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SAANICH NEWS - Wednesday, December 12, 2012
COMMUNITY NEWS IN BRIEF
Candle fire damages Cordova Bay home A candle left unattended in a Cordova Bay home resulted in a small house fire that sent two people to hospital on Saturday. Six Saanich fire department trucks attended the 500-block of Rambler Rd. around 4:45 a.m. after the candle fell on a mattress, setting it on fire. Two people inside the home suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to hospital. Fire crews were on scene for about an hour. Damage to the home and contents inside is estimated at $20,000.
Mt. Doug students host ‘Fill the Foyer’ Mount Douglas students are collecting non-perishable food and toys for charity this week for their “Fill the Foyer” event. People are welcome to drop off food and toys during school hours, or drop by on Saturday, Dec, 15 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at 3970 Gordon Head Rd. Food and toys will be donated to families in need in the Saanich and Gordon Head areas.
Volunteers needed, grants offered The Capital Regional District is seeking individuals to serve on the CRD arts advisory council. The arts advisory council is a volunteer committee that adjudicates CRD funding programs and provides advice and policy recommendations on issues relating to the arts in the Capital Region. For more information, see www.crd.bc.ca/arts or call 250-360-3215. Applications are due by Feb. 1, 2013. CRD arts committee is offering grants to a maximum of $2,000. The next deadline is, Feb. 28, 2013, Applicants must be registered not-for-profit organizations and within the CRD. See www.crd.bc.ca/ arts or call 250-360-3215.
Arnold Lim/News staff
Rob Galey of Galey Farms in front of a wet lot on the family farm where hundreds of geese congregate every day. The farm is reducing its crop production in the wake of continual damage from deer and geese.
Deer, geese cut deep at Galey Farms Family farm plans to cut back production Arnold Lim News staff
Ray Galey fires a cap gun into the air above hundreds of geese loitering on his farm. A dozen or so honk and scatter into the air, before flying a loop and returning to the farmland once more. Most of the Canadian geese barely flinch, they aren’t scared of the sounds anymore. Galey’s son Rob, runs his fingers through what is left of his raspberry bushes. Normally seven or eight feet high, the tender branches have been nibbled away to the nubs, along with what he said would have been his profits. Farming isn’t as fun for the Galey’s anymore. “We are the last commercial farming family in Saanich,” Rob said. “There were hundreds of families farming 50 years ago – we are down now to three. We don’t want to downsize.” With reluctance, the Galeys are letting leases expire on two farming parcels. Next season Galey Farms will drop 25 acres from production
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on Hastings and Interurban roads, as they can no longer protect the land from geese and deer, which eat through crops on a daily basis. The farm plays home to deer that live on his property year-round and geese that no longer migrate. “We took a loss again this year. We had a choice of dropping those properties and cutting those losses or the family was going to lose the farm,” Rob said. “We are utilizing all the resources we have to protect the property in Blenkinsop.” When Ray and Rob chase geese away, they fly from one of his properties to another. Scaring them off the family’s Blenkinsop properties only pushes them over to one of his other farms and back again. Rob’s daily routine includes scaring deer and geese of his land while his children wait in the car on their way to school. “I went to scare a buck out of my strawberry field and he put his horns down and ran me,” Rob said. “It was the first time - it made me think twice. What if it wasn’t me, what if it is one of my kids?” His family has spent more that $100,000 in fencing their properties, an ongoing project, but he says that don’t help. Deer are learning to dig underneath fencing
and teaching their young to do the same, Rob says. He has been forced to get his staff out into the field to form a human chain to walk deer back out the way they came. It is a cost of time and resources he can scarcely afford. Galey Farms has worked with the Capital Regional District deer committee for two years – “a waste of time” Rob says. He looks at farming colleagues in Central Saanich who can apply for permits to cull deer and geese and wonders why a solution can’t be found to help him or smaller farming operations like nearby Dan’s Farm. “People have to see it for themselves, what kind of damage can be caused. (Deer and geese) can wipe out large fields in a matter of days,” said Danny Ponchet of Dan’s Farm in Saanich and Central Saanich. “(Crops) don’t grow back the same way. They just don’t respond in the same way growing back.” The farmer of 30 years says he has it easier than the Galey’s due to his much smaller operation - but he spends more and more money to protect his crops each year, and wonders if the cycle will ever end. Saanich South MLA Lana Popham, a former farmer, says she
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understands the plight of the agricultural community and hopes a balance can be found. “The economic devastation is huge. If we support a local food movement and want farmers to stay in business, we have to co-operate together with the agricultural community,” Popham said. “I know in other agricultural communities there are licenses given out to hunt deer and geese that are a problem in agricultural areas. I would support that.” British Columbia Wildlife Federation director of strategic planning Al Martin said there is no “silver bullet” and hopes the proper balance can be found. “In Saanich and Saanich Peninsula, we have to ask ourselves what level of goose population is sustainable, considering agricultural lands and public safety concerns. It is all about balance,” he said. “This should be an area approach. You would put (the farmer) out of business if he needs to solve it himself. Is it in the public interest to have that agricultural area in the Blenkinsop valley? I would strongly say it is, but we are saying ‘this is your problem you solve it.’” reporter@vicnews.com
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