August 2018 Update

The atrium at the Gibsons Public Market was an ideal location for Ruth Simons to provide a summer update for the public on the Biopshere Region Initiative. The market that overlooks Howe Sound is a good example of a local initiative that exemplifies many of the objectives of a UNESCO Biosphere with its community meeting space, local food vendors and Blue Act Marine Society.

The Society held its first AGM earlier in the day.  HSBRI Society board includes Jenn Meilleur, Patricia Plackett, Ruth Simons,  Bob Turner and Suzanne Senger.  By this fall, application for charitable status with the CRA will be underway, which requires revisions to the Society's purposes to better reflect the long term activities that will be undertaken.  As a charity, the Society can attract long term funding in order to sustain the organization managing the Biosphere Region. Our intention and hope is that future board members will include First Nations representatives.  

We have shared a revised map showing Core, Buffer and Transition zones in the proposed boundary with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO for feedback. Provincial staff within Forests Lands Natural Resource Operations vetted the map and have been very helpful in this process.

We also welcome Bill Henwood to our team - he will play a key role in managing and editing the nomination content and package. In the near term, we will be hosting fundraising events to raise money for the nomination package process.  

For more information or to be on our mailing list, please email HoweSoundbri@gmail.com.