Having purposely refrained from becoming involved in the seemingly endless discussions around what should happen to the Wildwood property since my former husband, Mervyn Wilkinson, died in 2011, I now feel compelled to speak out.
A little background: Mervyn and I were married for 30 years from 1953 to 1983. We lived on the Wildwood property and raised two adopted and numerous foster children. It was an idyllic place to raise children and I was fortunate to have Merv as my husband. I learned a lot from him and he was a good father.
Merv had a dream. He believed that Wildwood could be logged in an eco-friendly and sustainable way. His dream was met with a good deal of skepticism by the mainstream logging and forestry companies, who pointed out that the relatively small size of our holding, at that time 150 acres, might possibly sustain Merv and his family, but that it didn’t make any economic sense. In fact, it didn’t.
I saw how much this dream meant to Merv, and with a family inheritance, I supported him in his quest to become an eco-forester. We would selectively log every few years, selling peelers for plywood, logs for dimension lumber, blowdowns for pulp, etc. Merv was always learning about the forest and, over time, became more protective of it. Foresters and log buyers regularly came and offered to cut Wildwood, as our neighbours had cut their properties, and people laughed at us for saying no. But we both believed in it.
Our foster children, accepting the love and support we gave them, moved on in their mid-teens. Our adopted children finished high school and went on to post-secondary education.
By 1980, I needed a new focus. We no longer needed a huge vegetable garden, 300 bottles of jam or the massive amount of back-breaking work involved in the farming aspect. Merv was happy to continue with the way things were, but I couldn’t. After giving 30 years of my life to Merv and Wildwood, I left to live my own dream.
In 1991, Merv contacted me with the idea of creating a living legacy with the Wildwood property being sold to a trust that would hold it in perpetuity. Subsequently, with the formation of The Land Conservancy in 1997, we were approached by TLC expressing interest in purchasing the property. I agreed that the concept was worth exploring, as we did not want to see the property sold to a developer with the expectation that the trees would be harvested and the property subdivided.
After several meetings and after an appraisal was done, a deal was struck; Merv and I sold the property at a discount (as our contribution to the TLC). Mervyn also donated $150,000 in value. A protective covenant was part of the agreement, although I now understand that never happened and was never registered.
Also under the terms of the agreement, Merv was able to remain on the property until he died. He and some other eco-foresters had formed the Ecoforestry Institute a few years before. They managed the property and developed a number of forestry educational programs that were well received in the local community and beyond. This pristine property was fulfilling our mutual vision of leaving a legacy to the people of B.C.
Now, to my dismay, this vision is under serious threat. The TLC over-extended its reach, went into creditor protection and, in order to reduce debt and with some seemingly marvellous sleight of hand, TLC directors have approved the sale of Wildwood to the private sector.
Although I understand an offer from the Ecoforestry Institute was on the table for $700,000, TLC accepted an offer of $725,000 from a private individual, subject to court approval next month. It appears that Merv’s and my worst nightmares about the property being sold into the private sector are about to come true.
TLC should do the right thing and abandon this private sale, where they have clearly lost their way. This is an embarrassment to the land trust movement.
Mervyn was a critical part of the defence of Clayoquot Sound in 1993 — an “elderly logger arrested” — and was a defender of old-growth forests all of his life, long before it was cool.
If TLC goes ahead with this sale, I hope that the people whom he supported then would now come to the defence of our shared dream for Wildwood.
Grace Richard of Nanoose Bay is the former wife of Mervyn Wilkinson.
