Just a quick note to let you
know how things are progressing with the Elkington
Forest community. Generally, despite the economic
downturn, we are encouraged by the progress. The team is
much stronger thanks to the participation of some key
people and companies. We also have a clear vision of the
steps necessary to complete the development, sell the
building lots, and create a beautiful
community.
We are taking some big steps in
finalizing the last of the technical conditions required
for the fourth and final reading of the rezoning. Jack
Basey, our vice-president, is in daily communication
with the staff of the various approval agencies;
engineers, fire departments, parks staff, water boards,
etc. We are pleased with how we have been able to
get resolution on the conditions and will be announcing
shortly when we anticipate the fourth reading.
As
part of the preliminary work on the water supply, in
August we completed a 24 hour test of the main well
on-site. The engineers calculated that it would be
sufficient for at least 100 gallons per minute over a
100 day period with no recharge of the aquifer. We are
pleased by this result.
Over the summer, we have
been firming up a joint venture partnership with Chew
Construction. John Chew is someone that I really
respect. I have worked with members of his firm for many
years. Chew Construction is now the largest civil
contractor on Vancouver Island and has a great deal of
experience in every type of civil infrastructure, large
and small. They are also familiar with, and
sympathetic to the construction of, more sustainable
forms of infrastructure. We look forward to the strength
that Chew Co. brings to the table in terms of finding
cost savings, determining the most efficient methods of
constructing and accurately estimating costs. A big
thanks to Bruce Dyck, President of Chew Co, for his
passionate commitment to the Elkington Forest
project.
On the financial side, wee are working
very closely with investment advisors in San Francisco
and in Victoria, both of whom are providing contacts and
leads. Every week I make several presentations and host
site tours for potential investors. Over the summer,
additional investment funds have been slowly but
consistently trickling in.
At the end of July,
Ann Mortifee of the Trust, Jan Garnett a VP of the
Nature Conservancy of Canada, and I went down to San
Francisco for a series of meetings with potential
large-scale investors. The reason that Jan Garnett
joined us was to say that they are our partners, and
that going forward the LFC model will be an essential
part of any future conservation land acquisition
campaign. These meetings, arranged by Aquillian
Investment Advisers, focused on the current Elkington
Forest project but also addressed the potential to
replicate this model in other locations. One of the
groups that we presented to has shown serious interest
in the Limited Partnership investment and made a return
visit in August to see the property and ask questions of
our team. We continue to correspond back and forth and
are hopeful that they will become significant
Partners.
For those who live close to Vancouver,
you might want to check out the Gaining Ground Summit,
October 20 - 22, 2009, at the Vancouver Trade and
Convention Centre.
I
am organizing a panel on how the conservation community
model can be an option for forest conservation and park
land acquisition in this time of restricted budgets and
reduced charitable giving to land trust organizations.
As the options decrease, our model of conservation with
limited development becomes increasingly
attractive.
With me on the panel, will be Peter
Mortifee, a Director of the Trust for Sustainable
Forestry, Jens Weiting, a senior researcher with the
Sierra Club working on the Great Bear Rainforest
coalition, and Jan Garnett of the Nature Conservancy of
Canada. Please come to this great conference and join us
for the panel discussion.
Looking back over the
past year it is clear that we have plowed through a very
difficult time but we are emerging through the other
side with a stronger business model and an even better
bottom line, in all three aspects. I have been very
encouraged by the support that we have received from the
strong construction and mission-driven financial
partnerships, and associations with reputable
environmental organizations. I am convinced that we are
doing the right thing. Now we just need to execute on
the plan and complete the vision.
Thanks, once
again for your support.
Doug
About
Us
Living Forest Communities Is a free market
model for conserving intact forest ecosystems
through the creation of sustainable social
communities and ecosystem based forestry.
The forests of the world are increasingly
the focus of many news articles as we struggle to
deal with climate change and changing
forests. Below are several links to articles
we have come across in our research and
reading.
