Jetsettersblog

Need a break? Concerned about your carbon footprint? No worries. Tofino’s Wickaninnish Inn, one of British Columbia’s first eco-lodges, offers a guilt-free, earth-friendly getaway. The Tread Lightly Package, available year round, includes two nights’ accommodation at the inn, a welcome plate of locally harvested treats, and a nature watching safari with local photographer and guide, Adrian Dorst.

More goodies include a posh picnic packed by the Wick’s culinary team, and copies of David Suzuki’s Green Guide, and The Trees of British Columbia to take home.

Oh, and to top it off, the inn will make a donation in your name to the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the protection of the world’s beaches and oceans.

Treading lightly is nothing new at the Wickaninnish Inn, where Managing Director Charles McDiarmid and his team have been minding their footprint since surveying the oceanfront site in 1995.

Raised in Tofino, McDiarmid designed the inn to minimize its impact on his hometown’s pristine beaches and ancient cedar forests, building with reclaimed wood, driftwood, and trees from the site; siting the inn to save the most trees, and even clearing the underbrush by hand.

From opening day in 1996, the oceanside eco-resort has been completely non-smoking, has sourced local fare for its Pointe Restaurant, and used eco-friendly spa products.

Recent footprint shrinking innovations include a Worminator compost bin to deal with kitchen waste (affectionately referred to as The Organic Temple of Transition by inn staff) and high efficiency boilers installed to cut carbon emissions. The results? A four (out of a possible five) rating from the Hotel Association of Canada’s Green Key Eco-Rating Program.

The biggest kudo of all, though, went not to the inn, but to the wilderness McDiarmid and his team have been working to protect: In 2000, Clayoquot Sound was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations, meaning that the area, including Tofino and its beaches, is considered to be one of the planet’s most precious places.

And that’s exactly what the people at the Wickaninnish have been saying all along. www.wickinn.com ; www.surfrider.org

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