Community Consultation is the Key

A headline in the Goldstream Gazette on January 23rd caught my eye the other day, stating "Too little public input on Jordan River." Pirjo Raits, editor of the Sooke News Mirror, had written an article that took an environmentalists standpoint to an issue of politics around development and the forrestry industry in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area. A recent overturning of CRD bylaws which impeded development surrounding the Jordan River has sparked some concern among environmentalists within the area. The bylaws have been changed so that the minimum parcel size in the Forestry Zone is now 120 hectares, and the ability for small landowners to build and sell four homes on 10 acres has been eliminated.

Raits states that the decision to lift these bylaws was made by three directors at the CRD, which she felt was unfair. She went on to talk about how overdeveloping and overharvesting lumber throughout Vancouver Island has left vast disruption to natural habitats, and that more public consultation should be mandatory when dealing with issues such as this. Raits explains that with well-planned and thought out development, the forests would be much safer than if they remain under the possession of forestry companies. I felt it was very fitting for this article to arise at this time, since we have been learning about public participation and its importance this year in our ENSC409 course.

The article also came up at a convenient time since we have just recently had a presentation from Jodi Mucha of BC Healthy Communities. She explained to us how BCHC facilitates interaction between community groups such as environmental based organizations and local governments. It seems that this type of facilitation could prove to be valuable in this issue since there appears to be little communication between the government and the community. I also found it particularily fitting to see that the issue in question just happened to be the same issue our class had chosen to discuss for our future search conference this term.