British Columbia Magazine

Time is running out to have a treasured name live on in a lichen species. The contest to name two new species of lichen found in British Columbia’s rainforests closes December 15, so get brainstorming and start bidding.

The two species of lichens were discovered by researcher Trevor Goward who has donated his dibs on naming rights (which, under scientific protocol, usually go to the person who describes it). Instead, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia and the Ancient Forest Alliance are holding online auctions for the public to bid for the right to name the lichens. All proceeds will go to the two environmental groups. Goward refers to the auction of the naming rights as “taxonomic tithing,” and encourages other researchers to do the same.

Make a bid on the respective lichen species by visiting the websites of The Land Conservancy (1-877-485-2422) or the Ancient Forest Alliance (250-896-4007).

If you’re heading up Vancouver Island this weekend, you might want to slooow down at Cowichan Bay. This small seaside community on the Island’s southeast coast is North America’s first certified Cittaslow—Italian for “slow city.”

To qualify as a Cittaslow and join an international network of like-minded communities, Cowichan Bay had to excel in six categories related to quality of life: environmental policy, land use and infrastructure, strength of urban fabric, encouragement of local products, hospitality, and Cittaslow awareness.

“Lots of fundamentals of Cittaslow are already engrained in what Cow Bay does,” commented Cittaslow Cowichan Society president Bruce Stewart in a Cowichan News Leader article. “We actually scored higher than other Cittaslow cities.”

Less than an hour’s drive north of Victoria, the quaint village (pop. about 1,300) has earned a reputation as a food and wine destination in recent years, featuring artisan cheeses, breads, ciders, even old-fashioned ice cream. As writer Brian Payton revealed in our Fall 2006 Destination article “Cowichan Bay,” it is also a place rich in history and outdoor opportunities.

The community will celebrate the Cittaslow designation with an official ceremony this fall.

Info: Cowichan Bay

A shining beacon of good news broke through the cloud of economic gloom last week. With the province’s announcement of a management plan now in place for the Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbians can celebrate a major ecological accomplishment  on B.C.’s central and north coast. The globally important wild area is home to thousands of species of plants, birds, and animals, including the rare white Kermode “spirit bear.”

The “Ecosystem-Based Management system,” released March 31, 2009, is the product of three years of collaboration. Since 2006, the province has been working with  environmental and community groups and coastal First Nations to find ways to balance environmental protection in the area with the need for sustainable jobs and the economic interests of coastal communities.

Representatives of 20 First Nations groups, and environmental groups such as Greenpeace Canada, ForestEthics, and the Sierra Club BC, endorse the new plan. Industry and local municipalities are also on board with the five-year plan.

Under this new commitment, 20,000 square kilometres in the area is now legally protected from logging. Roughly 64,000 square kilometres—an area larger than some countries—will be part of a combined land use planning area. The management plan includes $120-million for First Nations communities to help develop a conservation economy as an alternative to traditional logging. A new regulated system of low-impact logging will conserve half of the natural range of old growth in the region.

“A vision born from environmental and economic necessity is becoming a reality on Canada’s west coast,” said Stephanie Goodwin of Greenpeace in a written statement. “It’s a conservation model that other parts of the world can look to, a model that shows how protection of ecological values and human well-being can be advanced without undermining each other.”

Throughout 2008, British Columbia has been celebrating an important milestone: its 150th birthday. Here at British Columbia Magazine, we highlighted the sesquicentennial in our Summer 2008 issue, a special 150-themed Collector’s Edition. 

Today, our colleagues at Victoria’s Times Colonist newspaper mark a significant anniversary of their own: the first edition of the British Colonist was printed exactly 150 years ago. The four-page newspaper was produced in a shack on Wharf Street by founder Amor de Cosmos, who later became B.C.’s second premier. 

To commemorate their anniversary, the paper launched a website today that provides the public with free access to the first 50 years of Colonist newspapers. Lucinda Chodan, Times Colonist editor in chief, called the resource a “gift to the community that has helped us thrive.” 

