BC Parks Foundation
Salt Spring Island
Thank you for keeping the magic of parks alive!
Share it on
Donate a Car Canada accepts Vehicle Donations for the BC Parks Foundation. Free towing is provided in most areas across Canada, or you can drop off your vehicle to maximize your donation. When you donate your car, truck, RV, boat, or motorcycle to the BC Parks Foundation through Donate A Car Canada, it will either be recycled or sold at auction (depending on its condition, age and location). Donate a Car Canada will look after all the details to make it easy for the BC Parks Foundation to benefit. After your vehicle donation is complete, Canada Helps will send you a tax receipt and remit proceeds to BC Parks Foundation to be put to good use. Please click here to donate a vehicle.
Note that Canada Revenue Agency doesn’t allow charitable gift receipts for services.
Including real estate or publicly traded securities as a charitable gift to the BC Parks Foundation in your will is also a great way to leave a legacy. For your consideration, sample wording for your will could include, "I wish to make a gift to BC Parks Foundation of 625 Howe Street, Suite 1550, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 2T6, charitable registration number 731307492BW0001, as follows:
(i) select from publicly traded securities that I own, if any, at the date of my death, securities (the “Gift Shares”) that collectively have a total fair market value as of the date of my death of not more than $____ (the “Donation Amount”) and transfer the Gift Shares to the BC Parks Foundation;
(ii) if the value of the Gift Shares is less than the Donation Amount, pay the BC Parks Foundation an amount equal to the difference between the Donation Amount and the value of the Gift Shares; and
(iii) it is my hope that the Donation Amount will be applied by the BC Parks Foundation to support the work of the BC Parks Foundation."
Please contact us if you would like to discuss including a legacy gift, real estate, or securities in your will. You can use the form below, email gifts@bcparksfoundation.ca, or call 604-343-3975.
Other ways you can help enhance BC’s world-class parks system
Share it on
Salt Spring Conservation Project
Crowdfunding Campaign Goal - $1.2M
Your donation will be doubled through a generous match. You can help preserve a threatened ecosystem and its species.
BC Parks Foundation, in collaboration with a group of conservation-minded Salt Spring Island residents, is working to purchase and protect 31.2 acres of land on the south end of Salt Spring Island. You can be a part of ensuring this rare, pristine, mature coastal Douglas fir habitat is preserved forever. Thanks to these passionate individuals and a generous grant from the Salt Spring Island Foundation, we’re closing in on our goal. We need to raise the remaining funds by May 15—please donate today!
“The chance to save for posterity a large parcel of coastal Douglas fir forest and a wetland is an opportunity not to be missed. Close to 10% of the parcel is one of the most precious wildlife habitats on Salt Spring—a wetland with a boggy meadow, year-round swamps and ponds....In the face of hotter, drier summers and relentless development, the Lumley property is a gem and vital to protect—for its habitats and for linking properties with conservation easements to the nearby ecological reserve.” - Wildlife biologist and co-author of Conservation Biology in Theory and Practice, Dr. Anne Gunn
Why Does This Property Need Protection Now?
- Small creatures and vulnerable ecosystems face big threats these days. Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystems are among the most biodiverse in BC, and they need the most protection—98% of their ecological communities are at risk of being lost.
- Over 100 bird species call this place home, including species of conservation concern such as the olive-sided flycatcher, common nighthawk, and a pair of great horned owls who spent last summer nurturing their two fledglings.
- Amidst majestic Western red cedars—several of which are over 250 years old—the ponds of the wetland area host at-risk northern red-legged frogs. There are also patches of now-rare yellow montane violets on the woodland fringes.
- If this property is protected, owners of several neighbouring properties have expressed willingness to establish conservation covenants, including a stretch of forest that will connect the Lumley property to the Mount Tuam Ecological Reserve.
- Purchasing this land now will prevent more habitat fragmentation, maintaining the integrity of these interconnected ecosystems that rely on each other for survival.
"Historically wetlands, with rich soils, were reserved for farming, so we ended up with crown parcels—in this case the Ecological Reserve—severed from the wetlands that these ecosystems rely on and contribute to. This acquisition is putting the pieces back together that should never have been severed in the first place." - Briony Penn, biogeographer; Mother Tree Network Society advisor; Adjunct, Environmental Studies, University of Victoria
Photo: Pierre Mineau
It's All About Connection
As a naturalist, former field biologist, and resident of the neighbourhood, Cate McEwen has walked the forests of this property for 26 years. She shares, “The Lumley Property is a land of connections and for this reason deserves to be protected and conserved for prosperity. The land connects upland Douglas fir second growth forest and small wetlands of shallow waters and fens amid old growth western red cedars. It connects with the ecology of Mt Tuam Ecological Reserve, offering a buffer effect, and further connects with adjacent and nearby acreages of private lands with a promise of conservation covenants.
It’s a land that connects people to the natural wonders of walking in a Douglas fir forest, connecting neighbours and others as community possessing the care and well-being of the land itself: a sustainable community of interconnections, interrelationships—each one shaping the other.”
You Can Make a Difference
You can ensure this habitat remains untouched by development, serving as a refuge for wildlife and a sanctuary for humans who will peacefully enjoy its quiet wonders for generations to come.
Every donation matters – it all adds up to cross the finish line. Please consider being a part of protecting this valuable area forever by donating today. Your donation will be doubled through a generous match. You can etransfer to gifts@bcparksfoundation.ca, send a cheque to the address below, or donate via credit card by clicking the donate button. Thank you!
BC Parks Foundation
2288 Manitoba St Unit 300,
Vancouver,
BC,
V5Y 4B5,
Canada.
Protect Now, Enjoy Forever
Photography credit: Pierre Mineau
“The wilderness holds answers to questions humans have not yet learned to ask.
”