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A few reasons why
Lily Point should be conserved

By Michael Rosser, P.R. Taxpayers Association

When we sat down to do a “top ten “ list of reasons to save Lily Point, we had plenty. Your own reasons may range from personal experiences like seeing a great horned owl with your child, to global concerns like countering the effects of climate change. Here are few for you to consider.

1. With some imagination anyone can envision a sunny south-facing farmer’s field as a place to fly a kite or have a picnic. Now envision that grassy field as a place to hold community events like ball games, arts festivals or summer concerts. The views from those southern bluffs are second to none. It could be the perfect place to spend an afternoon with family, friends, and community.

2. At low tide, children can enjoy hours of tide pooling far from the shoreline. When the tide returns, the water is warmed by sun-baked sand, making for very pleasant swimming.

3. Point Roberts is an important stopover point for migrating birds. Millions of birds depend upon tidelands, forests, and wetlands for food and shelter on their annual migrations. Lily Point is one of the important and increasingly rare places where birds can find food and shelter during their thousands of miles of travel twice each year.

4. Marine mammals and fish need clean undeveloped shorelines for feeding and spawning grounds. The shores of Point Roberts are essential to a complex food chain that supports hundreds of marine species from crabs to killer whales.

5. Every major park has a symbiotic relationship with a nearby town that benefits from the close proximity to the park. Sustainable economic growth for businesses in Point Roberts will be directly proportional to the size of the park and the types of activities that the park supports.

6. Being near a major park will increase property values and help to stabilize a volatile real estate market. Proximity to parks is one of the most important amenities homebuyers are looking for. Preserving Lily Point will increase the value of your property, and make it easier to sell, should you ever want to sell.

7. Lily Point has a long anthropological history. There are more archeological sites at Lily Point than anywhere else in the county, and probably more than anywhere else in the state. Documented campsites date as far back as far as 9,000 years.

In 1995 Lily Point became eligible to be listed as national historic site. If Lily Point is conserved, it can be named a national historic site.

8. Children need to explore and discover nature in order to appreciate and understand the environment. Studies indicate that without early exposure to nature, a child may never understand that they are a part of the environment, not apart from it.

If the next generation is to solve the problems that our generation leaves them, our children must first understand; “What is a healthy environment?”

Lily Point is zoned to allow educational facilities. The opportunity exists for anything from early childhood education to a university extension. Lily Point is well situated to accommodate research and education in forestry, environmental design, and marine biology.

9. A clean environment is a step in the right direction for human health. Walking, swimming, and cycling are good for the body too. Spending some time listening to songbirds, wrapping yourself in ocean breezes, and breathing in the fresh scent of moist earth and cedars just might improve your mental health.

10. The best reason to preserve Lily Point is the one we don’t know. We have all visited parks that were founded a century or more ago. Can you think of even one of those parks, large or small, historic or scenic, famous or obscure, that would suit you better as a casino, shopping mall, or condo complex?

Future generations will have a nuanced perspective of our conservation decisions that can only be appreciated through the passage of time.