Islands Trust Conservancy Board regular meeting, February 11, 2021

[0:00:00] Voice 1: Hello and welcome to the virtual open house for the Ruby Alton Nature Reserve Management Plan.

[0:00:05] Voice 1: Thank you for joining us electronically for this. We will be beginning the session with

[0:00:11] Voice 1: an introduction and a welcome by cultural knowledge holder Harold Joe.

[0:00:16] Voice 3: Thank you, Nuala.

[0:00:20] Voice 3: It's a pleasure to be here again. It's always nice to acknowledge people in our traditional way,

[0:00:30] Voice 3: and our cultural way is to acknowledge you in a way that welcomes you to explore and wonder about

[0:00:38] Voice 3: know about the islands the gulf islands in particular are as a vast array of campsites

[0:00:45] Voice 3: villages and homes of our people and have been for thousands of years salt spring in particular

[0:00:53] Voice 3: has a lot of history and connection we have we're all connected to that each of those islands out

[0:01:00] Voice 3: out there where our Sawat, Couch and Malahat and so forth

[0:01:04] Voice 3: up and down the island.

[0:01:07] Voice 3: And the traditional territories of our people

[0:01:11] Voice 3: weren't just like in one certain little area.

[0:01:14] Voice 3: We had fishing spots, camping spots and harvesting,

[0:01:17] Voice 3: medicinal, all on those islands.

[0:01:20] Voice 3: So I welcome you people and we hope we have a great evening

[0:01:25] Voice 3: and let's stay safe.

[0:01:30] Voice 1: Thank you for your words and starting off this session in such a good way.

[0:01:38] Voice 1: I am Nuala Murphy, the property management specialist for the Islands Trust Conservancy.

[0:01:43] Voice 1: I am grateful to live and work in the territory of the Lekwungen speaking people,

[0:01:46] Voice 1: the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations. The Islands Trust Conservancy acknowledges

[0:01:52] Voice 1: and respects that Salt Spring Island is the home to the Coast Salish peoples

[0:01:56] Voice 1: and is committed to building mutually respectful relationships

[0:02:00] Voice 1: between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples

[0:02:03] Voice 1: and conservation partners.

[0:02:06] Voice 1: Islands Trust Conservancy is a conservation land trust

[0:02:09] Voice 1: for islands in the Salish Sea.

[0:02:10] Voice 1: We protect natural landscapes as nature reserves

[0:02:13] Voice 1: as well as help owners to protect private land

[0:02:15] Voice 1: through conservation covenants.

[0:02:17] Voice 1: We also work closely with the local island conservancy groups.

[0:02:21] Voice 1: So the Islands Trust Conservancy works in partnership with TLC,

[0:02:24] Voice 1: the land conservancy on this property.

[0:02:26] Voice 1: they hold a conservation covenant and there are restrictions on the use of the property

[0:02:32] Voice 1: outlined in the covenant that have been in place to protect the native plants and animals that

[0:02:36] Voice 1: live there and there are also restrictions that have been put in place by the will that from Ruby

[0:02:41] Voice 1: Alton who left her property to ITC. Now now some housekeeping things this session is being recorded

[0:02:51] Voice 1: and can be viewed at a later time for those people who miss this and it will be on our website the

[0:02:56] Voice 1: the islandstrustconservancy.ca. You can ask questions throughout the presentation by typing

[0:03:05] Voice 1: in questions into the Q&A, the question and answer at the bottom toolbar that hopefully you see that

[0:03:11] Voice 1: when you scroll over and we'll go over the questions at the end of the slideshow. The chat

[0:03:18] Voice 1: function is and the raised hand function will not be active for this so please use the question and

[0:03:23] Voice 1: answer. So Karina Maslavat has been contracted by the Island Stress Conservancy to complete the

[0:03:31] Voice 1: management plan for Ruby Alton Nature Reserve. Karina is the principal owner of an ecological

[0:03:37] Voice 1: consulting firm, a botanist and ecologist by training. She received her master's degree from

[0:03:42] Voice 1: the University of Victoria. And in addition to botany, her latest work includes spearheading

[0:03:48] Voice 1: projects to survey for rare snakes and bats and developing and implementing ecological

[0:03:52] Voice 1: restoration projects. She has written COSIWC status reports, best management practices,

[0:04:01] Voice 1: invasive species removal plans, and developed policy development for conservation lands.

