"We're really proud of the new owners. They're the heroes today," said Nina Raginsky of the Waterbird Watch Collective late Sunday night. She was responding to Texada Land Corporation's decision to consider the concerns of Islanders and defer clear cut logging on Lees Hill until further notice. The decision came about after Brent Kapler, the owners' on-Island representative, and Julian Dunster, a forestry consultant who had conducted environmental studies on Salt Spring for Texada Land Corporation, met Friday, November 5 with a group of concerned residents. After the meeting, Kapler said he'd pass Islanders' concerns on to the owners at a Sunday afternoon meeting. The result: no immediate clear cuts on Lees Hill. In response, a group of 80 people gathered Monday in the pre-dawn damp at the entrance to the 27.2 acre property previously slated for logging. Coffee, pie, muffins, apples and bagels were spread on a table and people gathered to exchange information and celebrate the company's decision. "This is a huge compromise," said Raginsky, pointing out that the new owners-two Tretheway brothers and Rob McDonald, a team with province-wide reputations as large scale developers-were under no legal obligation to defer the Lees Hill clear cut.

Gary Holman, who was also at the Friday meeting, confirmed that Kapler had said the company never intended to use the land for a vineyard. "He did say during that meeting that they would be cutting and selling the timber, and then selling the land."
Nobody seems to know where the previously reported and somewhat romantic notion of a vineyard originated, but many viewed the rumour with a degree of cynicism.  "These are the same people who developed the entire village of Tsawwassen.
They're known as 'strip and flip' developers," said one woman. In response, another in the crowd called out, "These are the big boys, they're not likely to be impressed by our passion." But Holman reminded those standing nearby that the company had agreed to leave wide setbacks along Fulford Creek and neighbouring properties. "They agreed to much wider corridors than is required. They're developers, not loggers. They understand the value of not destroying the land." But, said Penn, Texada Land Corporation may have paid more for the 4,600 Island acres than they're worth. She said the new owners purchased the land without first seeing an updated forestry assessment and the value of the timber may be much less than they'd anticipated. "You can do the math," Penn said. "We've heard they need $20 million to complete their Salt Spring development plans. That money's got to come from somewhere." Penn said local environmentalists had assessed the Lees Hill land as possibly
yielding some $3 million worth of timber. Now, she added, that money is coming from trees being cut on Mount Tuam. She added that Parks Canada had tried for two years to negotiate a purchase of the Texada lands but, were unable to meet the price being asked-a price tag reflecting an appraised value based on speculative returns.

Angry grumbles erupted from the crowd when they were told that local Trustees had known about the new owners' intended purchase of the land and some of their plans for a number of weeks but had agreed to an oath of silence.  No representatives from the Trust were at the gathering Monday. In an earlier interview, however, Trustee David Borrowman said the potential impact of the land purchase is largely unknown. "We do know they have development ambitions. One prognosis is that their development plans are within the community plan." He added, the other scenario is that their plans may exceed the community plan, which would require a reassessment of the future community plan for South Salt Spring.

 
The Salt Spring parcels bought from Texada Logging span the Fulford Valley, Burgoyne Bay, Mount Tuam and Mount Maxwell areas. Most of the land is in agricultural or forest reserve zones, although-as Harry Warner pointed out-the Burgoyne Bay holdings are slated for urbanization in the OCP. While the gathering broke up and many made plans to hold an immediate,
spontaneous meeting at Fulford Hall, a general sense of strength pervaded the air. As Raginsky put it Sunday night, "This is people power at work." And, although some might not agree with her earlier description of Tretheway, McDonald and Kapler as "King's for the day," many left the dawn celebration feeling that the new owners of Texada lands would listen to the voices of those who wishing to preserve our unique Island environment.