Stan and Maxine McRae are to be presented with a certificate to commemorate their decision to protect a large wooded property they own close to the Village.

The McRaes are the first Gabriolans to apply for the Natural Area Protection Tax Exemption Programme (NAPTEP) - a land protection and tax exemption plan. Local Trust Committee (LTC) Chair Louise Bell said at the committee’s Jan. 29 meeting that the couple had completed their process. Trustee Sheila Malcolmson said at the Feb. 25 meeting that a public presentation will be arranged by Trust staff.

Malcolmson said, when the McRaes first applied for the programme in April 2009, that although the plan has been available to other islands for years with few takers, it was adopted in record time by the McRaes when it became available on Gabriola.

Malcolmson said that the McRaes approached the Trust just months after the program was approved for use on Gabriola.

Gabriola is the fourth island to adopt this plan, Malcolmson said, and although it has been in place on other islands for many years, not all have taken the opportunity to use it.

The McRaes also donated the lands on which the Gabriola Museum has been built.