The faint stench of rotting salmon greets visitor’s nostrils just beyond the Squirrel Cove Store. Further down the rocky beach, at the mouth of Basil Creek, clouds of seagulls feasted upon the corpses. A few of the dead Chum Salmon were reduced to skeletons, but most have been left to rot. The only body part missing is their eyes, a delicacy among sea gulls.
Continue reading Nature’s Salmon Feast at Basil Creek
FOCI launched their new ‘Create, Connect and Conserve’ series on February 3rd at Linnaea Farm, with workshops on coexisting peacefully with wildlife. Bob Hansen of WildSafeBC explained the effectiveness and correct use of bear spray.
In the course of the presentation, he shared several interesting statistics and exploded a few common misconceptions. Bob showed a WildsafeBC video, and also gave a live demonstration; attendees learned the mechanics of ‘laying down a wall’ of spray to keep wildlife at a distance, or directly targeting the animal’s face. In a brief lecture on bear behaviour, he explained why bears attack, how often this happens, ways to avoid attacks, and what to do if a bear does attack you.
Continue reading How to Use Bear Spray: workshop at Linnaea
Conservation Officer Jillian Bjarnason came to Cortes on Saturday, January 13, 2024.
“I was invited over to do some public outreach, mostly pertaining to human-wildlife conflict. There’s a population of wolves on the island and sometimes there’s some encounters with people. I’m just really excited to be able to get to meet folks that live here, chat with them and provide education and how to co-exist,” she explained.
Continue reading Conservation Officer Meets Cortes Island Residents
Wild Cortes will be giving a peak of the theme for the upcoming season this Monday, between 1:00 and 3:00.
Curator Donna Collins explained, “It’s a bit of a preview that’s going to be a family day activity. We will be taking the families out into the forest, measuring trees to find a mother tree. Then we’ll also be digging to pull up some of the mychorrhizal networks and looking at them here underneath the stereoscopes. After that, participants will be actually creating their own mitochondrial network that will link to their own tree root. They will be building this themselves. Finally, we will be mimicking the connections that all of these mychorrhizal networks and trees make, by making the connections with string and connecting people.”
Continue reading A taste of the upcoming Season at Wild Cortes
Campbell River’s bear problem is escalating. There were twice as many reports of bears raiding garbage cans this year. Sergeant Mike Newton, a Conservation Officer with the Ministry of Environment, went to the June 27 city council meeting with a couple of suggestions.
They both hinge upon changing human behaviour.
Continue reading A North Island situation: solutions for Campbell River’s Bear problem
