By Chadd Cawson, The Columbia Valley Pioneer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
An untouched piece of Indigenous land called Halibut Island, also known as SISȻENEM, near Salt Spring Island, will be the first piece of land given back to an Indigenous community through a land trust. The nearly 436,000 square foot island has been stewarded by the Saanich, or W̱SÁNEĆ, Peoples for thousands of years.
Continue reading SISȻENEM will be the first land trust returned to a First Nation
Cortes Island naturalist George Sirk knows a lot about frogs.
GS: “A lot of people know me because of my interest in birds, which is really an addiction, isn’t it? I’m just hopeless when it comes to birds. I’m just totally into them. They’re so fascinating. I came from Venezuela when I was 10. My parents immigrated to Vancouver and I couldn’t speak English. I could speak Spanish and I knew a little Estonian and I could understand German because my parents argued in German.”
“So there I was in Vancouver, a little weird guy 10-years-old, and I met some other weird young people too, what we would call nerds.”
“They were into frogs. Jim Palmer was one, Lowell Orchid, that’s another. Jim just passed away actually in December, but Lowell’s still with us all here. We used to collect frogs very close to Kits Beach, the Lacarno beach area. It used to be a military base at one time. So there used to be a lot of empty properties, fields and it got very wet in the wintertime. The tree frogs would all go in there and have a great time.”
Continue reading George Sirk: Frog Stories
“ If we achieve this, which I believe we’re going to do, this is a model for other communities. We look at places like Salt Spring and even Quadra Island and places in northern BC where they have lost their lakes. The process is called eutrophication. When the lakes just become too rich in nitrogen, they become swamps. It’s not just our issue, it’s everybody’s issue and if we show a way to improve the nutrient flow into the lake while adding these extra homes, that’s a model for the whole world,” said Rex Weyler, one of the scientists monitoring Hague and Gunflint Lakes.
He was talking about the potential impacts of what would soon be called Rainbow Ridge.
Continue reading Good News about the drainage at Rainbow Ridge
Since late 2021, a small group of Cortes residents has met regularly to discuss climate change and its impacts on our region. On February 4th, 2023, the “WTF Friday” event featured environmental scientist Ruth Waldick; Dr Waldick gave a presentation on climate change, fire risk, and forestry practise.
We may have no control over the weather, but we do have some control over soil moisture, fuel loads and ignition risk.
— Ruth Waldick, Transition Salt Spring
Her presentation covered two main themes: the increase in fire risk created by traditional logging practises in BC, and methods of forest restoration — accessible to private landowners as well as crown land managers — that can reduce the risk of dangerous wildfires in our area.
Continue reading Forests, Fires, and Our Future: Dr Ruth Waldick speaks on climate resilience
CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca
Becca’s Beans, a Cortes Island-based coffee roaster, has expanded with its first new off-island partnership as the new coffee supplier to Island Farm to Table, a café in Quathiaski Cove on the neighbouring island of Quadra.
Continue reading Cortes-roasted coffee expands off-island, now brewed at Quadra eatery
