- Thor Vikström's Il Ronde
- Thor Vikström, 93, gazes out at Île Ronde from his dining room window
Developers ____________ (ask-him- sell ) so they could
build roads, high-rises and bridges on it.
“You think you’re going to destroy my island with that
stupidity?” he ____________ (answer) to the developers, who ____________ (open
) their bids decades ago at $500,000.
He ____________ (buy) the island, called Îl Ronde, in
the late 1960s for $5,000, with one goal in mind: to protect and preserve it.
He recently ___________ (donate) it for the very same reason to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Now, it ____________ (value ) at $125,000, he said,
but he ____________ (believe) it is worth much more than that.
“From now on, the island ____________ (protect) forever. I ____________
(negative-want ) money. I want the island to be an island, and I want the life
that ____________ (come) and____________
(go) here to have a home,” Vikström
said.
Vikström, 93, still ____________ (work) at a
family-run hydraulics company he ____________ (begin) in 1980. The island,
surrounded by the Prairies River, ____________
(consider) a rare jewel of biodiversity.
From his home's vantage point, he often ____________ (see)
water birds, map turtles and unique tree species, flourishing in their natural
habitat. It’s the same view he ____________ (have) for the past five decades,
and yet, it still ____________ (fill) him with wonder.
Vikström ____________ (move) from Sweden to Canada
with his late wife and firstborn son in 1962 and subsequently ____________ (found) Scanada, his hydraulics company.
Not long after ____________ (arrive) in Quebec,
Vikström____________ (build) his dream riverside home.
“I ____________ (love) nature since the day I ____________
(be born )” Vikström said.
Although it
____________ (take) several years to persuade the previous owner of Îl
Ronde to sell it to him, once the island was in his possession, “you can’t
imagine how happy I was,” Vikström said.
His family regularly ____________ (visit) the natural
oasis and ____________ (spend) time with friends there, too.
“I ____________ (grow) up here and it ____________ (be) actually the best thing in the world,” said Vikström’s eldest son, Hans Vikström, 63. When he was a child he ____________ (wake) up early in the morning to see the sun rise on the island, hot chocolate in hand, sitting next to his father, who ____________ (take) his coffee as he ____________ (admire) the animals. And he ____________ (keep) doing the same today when he ____________ (visit) his father.
The Vikström family ____________ (enjoy) the island as a backyard haven. Anyway, there ____________ (be) strict rules in place — such as no fires or littering.
Although Vikström’s three children, as well as his six
grandchildren, all____________ (swear) they would continue caring for the
island and its inhabitants, the family ____________ (agree) that in order to
protect the natural habitat indefinitely, they ____________ (need) to donate
it.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada, a private nonprofit conservation organization, is elated by Vikström’s donation, which ___________ (finalize) last month. “Every time someone ____________ (make) a gift, it’s for everyone,” said Joël Bonin, the associate vice president of development and communications for the organization’s Quebec chapter.
The donation ____________ (contribute) to Canada’s
goal of protecting 30 percent of land and water by 2030.
“A significant
portion of NCC’s protected areas ____________ (come) from generous donors who____________ (choose) to
donate ecologically valuable land,” said Annie Ferland, a project manager at
the organization. “It’s a way to help protect our beautiful planet.”
Although the island is no longer in the family’s
possession, “we are free to enjoy the island for as long as we live,” Hans
Vikström said.
Thor Vikström is now at peace knowing his island ____________ (stay - always) in good hands. “I ____________ (fall) in love with this island many decades ago,” he said. “It’s a dream for me now that it ____________ (preserve) forever.”
From The Washington Post (edited)
