2019 Community Stewardship Nominee Profile - Sara Steil

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Sustaining the Islands – Community Stewardship Awards Program 
 
 
 
2019 Nominee Profile 
 
Sara Steil 
North Pender Island 
(Posthumous) 
 
Category:  Individual  
 
Project:       Special 2019 Community Stewardship Award for Lifetime Achievement 
 
Nominator(s):      Trust Programs Committee 
 
Project Description:  
 
Sara Steil was a force for conservation on the Pender Islands. She was a founding member of the 
Pender Islands Trust Protection Society and an active contributor to land use decision making 
through numerous North Pender Island Local Trust Committee public processes. She 
contributed to Official Community Plan (OCP) and Land Use Bylaw (LUB) development and was a 
champion for the Islands Trust mandate to “preserve and protect” the islands. 
 
Sara was also an active member of the Pender Islands Conservancy Association. In 2009, Sara 
and her husband Richard (Dick), protected their land through the Natural Area Protection Tax 
Exemption Program (NAPTEP) by placing a conservation covenant on their land title. Their 
conservation covenant is a lasting legacy for North Pender, protecting 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres) of 
coastal Douglas-fir forest and a portion of the shoreline of Gardom Pond. Their wetland in Steils' 
Woods Covenant is home to amphibians and visiting Great Blue Herons.  Wild strawberry and 
western trilliums fill in spaces on the forest floor between tall firs, cedars and maples. 
 
Sara also worked passionately to preserve and protect the marine environment. She was an 
active member of the Pender Island Power and Sail Squadron and for more than 20 years she 
educated boaters about the nature value of the marine environment and ways to steward it. 
Part of this work included contributing to the Pleasure Craft Pollution Prevention program. 
Additionally, she volunteered to inventory forage fish beaches to confirm spawning habitats for 
these small fish that form a critical component of the marine food web.  
 
Sara’s work, passion, and commitment have left a lasting legacy for the preservation and 
protection of Pender Island.

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