Quadra Island Conservancy & Stewardship Society
DISCOVERY PASSAGE Newsletter March '98
The Quadra Island Conservancy is at a critical point in its history. It was formed in late 1990 when the only privately-owned land on Morte Lake came on the market. After a major effort, the $180,000 needed to buy this 57-acre property was raised. We haven't bought any more land since, due to a combination of rising prices and exhaustion with fund-raising, but we have in a small way started to deal with land covenants. Changes made to the Land Title Act a few years ago now enable landowners to protect their property by granting a conservation covenant, which transfers with the title, to an approved non-government organization such as the Quadra conservancy. That organization becomes responsible for monitoring compliance with the terms of the covenant; these might, for example, forbid clearcutting or certain forms of development. So far we hold only one covenant, but hope to sign two more within the next few months.
The Conservancy could play a bigger role on Quadra by, for example, raising money to buy more land. One possibility would be to have a revolving fund: a property would be bought, a covenant placed on it, and then it would be resold. Or we could restrict ourselves to dealing with covenants, as at present. Either way, we need more volunteers for monitoring and fund-raising, because even if we don't buy land we need money for legal and survey fees and other operating expenses. The Conservancy is at present run by a committee of seven stewards, some of whom have served from the beginning.We badly need new people with fresh energy and ideas.
So where do we go from here? We need feedback from members and the community at large. Come and give us your ideas at our Annual General Meeting in the Quadra Community Centre on Sunday, April 5 at 7:30 pm. And preferably follow up by becoming a steward (we will call for nominations at the meeting) or offering to help in other ways.
For further information, please call
Julie Mellanby (285-3978) or Stan Paterson (285-3337).
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