“It’s going to be great for historians, genealogists, or anyone who wants to know about the history of the province,” she said. 

The British Colonist site, which went live today at 10:00 a.m., can be searched chronologically or by key word. Either way, it provides a remarkable record of the way we were.

Congratulations, Times Colonist!  

Come January 2009, it will be “Auf Wiedersehen, Germany” and “Hello, British Columbia!” for BC Ferries’ new northern vessel, the Northern Expedition.

The 150-metre ferry was launched September 25 in Flensburg, Germany. She’ll replace the aging Queen of Prince Rupert in time for the 2009 summer season, providing service between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert on the Inside Passage route. The new ship will accommodate 130 vehicles and 600 passengers, and offer 55 modern staterooms, expanded food services and amenities for travellers.

Northern Expedition is the seventh ship to join the BC Ferries fleet since the spring of 2007. Other vessels include the 160-metre, Olympic-themed Coastal Celebration (currently parked at Swartz Bay and slated for to go into service in the near future) and its sister ships, the Coastal Renaissance and Coastal Inspiration. 

I doubt BC Ferries will be putting any of these new ferries onto my daily route from Saltspring Island to Swartz Bay, but that’s just fine.  The Skeena Queen may not have all the bells and whistles of the newest BC Ferries vessels, but she’s still a great old gal, and she gets me where I need to go.

For more information, visit the BC Ferries website. 

Well, I learned something today. How many of you knew that a wine could win a Lieutenant Governor’s Award?

True oenophiles will wince at my ignorance, but this was news to me. Apparently, British Columbia wineries may enter up to four wines in the annual B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s competition. These are judged by a panel of wine critics, who select eight to 10 wines they deem to have achieved “excellence.” The winning wineries are announced in July.

Here is the 2008 list of honoured wineries and wines. If you have any of these vintages in your cellar (or, heaven forbid, in the cupboard above your stove), consider yourself a winner:

Desert Hills Estate Winery
2004 Syrah Select

Golden Mile Cellars Estate Winery
2005 Black Arts Pinot Noir

Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estates
2005 Proprietors’ Reserve Shiraz

Joie Wines
2006 Muscat

Noble Ridge Vineyard and Winery
2005 Chardonnay

Sandhill
2006 Small Lots Viognier

Sumac Ridge Estate Winery
2003 Steller’s Jay Brut
2004 Black Sage Vineyard Meritage

Thornhaven Estates Winery
2006 Gewurztraminer

Nichol Vineyard and Estate Winery
2004 Syrah

By the end of June, British Columbians will open their mailboxes to find a big, fat, $100 opportunity waiting for them—formally known as the Climate Action Dividend.

The cheques, issued by the Government of British Columbia, are intended to provide incentive for B.C. residents to choose a “lower-carbon lifestyle.” They are also meant to ease the discomfort of the new provincial carbon tax that comes into effect July 1. All carbon-based fuels will be taxed $10 per tonne of greenhouse gas generated, which works out to 2.4 cents/litre for gasoline at the pump—up another 7.35 cents by 2012—and 2.8 cents/litre for home fuels.

While some may be tempted to use the money to fill up their tanks, others are considering the most effective way to invest in the environment. The Tyee, an alternative online news magazine, recently polled its readers and found that British Columbians have great interest in pooling their resources to make a larger, collective impact.

Need ideas? The Tyee—working with the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Voters Taking Action on Climate Change, the David Suzuki Foundation, and the Pembina Institute—has launched an informative website: www.greenyourcampbellcash.ca. The site showcases climate-action projects throughout the province, all willing to put your money to good use.

Now that I have a few good options for my $100 cheque, only one question remains: what will the Carbon Tax Dividend Fairy look like? Anita thinks she’ll definitely be green. I picture a winged sprite with pointy shoes and Carole Taylor’s smile.

In our Spring 2008 issue, we reported that five blue whales were sighted last August off the southern tip of Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands), suggesting these rare creatures may be making a comeback in our waters.

