By Peter Rusland, Cowichan News Leader Pictorial, April 06, 2011
Nature lover Marian Bina Bratt’s legacy lives on through her cash bequest that helped The Land Conservancy buy Cowichan River-bank property and its surrounding environment.
The former hunting-lodge owner was retired in Victoria but often climbed in Cowichan hill country, gaining a love for the area’s waterways and wishing to see them protected, TLC staff said.
After her death in 2007, nephew Al Black directed his 96-year-old aunt’s TLC bequest of more than $50,000 to help buy property on the Cowichan’s banks.
That property’s the second parcel bought by TLC as part of protected green space paralleling the river between Duncan and Lake Cowichan.
TLC’s first parcel was purchased in 2002 and is the site of its Cowichan River cabin.
TLC is now partnering with Victoria and locals to buy and protect — possibly through conservation covenants — remaining private lands in the river corridor as they become available.
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