@naturetrust.bc.ca
KELOWNA – An extraordinary gift by the Emil Anderson Group means that 71 acres of land alongside the Englishman River near Parksville on Vancouver Island is going to be protected in perpetuity.
Emil Anderson Group, with offices in Chilliwack and 966 Crowley Avenue in Kelowna, made the announcement September 26. The land, worth over $5 million, was donated to the Nature Trust of BC.
and will be added to the Englishman River Kw’a’luxw Conservation Complex, where the Trust has been gathering land since 1978. This is their 11th addition in the area.
MIKE JACOBS
Mike Jacobs, Chairman of the Emil Anderson Group board of directors, notes the Group originally bought the land in 1960, with plans to mine gravel on a portion of the property.
Jacobs told CHEK TV news that the portion of the land upon which the gravel mine sits will be sold to developers to build homes, and the rest of the land, which is untouched, goes to the Trust.
“We recognized that a large portion of the land was an ecologically sensitive area,” Jacobs told CHEK. “Although we had zoning and rights to log it, we didn’t think that that was the ultimate best use of the property.”
Nature Trust of BC CEO Jasper Lament says the Emil Anderson Group approached them over a decade ago regarding a possible donation of the land.
“It’s really a remarkable and wonderful gift, it’s quite unusual for a company to step up the way that the Emil Anderson Group has,” Lament told CHEK. “There’s trails on the property already that people have been using for many years.”
To cover future land management and start-up costs, the Emil Anderson Group has also donated additional funding.
Snaw-naw-as First Nation will be involved in managing the conservation of the land, and in the new management and stewardship agreement, is recognized as a rights holder to the land.
Chris Bob, an elected councilor with Snaw-naw-as, says “There’s natural resources there, there’s medicine there, there’s deer, elk, fish. We want to preserve that for future generations and everybody to enjoy.”