The Bowen Island Conservancy presented their plans to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Bowen Island Municipality (BIM) last week.
Conservancy president Owen Plowman outlined the proposed MOU during a delegation to council on Sept. 11. The group, which performs a range of conservation work on the island including managing the Wild Coast Nature Refuge at the Cape, as well as the Fairy Fen and Singing Woods Nature Reserves for Islands Trust, reached out to BIM earlier this year with the idea of a more formal working relationship.
“We are doing work together, but we also recognize that the current board won’t be around for perpetuity, and neither will this council. So we would like to ensure that we have some sort of written document which provides the framework for working together as we go forward, just so everybody remembers it,” explained Plowman on why an MOU was preferable to the current informal partnership between the Conservancy and BIM.
Some of the main exchanges of work would include the Conservancy acting as advisors for covenants or rezoning applications, or performing hands-on work through trail maintenance. BIM meanwhile would help with issues on Conservancy land such as signs, bylaw enforcement, or parking and bike racks, and also consider some of these lands for property tax exemptions.
BIM expressed their support for signing the MOU. “The Conservancy and BIM’s interests are well-aligned. An MOU will formalize our collaborative relationship and create an understanding of how each party can support the other to achieve our shared goals,” wrote manager of environment and parks Carla Skuce. Council voted unanimously to enter into the agreement.
