Savary Island

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Savary Island
Aerial view of the east end of Savary Island
Aerial view of the east end of Savary Island
Waters Strait of Georgia (Pacific Ocean)
Archipelago Northern Gulf Islands
Geographical location 49 ° 56 ′ 0 ″  N , 124 ° 48 ′ 0 ″  W Coordinates: 49 ° 56 ′ 0 ″  N , 124 ° 48 ′ 0 ″  W
Savary Island, British Columbia
Savary Island
length 8 kilometers
width 1 km
Residents 90

Savary Island is an island in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia , at the entrance to Desolation Sound , between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada . The island is part of the Northern Gulf Islands and is located in the qathet Regional District . It stretches from east to west and is almost a kilometer wide and 8 kilometers long. Around 90 people live on the island permanently, while around 2,000 live on the island in summer. There is no settlement focus on the island. The settlement extends over the entire island, only in the central part it is a little thinner.

The island has extensive dunes and sandy beaches. It is often referred to as "BC's tropical island" ( British Columbia's tropical island) because it has rare sandy beaches, a mild climate and comparatively low rainfall in this region.

Geography and climate

Pleistocene glaciers shaped the landscape, their deposits form the subsurface, while rocks only emerge in a few places, such as at Mace Point. The rough weather conditions constantly change the shape of the island, which moves north-west at around 140 cm per year.

Despite the rain shade that Vancouver Island offers, Savary Island receives more than 1,000mm of rain per year. The only source of fresh water is at Indian Point.

Flora and fauna

Douglas fir , western hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla ), giant arborvitae , coastal pine , coastal fir , Alnus rubra , Oregon maple and Pacific Madrone ( Arbutus menziesii ) characterize the landscape. Allegedly one of the tallest Arbutus specimens is on the island. Some Garry oaks can be found on the east side, making them one of the northernmost occurrences of this oak species, which only occurs in western America.

Shallon shamberry (Salal), Vaccinium parvifolium (Red Huckleberry), a species of blueberry, just like Vaccinium ovatum (Evergreen Huckleberry) and blood currant characterize the open area, in which, however, non-native species are gradually advancing.

Bald eagles , owls , kingfishers , various swallow species , seagulls, snipes and herons , as well as mammals ( mule deer , mink , seals , bats ), and reptiles ( garter snakes ) are still quite numerous. Raccoons do not exist, so species of birds that breed on the ground can exist here. Minks are the only predators on the island.

history

From around 2000 BC BC the presence of coastal Salish can be proven. They called this island "Áyhus", "double-headed serpent". It belonged to the territory of the Sliammon . Shell middens, u. a. near Indian Springs, plus a camp or village in a bay, as well as signal hills could be documented. The human remains found in the 1960s were returned to the Sliammon by the Laboratory of Archeology at the University of British Columbia and buried in June 2006.

The oral tradition of the Sliammon knows of the sinking of a Spanish ship, possibly in the 17th century, but these contacts are only tangible since 1791 José María Narváez with his ship, the Santa Saturnina , circumnavigated Texada Island to map the area. He also registered the entrance to the Desolation Sound . But it is unclear whether the Spaniard sailed to Savary Island. Only in the following year did the ships Mexicana and Sutil come to the island under Dionisio Alcalá Galiano , as did the Discovery and the Chatham under George Vancouver . The latter named the island on June 25, 1792 "Savary's Island". Lieutenant Peter Puget , after whom Puget Sound was named, and Joseph Whitby landed on the island on July 1st.

The British colonial government divided the island with its 1111 acre area into five district lots, which were used for settlement preparation: DL 1372 (Green's Point, 160 Acre ), DL 1373 (Savary Shores, '151' Acre ), DL 1375 (Nature Trust, 317 acres ) and DL 1376 (Indian Point, 316 acres ).

Jack Green is considered the first permanent settler (around 1886). For a long time Mace Point was called simply Green Point after him. He was killed in a robbery on his shop in 1893. Lynn of the Lan Valley Clan, a man from the Flying Dutchman , was his killer. He was caught and executed after a long chase.

Since 1910, Savary Island has been divided into 1,441 lots, and later even 1,750, on an area of ​​only 750 acres . These lots were sold at extremely low prices and are now owned by numerous heirs. If they were to assert their property claims, the supply, infrastructure and biotopes of the island would collapse immediately. A problem that would become virulent almost a century later.

In 1914, the first hotel, The Savary , was built near the 19th century shipyard. But this hotel burned down in 1932. At the other end of the island, at Indian Point, George Ashworth, who was one of the first to operate the parceling, created the Royal Savary Hotel , which closed its doors in 1982. Ashworth also built the first road, Savary Island Road , which was built between 1926 and 1927. The hotel opened in 1928, the Union Steamship Lines brought the first tourists, until 1954 the Sunshine Coast was reached by ferries, which put an end to private boat trips. Two of the three cars on the island belonged to the hotel, the first car, a Fort T, had been used for road construction. At the end of the 1940s, the Union Steamships ceased operations , and in the 1950s, the Gulf Steamship Line too . A small airline operated for a short time, but now only private seaplanes fly to the island. This may also be related to the fact that several ships sank, such as the Capilano in 1915, as well as several accidents , such as the one at Dinner Rock in 1947, and several plane crashes.

When an American company, the Washington-based Trillium Corporation , bought 133 hectares of untouched land in the middle third of the island (District Lot 1375), the Savary Island Committee , the elected representatives of the island community, protested against the plans. But the district supported them. The Island Committee was not represented there. The islanders found support in the Savary Island Land Trust Society (SILT) founded in 1997 . An expert opinion by Kathy Dunster confirmed the uniqueness of the coastal dune ecosystem - and its sensitivity, especially with regard to the dune landscape with its arbutus and Douglas fir stands that are over a thousand years old .

2002 bought Nature Trust of British Columbia , the province and Environment Canada half of the Trillium country 4.5 million dollars . This will create an ecological reserve of 147 hectares. Some areas have meanwhile been donated to the SILT, which in 2009 claims to have over 200 members.

Current situation

Water taxi that runs from Lund to Savary Island

Savary Island came late to the qathet Regional District . On February 22, 2007, this district adopted the Savary Island Official Community Plan , which aims to protect not only the island's groundwater and overall rural appearance, but also its entire ecosystem. As the public transport system provides fewer and fewer services, the need for cars and thus for traffic areas is increasing, which has led to disputes and the search for transport alternatives for years.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andrew Scott: The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names: A Complete Reference to Coastal British Columbia. Harbor Publishing, Madeira Park (BC) 2009, ISBN 978-1550174847 , pp. 527-528