The Editor,
Re: "Yvonne Harwood, Personal Profile," (Advertising), Sept. 12.
It was quite a surprise to see this realtor taking credit for the Terra Nova Park, as she calls it.
Since the 1980s, the local print media have produced a substantial record of events leading up to the creation of the Terra Nova Rural Park and the Terra Nova Natural Area.
These parks resulted from a concerted effort across the community, beginning in 1986 when a resident with strong ties to Terra Nova started a petition, which eventually grew to over 7,000 signatures. Of the individuals who signed that petition, many subsequently provided professional and technical expertise, letters, speeches and volunteer time to support the cause.
Hundreds spoke eloquently and passionately at two sets of record breaking public hearings, held in May/June 1988 and December 1988/January 1989.
The Terra Nova Natural Area, a wildlife refuge, was created by the pro-conservation city council elected in 1990 after a land swap with developers enabled the council to assemble land adjacent to the dyke.
Richmond residents, through donations to the Save Richmond Farmland Society (SRFS), invested over $175,000 in the effort to save the Terra Nova lands. The value of this support became clear in an August 2008 article in Sitelines, the journal for the BC Society of Landscape Architects, which gave credit to SRFS for "raising public awareness" resulting in the referendum question on the 1996 ballot.
Residents voted 58 per cent in favour of borrowing up to $28.5 million to purchase land in Terra Nova's northwest quadrant for what is now the Terra Nova Rural Park.
It took a grassroots community effort to accomplish what we have today at Terra Nova, not one individual.
Marion Smith Former President, Save Richmond Farmland Society