[0:04:07] Voice 1: She is the author of 12 Islands Trust Conservancy Management Plans, and she will now present her

[0:04:12] Voice 1: findings from her fieldwork and research so far.

[0:04:17] Voice 2: Thanks, Nuala. I'm going to share screens now so

[0:04:21] Voice 2: that you can all see the slides that I've put together. There we go. Does that look good for

[0:04:37] Voice 2: everybody? Yes. Okay, great. So Ruby Alton Nature Reserve Management Plan, this is an update to the

[0:04:46] Voice 2: management plan that was written almost 20 years ago, so it's been a long time since anyone's been

[0:04:53] Voice 2: at the site. The previous management plan really focused primarily on the building maintenance

[0:05:00] Voice 2: that was required which was connected to Ruby Alton's house and the gardens and the focus of

[0:05:07] Voice 2: the updated management plan was to capture more of the ecology and biology of the site rather than

[0:05:15] Voice 2: so much focus on on the building and the infrastructure. So for those of you that

[0:05:21] Voice 2: aren't familiar with the site, Ruby Alton is on the west side of Fulford Harbour just down in the

[0:05:29] Voice 2: bottom southern end of salt spring it's this little red parcel that the red arrow here is

[0:05:35] Voice 2: pointing to so it's right along the shoreline of the the ocean this red parcel is the ruby

[0:05:43] Voice 2: alton nature reserve and this larger green kind of upside down l-shaped piece is the ruby alton

[0:05:51] Voice 2: Nature Sanctuary which Ruby Alton donated to NCC, Nature Conservancy of Canada. So the the two pieces

[0:06:01] Voice 2: are connected just right across Isabella Point Road. There are a couple of other park reserves

[0:06:08] Voice 2: that are managed by the Salt Spring Island Parks and Recreation Commission. The long skinny pink

[0:06:14] Voice 2: one is Isabella Road Park Reserve and this green triangle is Fern Creek Park Reserve.

[0:06:22] Voice 2: So the purpose of the Ruby-Alton Nature Reserve is to protect the natural ecosystems and values

[0:06:29] Voice 2: of the site and to maintain the biodiversity of the site for the benefit of the flora and fauna,

[0:06:34] Voice 2: Salt Spring Island residents, local First Nations and the province in accordance with Ruby-Alton's

[0:06:40] Voice 2: last will and testament. There are a number of objectives to reach that goal. So the picture

[0:06:49] Voice 2: on the right is Ruby Alton's house, former house, which is now part of the Adams Trust Conservancy,

[0:06:57] Voice 2: Ruby Alton Nature Reserve. So the objectives are to protect the natural areas, biological diversity

[0:07:04] Voice 2: and natural values, to restore the plant and animal communities and ecological processes

[0:07:09] Voice 2: processes where necessary, support ongoing inventory, mapping, and monitoring to guide

[0:07:15] Voice 2: management, allow natural forest accession and natural ecological processes and functions

[0:07:20] Voice 2: to proceed unimpeded except in the case of wildfire, remove invasive species, maintain

[0:07:28] Voice 2: safe public access to the reserve, and to maintain the residence, driveway, and surrounding

[0:07:33] Voice 2: gardens as per Ruby Alton's last will and testament.

