, the regional district’s board of directors directed staff to proceed with the purchase of 97 hectares of land at Cape Roger Curtis, an environmentally sensitive dry coastal bluff area on the southern tip of Bowen Island.
Bowen has never previously allowed overnight camping, and the move was a controversial one for the Island of 4,600 residents, whose concerns include lack of transportation and ferry infrastructure. A petition against a park with campsites had collected 1,464 signatures. However, Bowen Island’s six-member council and mayor expressed support for the purchase in a letter to Metro Vancouver.
Three other ecologically significant waterfront lots had sold to a conservancy group three years ago. Ho held onto one property for herself and her spiritual advisor to use as a retreat, and she has two more lots that she would consider selling if she can find buyers who are conservation-minded. Ho’s father Don Ho is one of the investors who’d originally purchased the 618-acre property nearly 20 years ago.
“I have to honour the shareholders,” she added. “They are very untypical shareholders. They’re not looking for the maximum profit. Part of the profit is they feel good about what they are leaving behind. There is the financial return, and the spiritual return. I feel good in doing this. This is what I am leaving to my children.”