A member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, Maleea Acker defied City Hall and her neighbours by transforming her Saanich backyard into a Garry oak savannah, as recalled in her memoir, Gardens Aflame: Garry Oak Meadows of BC's South Coast (New Star $19). The magnificent trees once flourished on southern Vancouver Island when the first Hudson's Bay employees arrived; Acker has tried to regenerate the vanished ecosystem of the Garry oaks which she claims were partially fostered by the Coast Salish people, not only engendered by nature.
9781554200658

[BCBW 2012]