September 19
While the group was small, the enthusiasm was high to welcome Hands Across the Water (https://acrossthewater.org/) organizers Orcas Islander Natalie Zohar and Salt Springer Pam Tarr to this ASK Salt Spring gathering. We began with Pam’s Land Acknowledgement during which she expressed her humility and gratitude to be able to live on this stolen land, hoping that we can learn to sustain it by getting closer and closer to First Nations’ wisdom.
After all got to introduce themselves, we learned what “excited and delighted” our special guests. Natalie began by telling us of the events of the night before: She and her family had been hoping to sail to Salt Spring on their home, a 40’ Cheoy Lee, on its first excursion away from the dock in their four years owning her. Despite a flurry of preparations, late the day before their planned departure they decided that this journey was premature. As soon as fellow islanders heard that they would not be sailing to Salt Spring and needed a Plan B, offers came quickly. Before long, Natalie was offered a ride to Salt Spring to get here in time for ASK Salt Spring, her family given a later ride, a place to stay was found for all, and she had transferred her slip reservation to another from Orcas who needed it.
This flurry of kindness clearly demonstrated to Natalie that this was exactly why she loved Orcas Island life so much – the generosity, “can do” attitude, and solution-seeking enthusiasm. Having moved from a small, close knit New York City community, Brooklyn Heights, four years ago, this again illustrated what Natalie had experienced over and over again – small communities are amazing with islands offering an even more special version of that community connection.
Pam echoed Natalie’s joy in the power of community by sharing her delight with the good things that are happening on Salt Spring as the result of relationships. In her former life, she recognizes that she had been largely goal-driven. Coming to Salt Spring, she has learned how much we need each other, finding herself constantly celebrating the beautiful things that come from our connections with each other.
This theme of building relationships unified the plentiful array of activities offered during this first Orcas/Salt Spring weekend. This opportunity to build community connections, one islander at a time, spurred volunteers to spend countless hours to create the venue for these two quite similar island communities to share a weekend of exploration, learning, and fun.
During the organization of this event, folks were asked to briefly express what it is like to be an islander. Unsurprisingly, many cited the beauty, independence, slower pace, and a deep-seated sense of resilience that draws many to island life. This resilience and a tireless volunteer commitment can be seen throughout both of our islands. One similarity is that both Orcas and Salt Spring have recently celebrated the establishment of their own local radio station, with our CHiR.fm having recently gone live: (https://cheknews.ca/tuned-in-at-last-salt-springs-radio-station-goes-live-on-fm-after-10-years-online-1278443/).
Other similarities are shared concerns about the shortage of affordable housing. Clear that we can learn from one another, Salt Spring can point with pride to Croftonbrook, Salt Spring Commons, the just-completed Drake Road supportive housing, Lady Minto Foundation’s in-progress renovation of the SeaBreeze Inne for healthcare workers, plans for the Kings Lane Housing Project, and the just-announced fundraising opportunity for another IWAV project on the Norton Road property. But, the good news is tempered by rapidly rising land and construction costs that will require future housing projects to find subsidies of two-thirds or more to be economically viable, a challenge that Orcas Island also faces.
In the face of those challenges, Orcas Islanders are proud of the accomplishments of OPAL, which stands for Of People and Land: (https://www.opalclt.org/about/what-we-do/). One of the first land trusts in the western United States, OPAL was founded in 1989 and currently provides an estimated 5% of all housing on Orcas.With plentiful similarities as well as differences, it was clear that this weekend of connection would fuel many conversations about affordable housing strategies that can be shared.
With each island’s multitudes of stories of late, cancelled, or over-full ferries, it was clear that ferry connections are vital to our survival as a community. Natalie worries as she sees too many aging Orcas Islanders leaving simply because they cannot depend upon the ferries to get them to needed medical care. A vibrant multi-generational community, Natalie is concerned that this magical balance is being threatened by the loss of Orcas’ seniors. While this concern resonated with participants, it appeared to be the consensus that Orcas residents face even more serious challenges with their ferry system than do Salt Springers.
Another point of connection is concern for our fragile environment and efforts to better steward our lovely islands, especially the waters that surround us. Protection of eelgrass was used as an example during our conversation, an especially sensitive issue for local First Nations concerned with the rapid loss of the herring fishery, the basis of our Salish Sea food chain. With Orcas doing well to bring it back and Salt Spring beginning discussions with First Nations about how to better protect it, a few are beginning to ponder the potential of the tiny green grains clinging to the eelgrass base as a wheat-substitute superfood: (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/09/sea-rice-eelgrass-marine-grain-chef-angel-leon-marsh-climate-crisis). Natalie and Pam reminded us that we all must value our shared ecosystems for their inherent ecological and cultural value.
Sharing a vibrant tourist industry, each island struggles with the reality that, while our visitors are a significant fuel for our local economy, infrastructure costs are largely borne by the taxpayers of both of our communities. Orcas residents are a bit puzzled that their island has become a cycling haven despite its winding roads and nearly no shoulders. (Sound familiar?) Off-island companies bring lots of visitors, bikes, and even food leaving Orcas Islanders with lots of cyclists on their narrow roads and nearly no income to counteract what seems to some like a bit of an invasion.
Efforts are beginning to get Orcas cyclists to donate to infrastructure costs, but, so far, results are minimal. Some Salt Springers are beginning to strategize ways to convince BC Ferries to charge visitors a small extra fee to offset local infrastructure costs. While potentially a good idea with big local financial benefits, the road to implementation is sure to be challenging. Stay tuned on these island-born efforts to get our visitors to contribute a small amount to help fund their pleasurable island adventures.
Shifting to our islands’ food security, we all agreed with a laugh that, if we could live on salads and alcoholic beverages, we could attain food security. Lacking in grains and protein, we did note that, where Salt Spring has sheep, Orcas has also has a thriving beef enterprise as well as sheep. Are there any sharing possibilities there? And, we all have deer. . . .
Earlier in our conversation, we talked about islanders in both communities citing their independence and resilience. We were reminded that we are neither totally reliant nor independent and that we have to recognize and nurture this interdependence. First Nations communities loaded canoes with camas bulbs to trade with others for furs and wheat. Possibly, following their historical example and learning from their age-old wisdom will draw us together and make us all stronger?
Celebrating the similarities between our islands and the strengthened interpersonal connections from this first Hands Across the Water event, we thanked Natalie and Pam for their vision to create this event, the crazy-busy days required to turn this great idea into a reality, and their commitment to nurture the resulting connections. (Thank-you Natalie and Pam!)
Before dashing off to their many tasks, they took the time to stop by our new CHiR.fm to record an ASK Salt Spring Answered interview with President Damian Inwood. ASK Salt Spring Answered will now be aired every Monday morning as part of his 9-11 show, Coffee Break, as well as always available as a podcast (https://podscripts.co/podcasts/ask-salt-spring-answered/).
Just in case you are interested. . . .This report has been written by Gayle Baker, founder of ASK Salt Spring, currently also a Salt Spring Local Community Commissioner. It has been reviewed and edited by Pam and Natalie.
The answer to the security question is “Salt.”