[0:07:36] Voice 2: amount. So there's a couple of different conservation covenants that have been registered

[0:07:44] Voice 2: on the land. The covenant area B is the northern end of the reserve, which includes a former pasture

[0:07:52] Voice 2: area, which is just in this northern portion of the reserve, Ruby Alton's house, which is kind of

[0:07:58] Voice 2: in the middle, and her former garden area, which is surrounding the house. The main access route

[0:08:06] Voice 2: The route to the reserve is through a gate, which is off Isabella Point Road. This is Isabella Point Road on the left of the slide here, and then there's a path that goes through the former pasture area down a set of stairs and provides beach access.

[0:08:23] Voice 2: there's a nice wildlife tree next to the creek this blue line that goes across Isabella Point

[0:08:30] Voice 2: Road and follows down to the ocean is technically known as Forson's Brook but is kind of locally

[0:08:37] Voice 2: known as Ruby's Creek and all of these circles are invasive species that have been mapped in

[0:08:44] Voice 2: the reserves so the the red circles are English Holly the yellow along the border here is Daphne

[0:08:50] Voice 2: or spurge laurel and there's a big swath of english ivy along the shoreline um this covenant

[0:08:58] Voice 2: area a is a really um lovely maturing um second growth or possibly even third growth forest

[0:09:07] Voice 2: that has a really nice mix of douglas fir and western red cedar um and it's in the western

[0:09:14] Voice 2: Red Cedar, Douglas fir, Oregon beaked moss plant community. There's a lot of important features

[0:09:24] Voice 2: of Ruby Alton Nature Reserve. Probably one of the most important features is the shoreline and

[0:09:31] Voice 2: intertidal area which provides a lot of really great wildlife habitat for otters and also for

[0:09:39] Voice 2: marine creatures. Surf smelt has been noted in this area and one of the respondents of

[0:09:47] Voice 2: the questionnaire suggested that there might be Pacific sand lace there as well. So it's

[0:09:51] Voice 2: a really rich intertidal zone and because of the public access there's a really nice

[0:09:59] Voice 2: public beach access which is a really valuable thing for the people of the island. A maturing

[0:10:07] Voice 2: Douglas fir, western red forest cedar. The creek itself is quite beautiful. There's fresh water

[0:10:15] Voice 2: flows through most of the year and it's also really great for connectivity with the larger

[0:10:21] Voice 2: Ruby Alton Nature Sanctuary that's protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. So here's a

[0:10:29] Voice 2: couple of pictures to show you the forest. There's a lot of sword ferns in the understory and a

[0:10:35] Voice 2: really nice mix of douglas fir western red cedar and here's a photo of the creek really nice

[0:10:43] Voice 2: habitat in with the the sword ferns there's been a number of different amphibians that have been

[0:10:48] Voice 2: noted including the the newts and pacific tree frogs and also northern red-legged frog which is

[0:10:59] Voice 2: is a Kosiewicz special concern species.

[0:11:02] Voice 2: And also there's great blue herons

[0:11:05] Voice 2: that forage pretty frequently along the shoreline.

[0:11:10] Voice 2: The reserve is unique in terms of

[0:11:14] Voice 2: Island's Trust Conservancy properties

[0:11:15] Voice 2: because of the presence of the house on it,

[0:11:18] Voice 2: which makes for some challenges and some opportunities

[0:11:23] Voice 2: connected with the management of that.

[0:11:27] Voice 2: There are issues with invasive species.

[0:11:29] Voice 2: there's quite a number of mature holly plants that are scattered throughout the reserve

[0:11:35] Voice 2: there's quite a bit of ivy that's quite dense right along the shoreline that requires some

[0:11:41] Voice 2: management there are some garbage piles throughout the reserve some which were probably from ruby

[0:11:48] Voice 2: alton's time there were some trenches that have been dug through the forest that look like they

[0:11:52] Voice 2: were garbage piles for quite a while and then there's some more more recent garbage piles

[0:11:57] Voice 2: as well including this this pile of camping gear on the bottom left and then there's also all of

[0:12:04] Voice 2: the infrastructure connected with the house there's a vegetative tertiary filter system

[0:12:10] Voice 2: that is used for filtering septic which is a dug pond and then also a garden area that's connected

[0:12:18] Voice 2: connected to, which is fenced in close to the house.

