt Spring Books, Adina and Andrew try to promote
interest in green living by stocking a wide range of books on
environmentally friendly building and issues of social justice.
“We bring in a lot of different books and hopefully that gets
people thinking about these things,” said Andrew. Andrew is
often seen representing the store at various worthy functions
such as Seedy Saturday, the Fibre Festival, and Our Island,
Our World Film Festival.
The store also regularly supports Conservancy events
and works in partnership with them for fundraising efforts
such as the Green Calendar. Past events include the launch
of the book Salt Spring Island: the People, the Place by
Michael Levy, Osman Phillips and Howard Fry, and two past
calendars by Michael Levy. A portion of all these launches
and of subsequent sales went to Conservancy initiatives such
as the campaign to buy Mt. Erskine.
Last year Andrew made the book store the centre of a
campaign to cut carbon emissions here on Salt Spring and to
across Canada. Andrew launched the program with an article
in the Gulf Islands Driftwood, asking for 50 volunteers to
come forward to reduce their power usage by 20%, and to
help train other households how to do so. Simple things like
using compact fluorescent light bulbs and turning off power
bars are just the start of his program of awareness.
Andrew has been strongly influenced by George
Monbiot’s Heat, which he named his book of the year for
2006. (He was so impressed, he put the book on sale at
20% off, and dedicated reading copies to the Conservancy
and to the business community so that everyone could read
it.) Monbiot urges a 90% cut in carbon emissions by 2030
in order to maintain the planet’s current temperature, and
discusses how this may be done and still allow us to live
comfortably. Recent media coverage of climate change as
a major issue for Canadians has seen politicians suddenly
paying attention to these questions, too.
As Andrew explained, “I was listening to the news and
reading the newspapers and seeing government suddenly
trying to do something without having any real plan. I
thought we should start with something simple and see
what our footprint actually is. The BC Hydro web site gives
you your hydro use records for 2-3 years, so you can actually
set a baseline and work from that.” He went on to explain
that to get started on reductions right away, it is necessary to
have the data. We can start keeping track of our mileage, for
Continued...
example, but we’d have to wait until next year to make use of
that information.
Andrew’s call for volunteers was highly successful; he
Good Business
had over 60 in the first week, and had to take down the sign in The Conservancy thanks all of
the book store because there were already more than enough. our business members.
Before their funding ended, many teams went through Salt Please support these local businesses.
Spring neighbourhoods teaching people how to reduce their Anchorage Cove B&B Neil Morie, Architect
daily power usage. Baker Beach Cottages Pharmasave
Adina has some plans in mind for the store, which she Beddis House B&B The Pinch Group
would like to make a model for other businesses on Salt Blue Horse Folk Art Pretzel Motors
Bold Bluff Retreat Rammed Earth Canada
Spring. “I think we should be carbon-neutral,” she stated.
Bootacomputer Raven Isle Graphics
“It’s a complicated equation to do so we’d probably have to
Caprice Heights B&B Rock Salt Cafe
hire someone to calculate it for us. Then we could put out the Cedar Mountain Studios Sandra Smith, Royal LePage
challenge to other business owners.” Creekhouse Realty Ltd. Salt Spring Realty
Salt Spring Books has been known to issue such Duck Creek Farm Salt Spring Adventure
challenges before: during the campaign to save the Creekside Elsea Plumbing Company
Rainforest, the store donated $5,000 to the cause and asked Foxglove Farm & Garden Salt Spring Books
other local businesses to do the same. Supply Salt Spring Centre of Yoga
Owning a business is not always easy to reconcile with The Fritz Movie Theatre Salt Spring Centre School
ecological concerns, however, as Adina and Andrew recognize. Ganges Village Market Salt Spring Cheese
Green Acres Resort Salt Spring Coffee Company
In the future their ideals may turn them to other ventures, or
Gulf Island School District Salt Spring Gelato Delizioso
they might manage to create “the first carbon-neutral book
Harbour House Hotel & Salt Spring Kayaking
store on the planet!” For now they’re concentrating on things Restaurant Salt Spring Natureworks
like how to “green” the many light bulbs the store requires. Institute for Sustainability, Natural Foods
Adina sums up the quandary well: Education and Action Salt Spring Seeds
“I think the business culture is really a money-making Island Escapades Saltspring Soapworks
culture, so to have a business and try to do community- Island Star Video Spindrift at Welbury Point
minded things is counter to the dominant theme. But here, Karen Dakin, Accountant Sprague Associates
we have so much to protect and take care of, so you have to Monsoon Coast Stowel Lake Farm
do it. That’s why the majority of the money we’ve raised in Moonstruck Organic Cheese Terra Firma Builders
Morningside Organic Thrifty Foods
the past has been for the Conservancy.”
Bakery & Cafe Windsor Plywood
~ Elizabeth Nolan

