A Work of Art to Represent Your Role in the Conservancy – Do you see yourself in it?
Last fall, as I was trying to wrap my head around all the amazing work the Conservancy does, I sought feedback from the staff team on past and present work and initiatives. We gathered around the table and furiously scribbled ideas onto sticky notes. The creativity, diversity and thoughtful intention behind the work was inspiring. From the meeting emerged the idea of representing our work symbolically as a tree featuring many of the interdependent processes and creatures we are working to protect.
We reached out to local artist Jenny Ritter to see if she could help turn our sketch into a piece that would capture the spirit of the ideas. We asked her to help us represent the work, while celebrating the Coastal Douglas Fir biogeoclimatic zone, which holds within it a few rare ecosystem types, one of which is the Garry Oak ecosystem. Jenny took inspiration from the Garry Oak, and created the beautiful artwork shown here. I’m keen to share more about how this incredible piece captures so much meaning for us.
Rooted in Community
Everything we do is rooted in the rich and fertile soil of our community—our roots come from the vision of those who started the Friends of Mount Parke and has grown into the work and impact we now carry forward today. We draw inspiration from the Coast Salish peoples and Indigenous stewardship that is integral to the health of local ecosystems and continues throughout the region today.
Stewardship starts with water and seeds
The work of the Conservancy adds to the health and fertility of the soil as shown by the person with the watering can–the water represents our work to grow public awareness and understanding through Conservancy-led events, workshops and celebrations as well as our monthly offerings in the Oystercatcher newsletter. The hands scattering seeds represent the work we do to support youth education and support future stewards. Awareness and education create seeds of action. From this strong foundation, with continued input and care, we grow together in stewardship.
Volunteers are the xylem and phloem
The strong and furrowed trunk of the tree provides space and structure for the efforts of the community to feed into the work of the organization. Each new member is like a new ring of growth on the tree, each volunteer provides a cellular link in the xylem–transporting nutrients from the community roots to the branches and leaves, each board member plays a part in the phloem–transporting the sugars from the leaves to other parts of the tree–making sure the hard-earned growth and gains of the leaves continue to feed the entire system.
Working to protect SḴŦAḴ | Mayne Island for all
As we move into the branches and leaves, we see the day-to-day work of staff members. The branches represent different aspects of our work. One branch represents habitat restoration, with the native plant nursery as a critical branch providing sprouts for restoration efforts. Another branch represents all the work we do to identify and monitor ecosystems and the special species that call SḴŦAḴ | Mayne Island home, including efforts to preserve biodiversity by keeping invasive species in check. Another branch represents the strength of working with community members to develop stewardship agreements and covenants, which offer meaningful mechanisms for protecting the ecological values of the landscape over the long-term. A branch devoted to landholder consultation provides a critical link between interested landholders and the expertise that makes our organization so strong. The branches provide structure and connection from which land protection can grow and provide habitat for many of the interdependent creatures to thrive.
All of these branches lend support to the growing canopy, which represents protection of SḴŦAḴ | Mayne Island for all. The leaves of the canopy respond to and grow toward the light of the sun, which represents our vision for protecting at least 30% of SḴŦAḴ | Mayne Island by 2033.
Thriving with the diversity of life, ideas and partners
The beautiful and captivating creatures throughout the artwork represent the diversity of life that rely on the Garry oak ecosystem, and the diversity of ideas, community partners and funding sources that feed into the system. The mushrooms represent ephemeral ideas that emerge organically out of the creativity and energy of the community, which like fungi, often grow from the richness of ideas, efforts, and life that came before. These mushrooms may grow and senesce or may return reliably from year to year marking a favorite foraging patch we all come back to. The flowers represent some species that may now be hard to find but could become more widespread as we act together in stewardship. We considered adding a deer fence, but opted to focus on our positive vision (though we continue to work to mitigate the impact of hyperabundant deer, too!). The squirrel represents the hard work of fundraising and storing up resources to serve the needs of the organization now and into the future–thanks to all who contribute nuts to the cache. The other birds, bees, insects, snakes and slugs represent the many diverse partners that are part of the interconnected work we are doing. The whole system is ever changing, growing in response to inputs, and shaped by ideas both from its roots and the light of the sun.
As you can see–we’ve had fun weaving our vision of the work with the rich metaphorical offerings of Jenny Ritter’s tree. All of the components contribute to our efforts to protect the rare beauty of Mayne Island for all, now and into the future.
What do you see? Where do you find connection and representation of your ideas and efforts in this depiction? Can you bring forward your own metaphor? Please contribute ideas or musings in the Comments below.
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