B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner and Comox Valley MLA Don McRae were in Victoria on Tuesday to announce the protection of 750 hectares of land on Denman Island.
The land (roughly twice the area of Stanley Park) includes 492 hectares of private land formerly owned by North Denman Lands Inc.
The land was acquired in a $6.7-million deal that includes a unique carbon offset formula. The Forest Carbon Group, a German firm, paid North Denman Lands owner Henning Nielsen $1.2 million in a third-party deal with ERA Carbon Offsets Ltd.
In exchange, Forest Carbon has the right to sell carbon offsets on the Island to outside buyers in the European carbon market. For example, a German company can purchase a carbon offset that would lead to ecological restoration of a section of land on the 750 hectares.
The province contributed $232,000 cash to the purchase and also allocated Crown land development rights worth $3.9 million to North Denman Lands for the northeast section of the island.
Lastly, North Denman Lands also contributed $1.4 million off the asking price of the land.
Penner said the land, which makes up 15 per cent of the island, will now likely be transformed into a provincial park. He added that the funding formula for the purchase is unique to B.C.
"We believe this is the first time something like this has been done in Canada and it's certainly the first time it's been done in B.C.," Penner said.
"It's a great deal for taxpayers, because we're acquiring this land for our protected areas network at a pocket cost of [$232,000] or so," said Penner.
Penner said former Comox Valley MLA Stan Hagen came to him with the idea in December 2007. Hagen died in 2009, but Penner said Hagen would be very pleased with the deal if he were still alive.
"Stan Hagen is smiling from above and Don McRae was smiling from the podium today," Penner said.
McRae said that after he was elected in 2009, he took a trip to Denman Island to meet Nielsen. McRae said the project came close to being cancelled on several occasions, and credited all parties involved for closing the deal.
"I think we went through four or five 'drop dead' dates since I came aboard, and if anybody had walked away at that stage, the project would have died," said McRae. "But I'm just so glad everybody stayed focused and got it."
McRae said the unique funding formula for acquiring the lands could potentially be used by other jurisdictions and governments to create seed money for other land conservation projects.
"This is a legacy not just for the Comox Valley, this is a legacy for British Columbia," he said.
The lands are within the Chickadee Lake watershed and contain species at risk, such as the Taylor's Checkerspot butterfly.
spanderson@comoxvalleyecho.com
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