The baseline for Bowen Island’s development 

My friend Peter Frinton, a long time Islander, and former Councillor, sent along an email the other week with his thoughts on the current Bowen Island Official Community Plan process.  In it he included a link to an old landscape analysis by H.E. Hirvonen completed 50 years ago which the author described nine types of landscape and looked at the coastline and major watersheds of the Island.  It makes for fascinating reading. Technical, well researched observations accompanied by informed opinions about the development and logging potential of different land types.   

This document predates much of the explosive growth on our island that began in the 1990s and accelerated once we became a municipality in 1999.  At that time, planning moved from the islands Trust to our own municipality and although we are still guided by the Islands Trust mandate and restrictions, it's fair to say that our development trajectory has mirrored much of the regional pressures and growth. 

But you can't change what was put here in the first place. Tectonic forces, volcanic activity, glaciers, rain, wind, and tide shaped this island. We have to live within these constraints.