We(s)t Coast?

I’m knackered tonight, so I’ll keep this brief.

Garden Miscellany:

I spotted this lovely duo of nasturtiums and spiderwort in the garden today and thought the combination was striking.

Only in a coastal garden would you find this lurking in the shadows! I use seaweed collected from my inlaws’ beach as mulch, and noticed this guy staring up at me this morning (actually, I’d be willing to bet that he hasn’t stared at anything in quite some time). Water, water, everywhere…Watching the news tonight, I was shocked by one of the top stories.
Water shortages are fairly common in August, so that in and of itself isn’t too surprising.
However, being on the coast and subject to rain a good 8 months of the year, we don’t usually have to worry too much about conserving water. Well, today one of our most beautiful and popular towns has had to take the drastic measure of shutting down restaurants and hotels in an attempt to conserve what little water they have left. The surprising thing is that it’s not somewhere in the dry, arid section of the province, it’s Tofino, possibly the wettest place in Canada, a town that’s surrounded by water on 3 sides and shrouded in fog and dampness most of the year. Everything there is covered in moss.
My husband lived there as a child and has fond memories of it’s lush landscape and aquatic lifestyle. Life in Tofino revolves around water – fishing, boating, swimming, kayaking, surfing, you name it. The irony is that the water that attracts the huge number of tourists and new residents is ultimately responsible for creating such a huge demand on a limited water supply.
Talk about a wake-up call. I just wonder if it will even register with people. We in BC have lost absolutely huge tracts of forest to the mountain pine beetle because it doesn’t get cold enough in the winter anymore to kill them off, and all that dead timber lying around fuels massive forest fires that have destroyed whole towns and livelihoods. Trees native to our temperate rainforest climate are starting to die off because it’s getting too dry for them. Neither of these things seem to have caused much of a stir.
I was going to keep this short, wasn’t I?
Here’s a link to a story about Tofino’s situation if you’re interested:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2006/08/29/bc-tofino.html