Ninety-four percent of the provincial land-base is owned by the Province, the remaining six percent is privately owned. This six per cent is overwhelmingly in lower elevations and there are very few forests left in these areas.
These are the areas that have or used to have the highest levels of biodiversity.
If a small percentage of landowners decide that the forest they have maintained should not be clearcut and subdivided, and that the flora and fauna on that property should be kept in tact, they can make a difference. The land can be left in trust to preserve the natural forest. These forests, even if small, will provide a refuge for wildlife and may provide a passage way for emigrating wildlife.
Of course in most cases, property owners will want to leave their property to their children, or the owner may need to sell in order to have enough money for retirement. There will be a few cases however, like mine, where the owner does not have children and is not struggling financially in retirement. If the property is left as an inheritance, it will be to members of his family, who have not lived on the property and maintained the forest and who would very likely prefer cash over property. They will sell it to a developer and it will be clearcut and often subdivided.
I would like to ask landowners interested in the preservation concept to contact me for further discussions. I can be contacted by phone at 604- 452-2364 or by email at watewinkel@gmail.com.
Wim Tewinkel
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