Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Are you familiar with forest therapy? Or, maybe you know it as forest bathing? Perhaps as Shinrin-Yoku? Last week was a mixed-bag when it came to forests and big old trees. On one hand, another ancient forest was shaved off the hillside on Saturna Island. And on the other hand, rather coincidentally, my constituency office team was scheduled to participate in a forest therapy session. We spent time in a very small section of the forest on  Ƚ Á U,WEL Ṉ EW ̱ (). Having spent many hours up there, hiking or soaking in the Salish Sea from the bluff, finally noticing the forest is a revelation. There were walkers, hikers, and joggers — and then there was my small constituency office team. Forest therapy is a purposeful practice in patience. It takes some time to slow down, breathe, calm the nervous twitches, clear the mind and the notice the details. Political life moves quickly from one day to the next. It’s not long before weeks, months and years ...

Property owners have the right to log their property. They have the right to raze entire ecosystems. In spite of decades of evidence showing the devastating effects of clear-cut logging, unfortunately it's still legal for people to strip their property to the skin. Most of the Saanich Peninsula is already bare. But there are still some beautiful forests on the Southern Gulf Islands.  I first understood the vulnerability of these important forest lands few months ago, when a private property owner began clear cutting on Saltspring Island. After some digging, I found out that currently there seems to be very little that can be done about it. It's a frustrating response to give to people concerned about the loss of habitat. Then I began receiving calls from Tsawout First Nation members notifying me that their First Nation was clear cutting reserve lands on Saturna Island. It’s a c lear-cut response to poor resource management … s top clea...