With the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) AGM coming up on November 28, it seemed like an ideal time to ask Executive Director Helen Hall what the society achieved in 2023.
“We’re actually doing 14 different projects, which involve everything from habitat restoration and conservation through to environmental monitoring and community education. I just wanted to highlight some of those projects,”she explained.
Continue reading What FOCI Achieved in 2023
The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board awarded Rewilding Water & Earth Inc. the contract to manage a Beaver Coexistence Project on Cortes and Quadra Islands.
The first phase is purely informational.
“Beavers are the ultimate wetland managers, and they’re on it all the time. They’re checking their dams every day. For us humans to be able to not only co exist, but partner with wildlife like beaver will be a huge benefit to us as we see the climate changing and as we’re trying to adapt to and be more resilient to climate change,” explained Miranda Cross of Rewilding Water and Earth.
Continue reading Miranda Cross to manage Beaver Coexistence project for Cortes and Quadra Islands
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Tamara McPhail’s morning chore never changes, but the infinite variety of sounds and seasons makes milking cows every day unique.
On this spring morning, Zinnia and her new calf Equinox are restless and nagging — bellowing, bleating and raring to get outside into the fields.
Other mornings, they greet McPhail with gentle grunts and low moos as she enters the barn as if relishing the connection they’ll have with her.
“I’m really attached to the livestock system,” says McPhail, who along with her partner Adam Schick, has been part of a team stewarding the land at Linnaea Farm on Cortes Island, B.C., closing on 25 years.
Continue reading Farming for the climate future
At the regular SRD board meeting on April 26th (minutes), a couple of issues of interest to Cortes residents were discussed.
There were new developments in the story of SRD’s proposal to centralise rural fire hall administration; this was covered by Roy Hales on Monday.
The Board also discussed the “Community Resiliency Investment Grant” and its uses, specifically the provision of wood chipping service for properties with road access, and the local use of those wood chips.
Continue reading SRD Plans to Recommence Wood Chipping Service “Next Year”
Lives changed because of the Dillon Creek Wetland Restoration.
Project manager Miranda Cross said, “ This project really initiated a whole new life path where I am now working as a wetland restoration professional.”
Monitoring Technician Autumn Barret Morgan studied soundscapes before she came to Cortes Island, but it was at Dillon Creek that she “started really diving into the soundscape” – which she has carried on with the Western Screech Owl Monitoring Project.
Beatrix Baxter has been making films for about 15 years, but she was feeling burned out by the time she moved to Cortes Island. The documentary film Replenish: Bringing Back the Dillon Creek Wetland is both a chronicle of the project, and part of a personal transformation.
“I’m pretty choosy about the projects I take on these days. I just really want to choose projects that are going to be quite meaningful to me and to the world,” she explained.
Continue reading Filming Dillon Creek, more than just a wetland restoration