[0:12:24] Voice 2: There's also a whole water system.

[0:12:27] Voice 2: When Ruby Alton lived in the house,

[0:12:30] Voice 2: she took her drinking water from Ruby's Creek

[0:12:33] Voice 2: and the Islands Trust Conservancy

[0:12:35] Voice 2: has updated the filtration system

[0:12:38] Voice 2: and put in a rainwater collection system now for the house.

[0:12:45] Voice 2: There's a couple of other management issues.

[0:12:48] Voice 2: There is an informal path that is leading from Roland Road to the beach that is not an official path and in some places it goes through areas that are quite steep and maybe causing some erosion.

[0:13:03] Voice 2: erosion. And then there's also maintenance issues connected with the path from Isabella Point Road

[0:13:10] Voice 2: and the set of stairs that go down to the beach. And there are quite a number of kayaks and canoes

[0:13:17] Voice 2: and rowboats that have been left along the shoreline. So here's another map just to orient

[0:13:24] Voice 2: people. So along the north here is the path that goes from the gate on Isabella Point Road

[0:13:31] Voice 2: road, through the pasture, and then down the set of stairs towards the beach here.

[0:13:38] Voice 2: This green line is the fence around the vegetable garden.

[0:13:44] Voice 2: This gray line is the driveway.

[0:13:47] Voice 2: You can see the house and this red dotted line on the lower end of the photo here is

[0:13:55] Voice 2: the path that's from Roland Road which is along this corner of the photograph and the path goes

[0:14:03] Voice 2: sort of through the forested area and then down along to the beach. There's also lots of little

[0:14:11] Voice 2: bits of fencing throughout the reserve, some of them probably from Ruby Alton's time to try to

[0:14:16] Voice 2: protect some of the plants that she put in, some are old sheet fences or boundary fences that are

[0:14:23] Voice 2: starting to to look a little worse for wear and then of course there's all the the bits and pieces

[0:14:30] Voice 2: connected with the house there's a water tank and a wood shed and there's a small shed right

[0:14:37] Voice 2: on the creek next to Isabella Point Road that was connected with Ruby's drinking water that would

[0:14:44] Voice 2: funnel water from from the creek to the house so for management planning for the reserve

[0:14:51] Voice 2: One of the first priorities for the Islands Trust Conservancy is to develop a parallel management

[0:14:56] Voice 2: plan for areas of cultural heritage and sacred significance document with First Nations.

[0:15:03] Voice 2: Removing invasive species is a priority to try to stop them from moving for farther into the

[0:15:09] Voice 2: reserve. Removing garbage from the reserve is also a top priority and there are an awful lot of boats

[0:15:19] Voice 2: along the shoreline so that's sort of a question that needs a bit of further

[0:15:22] Voice 2: discussion. There needs to be ongoing communication with the tenant

[0:15:27] Voice 2: caretakers to be aware of what house and garden maintenance needs to happen. The

[0:15:34] Voice 2: house is expected to have been built I believe it's in the 1940s so it's

[0:15:39] Voice 2: showing some signs of wear and it's gonna need some upkeep. I think it would

[0:15:49] Voice 2: be really useful to install some signage along Rowland Road to encourage people to use the

[0:15:54] Voice 2: official access off Isabella Point Road and maintaining boundary signs, path and stairs

[0:16:01] Voice 2: just to ensure that there's a safe public access to the reserve is really important.

[0:16:07] Voice 2: Developing a wildfire management plan is another priority and what this involves is just outlining

[0:16:13] Voice 2: some recommended practices for both the Salt Spring Island fire department and also for the

[0:16:20] Voice 2: province that if there is a wildfire there's some preferred methods for putting out the wildfire in

[0:16:26] Voice 2: order to protect the ecological features of the reserve so that would include things like

[0:16:32] Voice 2: preferring to not use salt water which would kill the vegetation in the trees and also could include

[0:16:38] Voice 2: recommending that fire retardants be a last resort because they add a lot of nitrogen to

[0:16:44] Voice 2: soils. So on top of that annual covenant monitoring is really important to be able to

[0:16:52] Voice 2: pick up on any changes that are occurring within the reserves and identify any management issues.

