The number of active COVID cases is rising in North Vancouver Island and two Campbell River schools are now listed on Island Health exposure list.
Continue reading COVID Update for April 17, 2021All posts by Roy Hales
SRD welcomes first Indigenous Nation to the Board
At its April 14th meeting, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board. welcomed the first Indigenous Nation to the board.
The Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations (KCFN) was one of the five First Nations that signed the Maa‑nulth First Nations Treaty in 2011 and the only one whose lands are within the SRD. ( The other Maa-nulth Nations are members of the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District.)
One of the directions mentioned in this treaty was that First Nations should interact and join should join their Regional Districts.
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COVID Update for Thursday, April 15, 2021
COVID update for North Vancouver Island and the Greater Campbell River area: While the rest of British Columbia reels under reports of COVID’s third wave, it still does not appear to more than touched North Vancouver Island. The number of active cases has risen slightly, to 37, as of late yesterday afternoon.
Continue reading COVID Update for Thursday, April 15, 2021
The Discovery Islands Sea Star Monitoring Program
Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has become the Hakai Institute‘s first partner in a new citizen science sea star monitoring program.
As Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI explained, “”We just launched a really exciting joint project with the Hakai Institute. They are initiating a project to monitor the health of Sea Stars in the Discovery Islands and we can contribute from Cortes Island.”
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Sea Stars – Wolves of the Ocean floor
Kelly Fretwell from the Hakai Institute recently described sea stars as wolves of the ocean floor.
The topic came up when I mentioned that they prey upon the oysters in Gorge Harbour, on Cortes Island.
Julia Rendall, President of the Bee Islets Growers Corporation, said they normally eat about a third of her crop. The bottom clusters are “all chewed, eaten.” She remembers the summer that Sea Star Wasting Disease reached the Gorge.
“That was the year I had the very best harvest, for shuck oysters,” said Rendall … I got about $8,000 a raft instead of $5,000.”
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