Your gifts made quite an impact in 2025!
Seasons Greetings TLC Supporters,
From taking small steps towards reconciliation to conserving new places and freeing acres from invasive species, your gifts power the work that TLC does.
As always, we are incredibly humbled and inspired by your generous support. Our Winter Fundraiser kicked off on #GivingTuesday on December 2nd, and we have already raised $52,806 of our $75,000 goal! Learn more about this fundraiser and donate on our website.
With only two days left in 2025, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for all of the accomplishments you have helped us achieve this year. For your reading pleasure, I’ve picked out a handful that our staff and board are proud of, and I think that you should be too!
Wishing you a joyous holiday season,
Dianna Stenberg
Executive Director
TLC Pledge Completes SȾÁUTW̱ (TSAWOUT) Land Back Campaign
“We are honoured to contribute to this land back campaign to both fulfill Nancy’s wish to support projects that benefit ecology and the people of Salt Spring Island, and to continue our reconciliation efforts by supporting the SȾÁUTW̱ First Nation’s land purchase.” – Dianna Stenberg
Earlier in December, TLC generously supported the SȾÁUTW̱ (TSWAOUT) Land Back Campaign with funds previously gifted to TLC by the late Nancy (Grant) Braithwaite. A TLC donor since 1997, Braithwaite acted in support of several social and environmental causes, including land acquisition for conservation and Indigenous reconciliation in her lifetime.
Historical photo of SȾÁUTW̱ reserve. Credit: Maud Weaver-Bridgman c. 1910.
Nancy (Grant) Braithwaite. Credit: Tamar Griggs.
The campaign, held at the Salt Spring Island Foundation, has now been completed. The campaign raised $600,000 to support the SȾÁUTW̱ Nation’s land purchase of 2.1-acre Lot A Menhinick Drive on Salt Spring Island, which is adjacent to their 50-acre reserve in W̱ENÁ ̧NEĆ, or what is also known as Fulford Harbour.
Two New Covenants Registered
Located just north of the Swartz Bay ferry terminal on Vancouver Island, Knapp Island protects 5.77 hectares of at-risk Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem and protects red-listed Douglas-fir/arbutus, and Roemer’s fescue/ Junegrass plant communities.
The 10-hectare Harrison covenant on Cortes Island connects one of the island’s largest wildlife corridors and safeguards large predators, including black bears, cougars, and coastal wolves.
More in the LANDmark Newsletter.
Kingfisher within TLC’s Knapp Island covenant. Credit: Heather Ng-Cornish
Coastal wolf within TLC’s Harrison covenant on Cortes Island. Credit: Sabina Leader-Mense.
Drone Gives Covenant Monitoring a New Perspective
Drone imagery of TLC’s Second Lake property in the Highlands on southern Vancouver Island.
Credit: Beth Reimer
This fall, TLC introduced a remotely operated drone to its monitoring procedures. Modern conservation technology purchases are made possible by TLC supporters and are essential for the observation of untraversable terrain and for the analysis of changing ecosystems in response to climate change and development.
Watch the drone video on YouTube.
25 Years of Conservation Celebrated at Abkhazi Garden
2025 marked 25 years since TLC’s acquisition of Abkhazi Garden to protect the garden from development.
A celebration BBQ was held in July for the 60+ essential volunteers, who together carry on the legacy of “the garden that love built“.
Donors were critical to the completion of the Abkhazi Accessibility Project, which upgraded historic garden infrastructure with mobility and environmentally-friendly features.
Abkhazi Garden volunteers pose at celebration BBQ.
Credits: Emily Francis
Accessibility upgrades made to historic driveway.
Credits: Emily Francis
Three Cheers to TLC Volunteers!
Volunteer pulls English ivy at Ayum Creek. Credit: Greater Victoria Green Team.
This year, volunteers removed 8 m3 of invasive species and 370 L of garbage from TLC’s covenant at Ayum Creek Regional Park in Sooke.
Volunteers have been restoring Ayum Creek ecosystems since 2017.
Jody Avram poses in front of TLC office. Credit: Emily Francis
From LANDmark newsletters to fundraiser appeals, Jody Avram’s stalwart support has ensured the delivery of TLC communications to supporters for twenty years.
Pictured: new board members Hassan Arif and John Allen
TLC welcomes Hassan Arif, John Allen, and Andrew Morgan to the TLC Board of Directors.
The expertise of volunteer board members is key to guiding TLC’s conservation decisions.
