Protect what makes Saanich special

Saanich is fortunate to have something increasingly rare: nature woven into everyday life. Garry oak meadows, mature trees, wetlands, farms, shorelines, streams and neighbourhood green spaces are not simply scenery. They are the natural infrastructure that makes our community healthier, more resilient and more livable.

Nathalie Chambers has spent her life working to protect that inheritance. As a restoration ecologist, farmer and long-time conservation advocate, she understands that protecting nature is not about stopping change. It is about making good decisions about what we change, where we change it and what we leave for the future.

Her experience helping protect Madrona Farm — including the community effort that raised $2.7 million to secure the farm permanently — is a practical example of what Saanich residents can accomplish when they work together.

Today, Saanich is at a critical point. Housing and infrastructure pressures are increasing, while biodiversity loss, climate change, water management and the decline of mature urban forests are making natural systems more important, not less.

Responsible development and environmental protection should not be opposing goals. We can build homes while retaining the trees, soils, waterways and ecological systems that make those homes part of a healthy community.

Nathalie supports putting Saanich’s environmental strategies into action — including the Urban Forest Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy — rather than treating them as aspirations without adequate implementation or funding. She has also consistently argued for stronger protection of trees and natural assets on both public and private land.

What this means in practice:

• Protect and restore Saanich’s urban forest, Garry oak ecosystems, wetlands, shorelines and watersheds.
• Implement and fund the Biodiversity and Urban Forest Strategies.
• Treat mature trees and natural systems as essential municipal infrastructure.
• Protect farmland and support local food production.
• Make development decisions that consider long-term ecological costs alongside short-term benefits.
• Work toward a Swimmable Saanich by protecting the watersheds, shorelines and natural systems that keep our water clean.
• Make environmental protection part of responsible growth — not something considered after development decisions have already been made.

Nature is not an obstacle to a thriving Saanich. Nature is one of the reasons people choose to live here.