One of these giant animals will take up permanent residence at the University of British Columbia’s new Beaty Biodiversity Museum next year—its skeleton, anyway. UBC researchers are in Prince Edward Island this week exhuming a 26-metre-long blue whale that beached and died there 20 years ago. The skeleton will become the centrepiece of the Biodiversity Museum’s educational outreach program and its collection of more than two million specimens. 

“Visitors will be awed by the blue whale’s size,” says Wayne Maddison, Museum Director and UBC Professor of Botany and Zoology. “More importantly, the whale will help us tell the story of biodiversity—how the Earth’s species are interconnected ecologically and genetically.” 

The exhibit, which opens in late 2009, will be the first of its kind in Canada, and one of only five in North America. 

About the blue whale:

- It’s the largest animal to have lived on Earth, ever! It’s bigger than any dinosaur, and longer than two 12-metre school buses parked end-to-end.

- It’s listed as an endangered species under Canada’s Species at Risk program. There are an estimated 4,500 blue whales swimming in the world’s oceans. 

- The blue whale is the loudest animal. Its call measures 190 decibels, 50 decibels more powerful than the sound of a jet airliner. To hear a sample of a blue whale call, adjust your computer’s volume control!, and click here.

To see pictures of the exhumation of the blue whale, or for more information about the whale’s new home, visit the website for the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.   

Here are three great pieces of “green” news to help you celebrate Earth Day in B.C.

The provincial government announced today that it will introduce spring legislation to create 11 new Class A provincial parks and more than double the number of conservancies in the province. It will also establish a $9-million endowment fund for conservation groups.

The four Capers Whole Foods stores in Greater Vancouver, along with the chain’s 270 outlets throughout Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., stopped using plastic bags today.

City councillors in Kelowna recently voted to extend the city’s Eco-Pass program, which rewards drivers of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles with free on-street parking for a one-year period.  Similar incentive programs exist in other B.C. municipalities, including Duncan and Vancouver.

I don’t pretend to have known Bert Brink well, but during our one sit-down interview in his West 16th Avenue home in Vancouver in 2001, he impressed me with his graciousness, quiet sense of passion, and deep knowledge of British Columbia history.

He shared some of the last firsthand memories of the great drives of domestic sheep across 150 kilometres of the southern Interior, before the Second World War. Experiences that inevitably led to his long-standing campaign to save the South Chilcotin.

With two hip replacements and a bad leg dating to when he once trained Canadian soldiers in mountaineering in the Rockies, Brink sensed in 2001 that his alpine days were numbered. 

“It’s hard to get into a tent and sleeping bag,” he allowed. “You put a lot of other people to trouble. You can’t fight the aging process indefinitely.”

Brink’s efforts helped to create the 56,540-hectare Spruce Lake Protected Area, a level of protection he would have considered a start, not a conservation end.

Tom Perry, the Vancouver physician, conservationist, and former provincial cabinet minister, describes Brink as “the greatest and most consistent environmentalist and naturalist of British Columbia, and perhaps in Canadian history,” adding that his longevity made him the “human equivalent of a Jeffrey pine or giant sequoia, Douglas fir, or Sitka spruce.”

Brink served as chair of the University of British Columbia department of plant science, had an accomplished research career, and assisted in the creation of numerous provincial and regional parks while serving with groups such as the Federation of B.C. Naturalists and the Nature Trust of B.C. He travelled to Victoria in June to receive the 2007 Lieutenant-Governor’s Conservation Award for his contribution to wetland conservation and education, the latest in a series of accolades that included the Order of Canada.

Vernon Cuthbert Brink died on November 29, 2007, at age 95. A celebration-of-life service will be held for him January 31, 2008, 4 p.m to 7 p.m, at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, 3811 Point Grey Road.

His voice endures in British Columbia Magazine in an article he wrote for the Winter 1997 issue, “Redfern is no Lake Louise,” about Redfern Lake in the Northern Rockies.