Islands Trust Election Update

November 15th, 2011 by MIRRAadmin

Islands Trust Act

The Islands Trust is governed by the Islands Trust Act which

  • Establishes the corporate bodies of the Islands Trust
  • Identifies the Islands Trust Area and the “object” (mandate) of the Islands Trust
  • Confers responsibilities and powers on the corporate bodies of the Islands Trust
  • Transfers land use planning powers from Regional Districts to Local Trust Committees
  • Prohibits
  • Read the rest of this post

October 2011 Newsletter

September 23rd, 2011 by davel

Island Trust All Candidates Meeting Oct 29th

Sponsored by MIRRA

October 29th, 1 PM, Ag Hall

 

It’s hiring time at the old sausage factory again. Despite repeated warnings to the squeamish about witnessing the gory processes that sustain the body, physical and politic, candidates are lining up once more. As lovers of good government (and sausages), we must applaud …

Read the rest of this post

September 2011 Newsletter

September 23rd, 2011 by davel

Governance and the Gulf Islands

 

Islands Trust

November 19th, we vote for Island Trustees, 26 people who will then elect a four-person Executive Committee.  Members of the Executive chair Local Trust Committee meetings, and approve, or refuse approval, for bylaws passed by the LTCs.

For 38 years, the Trust has been shaped by forces ranging from hard-environmentalist …

Read the rest of this post

August 2011 Newsletter

September 23rd, 2011 by davel

A Summer Salad Bar of Community-Related Issues

 

Ferries: As BC Ferries contemplates options for the maintenance or reorganization of Route 9 (the Queen of Nanaimo run,) the Salt Spring Island Ferry Advisory Committee hosted a recent meeting with FAC members from Mayne, Pender and Saturna. This ferry is approaching retirement age, and her loss will threaten established expectations of …

Read the rest of this post

Superior Shuttle Reality Check

July 19th, 2011 by MIRRAadmin

Superior_Tanker_Shuttle_Service_Accreditation_Area2

 

SSI Superior Shuttle info: As discussed during the fire hall referendum, gaining Superior Shuttle accreditation does not guarantee reduced insurance rates to property owners island wide. Such accreditation makes it so islanders are eligible to apply for reduced insurance rates. A clear example of this comes from Saltspring, with three fire halls, many hydrants over the entire island …

Read the rest of this post

May 2011 Newsletter

May 1st, 2011 by davel

Living in Interesting Times

Politics: it seems like nobody’s talking about it, then suddenly everyone is. We swing from cynical disinterest to partisan fever. Too little attention, and things stagnate; too much and they threaten to fly apart. We tsk and tut over lapses into incivility and hope to still have our friends after heated debate. Good luck to us!…

Read the rest of this post

Ferry Fares

March 31st, 2011 by MIRRAadmin

 

The Vancouver Sun is reporting potential fare increases of up to 37% on minor routes:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Ferries+fares+could+jump+cent/4537204/story.html

Please contact the BC Ferry Commissioner if you are concerned:

http://www.bcferrycommission.com/

Read the rest of this post

April 2011 Newsletter

March 31st, 2011 by davel

What’s Next?

The directors of MIRRA would like to thank all those who worked on the recent referendum.
Particularly, we would like to thank the folks who contributed their time and support to our campaign: the 16 enthusiastic scrutineers, those who wrote letters and spoke publicly, and those who made donations to ensure the community received the information it needed …

Read the rest of this post

Fire Hall Referendum Results

March 13th, 2011 by MIRRAadmin

 

Unofficial results:

YES:  414

No: 817

Read the rest of this post

March 2011 Newsletter

March 1st, 2011 by davel

Mayne Island Residents and Ratepayers Association
March 2011 Newsletter

MIRRA Maintains “VOTE NO” Position on Fire Hall Referendum

Sound Reasons to Vote No:

$3.4 million for this project is too expensive and puts us in heavy debt for too long.
• We face other upcoming infrastructure costs (health centre expansion) and our small tax base will soon need to

Read the rest of this post

Fire Hall Links

February 11th, 2011 by MIRRA

A round-up of links relevant to the new fire hall construction project.

Route 7 Island Sky / Cumberland Route Comparison

February 5th, 2011 by MIRRA

Overview: Since being assigned to Route 5 (Southern Gulf Islands) in 1992, the Queen of Cumberland has struggled to effectively and efficiently serve the users. Issues with drives, elevated ramps, hull speed and conflicting berth schedules have clearly shown the Cumberland is unsuitable for the route and have earned the ship the nickname ‘Queen of Cumbersome’.

In summer months the …

Read the rest of this post

Browsing down our natural heritage: Deer impacts on vegetation structure and songbird populations across an island archipelago

February 5th, 2011 by MIRRA

Declines in forest and woodland birds have largely been attributed to habitat loss and fragmentation. In the past decade, however, the potential for herbivores to influence bird species abundance and community composition via their direct impact on vegetation structure has also been recognised. We tested the hypothesis that deer influence vegetation structure and bird assemblages in a large island archipelago …

Read the rest of this post

HERBIVORY MORE LIMITING THAN COMPETITION ON EARLY AND ESTABLISHED NATIVE PLANTS IN AN INVADED MEADOW

February 5th, 2011 by MIRRA

Abstract. The dominance of nonnative plants coupled with declines of native plants suggests that competitive displacement drives extinctions, yet empirical examples are rare. Herbivores, however, can alter vegetation structure and reduce diversity when abundant. Herbivores may act on mature, reproductive life stages whereas some of the strongest competitive effects might occur at early life stages that are difficult to observe. …

Read the rest of this post

Deer-related links

February 5th, 2011 by MIRRA

Deer menace Gulf Islands habitatOh Deer. Or, When Laws Are Made After Watching “Bambi”

http://unambig.com/tag/mayne-island/

Deer menace Gulf Islands habitat

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Deer+menace+Gulf+Islands+habitat/4126622/story.html

Deer oh Deer

http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2011/01/22/january-22-2011/

Deer causing rapid environmental change on B.C.’s and Washington’s Gulf islands: UBC study

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2011/01/17/deer-causing-rapid-environmental-change-on-b-c-%E2%80%99s-and-washington%E2%80%99s-gulf-islands-ubc-study/

The environmental costs of protecting Bambi

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/mark-hume/examining-the-high-environmental-costs-of-protecting-bambi/article1872391/

Adrian MacNair: B.C. deer-lovers ruining the environment

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/01/25/adrian-macnair-b-c-deer-lovers-ruining-the-environment/

Deer Causing Environmental Change on Canadian

Read the rest of this post