In early July, Savary Island Land Trust (SILT) had raised $183,000 of its $190,000 goal to save a native meadow within an at-risk Coastal Douglas-fir Ecosystem located on 1254 Tennyson Road on the island.
The nonprofit charitable organization had a deadline of July 17 to raise the funds, but announced on Monday, July 15, that the $190,000 goal had been met. The money donated goes to the SILT Nature Legacy Fund, which is used to acquire land that has been deemed at risk or threatened, and so far 43 per cent of Savary is now protected, according to SILT.
"We have a land acquisition framework and policy based on scientific evidence and criteria," stated SILT executive director Liz Webster in an email to the Peak. "The ecological significance of the land and proximity to other protected lands are some of the criteria."
Before SILT was established in 1997 by Webster, there was no protected land on Savary.
"The island was subdivided into 50-foot lots, like in [City of Powell River’s] Townsite, in 1910," added Webster. "Savary has the highest density of subdivision in qathet Regional District and no services, no zoning or any kind of land use bylaws or enforcement."
The meadow ecosystem near Meadow Beach is within a provincially at-risk ecological zone.
"The land is in the Coastal Douglas-fir Ecosystem, which is the most under threat ecosystem in BC," stated Webster. "Savary being all sand is a rare ecosystem within the coastal Douglas-fir, and has numerous rare plant communities."
The BC government states that all coastal old-growth Douglas fir forests in BC are at risk due to logging and other human activity.
How does Savary Island balance protecting sensitive ecosystems as people continue to build homes on the 7.5-kilometre long vacationers’ paradise?
"There is absolutely no balance," said Webster. "Savary Islanders love Savary and have worked hard and donated generously to buy the conservation lands that we have secured over the last 30 years."
Join the Peak’s email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
