With its shallow watered tidal lagoon and long sandy spit, Mansons Landing Provincial Park is one of Cortes Island’s most treasured tourist spots. It is also the home of several plant species not found in many places along the coast, as well as forage fish, biodiverse marine life and birds. Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) have been helping BC Parks maintain this location since 2016.
Continue reading Friends of Cortes Island at Mansons Landing Provincial ParkThe algae blooms that began appearing in Hague and Gunflint Lakes in 2014 signaled a looming ecological crisis on Cortes Island. Fueled by excessive nutrient runoff—particularly phosphorus from septic systems, runoff from gardens, farms, and soils and sediments from eroding ditches—these blooms posed a serious threat to water quality and lake life. Recognizing the urgency, the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) launched a lake-monitoring program and, through years of data collection and expert analysis, identified wetland restoration as a key solution. That’s where the Dillon Creek Wetland Restoration Project began.
Continue reading Restoring Life to Dillon Creek
Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has been helping maintain Mansons Landing Provincial Park since 2016. They’ve been putting up railings to prevent further erosion of banks, putting up interpretive signage and maintain the trails. FOCI also holds a Broom Bash every year. 15 volunteers and staff showed up to remove this invasive species on Saturday, March 21, 2025.
Cortes Currents asked Helen Hall, FOCI’s executive director, “Is this a good turnout?”
Helen Hall: “We’ve got a lovely turnout of people this morning, all ages and we’re anticipating more people will turn out throughout the morning. We’ve also got BC Parks rangers coming out to help us as well, which is great news.”
Continue reading FOCI’s 2025 Broom Bash at Mansons Lagoon
The Cortes Island Food Bank recently launched a food drive to meet unprecedented need. Cortes Currents met with two of the charity’s key personal in the garage where most of the food is stored. Executive Director Filipe Figueira explained :
“The situation is getting worse on Cortes. It is the same as across the country. Two years ago, we had 100 client visits a year. This year we had 600, that’s about 50 clients a month. People are really suffering economically. The good news is that we’re in a better situation to help those people. We’ve really built up the capacity of the food bank to deal with this emergency. We’ve got some really good staff and good food, but it’s not a good situation.”
Continue reading Cortes Island Food Bank Drive To Meet Rising Local NeedThe Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) 2024 AGM is coming up at 5 PM on December 3rd. They are celebrating more than 30 years with their Marine Stewardship program. Sabina Leader Mense will be the guest speaker.
“That’s the second part of the AGM. For the first part, we will be talking about the work we’ve done in 2024. We’ve just produced our 2024 Annual Report and that’s bursting at the seams with amazing work that we’ve been doing over the last year,” explained Helen Hall. executive director of the Friends of Cortes Island.
Continue reading Only A Week From Now: FOCI’s 2024 AGM
