This story was published in the August edition of the South Cowichan Connector.
From creating art in her spare time, to creating a beautiful area both Shawnigan Lake community members, and visitors can be proud of Sierra Acton puts her talents to use.
The Cowichan Valley Regional District Area B director, who is originally from East Vancouver, spent years travelling the globe before setting down roots in Shawnigan Lake in 2014.
"I was married on Shawnigan Lake 20 years ago this summer," said Acton. "For about 14 years I just kept dreaming about living here, and finally we did it."
Acton's travels abroad include Europe, Australia, South East Asia, and even Korea where she spent a brief stint teaching English in her 20s. Acton said she had the chance to get in some tutoring experience before embarking on her adventure, and that designing her own teaching curriculum was a creative way to learn, while collaborating with other teachers.
"Teaching abroad had its challenges, and was extremely different, and I felt like a giant," laughed Acton. "I would definitely do something like that again, I love travelling and I miss it, but with that being said it is so beautiful here I don't even have the urge to go anywhere else. I've started exploring the island. Summer is here and I'm torn whether I should go to the lake or the ocean, there is just so much here. I really don't feel like I need to go anywhere, because I haven't come close to seeing it all here yet."
Acton spent 15 years as a sales manager with an importer/exporter company in Vancouver and has even dabbled with several entrepreneurial initiatives and it is her initiative that has helped shape Shawnigan Lake over the years. Since moving to the area Acton has made it her goal to know as many people as possible and become more involved in the community, which is what first drew her to the role of area director. She said director is a good word to describe her role as community members often come to her with their issues and concerns and then she directs them to where they can best find the assistance and solutions they need. Other obligations on any given day in Acton's role include sorting through emails, phone calls, reading agendas, and talking with community members. Acton's favourite part of the job over the course of the past six years is the elections.
"There were three elections in the last six years, and I like that the most," said Acton. "I just love going door to door, and talking to people and being able to find out what's important to the community. I love what I do, I would say 90 per cent of my conversations with the community are really positive, but it can also be easy for a small percentage to bring you down," said Acton. "I'm also really efficient, this is the largest electoral area in B.C. for one area director, it's twice as big as Mill Bay, and Cobble Hill, and it's just me, I have no executive director."
Upon moving to Shawnigan Lake Acton made it her goal to learn more about all the local groups, as well as the parks and trails. In 2015, she became involved with protesting the contaminated soil dump in Shawnigan Lake where she became more connected with now-MLA and BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau who was her predecessor as area director. She became Furstenau's alternate and now has one of her own that she appoints to sit in her place when she cannot attend a meeting.
"I love watching different groups fill in the gaps," said Acton. "What I would highlight, because we are unincorporated, is that the province has jurisdiction on a lot of things such as roads, environmental issues and water and in my opinion they fall short. There is a lot of community involvement to try and fill that gap, but it's not enough. We need a lot of support from the province that we are not getting. Our roads in Shawnigan Lake are terrible, many don't get plowed, while some aren't even paved. Several people want sidewalks as it's not safe to walk on the side of the road; everybody just wants to be able to walk, and feel safe."
On top of walking and hiking the many trails in the area, Acton finds joy in working with her hands and has been an artist of sorts her entire life. She loves to work with pottery, sketch, plus paint with watercolours, water-soluble crayons, and acrylics. She recently started doing mixed media pieces, adding collages and even makes her own collage paper, noting that collecting art materials is yet another one of her hobbies.
"My mom's a quilter, so I will inherit a bunch of fabric one day and will probably get into that too," laughed Acton. "I just learned how to crochet. I really like it except it has made me start watching Netflix and I never watch TV. I really just love being in flow and actively creating. For me it's not about the outcome, but enjoying it. The moment I wake up, I have my coffee and I start my day by just doing something in my sketchbook. For me, it's my meditation and my morning routine, it brings a lot of joy into my life and I can feel it for the day."
