Discovery Islander Magazine, January 19, 1998
Island Forum
RRl, Site 2, Comp 2
Gabriola Island, BC, VOR IKO
Peter Shields
1757 West 40th St.,
Vancouver, B.C.
Sirs,
Already your logging adjacent to the historic lodge on Twin Islands is visible from the water. This is a travesty. This misuse of an historic site and land of prime recreational value should stop immediately. I speak as a concerned resident.
The lodge is worthy of a heritage designation. It dates from the same era and is built in the same style as the historic Montebello Lodge near Montreal. This Twin Islands lodge was used by Lester B. Pearson to host an International Peace Conference in the 1950's. As recently as 1994 it had as a guest her Majesty the Queen.
The Twin Islands are in immediate view of two destination resorts, Tai Li Lodge and Hollyhock Wholistic Centre. The Vancouver Yacht Club and The Seattle Yacht Club both maintain destination moorage facilities in nearby Cortes Bay. Located adjacent to the world class sail and boating destination of Desolation Sound with its Marine Park the Twin Islands have extraordinary potential value as recreational land, whether privately maintained or as Provincial Parkland.
The arrival of heavy logging equipment for use in winter after a year with record rainfall over the islands' thin soils is not promising of anything like respect for the value of this land. Aesthetic damage, soil erosion, damage to a unique upland wetlands area and damage to nesting sites are likely consequences of your logging if continued. The land on Twin Islands is well known locally and over half of that land consists of areas mapped as ecologically sensitive.
Unusual is the stroke of fortune that enabled your company to purchase Twin Islands from their previous owner Margraf Maximillian von Baden at what appears to be a mere fraction of realistic market value. Were the Margraf's financial advisors so out of touch and unprofessional as to advise this hasty sale with no attempt to market the property publicly? At first glance that would seem to be the case, unless there was an exchange of moneys or other considerations at some level not a matter of public record?
It is understood that you have to date refused offers of purchase several times higher than your purchased price. The unique cultural factors surrounding Twln Islands suggest that in this case the real estate may actually have an equal value left untouched as can be extracted from the usual fast log and subdivide. Why not establish a true market value from purchasers whose interest is to maintain and enhance the Island s historical cultural and recreational values?
Be assured that residents and businesses on Cortes Island will be witness and a source of ongoing protest to the continuance of short-sighted logging practice on Twin Islands. I urge you to call off your machines. A more cautious approach to your investment in Twin Islands will win the praise of your new neighbors on Cortes and could provide you significant alternative financial gain.
Yours truly
Ian D. Cheminant
ilchem@oberon.ark.com
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