Tag Archives: Marc Doll

Community

$110,000 in funding — What the Quadra Island Foundation Accomplished

The Quadra Island Foundation (QIF) recently distributed $110,000 to four non-profit organizations. In today’s interview the foundation’s Vice Chair, Marc Doll, explains the rationale behind those choices and a little of what he expects the money to accomplish. 

Marc Doll: “There was this recognition of how much this province uses and depends on nonprofits. So the government of British Columbia put together a pool of $25 million, which went to Vancouver Foundation. From the Vancouver Foundation, it trickled down to foundations like the Quadra Foundation, Cortes Island Community Foundation and Campbell River Foundation.  It was administered at the local level by local foundations, but from a pool of money that came from the British Columbia government.” 

“We advertised – online through local media, press releases etc – to indicate that we had this fund of $110,000 to distribute locally. We were almost triple subscribed, we had about $300,000 in total applications.” 

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Business, Energy, Environment, Forests, Water

Community, Connection and Engagement on Quadra Island

When Quadra ICAN held a community consultation last September, the central question was ‘what are the challenges the island will face as global temperatures warm up.’There were different questions when ICAN held another community meeting at the Quadra Community Centre on Sunday, February 11, 2024. 

“We’re moving to solutions and planning. So today, the questions we’re going to be working on are: ‘What can we do as a community to become more resilient and self-sufficient in the face of ecological challenges? And then what is important for us to be working on right now?’” said Jennifer Banks-Doll, facilitator of the event. 

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Food

The Quadra Nut Tree Project’s Third Planting

Editor’s note: Food security is a major concern in the Discovery Islands. 98.4% of the 245 respondents to a ‘Quadra Island Eating and Growing Local survey’ stated they wanted more access to locally grown food. Most participants at the recent Conversation Cafe, on Cortes Island, shared a rough consensus that the existing food system (industrial farming, long-haul transport, and large scale grocery chains) was likely to falter or fail under the pressures of climate change and rising energy costs. The Cortes Community Economic Development Association [CCEDA] will soon be releasing a report of the findings at that event. A Garden Club/ICAN Food Security Team project is increasing that island’s protien supply. 

229 blight resistant nut trees were most likely planted on Quadra Island during the past 12 months, and that number should soon increase. There are Hazelnuts, Sweet Chestnuts, Black Walnuts, Persian/English Walnuts and a Heartnut. Most of these trees have been sold to private residents, but the Quadra Nut Tree Project’s third planting was on January 4, 2024.  

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Food

The Garden Share and Food Recovery Programs on Quadra Island

Quadra ICAN started up two food security initiatives last week. 

The Garden Share program is designed to increase the amount of food grown on Quadra Island. 

Marc Doll, a local farmer and one of the candidates during the last election, said Vancouver Island grew about half of its food prior to the Second World War. He believes this statistic is currently closer to 4% or 5%.

ICAN Coordinator Ramona Boyle explained that this is the Garden Share program’s second year.  

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Food

Quadra Ican: The Nut Tree Project

On Saturday, 14 volunteers turned out to plant the first batch of hazel-nut trees for the Quadra ICAN Nut Tree Project. 

The organizer, Jennifer Banks-Doll, explained, “For a few years now on Quadra, we’ve been working towards increasing food security. There’s been lots of different ideas about how to do that. From  perhaps the more obvious, perhaps not more obvious ideas about gardening workshops and learning how to preserve food —  different types of gardening, things like that.”

“Then we thought, one of the gaps here is really plant protein and oils. How do we address that gap? You can’t really produce a lot of oils in this climate or on a small island because they require expensive equipment. Actually it was my husband, Marc Doll, who came up with the idea of planting nut trees.”

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