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Annette Tanner
National Director of the Wilderness Committee
(Formerly the Western Canada Wilderness Committee)

: Annette Tanner

Annette Tanner has been a Director on the Wilderness Committee’s national board for 15 years, and has also volunteered as the WC Mid-Island Chapter chairperson for 15 years as well. She has lived in Qualicum Beach with her husband Scott for 35 years. They have 2 daughters Gillian and Candace, aged 31 and 30, who grew up and went to school in Qualicum Beach.

For more information please contact Annette Tanner at –
Tel: (250) 752-6595
Fax: (250) 752-7085
E-mail wcwcqb@shaw.ca

wolf_400x300px[1] — http://www.cathedralgrovecanyon.com/ (photo by Scott Tanner)

Current Article: January 2010

tannerjan10_1[1] — Rough-skinned newt (Helga Schmitt)

tannerjan10_2[1] — Northern Alligator Lizard (Helga Schmitt)

tannerjan10_3[1] — Northern Alligator Lizard (Helga Schmitt)

Press Release

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 – for immediate release –

WCWC Supports Proposed BC Government Protection for Highly Endangered Coastal Douglas-fir Ecosystem on Vancouver Island Crown Land – But Questions Exclusion of Nanoose Endangered Wetlands and Wildlife Sanctuary Crown Land

Qualicum Beach, British Columbia – The Wilderness Committee is praising the government for the protection of key endangered Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystems within the scarce Crown lands located on the East Coast of Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast through the initiation of a Land Use Order from the Integrated Land Management Bureau.

“Only 110 hectares of oldgrowth Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF mm) have been protected in the entire province of BC, “explains Annette Tanner, Wilderness Committee, Mid Island spokesperson. “This forest type represents the most biologically diverse ecosystem in British Columbia. The rare plants and endangered animal species that depend on these last fragments of Mediterranean-style coastal forests, exist nowhere else in Canada,” she continues.

“We will be asking the public to tell the government how strongly they feel about protecting these irreplaceable gems which people have grown to love and enjoy not only just between Bowser and Nanaimo, but along the entire east coast of Vancouver Island from Campbell River to Sooke where little public land for wildlife protection or recreation areas exist,” comments Tanner.

“Including all the rare and endangered CDFmm Crown land parcels from Bowser to Sooke, as well as any Crown land within the E & N land is of urgent importance in order to begin to address an unsustainable situation where less than 3 percent of this ecosystem has been protected for wildlife, drinking water quality and quantity , access to recreation and carbon sinks, ” states Tanner, ” while the provincial average outside the E & N land boasts approximately 12 percent protection . Public comment for this proposed land use initiative must be received before the February 15 deadline,” she stressed.

“The Nanoose Endangered Wetlands and Wildlife Sanctuary (NEWWS), a parcel of Crown land that includes several Sensitive Ecosystem Inventory- identified forested wetlands in Nanoose, has raised concerns that this Crown land property and many other such unique pieces of endangered Crown Land parcels, have been left out of the Land Use initiative,” concludes Tanner.

The public needs to tell the government how strongly they feel about:

completing an inventory of all public land within the Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem and including these lands in the CDFmm Crown Land Use Initiative
completing an inventory of all Crown land within the E & N land in order to increase the protected areas within the E & N land from just over 2 percent to come closer to the provincial average of approximately 12 percent.

This can be achieved by directing comments to:

Bill Zinovich, Integrated Land Management Bureau, West Coast Service Cetnre, Suite 142, 2080 Labieux Road, Nanaimo, BC, V9T 6J9 or fax 250-751-7081, or email bill.zinovich@gov.bc.ca by February 15, 2010.

For more information see:

www.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/slrp/legalobjectives/advertisedLUORs.html

www.wildernesscommittee.org

– 30 –

-for more information contact Annette Tanner 250 752-6585 or

-cell 259 240-7470 –

Photos: Helga Schmitt 1. Rough Skinned Newt, 2. Northern Alligator Lizard, 3. Northern Alligator Lizard -larger pixel photo formats available, as well as photos of owls, western toads, red-legged frogs located on the Nanoose Crown Land

Backgrounder:

The Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem is considered among the top four most endangered ecosystems in Canada (along with the pocket desert near Osoyoos, the tallgrass prairie in Manitoba, and the Carolinian forests of southern Ontario), with less than 1% of the original old growth left and about 50% of the entire ecosystem under pavement or agriculture.

The ecosystem is characterized by a Mediterranean-like climate, trees such as Castal Douglas-irs, arbutus, and Garry oaks, and is filled with species at risk. The cities of Victoria, Nanaimo, and Duncan, Parksville and Qualicum Beach are located in this threatened and endangered area where little Crown land exists, due to the E & N Land Grant, which gave away one-fifth of Vancouver Island to become the private property of Robert Dunsmuir.

The BC Ministry of Forests and Range is proposing to protect five candidate areas to be protected by a Land Use Order through the Integrated Land Management Bureau. See: www.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/slrp/legalobjectives/advertisedLUORs.html

The Land Use Orders to be implemented through provisions in the Forest and Range Practices Act would protect several Crown forest land parcels from logging in the Coastal Douglas Fir moist maritime subzone (CDFmm). The Crown parcels to be protected include sites at Bowser, Little Qualicum, Nanoose and Linley Valley on Vancouver Island and Hurtado on the Sunshine Coast, totalling 1600 hectares of extremely rare and endangered Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystems.

“These protections will help species at risk such as Garry oaks and alligator lizards,” states Annette Tanner, Chairperson of the Mid-Island chapter of the Wilderness Committee. “These areas are representative of the most endangered and biologically diverse ecosystems on Vancouver Island.”

The BC Ministry of Forests and Range should be commended for proposing these protections. Protecting rare Crown lands in a rare ecosystem is a very high conservation priority – which can be done for free on these public lands. The vast majority of land in this region is privately owned and would have to be purchased for protection.

The public can send comments to Bill Zinovich, Integrated Land Management Bureau, West Coast Service Cetnre, Suite 142, 2080 Labieux Road, Nanaimo, BC, V9T 6J9 or fax 250-751-7081, or email bill.zinovich@gov.bc.ca by February 15, 2010.