Comox Valley Land Trust

The Strategy promotes:
• prevention of further loss and fragmentation of critical ecological areas
• an underpinning of protection and restoration of natural systems to adequately prepare for increasing population growth and development
• a coordinated regional approach to conservation and land use planning
• the sustainability of ecosystems as both a quality of life issue and as an economic issue

• The population of the Comox Valley is projected to increase by 21% by the year 2020.
• With four local and one tribal government, we need a bioregional approach to land use based on natural systems
• The strategy provides a base of protective and restorative actions upon which we could develop our Growth Management Plan

Between 1991 – 2004: Sensitive
Ecosystems inventoried by BC MOE with Project Watershed and others

2004 Sensitive Ecosystems
Inventory: Sensitive Ecosystems lost and fragmented since 1991

2004 Sensitive Ecosystems
Inventory: remaining intact and fragmented Sensitive Ecosystems

A framework for conservation planning that identifies and protects significant ecological areas, identifies and facilitates a process that, over time, links them together to form a biodiversity network.
Based on the Nature Without Borders report.

Identifies Ecological Areas for Conservation
• Riparian Areas:
– to ensure that streams, watercourses and water bodies are able to properly function and support plant and animal habitat.
• Sensitive Ecosystems:
– to protect remaining intact and fragmented ecosystems which are rare and threatened
• Critical Watersheds (Browns and Tsable):
– to maintain safe and viable linkages for large wildlife to the west coast via Strathcona Park
• Upland Wildlife Corridors:
– to restore and maintain corridors used by large and small wildlife and to link significant ecological areas

Stream and healthy riparian area

Sensitive ecosystem - wetland

Sensitive ecosystem – second growth forest

Wildlife corridors for large animals…….

….. and small animals

Currently protected areas: parks, greenways, wildlife and ecological reserves, covenants and lands owned by conservancies

With CV Land Trust identified priority areas: watercourses with
30-metre buffers

From : “ Land Development Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Habitat”,
Complied and edited by Barry Chilibeck, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Geoff Chislett and Gary Norris, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks - 1992.

Left natural to recruit large woody debris

With CV Land Trust priority areas: sensitive ecosystems with 30-m buffers.

With CV Land Trust priority areas: critical watersheds

With CV Land Trust priority areas: upland wildlife corridors

A Network of Significant Ecological Areas:

Millard/ Piercy watershed

Moving from words to action
• Nature Without Borders Report with Revised
Recommendations published Jan 2008
• Compilation of conservation mapping and database tools
• Formed Strategy Steering Committee, Governance documents and implementation teams
• Conservation in Land Use Planning Workshops March
13 and April 17 and a Strategy Session on May 9 2008
• Joint recommendations passed by all jurisdictions endorsing NWB and Regional planning based on conservation
• Developers are asking us to look at their proposals

Developers are asking us for an “endorsement” of their projects which we are unwilling to do
The Scorecard will provide a score only but will articulate and promote green values and specific desired development outcomes
A high score will likely assist approvals while a low score, we hope, will coax the developer back to the drawing board and involve us in that work
This process we believe, will save developers money, save planning staff time and assist a movement towards higher environmental standards

Can our local environment be protected and restored as we host a 21% increase in population?
• Short term? Yes. Through cooperative, inclusive and imaginative growth management planning that is based on and around natural systems
• Long term? No. To really succeed we must continue to shift collectively away from the fundamental conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation

www.cvlandtrust.org