NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS of the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING DENMAN CONSERVANCY ASSOCIATION 7:30 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013 in the Back Hall
The AGM business will include:
The Directors’ Report, Treasurer’s Report, Committee Reports
A Special Resolution to approve an amendment to the Bylaws to establish a restricted account to hold DCA’s funds for land acquisition
Election of Directors
2013 Home and Garden Tour
The Denman Island Home & Garden Tour turns 20 this year! Please help us spread the word about this long-lived and much-loved fundraising event, which was named one of Canada’s top six horticultural events by the Globe and Mail, and described as “a much anticipated highlight of Spring” in the Victoria Times-Colonist. We are very excited about this year’s tour. It will take place on the weekend of June 15th and 16th showing a bounty of summer blooms as opposed to the spring shows of the last few tours. This will also be excellent timing to see the many abundant vegetable gardens in all their glory. Tickets will be $18, with an early bird price of $15 for tickets purchased on line (soon available at denmanconservancy.org) before May15th. If you can’t make the whole tour, but would like to visit one or two locations there will be a $5 single location entry fee. We have some spectacular new locations and some returning favorites. The tour will start off at the Denman Island School garden, showing all the dedicated work done by staff, parents and student as well as their vision for the future. DICES will be providing the lunch as a fundraiser and are aiming to grow all the veggies on site.
Then heading out along Lacon, listed in order of location on a loop from downtown:
Tracy Horovatin and Shayne Barker;
John Tallerino and Marc Randall of Dragonfly Knoll;
Selinda and Mike White;
Jayne-Anne O’Reilly;
Leslie Dunsmore;
Kathy and Mike Rapatti;
Linda and Glen Pollitt;
Joan and David Scruton; Sandy and Des Kennedy; Susan-Marie and Yoshi Yoshihara; and Liz and John Johnston of Oysterbeach Farm
With a few more gardens and points of interest still to be announced, it is now time to start gathering our wonderful volunteers. We need help preparing our show gardens, doing reception and tickets at the gates, handing out reserved tickets, putting up signage and directing traffic at the ferry hill. Or if there is any other way you can think of to help we would love to add you to our team. Please call Lee Andra Jacobs: 335-1802. Contributed by Autumn White
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AGM Business
Monday 25 March 2013
Membership
A current membership is required in order to vote on DCA society matters. Volunteers will be available before the meeting commencement to accept a minimum $10 donation from those who wish to renew their membership. Special Resolution: restricted funds
In 2009 Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) gave the DCA permission to accumulate $400,000 during the period September 1, 2006 to August 31, 2016 “for the purpose of acquisition and conservation (of) lands on Denman Island”. At the end of its last fiscal year DCA had about $156,000 in unrestricted funds. There is also a restricted investment with the Vancouver Foundation worth $101,154, which fluctuates with the market value of the Foundation’s investments. The fund is governed by CRA regulations and disburses payments of approximately 3.5% to 4.0% annually which DCA has been reinvesting.
The DCA Board has had a number of discussions regarding the future focus of the Conservancy’s activities and resources. There is continuing interest in land acquisition and recognition of the need to provide funding for the maintenance of the lands and obligations (covenants) that the DCA has acquired. These goals will require the accumulation of capital, which we can do under the permission granted by CRA.
A number of the Conservancy’s supporters wish to direct their donations to land acquisition rather than general operations. Additionally the Board sees a need to preserve and protect the cash that has been accumulated thus far.
To accommodate these needs the DCA Board recommends the establishment of a restricted fund for land acquisitions account. Funds totalling $125,000 would be reclassified from current assets to restricted fund for land acquisitions.
Future additions to the account will come from interest earned by the term deposits, directed donations and any additional excess funds that the DCA is able to accumulate and the Board wishes to restrict.
Denman’s Natural Burial Cemetery
A major step in the establishment of the new cemetery was achieved on January 23rd when the one hectare of land at the corner of Central Park was transferred from DCA to Denman Island Memorial Society (DIMS). There is a conservation covenant on the title to ensure that the land is used for a natural burial cemetery. DIMS is now preparing a Management Plan that will detail the preparation of the site for burials and the areas to be left as forest for ash scattering. Proposed designs for the memorial structures were offered for public comment at the Seniors Hall during the Ping Pong Tournament last weekend.
How I Became a Conservancy Board Member
by Susan-Marie Yoshihara
One spring day in 1990 I got a phone call from a friend. She told me that a new group was forming to do what people had been talking about doing for years–finding a way to save some of the beautiful old forests of Denman Island. She knew that I had been studying bookkeeping and that I loved being in the forests. I guess that’s why she asked me if I would join the group and be the treasurer.
Well I wasn’t such a great bookkeeper and I’m not the kind of person with a lot of courage. You’ll never find me standing in front of a logging truck or staring down a bulldozer driver. Fortunately, that kind of action wasn’t part of the plan. I didn’t know a lot about nature, either, just what they teach in first year biology. I had a little garden and I liked the birds, but I only knew a few of their names. I was ignorant but I cared a lot about the forests. Even so I never imagined myself on the board of an environmental organisation!
I decided to jump into the Denman Conservancy Association anyway. My bookkeeping skills were barely enough to get us through the first few years without a disaster. Later we found a big-hearted retired oil man to be our treasurer. By then, though, I was hooked. I’ve been on the Conservancy board many times since and intend to keep on going!
DCA is always on the lookout for new talent. Helping out on the DCA board of directors is one great way to serve this community. If you always wanted to do something to help with our efforts to conserve Denman’s part of the Coastal Douglas Fir zone, please consider joining our board. Call me for more information, my number is 250 335 0253.
