Tag Archives: Cortes Island Streamkeepers

How The Basil Creek Culvert Project Is Over The Top

By the time you hear this, the Ministry of Transportation crew will have left Basil creek. As Cortes Streamkeeper Cecil Robinson observed, prior to this “if the fish came early and the rains were late, they just simply couldn’t get through the old culvert. They died right there.” Now more of them will swim upstream to their spawning grounds. Then he proceeded to describe how the “Basil Creek culvert project was over the top from the very beginning. Everything that needed to be done, is done: and then some more, always some more.”

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Replacing the Culvert at Basil Creek

Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure closed a small segment of Whaletown Road on Cortes Island. The impact on the local community is minimal. However British Columbia’s threatened fish stocks greatly benefit from projects like replacing the culvert at Basil Creek.

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Where Have All The Salmon Gone?

Originally published on Cortes Radio, as part of the Deep Roots Initiative, Season One.

Fishing was once a cornerstone of British Columbia’s economy, but we’ve been hearing stories of diminished runs and out of work fishermen for years. On Cortes Island, the fishing industry seems to mostly be spoken about in the past tense. So producer Roy L Hales set to to find out where have all the salmon gone?

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Cool Clean Water Comes From Healthy Forests

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Though Cec Robinson has been a recognized personality in the logging blockades, he would rather work in his garden, or go fishing. Only there is a lot at stake. Speaking as one of Cortes Island’s streamkeepers, Cec said you need cold, clean  water for healthy streams. Cool clean water comes from healthy forests.

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Cortes Streamkeepers in Basil & Hanson Creeks: What happened to the salmon?

Six to eight hundred adult Chum Salmon used to come up Hansen’s Creek. Now there are 30 in a good year and as few as 3 in poor ones. Though we were talking about Cortes Island, this is a common phenomenon along the West Coast of British Columbia. What happened to the salmon?

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