The Salt Spring Community Park campaign announced today that the initiative to raise the final $350,000 towards the purchase of 75 acres of forested land on Hwmet’utsum/Mount Maxwell has reached its goal ahead of the October 31, 2022 deadline, thanks to a final grassroots push, and a generous grant from the Salt Spring Island Foundation which was enabled by a grant from the Trust established for the estate of the late Susan Bloom.

The new 75-acre Salt Spring Community Park, which is located on the ancestral and unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish people, will feature multi-use public trails on the northeast slope of Hwmet’utsum/Mt. Maxwell will support the protection of sensitive ecosystems. Moving this land from private to community ownership will create the largest contiguous tract of protected land in B.C.’s Southern Gulf Islands.

Further donations received by the Salt Spring Island Foundation’s Land Protection Fund, up to and including those dated October 31, 2022, will be tax receiptable and will contribute to the Capital Regional District’s (CRD) fund for planning, designing and implementing the park.

Read more…