[0:17:00] Voice 2: And I just want to say thank you so much to everyone for taking the time to join us this

[0:17:04] Voice 2: evening there is a link for a questionnaire which it would be great anyone who hasn't filled it out

[0:17:11] Voice 2: to to go to to this link and fill out the survey there's been I think 46 surveys completed already

[0:17:19] Voice 2: which is fantastic and it's really great to get people's feedback on what they feel the management

[0:17:25] Voice 2: concerns are for the reserve and also to get more of the background information and more of the

[0:17:31] Voice 2: the ecological information from people

[0:17:32] Voice 2: that have a longer history of being onsite at the reserve.

[0:17:37] Voice 2: And I think now we're gonna open the floor

[0:17:40] Voice 2: for questions or comments

[0:17:42] Voice 2: and I'll just stop sharing my screen now.

[0:17:45] Voice 2: Thanks so much.

[0:17:47] Voice 2: Great,

[0:17:48] Voice 1: thank you so much, Karina.

[0:17:49] Voice 1: I wanted to say, to take a moment to just say a few words

[0:17:53] Voice 1: about Ruby Alton.

[0:17:54] Voice 1: I did not get the chance to meet her,

[0:17:56] Voice 1: but I have been delighted by the many people

[0:17:59] Voice 1: who have completed the online survey already

[0:18:01] Voice 1: who knew her and remembered spending time with her and in her garden.

[0:18:05] Voice 1: She spent her life on Salt Spring and was a prolific gardener and environmentalist.

[0:18:09] Voice 1: She left her properties in her will when she passed in 1998

[0:18:13] Voice 1: to further her vision of environmental protection and special community places.

[0:18:19] Voice 1: ITC has worked in accordance with what was laid out in Ruby's will

[0:18:24] Voice 1: after extensive community consultation in 2002 when we took ownership.

[0:18:29] Voice 1: and due to the site constraints such as the lack of parking and potable water at the time

[0:18:35] Voice 1: it was determined that the house was not suitable for the community meetings or gathering place and

[0:18:42] Voice 1: and it was not legally feasible to use as senior housing due to the wording of the will

[0:18:49] Voice 1: ITC has rented the house to caretaker families from 2002 to the present time and they perform

[0:18:55] Voice 1: many duties to maintain the house and the rainwater catchment system which is quite an

[0:19:02] Voice 1: intricate process that rainwater catchment system which also is in the process of being updated

[0:19:09] Voice 1: so now I will remind everyone that the you can type in questions into the Q&A at the bottom of

[0:19:17] Voice 1: your screen on the toolbar feel free to ask any questions I

[0:19:32] Voice 3: got a question for you Karina

[0:19:35] Voice 2: was

[0:19:35] Voice 3: there any uh archaeological impact assessments done on that property like the beach front is

[0:19:41] Voice 3: there like there's no one stuff happening there or is there not

[0:19:46] Voice 2: that i'm aware of a nula you might

[0:19:48] Voice 2: have more um background than i do um i i don't know of any archaeological assessments that have

[0:19:55] Voice 2: been already done there no do you know of any nula no

[0:19:59] Voice 1: um the there's no potential sites on the

[0:20:04] Voice 1: the official ARC sites, but they with the provincial government, but that is part of

[0:20:13] Voice 1: the management plan will be to undertake some of those and traditional knowledge surveys

[0:20:17] Voice 1: and, and to get people like yourself Harold on the land to to look it over.

[0:20:24] Voice 3: Okay, cool. Thank you.

