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Letter: Granite Pointe Board of directors apologizes for misunderstanding regarding efforts to protect heron habitat

Letters to the editor
By Letters to the editor
May 26th, 2022

To The Editor:

The Granite Pointe Board Of Directors is clarifying a misunderstanding regarding the well-being of three known heron nests on the 102-year-old golf course’s property.

“Granite Pointe and its board have for many years aimed to protect the course’s environmental, recreational, and historical values,” says BOD president AM Naqvi, “including the herons ’nests.”

The Society has been moving forward with financially critical development efforts to generate new revenues that will maintain the 100-year-old (facility) and maintain affordable fees for players of all ages and abilities, while at the same time, being careful to protect these rare birds ’habitat.

“In fact, we have gone beyond Provincial Wildlife Act requirements for private land to do so,” adds Naqvi, a longtime volunteer on many community boards and charitable organizations.

In 2021, Granite Pointe sought out professional advice from the BC Conservation Office, and then voted to follow the high standards of practice that would normally apply to development within Crown lands.

The golf course land is privately held.

Land clearing to make way for new holes to allow housing and commercial development in other areas of the golf course was delayed by four months to avoid interrupting the birds ’ breeding season. A buffer of 200 meters of forest remained to protect the nests during that time. A small cluster of forest was then left to protect an existing nesting tree.

The substantial effort to preserve the herons ’habitat needs created additional costs in both capital and time for Granite Pointe, but Naqvi says, those were efforts the BOD and the club’s members fully supported.

Unfortunately, during last year, another nest was destroyed in a windstorm. This detail created some confusion during an interview with local media earlier this month, when it was reported that the board had denied the existence of any nests at all.

“We weren’t in any way trying to mislead residents who are just as concerned about the herons ’well-being as we are,” says Naqvi.

Granite Pointe is a non-profit society of made up of numerous Nelsonites, both long term and new members of the community, dedicated to providing golf and other recreational activities for the community and visitors. Many of the board’s members have donated time to community projects, both here and abroad, some for years.

“The stewarding of Granite Pointe has presented a lot of challenges, and requires a lot of volunteer work by the board, members, and our few paid staff,” says Naqvi.

“But we are certain the project we’re working towards will protect the course, its forest, trails and all the values it offers the community, for generations still to come.”

Granite Pointe Board of Directors

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