Local naturalist George Sirk was sick for the Cortes Island Spring Bird Count earlier this month, so bird watchers had to rely on a new app to help them identify species. This new app, called Merlin, is one of many topics that he and Nancy Kendel, from the Cortes Island Museum, discussed with Cortes Currents.
The conversation started out with Kendel (NK) giving an overview:
Continue reading Cortes Island 2023 Spring Bird Count & an app called ‘Merlin’
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Birders and biologists are banding together to urge the B.C. government to protect ancient forests on southwestern Vancouver Island in a bid to save threatened marbled murrelet nesting sites.
Around a dozen citizen scientists are documenting the rare robin-sized seabird, which raises its young in old-growth forest found in tree farm licence (TFL) 46, which includes the Fairy Creek region near Port Renfrew, said team leader and avid birder Royann Petrell.
Continue reading ‘Birders, not blockaders’ ask B.C. to protect old-growth in Fairy Creek to save marbled murrelets
By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canadian environmental groups have levelled another greenwashing complaint — this time at the largest certification scheme for sustainable forestry in North America.
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certifies 115 million hectares of forest within Canada’s borders for companies.
In a complaint filed to Competition Bureau Canada, environmental groups allege the SFI’s claims of sustainability are “false and misleading” because it has “no rules requiring that logging meet prescribed sustainability criteria nor any on-the-ground assessment to confirm sustainability.”
Continue reading Greenwashing complaint filed against Canada’s biggest certifier of sustainable forestry
A new report commissioned by the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club BC found that Federal and Provincial government policy gaps have rendered their protection of Species at Risk ineffective.
“Our study looked at terrestrial and freshwater vertebrate species in BC We needed to refine the scope a little bit just because there are so many Species at Risk in BC. In order to do this analysis, we had to narrow in on a few representative species. In total, we chose 64 species. Of the 64 species, only two of them have had their critical habitat mapped by the deadlines. The remaining 97% have experienced critical habitat mapping delays anywhere from 2 to 18 years. Then there’s 16 of the 64 species that still don’t even have their critical habitat mapped,” explained Charlotte Dawe of the Wilderness Committee.
Continue reading Government protection of Species at Risk ineffective, report says
A total of 92 species are listed in Cortes Island’s Spring 2022 Bird count. More than 20 birders participated, including local naturalist George Sirk who started the day off as a guide on board the Misty Isles. This year’s count was expanded to include Mitlenatch island, where Sirk served as a naturalist in 1969 and 71.
Continue reading Cortes Island’s Spring 2022 Bird Count
