Tag Archives: North Island

Back To School Plans : Masks & Social Distancing

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Many teachers and parents are anxious about B.C.’s back-to-school plans, and many are unsure if they’ll return their kids to classrooms this fall at all.

Continue reading Back To School Plans : Masks & Social Distancing

Three Entangled Humpback Whales Off Cortes Island & Campbell River

Campbell River Mirror, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Three cases of entangled humpback whales have been reported within the past four days, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has confirmed. 

Continue reading Three Entangled Humpback Whales Off Cortes Island & Campbell River

Tracking BC Timber Sales Progress

The first thing that attracted me was the fine detail. While Global Forest Watch’s online map is full of pertinent detail, it doesn’t look like a satellite map. This is better. Zooming in on Refuge Cove, for example, you can see individual buildings, boats tied up at the wharves, and trees coming right down to the water’s edge. Zooming out to see a larger area, Refuge Cove is set within a block of green. The surrounding area is coloured pinkish- brown, so it can be quickly identified. There are a number of orange blocks east of Refuge Cove. These are the areas that will be logged next. The Wilderness Committee’s new ArcGIS StoryMap is tracking BC Timber Sales extraction of logs from our forests. 

Continue reading Tracking BC Timber Sales Progress

First Nations Call For Closure Of Shaw Point Salmon Farm

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Two First Nations are calling for the closure of a fish farm off the east coast of Vancouver Island following the escape of 1,000 Atlantic salmon into their territorial waters in May. The We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum nations want the immediate cancellation of Mowi Inc. tenure for its Shaw Point aquaculture operation, according to a statement issued by the Laich-Kwil-Tach Treaty Society on Thursday.

Continue reading First Nations Call For Closure Of Shaw Point Salmon Farm

North Quadra Residents Divided About Wildfire Protection

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Dalyce Dogterom recalls the night a neighbouring house, in Quadra Island’s remote community of Bold Point, caught fire a couple of years ago.

She couldn’t see the blaze from her property, but the night sky glowed red, she said.

Residents’ calls to 911 brought out the police and the ambulance service to treat the residents for smoke inhalation.

But the Quadra Island Fire Department (QIFD) wasn’t called out because fire protection services in the less densely populated and more isolated northern part of the island falls to the BC Wildfire Service, Dogterom said Monday.

The provincial wildfire service does not fight structure or residence fires, but rather forest fires.

Continue reading North Quadra Residents Divided About Wildfire Protection