EIS Mourns The Passing Of Dr. Jane Goodall
LADYSMITH – The Ecoforestry Institute Society (EIS), trustees of Wildwood Ecoforest, joins the world in mourning the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall.
Dr. Goodall visited Merv Wilkinson at Wildwood on several occasions to learn about his ecoforestry practices. The first visit was in 1997 when she arrived as a member of the Leadership Initiative For Earth (LIFE) flotilla, then a few months later when she stayed the weekend to learn more about ecoforestry. She returned again in April 2001.* During one of those visits, she planted a pear tree in the orchard. That tree survives to this day, and this year, produced a prolific crop of pears. In a letter to the editor published by the Times Colonist in 2016, Dr. Goodall mentions a 2005 visit when she planted a sapling.
During her April 2001 visit to Wildwood, Dr. Goodall would write of Wildwood:
Its value is as an example of 60 years of working cooperatively with the forest. Merv not only has preserved habitat for owls, squirrels, and bears, but he extracts timber as well. There is nothing else I know of which compares to this. He stuck to what he believed was best for his forest and I am thankful he persisted. This legacy gives hope for the young.
Dr. Nancy Turner, renowned ethnobotanist and co-founder of EIS had the opportunity to meet Dr. Goodall, accompanied by her daughter Sarah. That visit inspired Sarah to embark on a career as a primatologist, studying macaque monkeys in Japan as a result.
Dr. Goodall was also quite vocal in her support of EIS in acquiring Wildwood to keep it in the public domain and to continue its ecoforestry practices. In November 2016, she would write:
“Selling Wildwood to a private owner, even with a covenant to protect it, is not what the Wilkinsons wanted. They wanted Wildwood to be a public property forever, a demonstration working ecoforest where generations can learn that you don’t have to chop the forest down to benefit from it.”
In more recent years, EIS issued a standing invitation for Dr. Jane to visit Wildwood again, but her busy schedule never allowed it.
Dr. Goodall was and is an inspiration to millions of people throughout the world. EIS and Wildwood are truly honoured to have had such a wonderful connection with this well-loved primatologist and environmental activist.
*Information referenced in Magnificently Unrepentant, by Goody Niosi, 2001