Betty Krawczyk says real change in environmental and forest policy in B.C. is going to have to grow from individuals who are witness to the degrading of their own backyards.

The 82-year-old B.C. environment activist, who is still in court fighting her 10-month conviction related to her protests at the Eagleridge Bluffs highway construction in West Vancouver, was in Qualicum Beach Friday morning. She joined members of the Wilderness Committee and other concerned residents at a rally to lobby for more forest protection on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

"The energy to resist the destruction of the environment will come from the grassroots," she said. "What people see, what they know and what they depend on are being destroyed."

Krawczyk was here to see places like District Lots 10 and 33 — two areas of controversy and scrutiny by local environmentalists. DL 33, says Wilderness Committee member Annette Tanner, is endangered Coastal Douglas Fir (CDF) that was mistakenly left off the province's conservation plan.

"DL 33 is already Crown land," she said, adding that means the province can still step in to save it from logging by the Nanoose First Nation.

"We want to see compensation to the first nation and the land included in the CDF designation."

Tanner said that's the message the rally hoped to deliver to officials with the B.C. Ministry of Natural Resource Operations, holding a workshop in Qualicum Beach Friday morning. Their message is aimed at raising awareness, presenting success stories and encouraging shared stewardship of the Island's natural resources.

A series of workshops in B.C. aim, according to the ministry, "to educate and motivate land owners, including private and other levels of government, to contribute to the overall conservation of Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystems. A conservation strategy for Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystems on Crown land has already been developed."

Yet, that strategy, said Tanner, doesn't include DL 33.

"We are here to say 'nice work, but we need more.'"

Feedback from the sessions, stated the ministry, "will be used to inform a strategic and co-ordinated approach to Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystems conservation across land ownership boundaries."

Krawczyk said she shares her experience and expertise in peaceful civil disobedience with groups like the Wilderness Committee, but she mostly focuses on the individual.

"In my opinion, it's a powerful tool," she explained. "With people, not the big environmental organizations, is where change has to start."

The messages aimed at the ministry officials in Qualicum Beach aren't all soft. Activist Ingmar Lee says the corruption within the BC Liberal government must be cleaned up for there to be real change.

"In the ten years under Gordon Campbell, we've lost a lot," Lee said. "It's only through direct action that some of (the environment) has been saved."

Tanner said the community also has to share it success stories — such as in Qualicum Beach's effort to save places like the Brown Property. Yet, she added small victories can be easy — getting larger tracts of conserved land linked together is the real challenge.

Photo: Members of the Wilderness Committee held a rally in Qualicum Beach during a B.C. ministry of natural resource management workshop Friday - photo by Steven Heywood