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Some damage can’t be repaired

Certain land uses will lead to final destruction of irreplaceable spaces

Editor, The Record:

Re: An individual’s interest affect facts interpretation, April 26 edition.

Mike Scudder makes a valid point regarding S. Barker’s and MLA Randy Hawes’ letters, in stating that facts are usually interpreted according to the personal interests of the person involved. This is generally accepted, but ultimately, when faced with indisputable facts, the law must be followed.

In the question of protecting any agricultural land, as zoned ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve), most residents would probably agree with S. Barker, as such lands are a profound benefit to all living beings even though not initially recognized.

This is no doubt why we also have Agricultural Land Commission, which makes the final decision if ALR lands can be removed from protection. Such removal is not up to the land owner, but to the commission, and we should be thankful to those persons in the past who had the foresight to create both these entities in order to protect agriculture from being decimated with a thousand cuts.

With increasing populations, we will need more land to grow and sustain our foods and lives, not less, and that is not open to interpretations.

There are also opinions by those who wish to remove more land from this protection and rezone it for other purposes, saying that if a particular piece of land has some technically non-agricultural crops growing on it at the time, then it should be “open season” to remove it from protection.

Not so, as many wild growth “crops” feed endless eco-systems and wildlife, and also do a wonderful job in producing purified air as well as acting as filters along waterways, etc.

So while it may not be recognized immediately how important it is to protect such lands from human onslaught — including the current example about using such lands even temporarily as a parking lot for a concert, as such usage impacts the soil to a considerable depth, as well as absorbing leaks from car engines — such negatives cannot be “repaired” and would no doubt lead to the final destruction of yet another small piece of irreplaceable, life-giving space.

Lila Rauh

Mission