Editor’s Note: Carrie Saxifrage was President of the Cortes Community Forest Cooperative from April 2019 – May, 2023.
This is Carrie Saxifrage with some reflections on the community forest.
Thanks so much to those who attended the Cortes Community Forest Cooperative (CCFC) AGM and to all the forest folk who keep this place deep green.
Continue reading Carrie Saxifrage: Reflections from the outgoing Community Forest President
‘Wayfinding: Stories of Maps & Place’ opens at the Cortes Island Museum, between 1 and 4 PM on Sunday, March 26.
“I think wayfinding really touches on so many aspects of our current life. We have a really fabulous series of maps and artifacts. It’s an opportunity to share that with the public for the first time on many counts. I think everybody, on some level, has a personal story to do with wayfinding. This is a celebration, and a reminder that we all have stories to tell of place and an evolving relationship to the landscape,”explained Melanie Boyle, Managing Director/Curator of the museum.
Continue reading ‘Wayfinding’ at the Cortes Island Museum“When I came to Cortes, I imagined just making boards is a great thing to do. I’ve had a number of years to assess and reassess that reality. It’s possible as a one man operation for me to do okay at that, but it’s a subsistence business not a business model. It’s not a business plan,” explained Aaron Ellingsen.
His company, Ellingsen Woods, is about to go through a relaunch.
Continue reading Ellingsen Woods search for a value added market
David Broadland recently wrote a devastating critique of the old growth logging at Hummingbird Lake on Quadra Island. It is sometimes necessary to cut down an old growth tree, so I asked the Cortes Community Forest how often this occurs in their operation.
Continue reading Controversy over a Quadra Island Woodlot
The Rainforest Trail, near Tofino, is much more than a simple path through the woods. Massive western red cedars and western hemlocks tower over visitors as they follow the twisting boardwalks through an enchanted landscape full of the ferns, lichen and fungi typical of an old growth ecosystem. The oldest inhabitant of this stand is a red cedar that was reputedly a sapling when Marco Polo set off for the Orient in 1271. This means it is about 950 years old today. A series of information plaques transform the +2 kilometre hike into an educational experience.
Continue reading Learning about Old Growth on the Rainforest Trail
