Connecting Past and Present
July 18, 2026 By: Julia Morgan
Salt Spring Island BC
Article: “Waterfront Property Donated”
https://gulfislandsdriftwood.com/waterfront-property-donated-for-park/
A recent Gulf Islands Driftwood article notes that Ruth Baldwin’s family donated approximately 1.5 acres of oceanfront land at 215 Morningside Road to establish a community park on Salt Spring Island. The Salt Spring Island Archives indicate that the property was formerly home to David and Clara Maxwell, whose family had both Cowichan Indigenous and European ancestry, and that the land was used as a residence, a small farm, a gathering place, and an access point to the ocean. This history connects to Binnema and Niemi’s discussion of the parks movement because it shows that land designated as a park is not necessarily untouched or devoid of prior human history. Although the donation protects public shoreline access, the article does not discuss the property’s Indigenous history or whether Indigenous communities will be involved in the park’s creation. This made me consider how parks can protect land while still leaving important questions about whose history and relationship with the land are acknowledged.
Article: “From Drained Lands to Living Waters: Restoring Salmon Habitat in Xwaaqw’um”
https://isfund.ca/from-drainage-to-renewal-rebuilding-salmon-habitat-in-xwaaqwum/
This article outlines a wetland restoration project at Xwaaqw’um on Salt Spring Island. Historical logging, farming, and drainage systems altered the natural flow of water and degraded salmon habitat. In response, the project is restoring wetlands, planting native species, and implementing beaver dam analogues to slow water movement. This initiative relates to William Cronon’s argument in “The Trouble with Wilderness” that nature should not be regarded as entirely separate from people or valued only when untouched. At Xwaaqw’um, conservation relies on active efforts to repair past damage and incorporates Indigenous knowledge in land stewardship. This project leads me to view conservation as a process of restoration and stewardship.
References
Binnema, Theodore, and Melanie Niemi. “‘Let the Line Be Drawn Now’: Wilderness, Conservation, and the Exclusion of Aboriginal People from Banff National Park in Canada.” Environmental History 11, no. 4 (2006): 724–750.
Cronon, William. “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature.” In Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, 69–90. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995.
Salt Spring Island Archives. “The Barbara Lyngard Collection.” https://saltspringarchives.com/Maxwell-Trage-Coopsie/barbara-lyngard.html
Salt Spring Island Archives. “Maxwell–Trage.” https://saltspringarchives.com/Maxwell-Trage-Coopsie/maxwell-trage.html