By Cec and Christine Robinson
Recent monitoring of Cortes creeks officially began in 2013 by Cortes Island Streamkeepers, Christine & Cec Robinson. In 2014, streamkeeper numbers expanded as several more salmon enthusiasts began helping with spawner counts. Cortes Island Streamkeeper records were sent to DFO in Campbell River in 2014, and have continued yearly since.
Continue reading Cortes Island Streamkeeper Spawner Counts 2013-2024The final count for Cortes Island’s 2024 Chum run is not yet in, but according to local streamkeeper Christine Robinson, “We have never seen a return like this during the 34 years we’ve lived on Cortes, but the phenomenon is up the coast as far as Alaska. It’s not specific to Cortes and the Discovery Islands.”
“It’s down into Washington state as well,” added her husband and fellow streamkeeper, Cec Robinson.
On Monday, November 18th, five Cortes stream keepers and a semi-retired DFO employee from Campbell River gathered in the Klahoose Hatchery to count this year’s first egg take from Basil Creek.
Continue reading First Chum Egg Count Of The Year – Is Terrific!Around 40 people turned out to the Cortes Island Museum on November 10 for the launch of a series of community speakers. The host, Brian Scott traced the idea for ‘Finding Home: The Cortes Island Experience’ to a conversation he had with Sherman Barker.
“Sherman and I have known each other for a few years, it’s long other story, but he was up on Easter Bluff one day when Jane and I went up for a hike. We’re chatting, and he started telling us his arrival story. It actually goes even further back to when he came as a kid. He said, there’s lots of stories on the island here and if we don’t somehow capture them, we’re going to lose them.”
“I thought it would be an interesting thing for the museum to do because the museum has artifacts that it’s saving and preserving and sharing with the public. Stories are artifacts as well. How do we capture those? Then it occurred to me, well, why don’t we do a speaker series? I approached Sherman and said, ‘Hey, what do you think? You want to be the first?’ And he’s like, ‘yep, It’s awesome.’”
Continue reading Brian Scott, Sherman Barker & Isabelle LaPlante: on the Cortes Experience
By Kim Paulley, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca
The latest salmon returns are in for 2023 and two streamkeepers from the region have made observations about the different populations. A great year for Pink Salmon was the good news. Poor returns for Chum were noted by both streamkeepers.
Continue reading How the Salmon Run: Streamkeepers weigh in on latest salmon returns
George Sirk explained some of the history and wildlife that he and Kim and their friend Janet Gemmel recently explored during a walk to Carrington Lagoon and Grandmother Grove.
“Janet Gemmel came to visit us for a week. Her husband, Jim Palmer, died last December. He had a very rare lung cancer.”
“Jim and Jan lived out in Carrington, at the Reversing Rapids, in the 80’s. So Jan wanted to take the ashes back and release them there, but she forgot to bring them from Courtenay.”
Continue reading A walk through memory lane to Carrington Lagoon and Grandmother Grove with George Sirk
