Environmental Leadership

When Dave Cunning retired as a commercial fisherman, he wanted to give back in a way that would show his appreciation for the natural resource and environment in which he made his living.

So for the last, “many, many years,” according to Greenways Land Trust executive director Cynthia Bendickson, he’s been taking care of the fish and waterways of Campbell River.

“He’s just a great, great guy,” Bendickson says.

“I love working with him,” agrees Josie Simpson with Greenways. “He just cares so much about the environment. He’s basically running the restoration work on Baikie (Island) transforming it back into a natural ecosystem after it was basically run over by industry, and his work on Simms Creek and the fish fence has truly been amazing. He knows it like the back of his hand and he just has a rhythm about knowing when and where things need to be done.”

Dave’s one of those people who never turns away from an opportunity to help, either.

“It’s not like a 9-5 Monday to Friday thing for him,” Simpson says. “If he thinks something needs attention, he’s there doing it, whenever it needs it, which is really inspiring.”

“Oh, I just lend a pair of hands and make sure the children don’t go wandering off and get eaten by bears,” says Cheryl Freeman, modestly showing off some of the work she’s been doing in her spare time these days helping Greenways Land Trust take care of the new saplings that have been planted out on Baikie Island.

After moving to Campbell River from Coquitlam three years ago, Cheryl wanted to do something that was the polar opposite from what she’d done her whole life while finding a way to give back to the new community she would call home.

She’d spent her entire career inside offices as an accountant. So she wanted to get out into nature.

“It’s my new home, and it’s where we’re going to be until we’re not breathing anymore, so why not help out? It’s really, really rewarding, and, like I said, it gets me out when I’ve been cooped up for 30 years in an office.”

And she couldn’t have asked for a better group to get involved with, she says.

“Greenways people are so wonderful,” she says. “They’ve got the experience, they’ve got the knowledge, they’ve got the experience, they’ve got the tools, but then when someone like me comes along and has none of that, they’ve got the patience to show me and let me help them, too.”