By PETER LAMB

NEXT IN A SERIES

The story so far ….

Acts 1, 2 and 3 described the formation of the Islands Trust in 1974, subsequent amendments in 1977 to make the organization more “mature and responsive”, and its survival of a proposal to abolish the Trust in 1982. We now take an intermission to look at the success story of the Islands Trust Fund – the land conservancy arm of the Trust.

Intermission

The original Islands Trust Act, passed in June, 1974, does not provide authority for the Trust to hold land or receive donations from the public. This is corrected about a year later in Bill 97.

An offer of a property prompts the government to amend the Act to authorize a Trust Fund “to develop and look after the islands, to acquire land for possible park purposes and for wilderness areas.” Minister James Lorimer states that “we have found in the past year that people who are prepared to give donations objected to giving them to government as such or to a department of government.” The Islands Trust Fund is conceived but not yet born.

Over the next decade, Trust Council repeatedly asks the Province to proclaim the Trust Fund provisions of the Act, but without success. In 1987, Social Credit Minister Rita Johnston finally agrees to the establishment of a Trust Fund as part of a broad review of the Islands Trust and the trustees set up a special Committee under Trustee Mike Humphries to work on its structure. Trustees benefit from a 1975 study by consultant Don Benn and the Nature Conservancy of Canada that identifies ecologically sensitive areas on the islands.

However, it is two years before Minister Johnston finally introduces Bill 78, in May 1989, proposing major amendments to the Islands Trust Act including the establishment of a Trust Fund Board “giving it a clear mandate and budgetary and staff support through Trust Council.” The amended Islands Trust Act is passed in July 1989, to be effective on April 1, 1990.

In this transition period, three trustees are appointed to a Trust Fund Committee to work with Ministry staff on a program and budget for the first year under the new legislation and to prepare the framework for the Trust Fund Plan required by the Province.

A new Trust Fund Board will consist of three of the elected local trustees and three Ministerial appointees, a structure under which the Trust Fund still operates.

The first Trust Fund Board meeting is held on May 17, 1990 and, in the following four years, the initial Trust Fund Plan is approved by the Minister, staff is hired by the Board and the Minister makes the first provincial appointments to the Board.

The Islands Trust Fund is finally operational. Since then, much has been accomplished with major initiatives such as the completion of Regional Conservation Plan with targets for ecosystem protection in each local Trust area for the period 2005 to 2010.

A subsequent Plan for the next five years is now being prepared.

Tax Exemption Program

In 1994, green space is being taxed at the same rate as residential property.

Newly elected trustee Kim Benson leads a prolonged process with the B.C. Assessment Authority, provincial ministries and others to “untax nature” in much the same way as taxes on eligible farm and forestry lands can be reduced, succeeding in 2002 with the creation of the Natural Area Protection Tax Exemption Program (“NAPTEP”), unique to the Islands Trust area. Landowners in the trust area can now qualify for a 65 per cent reduction in property taxes owing on the land they are willing to protect under a strict conservation covenant, held by the Islands Trust Fund and monitored annually.

Crown Lands

Because of its unique status as a land trust under the umbrella of a local government, the Islands Trust Fund is able to acquire vacant crown land under the provincial Free Crown Grant program. To date, the Trust Fund has acquired two new nature reserves through this program on Gabriola and Gambier Islands, with a third to be completed later this year on Bowen Island.

Summary

The Islands Trust Fund has protected 19 nature reserves and holds an additional 56 conservation covenants in 12 of the 13 Trust areas, protecting a total of 982 hectares of land.

Thanks to the generosity of island landowners, donors, partners, and the Free Crown Grant program, the Islands Trust Fund has spent less than $5 million to protect more than $31 million worth of land, although the ecological, cultural, and social value of the lands and habitats protected by the Trust Fund far exceeds their monetary value.

With such results, the Islands Trust Fund surely is a success story, significantly contributing to the “preserve and protect” mandate of the Islands Trust.

[We continue the Islands Trust Story in the Driftwood on October 7.]

The writer is an islander for 20 years and former local trustee.