Dear readers of this post:

An earlier post on this site (Notes from the February 20, 2020 Public Engagement Evening…(March 26,2020)) reports on the February 20, 2020 formal launch of the Saanich Peninsula Environmental Coalition (referred to hereafter as the Coalition).  Participating groups are listed below.  Here are the Coalition’s general terms of reference as of September 2020:

The Saanich Peninsula Environmental Coalition (member organizations listed below) is a collection of independent groups who have come together to further the values, purposes and interests outlined below.  The Coalition acts as an informal, collaborative, advisory group.

We acknowledge that the territory of the Saanich Peninsula is unceded, and that the inherent rights and title of the WSANEC First Nation and people remain undefined.  We appreciate that the aboriginal-federal-provincial-municipal jurisdictional landscape is complex and fragmented and that there is insufficient collaboration among the governing agencies.

PURPOSE:  to promote ecological sustainability as a means to help ensure the future environmental health of the Saanich Peninsula.

GOAL:  Facilitate the development of a Bioregional Framework, in respectful collaboration with the WSANEC First Nations and the municipalities of North Saanich, Sidney and Central Saanich, that will serve as a set of common principles around conservation and ecological health on the Saanich Peninsula.  Support the use of these principles to, in turn, guide the process of updating the three Council’s various regulations, bylaws and commissions.

FOCUS:  Maintain ecosystem integrity, increase jurisdictional collaboration and harmonization, and support community perspectives, within the context of the climate change urgency that we face.

From mid-May to late August, 2020, the Coalition engaged Jerram Gawley, a student of biology and political science at the University of Victoria, as a coop research student to talk to Mayors, Councillors, municipal staff, First Nations representatives and other involved persons about the roughly- defined ideas flowing from the February 20 meeting. In this challenging assignment Jerram was guided by Bob Peart and other members of the Coalition. From his research Jerram developed (through several drafts and conversations with Coalition members) an over-arching or guiding plan entitled A Bioregional Framework for the Saanich Peninsula.  We hope that this framework, further refined, will be helpful in achieving the inter-municipal coordination alluded to in our statement of principles above, a coordination that will help to protect our shared natural environment. 

The concept of a bioregion provides a rational way of dividing the earth into a finite number of regions defined by approximate uniformity of significant characteristics such as landforms, climate, flora and fauna etc. While each bioregion contains all the necessary elements to function independently, it is coupled to adjacent bioregions and the rest of the world by flows of air and water at planetary scales (global climate). Viewing the natural components of the Saanich Peninsula as a functioning bioregion and wishing for them to prosper calls for a bioregional approach to managing human activities within the Saanich Peninsula and the adjoining ocean. A link to a more complete definition of a bioregion is included here  definition of bioregion.

The complete (September 2020) draft version of A Bioregional Framework for the Saanich Peninsula (35 pages, illustrated) may be downloaded in PDF format from this link bioregional framework complete . A condensed version of the Framework in which we have quoted enough of the full document to provide you, dear readers, with a brief and accessible overview of the Bioregional Framework may be downloaded from  bioregional framework abbreviated  .

A successful final result might not resemble the scheme we have outlined and that would be just fine as long as the core values stated here find their full expression. We also take this opportunity to encourage you to take active interests in the upcoming review of the Official Community Plan in your municipalities, and we would be delighted if you were to support the Bioregional Framework we are promoting.

Respectfully,

The Saanich Peninsula Environmental Coalition

Member Groups of the Saanich Peninsula Environmental coalition are:

• Friends of Shoal Harbour (FOSH)
• Sea Change Marine Conservation Society
• Peninsula Streams Society
• World Wildlife Fund Canada
• Roberts Bay Residents
• Tsehum Harbour Task Force
• WSANEC Leadership Council
• Friends of North Saanich Parks
• North Saanich Property Responsibility on the Waterfront (PROW)
• Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
• Climate Justice Advocacy
• Saanich Inlet Protection Society

Appendix: An incomplete list of issues/concerns that call for a common bioregional approach.

• Careful cross-Peninsula management of treed areas that shelter indigenous bird species, provide corridors for wildlife movements, and green respite for people

• Making allowances for the now inevitable sea-level rise while maintaining the capacity of the foreshore to support forage fish and other sea life.

• Fair, safe and ecologically sound management of moored boats

• Working together to find ways out of the current impasse that prevents “protected” agricultural land from being used to grow food (and support farmers) .
• Expanding our citizens’ sense of home beyond that of “house and yard” to include our pubic parks, our farms and forests and our fellow residents.