Tag Archives: Pesticides

Animals

Monarch Butterflies Listed As Endangered

Editor’s note: According to a University of Victoria study, the Vancouver Island population has been considered highly vulnerable since 2014, when it was listed as ‘threatened’ by the British Columbia Species at Risk Act. Cortes Island naturalist Gorge Sirk added, “there are no Monarchs here.”

By Dean LaBerge, The Grizzly Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For the first time ever, the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) “red list”, categorized as endangered. The IUCN was created in 1948 and is now recognized as the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, with more than 1,400 member organizations and 15,000 experts. According to the IUCN website, they are effectively known as “the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.”

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Animals, Communications

TELUS sprayed herbicides in Mansons Landing

TELUS most likely did not anticipate any Cortes Island reactions when it sprayed herbicides over its property in Mansons Landing. 

“I was just outraged. In this day and age, who is going out there and spraying their whole property, every square metre of it, with poison. And why weren’t we notified?” asked Cortes Island naturalist George Sirk.  

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Animals

Lessons From Cortes Island’s Bees

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One in every three bites of food we eat depends on bees. Without bees, our local and global food systems would collapse. Recently, Colony Collapse Disorder has become a buzzword. It refers to the sudden death of honeybee colonies from a myriad of causes, from toxic pesticides to viruses, to disease, and is becoming more and more common in industrial beekeeping operations. But, could the Colony Collapse plague Cortes Island’s own bees?

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Animals

Species at Risk on Cortes Island

Helen Hall has been the Friends of Cortes Island’s (FOCI) Executive Director for close to five years. Autumn Barrett-Morgan came to FOCI as a summer student and continues on as the volunteer Conservation Assistant. In this morning’s program they talk about species at risk on Cortes Island. 

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