A non-profit society running the Wildwood Ecoforest is offering $600,000 to The Land Conservancy of B.C. to keep the property accessible to the public and in the hands of a non-profit organization.
Barry Gates, a Ecoforestry Institute Society board member, said Tuesday the public should be aware of what is going on when it comes to Wildwood’s future.
John Shields, Land Conservancy director of operations, will not discuss the bid, saying the parties had agreed to a media blackout in late February on talks about the future of the 77-acre property near Cedar.
Shields said he will be speaking with the lawyer for the Ecoforestry Institute Society and to the lawyer for the office of the Attorney General of B.C., which was helping the parties with negotiations, to seek clarity on the matter.
Wildwood is among the 50 properties held by the Victoria-based non-profit Land Conservancy, which is divesting itself of most of its holdings in order to settle an $8-million debt, under a process approved by the Supreme Court of B.C. The organization has been in protection from creditors since fall 2013.
The late Merv Wilkinson began demonstrating sustainable tree harvesting practices at Wildwood 80 years ago. Wildwood has attracted global attention and is regularly used for educational tours.
Wildwood has been part of the Land Conservancy’s stable of properties since 2000. The Ecoforestry Institute Society has been managing the forest for 14 years, Gates said.
A Land Conservancy court document said Wildwood has been appraised at $1.145 million, but that does not take into account its ecological value.
The Land Conservancy said in the document it has interest from a private buyer, who had previously offered $860,000 for the land. If that sale went forward, a protective covenant would be imposed on the property. That potential buyer is an eco-forester who worked with Wilkinson and who would manage the land sustainably, the Land Conservancy said.
But Gates said Wildwood should not be sold into private hands. The Ecoforestry Institute society has raised $500,000 in cash and another $100,000 in loan forgiveness to buy Wildwood to keep it in the public domain, Gates said.
The offer was announced in a news release this week. It was presented to the Land Conservancy in March, Gates said.
“We want to bring it before the public,” Gates said. “We are saying there is no place for private owners in this process.”
If the society’s offer is successful, it hopes that an agreement would be in place by May 1.
Kathy Code, Ecoforestry Institute Society communications director, said the goal is for another land trust to take over ownership of Wildwood.
The society is running two fundraising campaigns. One is to pay legal costs around the Wildwood-Land Conservancy process and the other is to pay for improvements at Wildwood.
