Tag Archives: Robert Dunsmuir

Arts

Cumberland Gold for Frank Mottl

Frank Mottl’s latest novel, Cumberland Gold, takes us to the quaint village of Cumberland BC. This is the same setting as his first novel,  The Cumberland Tales, in which Mottl described the community he knew in the 1960s. Only now he is writing about the late 19th century, when Lord Dunsmuir (1825-89) was attempting to recruit Chinese immigrants to work in his coal mine.   

Mottle explained, “ I did some research at the Cumberland Museum, and there was an unsolved homicide in the 19th century in the old Cumberland Chinatown. Nobody knew much about it, other than it was unsolved. That really appealed to me, so I just ran with it. Of course I spent a year teaching in China, so it did have a lot of that Chinese influence inside of it.” 

Continue reading Cumberland Gold for Frank Mottl →
Forests, History, Indigenous Nations History

Comox Valley Land Trust seeks to raise $2.4M to protect trees in Puntledge Forest

By Madeline Dunnett, The Discourse,  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On a crisp morning in early October 2023, Tim Ennis, executive director of Comox Valley Land Trust (CVLT) trekked through the trails of Nymph Falls Nature Park and explained that CVLT was working on a complex purchase of forest on a chunk of BC Hydro land in Nymph Falls, and a possible other section in the Puntledge River Recreation Trails area. 

“The property that we’re walking onto here is owned by BC Hydro … and the timber on the property — the trees — they’re owned separately,” he said.

The lands themselves are part of the traditional unceded territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, who are descendants of the Sathloot, Sasitla, Ieeksen, Xa’xe and Pentlatch. Many surrounding areas get their namesake from the Éy7á7juuthem, Kwak̓wala, and Pəntl’áč languages — including the Puntledge River itself, which stems from the word Pəntl’áč (Pentlatch). 

Continue reading Comox Valley Land Trust seeks to raise $2.4M to protect trees in Puntledge Forest →
Forests, History

Behind Every Great Timber Fortune…?

“Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.” — Honoré de Balzac

On the 21st of January 2022, a notice appeared in Cortes Tideline, from Mosaic (a “forest management corporation” which handles logistics for TimberWest and Island Timberlands). The gist of it was captured in one sentence: “As we have now been able to spend some time becoming familiar with our private managed forest lands on Cortes Island, we would like to share details of our draft three-year plan with those interested from communities on Cortes Island.”

Mosaic was careful to include the important word “private” in their announcement — a reminder that some 9 percent of Cortes forest land is still owned by private timber companies (not Crown land), and that (since 2003 at least) “privately managed forest lands” are a different kettle of fish.

Most coastal residents are aware, on some level, that vast tracts of BC are privately owned by timber companies, whereas other tracts of land are “Crown land” where logging takes place under licence. Few, however, are aware of how that situation — and the inconsistent policies and rules governing the two different land types — came about.

Continue reading Behind Every Great Timber Fortune…? →
Indigenous Nations History

Hul’qumi’num First Nations & the “Great Land Grab”

Originally published on Ramshackle Pictures (2014)

Robert Morales represents the six Hul’qumi’num First Nations (Cowichan, Chemainus, Penelakut, Lyackson, Halalt, Lake Cowichan), whose territories span the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island. These lands were almost entirely sold off by the Federal government in 1887 to coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, in order to finance the construction of the E&N Railroad from Nanaimo to Victoria, which enabled BC and Vancouver Island to join confederation and become part of Canada.

Continue reading Hul’qumi’num First Nations & the “Great Land Grab” →
Forests

Tracking BC Timber Sales Progress

4 Comments

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 →