So Big a Job ... So Small a Committee

Our new Donation appreciation
Program: Conservation Friends
Anyone who donates a total of $250 or more
a year becomes an SSIC Conservation Friend.
These special supporters will be invited to an
annual donor appreciation day in the spring,
hosted by SSI Conservancy Directors and
staff. It will be an opportunity to meet like-
minded friends, learn more about island
ecosystems, hear the latest results of our work
on endangered species and share ideas for
conservation on Salt Spring.
We have a lot of requests for assistance and a lot
of new ideas for restoring, enhancing and protecting
the natural wonders around us. The Stewardship
committee needs volunteers who are interested in
projects such as Sharp-tailed snake habitat, giving
bats a chance to survive and to thrive, restoring barns
for the endangered Barn Owls, mastering the broom
invasion, growing native plants for landscaping and
restoration and on and on.........
If you have the interest and the energy and can
tolerate a meeting now and then please consider
joining our committee.
As an African proverb wisely points out: “If you
want to travel fast, go alone. If you want to travel far,
go with others.”

Fall 2008 11
 and this is your last Acorn. We don’t want to lose you -- so see the top of this page.
If your address label has an orange dot on it, it means that your membership has expired
V8K 2W3
Salt Spring Island BC
40026325 Ganges PO Box 722
The Acorn is the newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy, a local non-profit society supporting and enabling
voluntary preservation and restoration of the natural environment of Salt Spring Island and surrounding waters. We welcome
your feedback and contributions, by email to ssiconservancy@saltspring.com or by regular mail. Opinions expressed here are
the authors’, not subject to Conservancy approval.
Editor and Layout: Elizabeth Nolan
Membership Application Donations
Executive Director: Linda Gilkeson
Board of Directors: Youth (Under 16) 1 yr @ $15 __ In addition to my membership fee
Samantha Beare (Treasurer) Senior or Low-Income: 1 yr @ $20 __ 3 yr @ $60 __ above, I have enclosed my donation in
Maureen Bendick Regular Single 1 yr @ $25 __ 3 yr @ $75 __ the amount of:
Jean Brouard
Charles Dorworth Regular Family 1 yr @ $35 __ 3 yr @ $105 __ $50 _ $100 _ $250 _ $500 _ $1000_
Robin Ferry Group/School 1 yr @ $35 __ 3 yr @ $105 __ $2500 _ $5000 _
Jean Gelwicks (Secretary) Business 1 yr @ $55 __ 3 yr @ $165 __ Other ___________
Ashley Hilliard
Maxine Leichter (Vice-president) Tax receipts will be provided for
Steve Leichter Name: _ ______________________________________ donations of $20 or more.
Deborah Miller Address: ______________________________________
Jane Petch
Brian Smallshaw _ ____________________________________________ Please send me the Acorn via
Bob Weeden (President) Postal Code: ___________________________________ email. (We NEVER give out member’s
Doug Wilkins
Phone:________________________________________ email addresses to anyone!)
The Salt Spring Island Email:________________________________________
Conservancy
#201 Upper Ganges Centre,
This is a renewal for an existing membership
338 Lower Ganges Rd.
Mail: PO Box 722,
Salt Spring Island BC
V8K 2W3
Office hours : Tues/Wed/Thurs
10 am - 3 pm
Phone: (250) 538-0318
Fax: (250) 538-0319
ssiconservancy@saltspring.com
www.saltspringconservancy.ca