Acton is proud of the role she played in creating a more beautiful Shawnigan Lake, particularly the development of Shawnigan Lake's waterfront area which she said has been number one for people living in the village. Acton was instrumental in the construction of the Shawnigan Village Rail Trail between Shawnigan Wharf Park and Old Mill Park that falls within the E&N rail corridor which is owned by the Island Corridor Foundation. She started off with a feasibility study through the parks department. As area director she was able to decide how to spend the funding from gas tax revenue they received, so instead of peppering the funding around it all went towards the construction of the village rail trail, which fell under the Shawnigan Lake community parks and trails master plan.
The CVRD began construction on the first section of the trail between Shawnigan Wharf Park and Elsie Miles Park in 2018, and in 2020 it was extended north to Masons Beach Park. The 1.4-kilometre gravel-surfaced multi-use trail, which was completed this past spring, had a cost in the neighbourhood of $1 million. Linking Masons Beach Park, Dougan Park, Shawnigan Community Centre and Elsie Miles Park, Shawnigan Village, Shawnigan Wharf Park and Old Mill Park the new Village Rail Trail has already been happily attracting walkers, runners, and cyclists. Acton said one of her personal favourite parts of the project was getting positive reinforcement from several community members, and being able to give a lake view to the entire community, while attracting more visitors and overall just making the area a nicer place to be.
"This trail initiative is just amazing and it got underway when I started six years ago," said Acton. "When I first had heard about the possibility I thought it was an amazing idea. It took a strong will to make this happen. There was a handful of people who were opposed to the project who were very vocal and aggressive about it. It gets amplified, even when it's just a small amount of people, and often makes those who are supportive of the project quiet, too, but it had been an election issue every election, so clearly people wanted it, and now community members are just ecstatic about it. I know countless people who just drive here to walk and it's great."
Something else that Acton accomplished during her term that she personally feels is pretty great are the possibilities that may open up since acquiring the unnamed park and parking lot that sits at the bottom of the Shawnigan Lake Community Centre between Dougan Park and Mason's Beach. According to Acton the CVRD has a consultation in progress about top issues for the community to see if they are still the same, as when they had tried to incorporate in the past.
"One day if we're incorporated we'll be able to put a roundabout there," said Acton. "We now also own the piece of land across the street so we would have enough space to do that."
Acton, who has had many accomplishments over her six-year term, still has many goals in her sights. She has already done a feasibility study to see the Wharf Park boat launch moved to West Shawnigan Lake Provincial Park, as she said between the beach, kids swimming, and people launching boats at the intimate park, there is just too much going on. Other short term goals, aside from eventually naming the newly acquired park between Dougan Park and Mason's Beach, include developing more trails and networks on Old Baldy Mountain.
"Old Baldy Mountain is really integral to the community and the heart of it. Right now it's just a cliff hike, which you have to be fairly fit to do, but we would like to eventually make it accessible for even more people," said Acton.
Acton said one of her other audacious goals is the construction of a roadside pathway from Shawnigan Beach Estates to Mason's Beach. While Acton said she is still trying to figure out all the moving pieces of such a project, which would fall under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. In her opinion a pathway would make it safer for those walking from the estates to the area where Mason's Beach is located, but feels she would also need involvement from both Discovery and Shawnigan Lake schools before anything could move forward.
"That's the big dream," said Acton.
One of the features that makes visiting, and living in Shawnigan Lake so beautiful is that along with Lake Cowichan it is one of the most heavily forested ares in the valley.
"In a regional district we have no way to have a tree bylaw or anything like that but I believe that it's a part of our culture here, and a natural asset that signifies Shawnigan Lake," said Acton. "You pull off of the highway and can instantly inhale that cedar smell and moisture — it's different, so that becomes a part of our culture and defines who we are, and I hope we don't lose that."
With several old families still living in the area, Shawnigan Lake also boasts a strong history, not to mention the museum's 200 per cent expansion is nearly complete. While already a utopia to so many, Acton feels there is always room for improvement.
"Shawnigan Lake is starting to feel the pressure of development so when it comes I hope it is thoughtful," said Acton. "If we were to lose our history and our nature we would lose a piece of ourselves here for sure. I hope that visitors to the area recognize that it's friendly, beautiful, and that the people here just love being outside to enjoy everything from our lake, to our mountain, to our trails. It's just an easier way of living out here."
