FOSBA Bulletin August 2026

FOSBA bulletin August 2026

Dear friends,

SEVEN HUNDRED or so of you have now joined FOSBA, agreeing to support our quest to have the Stillwater Bluffs become parkland. Congratulations. Our power is growing. As the biggest hurdle we face is raising the funds necessary to buy it, we hereby propose a path forward. 

Fund raising approach:

Some have been lucky in life having managed to accumulate significant wealth, a portion of which may be soon left unspent. Having no children or heirs or perhaps having children who have also been lucky, the question might arise, “What will I do with my life’s left overs when I depart”. Why not consider a donation to the preservation of a small piece of the planet, more to the point, why not donate to save our treasured Stillwater Bluffs. Simpler yet, why not consider making a pledge. A pledge will not be legally binding. It is simply a verbal agreement, not a signed document. The agreements between potential pledger/doners and FOSBA will be kept strictly secret for reasons of negotiation. The entire process of securing the Bluffs might work like this:

A)  Discussions are initiated between FOSBA and Mosaic Forest Products. FOSBA has the confidence to enter into discussions because we are aware of the up-to-date pledge value.

B)  A process of arriving at a fair price for the Bluffs is agreed upon.

C)   The necessary professionals are hired to analyze the land value and timber value, the costs of extraction of timber etc. etc.

D)  An agreed upon value/price is arrived at.

E)   A time limit for raising funds is agreed upon. 

F)   FOSBA goes to work to try and raise the funds. We approach the qRD to see if they will consider contributing some or all of the 1,700,000 they have available for parkland acquisition. For the remainder we reach out to the community and ask for donations and for those who have pledged to come forth. If we can raise enough funds to buy the Bluffs, the purchase can proceed. 

G)  Should you be interested in making a pledge please go to our website: https://www.fosba.org and select “MENU” and scroll down to “contact”. You can leave a short message with your contact information and myself (Lauritz Chambers) or Jason Addy, our treasurer, will contact you.

Stillwater Stories

In hopes of spicing up our future bulletins and perhaps for a feature article in qathet Living we would like to bring to our membership and the community at large some interesting stories of past happenings on the Bluffs, our unrecognized wilderness de facto park we’ve all enjoyed for literally thousands of years. If you are happy to share some early childhood or later memories of hiking or swimming or meeting your life’s partner at the junction of two well-trodden trails, or if your wedding took place on a smooth granite bluff overlooking the Salish Sea, or if you caught the most amazing sunset while climbing a granite wall or maybe a fish while casting out from shore, send us your tale (https://www.fosba.org) / menu/ contact, and make it as tall as you wish so we can all read about it here in a future bulletin. Names will be withheld by request.

Up and coming elections:

As you may have heard, our qRD director for Area C, Clay Brander (wherein the Stillwater Bluffs reside) will be stepping down this coming November. Clay has been very supportive of our efforts to save the Bluffs and has had regular communication with the present owners of the Bluffs (Mosaic Forest Products) to ensure no surprises.

A new director will be voted for to fill Clay’s boots and it is most important that this new director be supportive of the drive to accumulate new parkland and most importantly to work towards the saving of our Stillwater Bluffs. Please pay attention to the words of those running for this position and keep in mind the preservation of both the Bluffs and the Parkland Acquisition Fund which is essential to our quest.

Finally don’t forget to drop off your empties at the bottle depot on Duncan street and assign the funds to FOSBA. Many thanks for remembering.

Also a reminder that out T-shirts are available for sale at the Gear Attic in the Townsite Mall.

Have a wonderful late summer and we hope to see you at the Sunshine Music Festival at Palm Beach over Labor Day weekend.