Humans are now responsible for causing changes in the environment that hurt animals and plant species. ... All of these activities take resources and habitats away from plants and animals. Human activity often changes or destroys the habitats that plants and animals need to survive. - NatureWorks The sun is shining, the sky is filled with movement and sound this morning. Migrating swallows are having their fill, swooping, diving, keeping the local bugs at bay. An early morning Great Horned Owl hoot hoots from across the way. Mama & Daddy quail are out with their brood (22 at last count), Dad keeping a sharp eye out and a constant call to keep everyone safe. A Benwick's Wren sings me a morning song, a Nuthatch is scurrying head first down the tree looking for breakfast. Two brown bunnies scurry across the open grass to the headgerow and a deer is spotted meandering up the slopping hill near the old second fairway. Bees are buzzing collecting pollen on the newly opening tree buds. The world is alive out there if we just stop to listen, to look, to take a moment to breathe and enjoy this wide open greenspace with it's hidden corners of spring wildflowers. Look at the fallen and dead trees here & there, see the birds roosting, a woodpecker enjoying bugs found, quail sheltering under the fallen limbs, the raccoon family living in the hedgerow. How can anyone think removing this land from the ALR, which will then lead to more urban sprawl, be a good thing? What we will lose is immeasurable. The deadline of May 8th for the Royal Oak Community Association to submit to Saanich, their recommendations of what the community would like to see happen to this land, is fast approaching. Quickly, quickly, my friends, have your say before it's to late. Send a short email to RoyalOakCommunityAssociation@gmail.com and cc. it to Planning@saanich.ca opposing the removal of this land. More information is available on the ROCA website.