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Parks Advisory Service: PAS
The Parks Committee of the Denman Residents Association (DIRA) has organized a contact team of Islanders who will respond to complaints, concerns and inquiries about public parks. This will assist the off-island administration offices of B.C. Parks and Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) to re-route calls to local volunteers who can immediately follow up on these calls, investigate the concerns and either resolve them or report back to the respective administration office to seek resolution. Likewise it gives Islanders a connection to local volunteers who can assist them on 24-7 basis with inquiries.
Parks and Nature Reserves on Denman are owned by B.C. Parks (MOE), the CVRD, the Denman Conservancy Association (DCA) and Island Trust Fund (ITF). ITF-owned reserves are managed by the DCA. The PAS volunteers will take calls regarding DCA’s Nature Reserves and DCA’s Central Park and direct them to the DCA Land Manager for follow up. The PAS volunteers will maintain a record of all inquiries, complaints, concerns and response actions and will provide this information to the appropriate agency on a regular basis.
The diverse ownerships are not always known by the public, hence the simple term “Parks” Advisory Service. Although there are specific assignments, the PAS volunteers will address any calls and follow up on them within their team. The primary contacts of the PAS are backed by a second layer of volunteers.
The 24-7 primary contacts are:
Allan Danks, Chair, Trails Ctte. DIRA (250) 335 1838
Andrew Fyson, Land Manager of DCA (250) 335 9047
Laura Pope, Chair, Parks Cttee DIRA (250) 335 1203
Peter Karsten, CVRD Parks liaison (250) 335 1640
We hope to provide this service for the protection, safety and enjoyment of our parks and reserves on Denman Island. Contacts will be listed in the D.I. Phone Directory in the next edition. For wildlife related calls and lost dogs, call the Wildlife Advisory Committee (see D.I. Phone Directory inside cover):
Cindy Critchley 335 3244
Peter Karsten 335 1640
Mike Nestor 335 1209
Dennis Forsyth 335 1146
or Chris Danks 335 1838
For B.C. Parks, Black Creek, Central Coast/North Island Section call (250) 337 2400 (message center). For Fillongley Park call R.L.C. Enterprise Ltd. (250) 248 1134.
Bird House Building
Saturday March 16 – Old School, DCA Room 10 am
The Bird House building workshop will be introduced with a short report on the re-introduction of the Western Bluebirds to the Gulf of Georgia region which they formerly inhabited.
The houses we will build are a bluebird type house also accepted by species of cavity nesting swallows, wrens, nuthatches and chickadees. They are easy to build and to maintain. The DCA is providing enough material for at least one bird house per family. Bring your screwdrivers, manual or electric, Phillips #1 and #2 drivers. If you have clean 1 x 6 or 1 x 8 inch cedar board ends no less than 1 foot in length please bring them for next year’s workshop.
Brian Keating and friends. See Events for May 17th, 2013
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Checkerspots Again
Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly sketch by Peter Karsten (Euphydryas editha taylori) May be seen flying on Denman Island in May and June.
Denman Island is the only known location of the Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly in Canada. The habitat is on open meadows scattered through an estimated 1500 ha of mixed forest, logged areas, agricultural and rural residential land. About two thirds of this land is privately owned and one third is part of the new BC Provincial Park. Three Checkerspot projects are planned for this year:
The Provincial Government (Parks and Environment), with assistance of Denman volunteers coordinated by the DIRA Parks Committee, will search for larvae and map habitat to select a 10 hectare reserve within the Park to be managed for Checkerspots.
DCA has applied for a Federal grant to assist with managing the habitat on land owned by DCA and by Islands Trust Fund, as well as to assist other interested private landowners; to prepare management plans for selected habitat areas and to prepare a ‘Best Practices Manual’ for future use in maintaining and improving Checkerspot habitat.
A captive breeding facility is being prepared, modelled after the successful operation for the same species at the Oregon Zoo. Operation of this facility is subject to permitting by Government.
Local coordination of all Checkerspot work is the role of the Taylor’s Checkerspot Community Working Group (TCCWG) which held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday 27 February. Jennifer Heron, is the Provincial Government Co-Chair of the TCCWG. The TC Community Working Group is also seeking a co-chair from the local community.
The Group is creating an email forum for facilitating discussion between volunteers about sightings and other TC developments as the season progresses. Several Checkerspot instruction sessions have taken place over the past few weeks. And a workshop on identification of Checkerspot larvae is planned for late March for the enthusiastic group of volunteers. For information about volunteering call:
Erika Bland volunteer coordinator 702-7773 or
Peter Karsten Checkerspot liaison with Parks 335-1640
It has been inspiring to see so many people excited to get out and start looking for Checkerspots again! Bring on the sunny days!
Out and About with DCA
Andrew Fyson, DCA’s Land Manager, has led several forays against various alien invaders of DCA’s properties in the past month. Near the Owl Crescent/Mallard Road boundary of the Lindsay Dickson forest, Scotch broom and Holly were uprooted. In the Morrison Marsh Nature Reserve Daphne Laurel was cut down. Landkeeper volunteers, now working under Andrew’s direction, were the main helpers.
On Saturday 2nd March John Tayless gave his annual talk (14th time!) on the herring spawning carnival to a capacity audience. The very next day the event itself made the Denman shore of Lambert Channel a spectacular scene of milk-white sea under a brilliant blue sky attended by flocks of gulls and eagles, herds of sea lions and as well the fleet of fish boats and gillnet skiffs.
Jenny Balke presented a DCA submission to the Local Trust Committee of Islands Trust objecting to the identification in the Farm Plan of Denman Conservancy as a ‘key player’ (in the implementation of the Plan) without consultation with the DCA Board and without accurate use of the DCA’s mandate. DCA sees the Denman Island Farm Plan as making claims for agriculture that do not reasonably balance agricultural needs with the Islands Trust’s mandate to preserve and protect Denman’s unique environment and amenities.
