SRD Defers Feasibility study for Caddisfly Wetlands Restoration Project

Wetlands are key resources to address climate change and help maintain surface water flow during dry periods. But they are also largely disappearing.  According to a recent study in Nature, since 1700 approximately 3.4 million square miles of wetlands have been lost in the United States, Europe and China. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources estimates that 70 % of the wetlands in southern Canada disappeared prior to 1990. In densely populated areas, that figure is close to 98%. Unfortunately wetlands are often found in the same areas where humans like to live and this problem has been amplified by the critical need for affordable housing. 

Both of the most populated Discovery Islands are attempting to assess their water budgets while they look at further development. Quadra Island is mapping its wetlands, as well as carrying out rainfall, streamflow and aquifer studies. On Cortes Island, the Community Housing Society is seeking funding to carry out a study of Cortes Island’s water resources. 

Meanwhile the opportunity to apply for a $30,000 grant for the proposed Caddisfly Creek restoration project may have been lost, or at least deferred, because of Campbell River’s concerns about the possible impact on their plans for development.  

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Important Zoning Bylaw Review Meeting

By Mark Vonesch, Regional Director of Cortes Island

Over the past six months Strathcona Regional District staff have been collecting our feedback to update the Cortes Zoning Bylaw.

Our zoning bylaw assigns zones to land and water within Cortes Island and specifies what kind of development and activities are permitted within each zone.

This update is important to the future of housing on Cortes and I hope you can join me in attending this event to review the draft and provide feedback to SRD staff.

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The Quadra Project – The Climate Costs of Russian’s War

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a military and an environmental disaster. A team of researchers has made an effort to measure the climate impacts of the first two years of the war initiated by Russia (Michael LePage, “Russia Faces a $32 Billion Climate Bill”, New Scientist, June 22, 2024). Vladimir Putin’s failed “special military operation” has now stretched into a protracted conflict, with horrendous consequences not only for the planet’s ecology but for the global community of nations. The latter should be briefly noted, for it, too, is sobering.

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Music & 9 Special Projects: The Care 4 Cortes Campaign

The Care 4 Cortes campaign officially ends today, but there is still an opportunity to donate this weekend. 

Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Director of the Cortes Island Community Foundation, explained “There’s still a day or two where we’ll leave up our Care for Cortes donation page on Cortes Foundation.ca.  you can  still see all the different projects that were highlighted. Give to them,   if you have the financial wherewithal.  It doesn’t have to be a lot.  $20 to  something like MicroGrants for Neighbours or to the Cortes Death Caring Collective, makes a difference. If a lot of people do it, this makes a big difference.” 

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Ways to Walk Paths of Beauty

The final exhibition of the 2024 season at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery invites us to Paths of Beauty.  These works by six artists: Lisa Gibbons, Karen McDiarmid, Donna Naven, Jane Newman, Amy Robertson and Brigid Weiler invited me to think about “what is beauty in art?”

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As Broadcast over CKTZ, Whats Current on Cortes and Beyond