From the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney
Hello,
The wild currants are flowering and the soft green spring haze is growing daily… I hope you are finding time to enjoy the outdoors along with all the wonders of a full island life. This report provides more context on the support service cost allocations of the previous report, the SRD’s WildSafe application, and new access to Strathcona Regional District corporate policies.
By Bhagyashree Chatterjee, The Squamish Chief, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Have you ever wondered how your actions, like keeping your garbage secure, might help protect the B.C. wildlife?
In 2024, the number of black bears “dispatched,” meaning killed by conservation officers, hit its lowest point in over a decade, thanks to a mix of public effort and natural factors, according to a release by the Conservation Officers Service published on Jan. 20.
Continue reading Black bear killings drop to ‘historic low’
Cortes Island’s wildlife coexistence programs can be traced back to human/wolf conflicts in 2009. Local biologist Sabina Leader Mense reached out to Bob Hansen, then wildlife-human conflict specialist with Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The Cortes Community Wolf Project is modelled on the Wild Coast program that Hansen had been running in the Pacific Rim for more than a decade. Hansen and Conservation Officer Ben York helped Sabina write ‘Learning to Live with Wolves on Cortes Island,’ a five-point primer which FOCI endorses and posts throughout the community.
Hansen returned to Cortes at Sabina’s invitation, for the first time since 2011, on February 3. He gave a workshop on electric fences and a demonstration on using bear spray at Linnaea Farm. There were also a lot of ‘wolf stories’ and new information.
Continue reading Wolf Tales from Cortes Island
Mark Vonesch is very passionate about Cortes Island and his activities as Regional Director. If this were a video, rather than a radio broadcast, you would see this it in his facial expressions. There is a hint of this passion in the words he chose and the tone of his voice.
Cortes Currents asked him for a recap of this past year and what to expect going forward into 2024.
Continue reading Mark Vonesch’s First Year In Office: Things ‘Accomplished’ and ‘In Process’
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
