Tag Archives: Helen Hall

Tools for Citizen Science on FolkU Radio @89.5FM

Islanders make great observers of the natural world and are helping create meaningful scientific inquiry into what is happening on and around the islands. This week on Folk U Radio, Helen Hall from Friends of Cortes Island and Kelly Fretwell from the Hakai Institute join host Manda Aufochs Gillespie to learn more about the roles of citizen scientists, the tools to help them succeed, and how FOCI and Hakai are helping to make meaningful use of data collected (and how they hope to do even more.) Join us live this Friday at 1 p.m. on 89.5FM or livestream from cortesradio.ca.

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Cortes Island environmental non-profit hosts annual general meeting

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

The charitable environmental protection organization Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) held their annual general meeting (AGM) on Jan. 20, which included presentations of project progress in 2021 and a significant change to the board of directors.

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Looking down the throat of a Humpback Whale

Dr. Kelsey Gil is  a postdoctoral researcher at UBC’s department of zoology and the lead author of a paper published in Current Biology that literally peaks down the throat of a lunge whale.

Lunge feeding whales (humpbacks, blue whales and fin whales etc)   open their mouths as they accelerate towards their prey.

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Reel Youth – Youth and Seniors Programs

In the third instalment of Cortes Currents Reel Youth series, Mark Vonesh and Erica Køhn talk about Youth and Seniors programs. 

“Our youth and senior film programs, or youth and elder film programs, are probably about 30% – 40% of the work we do. It’s one of the most powerful projects that we’ve done,” said Vonesch.

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The Discovery Islands Sea Star Monitoring Program

Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has become the Hakai Institute‘s first partner in a new citizen science sea star monitoring program.

As Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI explained, “”We just launched a really exciting joint project with the Hakai Institute. They are initiating a project to monitor the health of Sea Stars in the Discovery Islands and we can contribute from Cortes Island.”

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