By S. Belford

During discussion at the recent Public Hearing the subject of tree bylaws came up, and the idea
was expressed that Sooke’s big landowners have owned the land for decades and have been
great stewards and look after their lands well like they always have and the District should butt
out. Someone’s property is theirs to do with as they like, right?

I believe that property rights should be respected and I don’t agree that they supersede the
rights of all other citizens to a healthy and safe environment, and that’s why I support guidelines
and policies like foreshore and riparian setbacks and yes– protection of the forest canopy.
If I don’t clean up a spilled toxic substance on my property, its effects don’t stop at the property
line. The same goes for the effects of everything we do; a drained wetland or redirected stream
results in changes to local wildlife populations; a new or expanded dock can change ocean
currents many kilometres away. Many things we do on our own lands impact the lands and
wellbeing of our neighbours.

For example, last year a neighbour of the Ella Creek development woke up to a car-sized
boulder falling onto her property from above, due to blasting. Talk about impact. Thankfully no
one was hurt.

Our individual actions can have other, less dramatic and more gradual impacts that can
seriously affect neighbours’ wellbeing. For example, in the fall of 2023 several trees were
removed or topped in the hillside manufactured home park I live in– I never learned why. I
shrugged– it was already done, Sooke has no tree protection bylaw and it’s the landlord’s
private property to do with as he wants, anyway, right?

Well, last November, a year after the trees were cut, we had that Bomb Cyclone. The thinned
tree canopy couldn’t withstand the wind and many more trees in the park came down on top of
houses. Fortunately no one was hurt, but one neighbour was out of their house for almost 7
months before it was livable. Following the storm clean up, the local tree canopy was thinner
than ever.

Cut to this December and the impact of the driving rains of the current Atmospheric Rivers on
“our” hillside with its reduced number of trees. As you know, tree roots stabilize slopes by
holding the soil and they help stop flooding by drinking up the rain. With fewer trees on this
hillside, more rain is just running down the hill un-absorbed. Some of the water pools just beside
my house, then follows a channel that guides the water away. I have never seen that channel
used in the 6.5 years I’ve been here; it was almost overflowing during the storm last week.
I’ve illustrated one set of real impacts stemming from a single action by one landowner acting in
good faith backed by his long-held family knowledge of his land. The flaw is that the long held
family knowledge stems from a time when Sooke really was a rain forest; when the soil was
moist even in summer and seedlings were plentiful.

Today’s Sooke has been in a drought since 2022, and its soil is dry and porous; continued
cutting of trees helps to dry it further. Without roots holding the soil in place, Sooke’s steep hills
are at risk for landslide.

The danger is that this situation is being replicated all over Sooke and the forest is very slowly
vanishing. Everything is fine today. Will it continue to be tomorrow? Or will it take us having to
say “unfortunately someone was hurt” before we recognize the far ranging consequences our
individual actions have for others. It’s time to acknowledge that we, all of us, have as much
responsibility to protect our shared environment as we have rights to enjoy our personal small
slice of it.