Work is about to resume in the Cortes Community Forest.
Mark Lombard, General Manager for the Cortes Forestry General Partnership, explained, “The spring cut is going to happen in the Coulter Bay area of the community forest. We’ll probably start a small segment of road in about three weeks. While the road is being built, maybe a month from now, we’re going to move over to Larsen’s Meadow. They’re both relatively small projects.”
Continue reading 2026 Spring Cut in the Cortes Community ForestIf everything goes as planned, the first two rental suites at the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Rental Project on Cortes Island will be ready in June, and six units could be occupied as early as January. In this morning’s interview, Mark Lombard, the Construction Manager, provides an overview of how the work is progressing at Rainbow Ridge, as well as updates from the Cortes Island Housing Society‘s other housing sites—Orchard Village and the Makerspace.
Continue reading Six Units Underway at Rainbow Ridge, Further Updates
With all the current hype about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), Cortes Currents reached out to two rural politicians to ask how they see this legislation working at the local level. Mark Vonesch is the Regional Director for Area B (Cortes Island) and Robyn Mawhinney is the Regional Director for Area C, which includes Quadra and most of the other Discovery Islands. They both sit on the board of the Strathcona Regional District (SRD).
Continue reading Reconciliation: Two Regional Directors Speak Out on DRIPA and the Path of ReconciliationOn Saturday, December 6, more than three dozen people gathered for the grand opening of the Cortes Wood Makerspace, in Mansons Landing.
Shopmaster Hannu Huuskonen explained, “A lot of people need to do stuff in a woodworking shop and not everyone needs to build themselves a shop, especially big enough to do certain things with it properly equipped. It’s a big outlay of money. So it makes total sense to have people be able to come to a common space.
Continue reading Grand Opening of the Cortes Wood MakerspaceThe Cortes Community Mapping Project recently launched its Cortes Island Map Series in Linnaea’s Lakeview Room. This morning’s program consists of gleanings from the three speakers: Sabina Leader Mense, David Shipway and Eve Flager.
Sabina Leader Mense: “I want to give you a little bit of background on how we got this project started. In a nutshell, the project is best described as putting community maps into community hands. That’s been our goal. I’m just one of the team members working on this project.
Continue reading Launch of the new Cortes Island Map Series
