Tag Archives: FOCI

Animals, Environment

Wildlife returning to the Dillon Creek Wetlands

It has been a year since Autumn Barrett-Morgan was hired as a Biological Monitoring Technician at the Dillon Creek Wetlands Restoration Project. This is in Cortes Island’s oldest farm site, currently known as Linnaea Farm, but prior to the land being a farm, it was wetlands. Three years ago the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) and Linnaea Farm partnered in a project to restore the wetlands, to help reduce the sediment and thus reduce the nutrients flowing down Dillon Creek into Gunflint Lake. The wetlands are also meant to enhance the breeding and foraging grounds for wildlife, including Species at Risk. 

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Animals

Why do frogs sing in the spring? Friends of Cortes Island Society Weighs in

CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

The familiar sound of a chorus of frogs is one sure sign that spring has arrived, and is an important part of the animals’ courtship during mating season.

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Animals

Ministry biologist talks about five threatened bird species on Cortes Island

When Cortes Currents asked the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) who to interview for more in depth coverage of ‘species at risk,’ they responded ‘Jenna Cragg’ from BC’s Ministry of Environment. That was last January, which shows how busy she is. Sabina Leader Mense described Cragg as one of FOCI’s key ‘go to’ species at risk biologists, who provides the facts that FOCI brings into the community. 

In the emails we exchanged prior to this interview, Cragg specifically mentioned five species: the Marbled Murrelet, Great Blue Heron, Double Crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant and Western Screech Owl.

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Environment

Bruce Harrison receives Jo Anne Green Environmental Award

This January, at the Friends of Cortes Island Annual General Meeting, Bruce Harrison was awarded the Jo Anne Green Environmental Award. The Jo Anne Green award is an honour for leadership in community-based environmental awareness, protection and restoration. Jo Anne Green was a founder of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) and an inspiration for many on Cortes to care for this place and imagine a reciprocal relationship with our ecosystems.

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Forests

Letter to Mosaic, from FOCI

Hello Colin Koszman and Molly Hudson, representatives of Mosaic:

In the face of a climate emergency and the accelerating loss of biodiversity, the Friends of Cortes Island Society (FOCI) has serious concerns regarding Mosaic’s current plans to cut ecologically significant forests on Cortes. We would like to see Mosaic join the efforts of the Cortes community to create an alternative model for forestry that would sustain the environment and local communities over the long term, rather than spend our time and energy in opposition.

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