I said I would provide an update on the Comox Valley Conservation Strategy (CVCS) meeting shortly (a relative term, I would like to remind you) but there was a great deal of complexity to the meeting and to the work the group is doing which has taken a while for us to absorb so we can decide how to participate. So this is my attempt to summarize the results and what we have decided is our way forward.
A new regional district requires a new growth strategy, a new OCP and a new conservation strategy. To create a conservation strategy that we can all live with, people and wildlife, the CVCS was created and decided to break the task into four pieces.
Local Government
Mapping
Education
Capacity Building
Basically the Local Government Committee is trying to create a document that the local governments can go to in order to make informed decisions regarding development in sensitive habitat. The Mapping Committee is trying to get all the sensitive areas mapped and available to all the local planning sections of our municipalities. The Education Committee is trying to provide information to the public so we all protect and enhance our riparian areas instead of just the Streamkeepers doing so. The Capacity Building Committee is trying to gather the resources so the Streamkeepers are more effective and so that all groups work to improve or reduce harm to the riparian areas. Needless to say it is all more complex than I have just stated and I would encourage anyone interested in going to the Comox Valley Land Trust website http://www.cvlandtrust.org/rcs-project.htm and to get more information.
We felt that we would be most effective working on either Education or Capacity Building and, since we can’t do both, have decided to participate in Capacity Building.