[0:20:27] Voice 2: It seems pretty clear that it has a pretty long history of abuse just because of the

[0:20:32] Voice 2: the the clam gardens that are they're just just south of the reserve and the the whole shoreline

[0:20:39] Voice 2: is clam beds yes

[0:20:42] Voice 3: so usually what what i come to understand since working around with on clam

[0:20:47] Voice 3: gardens and so forth is there'd be either you know like village a big village in and around

[0:20:54] Voice 3: that area very close to where they would have that garden like right there they have quick access to

[0:21:00] Voice 3: their work to harvest and so forth so all their their their homes would be very close to that

[0:21:08] Voice 3: area so yes i would i would really like to uh go over and have a look at this place yeah

[0:21:15] Voice 1: that would

[0:21:16] Voice 1: be great and it's uh it's definitely a high priority for all our properties because we have

[0:21:21] Voice 1: so much to learn about them um we really do i have a question um what is the difference between a

[0:21:28] Voice 1: reserve and a sanctuary. In terms of how the Island Trust Conservancy has named things in the

[0:21:34] Voice 1: past, it's been arbitrary. A sanctuary was sometimes one that was not open to the public.

[0:21:43] Voice 1: Right now, we usually name any new one to be a nature reserve, though we have some nature

[0:21:49] Voice 1: reserves and nature sanctuaries listed on our website. And we're keeping those ones that were

[0:21:54] Voice 1: were called sanctuary sanctuaries. But from now on, we will call them reserves because they are

[0:22:01] Voice 1: fundamentally all managed in the same way. Okay.

[0:22:07] Voice 2: I've wondered that too.

[0:22:09] Voice 2: I know.

[0:22:17] Voice 1: That may be all we have. Yeah. Well, as I said before, this has been recorded and

[0:22:33] Voice 1: And people who have missed it will have an opportunity to watch it online and to enjoy

[0:22:38] Voice 1: the slides that Karina went over to explain more about the property and hopefully make

[0:22:44] Voice 1: people aware of management concerns that are going on there and help us plan for the next

[0:22:52] Voice 1: 10 years.

[0:22:53] Voice 1: And please fill out the survey.

[0:22:54] Voice 1: It's also linked on our website again, the islandstrustconservancy.ca.

[0:23:00] Voice 1: and I would like to oh there's one question what about the special designation of the beach

[0:23:12] Voice 1: there is it is for involved in the reserve would be up to the tide mark and so the

[0:23:20] Voice 1: the actual designation of below the tide is not involved with the nature reserve but obviously

[0:23:27] Voice 1: we have an interest in protecting that area there. I know that there's forage fish surveys going on

[0:23:34] Voice 1: right now and clam gardens and things like that, that we would like to, and eel grass beds

[0:23:41] Voice 1: that we want to protect in that intertidal zone. And so it's an important interface.

[0:23:55] Voice 1: And are there opportunities for volunteers, for example, for invasive plant removal?

[0:23:59] Voice 1: And yes, indeed. That would be fantastic. We are thinking about having maybe a friends of Ruby Alton group or, you know, just work bees to help maintain the invasive species that are there.

[0:24:18] Voice 1: and so that could involve having someone organizing it and and then getting you know

[0:24:25] Voice 1: volunteers on site and providing the tools and that kind of thing that we would need

[0:24:29] Voice 1: and if anyone is at all interested in joining such a group that would be great please write

[0:24:35] Voice 1: it on the survey contact me go to the our website to find out contact details or fill it in in the

[0:24:42] Voice 1: survey. That would be fantastic. Okay. Well, I think that is it. I want to thank again Harold

[0:24:55] Voice 1: Joe so much, and Karina Maslovat for being with me this evening. And thank you, everyone. I hope

[0:25:01] Voice 1: everyone is staying warm and cozy. And thank you so much. Take care.

[0:25:06] Voice 3: Thank you, Nuala.

[0:25:09] Voice 1: Thanks, Nuala, for organizing it. Great. Thank you. Thank you, guys.