Vandalism on the Nature Trail at the Estuary

There is a rising controversy down at the Cowichan Estuary, which most people in this area have heard about.  At issue is the proposed re-zoning of the estuary development to permit heavy industry which is presently not within the permitted use of that area.To be clear, this is not privately- owned property, but, provincial government property that the businesses are leasing for maybe a dollar a year, dating back to times when the area was used for forestry-related industry. In the old days, ships would come into the bay and pick up logs, or lumber, and the province gave land leases in order to promote the forestry industry.The lease was written such that if forestry-based industry ceased, then the areas would once again come under provincial government control. Great. Pretty easy to understand. But then in 2005, something interesting happened. The forestry-related industry diminished, and the lessees then sub-leased to a totally forestry-unrelated company.  Our regulatory bodies in the Cowichan area either didn’t notice that had happened, or had friends in the business, who knows what – bottom line- they did not do their jobs and these sub-lessees became somewhat entrenched and entitled.Are these lessees paying property taxes that would help the CVRD, or bring down the property taxes for the rest of us? No. Are they operating business outside of the zoning for that area? Yes. Could the businesses be relocated to a more appropriate area without loss of jobs? Yes.  Are the people involved in working in the area getting annoyed with CERCA (the Cowichan Estuary Conservation and Restoration Association, headed by Dr. Goetz Schuerholz) for bringing this discordance to light and on the public table? Decidedly, Yes.While we wait for the local government to ask for a professional study as to the environmental impact that the re-zoning could possibly have on the estuary, some hot-heads with large pick-up trucks (you know who you are) took it upon themselves to tear down interpretive signs (made by the Royal BC Museum and paid for by Island Saving)  on the nature trail that goes along the old railroad tracks. Well done, boys! That will really show them. And then when your children from the elementary school go on a field trip the teacher can now point out where the signs used to be and make up something interesting to take the place of the info that had been prepared by naturalists from our area.How will they explain to the little kids that the signs that took many volunteers hours and hours to make and raise money for, were torn out by some men who came in the night to cowardly break off an remove the signs? How can teachers teach your children that might is not right; that talking issues out; taking disagreements through the democratic process without intimidation or bribery; following the rules of order, law, and good governance that Canada was founded upon; listening to someone else’s opinion; and respecting another point of view is the way to go, when Daddy can’t model that himself in his own life?  Shame on you.Connie HarrisCowichan Bay