Work is about to resume in the Cortes Community Forest.
Mark Lombard, General Manager for the Cortes Forestry General Partnership, explained, “The spring cut is going to happen in the Coulter Bay area of the community forest. We’ll probably start a small segment of road in about three weeks. While the road is being built, maybe a month from now, we’re going to move over to Larsen’s Meadow. They’re both relatively small projects.”
Continue reading 2026 Spring Cut in the Cortes Community Forest
With all the current hype about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), Cortes Currents reached out to two rural politicians to ask how they see this legislation working at the local level. Mark Vonesch is the Regional Director for Area B (Cortes Island) and Robyn Mawhinney is the Regional Director for Area C, which includes Quadra and most of the other Discovery Islands. They both sit on the board of the Strathcona Regional District (SRD).
Continue reading Reconciliation: Two Regional Directors Speak Out on DRIPA and the Path of ReconciliationEvery year, the Friend of Cortes Island (FOCI) presents the Jo Ann Green Award to a Cortes Islander who made significant contributions to the environmental well being of the community.
There are pictures of Green at some of the island’s early social gatherings in the Cortes Island Museum Archives. She was one of the actors in the 1981 Cortes Cinema Production: Where Does the Lone Ranger Take His Garbage? Jo Ann Green was also a founder and the first President of FOCI, a member of the Cortes Oyster Co-op and an active homemaker is support of home services on the island. The award certificate states she ‘represents the spirit of Cortes Island’s resilience and its residents’ recognition of the vital importance of the natural environment.’
The 2025 Jo Ann Green Award recipient was the Klahoose Bus.
Continue reading Klahoose Bus Receives Jo Ann Green AwardOn Saturday, December 6, more than three dozen people gathered for the grand opening of the Cortes Wood Makerspace, in Mansons Landing.
Shopmaster Hannu Huuskonen explained, “A lot of people need to do stuff in a woodworking shop and not everyone needs to build themselves a shop, especially big enough to do certain things with it properly equipped. It’s a big outlay of money. So it makes total sense to have people be able to come to a common space.
Continue reading Grand Opening of the Cortes Wood Makerspace
The Cortes Island School Wetland Project is transforming part of the school field into a living classroom that blends ecology, culture, and community effort. In today’s interview, we speak to Miranda Cross from Rewilding Water and Earth, the wetland restoration specialist, and biologist on the project
Continue reading The Cortes Island School Wetland Project
