Tag Archives: Salt Spring Island

Arts, Community

Tales from Land Conservancies on Cortes, Quadra & 15 Other Islands

In 2021 Sheila Harrington embarked upon a three-year journey to explore the creation of local nature conservancies on 17 islands. Cortes and Quadra Islands were among them. She conducted more than 50 interviews, and wove together a chronicle of land conservancies and the people behind them since the 1990s. The resulting book, ‘Voices for the Islands, 30 Years Of Nature Conservation On The Salish Sea’ is just being released by Heritage House.

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Arts

New Initiatives from the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery

The Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery is trying out some new initiatives this year. Their season is starting earlier, there are more classes and special events than ever, and some of them will be in new locations. The gallery has reversed the order of its exhibitions, expanded its social media reach and now has a website at https://www.schoolhouseartgallery.ca/

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Housing

Cortes Island’s Virtual Homeshare Forum

The Cortes Housing Society’s Virtual Forum kicks off this Saturday with a program on home sharing. This is a monthly event, co-sponsored by Folk-U. At 10 AM this Saturday host Sadhu Johnston will be joined by Noelle Marcus, from the US homeshare program Nesterly, and Janey Rowland, from the SGI (Southern Gulf Island) Housing Now Project.

“We all  know that there are a lot of homes that are underutilized or empty, and there are also a lot of homes that are just under-occupied. Maybe the kids have moved away, or for whatever reason there is an extra bedroom.  We know there are a good number of people on Cortes who are single and would be happy with a bedroom in a house,” explained Sadhu Johnston, executive director of the Cortes Housing Society. 

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Water

Mapping Wetlands on Quadra, and what that means on Cortes

The ICAN water security team and We Wai Kai Guardians are getting prepared to map Quadra Island’s wetlands. It is part of a much larger project which also involves monitoring the island’s rainfall, streamflow and wells. As you will hear in the interview that follows, this project is also relevant  to surrounding islands like Cortes. Bernie Amell, a recognized authority in the design of constructed wetlands for water treatment, and in the restoration of streams and riparian habitats, is in charge of mapping the wetlands. 

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Education

A new semester begins at the Cortes Island Academy

The Cortes Island Academy kicked off its second year with a ‘meet and greet’ barbeque on Tuesday, September 5. Students and homestay parents met with some of the people working behind the scenes. School started the following day.

“Right now, the students are just going back into the classroom after being in Carrington for the last four days on a camping trip that started on the weekend and went into the week.  They are still in the  outdoor education fundamentals getting to know each other part of the semester,” explained Manda Aufochs Gillespie, the Academy’s principal Board member.

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