By Patrick Penner, Tri-Cities Dispatch, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
When the Hoy Scott Watershed Society hosted their annual Salmon Come Home event last Sunday, the creek was “barely a trickle,” said Tyler Storgaard, hatchery manager.
B.C.’s drought conditions persisted throughout the latter end of the summer and didn’t break until Monday.
Continue reading Only time will tell drought’s full effect on local salmon runs
The drought conditions settling throughout the West Coast are another example of what Fisheries and Oceans Canada has identified as the #1 threat to BC’s endangered salmon population.
“While there are many stressors that affect Pacific salmon survival, climate change is rapidly superseding these threats,” DFO media spokesperson Lara Sloan emailed Cortes Currents.
Continue reading Salmon Runs in the midst of a West Coast Drought
Editor’s note: According to a University of Victoria study, the Vancouver Island population has been considered highly vulnerable since 2014, when it was listed as ‘threatened’ by the British Columbia Species at Risk Act. Cortes Island naturalist Gorge Sirk added, “there are no Monarchs here.”
By Dean LaBerge, The Grizzly Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
For the first time ever, the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) “red list”, categorized as endangered. The IUCN was created in 1948 and is now recognized as the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, with more than 1,400 member organizations and 15,000 experts. According to the IUCN website, they are effectively known as “the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.”
Continue reading Monarch Butterflies Listed As Endangered
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The advance of the climate crisis, marked by its extremes — droughts or deluges, fires or floods — makes abundantly clear the human habit of trying to contain and control water isn’t working.
For her new book, Water Always Wins, National Geographic Explorer Erica Gies criss-crossed the globe, witnessing some of the unanticipated results of modern society’s preference for engineered solutions.
Continue reading Reflections on the extraordinary power of slow water
There have been many droughts in Vancouver Island’s history. A University of Victoria study of tree ring data found that some were worse than anything in modern records, but also predicted a mega-drought is coming. This year’s wet Spring may make a difference, but there have been reports of wells running dry every summer since 2014. Consequently, increasing numbers of people throughout the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, Quadra and Cortes Islands have turned to rainwater harvesting.
Continue reading Harvesting Rainwater on Cortes and Quadra Islands
