Guest post by Joan Eamer
Nov. 24-26, Victoria As a new GALTT board member – and as someone new to the world of land trusts – attending this national summit was both intimidating and inspirational. Once I had conquered the terminology and acronyms and could follow the presentations, I was impressed by the quality of discourse and the innovative thinking. It was great to meet staff and board members from land trusts on other Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.
The conference was put on by the Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts. GaLTT is a member of the Land Trust Alliance of BC, which belongs to the ACLT. The 130+ participants represented land trusts and conservation organizations from most provinces as well as national organizations such as Nature Canada. Some US organizations were also represented. There was strong Indigenous leadership and participation, especially from BC.
I learned that many land trust organizations have a wide focus, including public education and advocacy. Some manage trails on publicly accessible lands. Many have hands-on projects such as building nest boxes, inventorying biodiversity, maintaining trails, and clearing invasive plants.
My takeaways
- It is essential to develop meaningful Indigenous partnerships and actively support Indigenous leadership in initiatives with a conservation component.
- Climate change resilience and adaptation planning is needed – but it will be most effective at a large scale or as part of a larger scale process.
- Now is the time for conservation alliances to take a stronger role as advocates. This was a recurring theme, partly in response to reversals of progress in land conservation under populist governments.
- Funding and partnership opportunities now and in the foreseeable future rest more with the private sector than with government.
- GALTT will benefit from strengthening links with regional and national land trusts and other conservation organizations and pursuing training and networking opportunities.
A selection of snippets from the conference
- Climate change: lots of discussion on the need to develop climate resilience and adaptation plans at meaningful scales. For GALTT, that translates to working with land trusts and other conservation groups in the Gulf islands and coastal BC to plan for climate change. One statement that hit home for me: The most impactful climate change mitigation measure is forest conservation.
- Islands have their own restrictions on climate change adaptation. For example, island plants and animals often cannot shift to more suitable habitats or restock their populations from neighbouring populations. Special adaptation measures may be needed, such as collecting seeds.
- Political uncertainty and declining governmental support for conservation came up again and again, often as a warning of worse times to come. Some points: This is not a left-right split, it is populism that makes the difference. Darts that used to hit the board for right-of-centre governments are not working – we need new strategies. Populist governments are affected by weathervanes, and they listen to feedback from their constituents. Build support. Build and mobilize your base.
- Mission drift: In recent years the conservation movement has been pushed into other people’s frameworks. “Nature is useful as far as it helps deal with climate change” for example. Being distracted by feeding others’ goals leads to mission drift. A transactional mindset has come to dominate and has led to changing from being a conservation advocate to a transactional facilitator. There is a danger of buying into this transactional approach and being measured by growth metrics. Remember that our client is nature. We will always lose the financial argument.
Some of the presenters
Saanich Lands Trust Society (Wsanec). Located from the Malahat to the islands. The Wsanec are one people divided into five First Nations. They formed an Indigenous land trust with a goal of bringing people together. The current focus is protecting and restoring Tikel (Maber Flats), a 300-acre peat bog-wetland draining to Brentwood Bay.
The Métis Nation within Alberta, representing mostly urban Métis citizens. The Nation wanted to create an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area. Finding they did not have government support, they created the Edmonton and Area Land Trust, identified private lands and developed partnerships, including with ATV, hunting and ranching organizations. The land trust has now secured 22 natural areas in the Edmonton region.
The Couchiching Conservancy (Ontario). The current focus of this well-established conservancy with 59 protected areas is integrating risk assessment into strategic plans and developing a climate resilience and adaptation plan. Climate change has affected fundraising, reporting, outreach and education, and is leading to ecological loss. Examples:
- About a third of outdoor workdays have been cancelled in recent summers due to heat waves.
- An increase in flood events has led to homeowners blaming the wetlands, necessitating ongoing consultation and education. And they have concerns about lawsuits.
- Wildfire threat is causing closures of areas not usually subject to fire. The rise in fire fuel means they need to rethink stewardship of many lands.
Nature Canada. Founded 86 years ago as the Audubon Society (initially a magazine). Nature Canada was a founding member of COSEWIC (the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) and led the first national report card on species at risk. They work on building capacity at municipal to national levels. They led a discussion on shifting to advocacy and led a workshop on methods and tools for structuring conservation campaigns.
Land Trust Alliance (USA). The US equivalent of the Canadian alliance, it was founded 43 years ago under the Reagan administration. Although they have champions across the political spectrum, attacks on land conservation are growing. The alliance is in overdrive informing members about changes and issues. They advise to lean into the role of a trusted community organization and engage with non-conservation elements of communities. Tell stories of the values of land conservation. “Misinformation loves a vacuum.”
