By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Wildfire season is never really over.
When infernos subside in one region, they begin somewhere else. As the world continues to heat up and the climate changes, forested areas like British Columbia will experience greater wildfire impacts year-round, including on the physical and mental health of frontline firefighters.
Continue reading 3 things you need to know about wildfires in BC
By Ingo Overmann
It is my sincere belief that thereason we are NOT making the urgently needed progress on climatechange is because far too many people do not understand the ABC’s.This applies to residents of remote areas like Smithers and Cortes Island just as much as someone living in the densely packed suburbs of GreaterVancouver. If you want to test that statement for yourself, please ask the next 10 ordinary people you meet ‘How many POUNDS of CO2are created by the use of 1 litre of gasoline?’ Prepare to be amazed.We may be prey to the greenwashing and misleading statements of climate change deniers, but the lack of knowledge lies with us, and is ours to change.
Continue reading How are we doing with Climate Change? The ABC’s of Global WarmingEditor’s note: The Wet’suwet’en Nation is about 300 miles due north of Campbell. While there is no statistical data to show how widespread this sentiment is, a number of local residents have expressed sympathy for their struggle against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline. Max Thaysen, the current Alternate Director for Cortes Island, was a legal observer when the RCMP ‘invaded’ Wet’suwet’en Territory on February 7, 2020. There were protests in support of the Wet’suwet’sen on Cortes Island and in Campbell River. Many Quadra Island residents participated in the latter. When former MLA Claire Travena held a BC Ferries meeting on February 28th, 2020, she was forced to devote the first 20 minutes to a discussion of the Wet’suweten crisis.
By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
On a bitterly cold morning in early March, Gitxsan Simgiigyat (Hereditary Chiefs) stood outside the provincial Supreme Court building in Smithers, B.C., their regalia fending off the icy air.
“Our way of life has been subverted by the Canadian government,” Simogyat (Chief) Molaxan Norman Moore told a gathering of supporters and observers, his voice reverberating off the drab concrete building.
Inside, proceedings continued for a Hereditary Chief of the neighbouring Wet’suwet’en Nation, who was found guilty of criminal contempt in February. The Simgiigyat organized the demonstration to show their support for Dinï ze’ (Hereditary Chief) Dsta’hyl, who was arrested in October 2021 after decommissioning Coastal GasLink machinery at pipeline construction sites on his Likhts’amisyu Clan territory.
Continue reading Frustrated with government, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs wavering on support for B.C. pipelineEditor’s note: This solution would not work for Chum, the principal salmon species found on Cortes Island. Unlike Coho, Chinook, and Sockeye, Chum do not reside in fresh water for an extended period. The 2022 and 2023 runs in Basil Creek were virtually wiped out because there was not enough water for them to return and spawn.
By Seth Forward, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Comparing past sockeye populations in the Skeena watershed to their present-day counterparts may hold the key to preserving the species, according to an SFU postdoctoral fellow.
Michael Price, who resides in Smithers, found in his Ph.D. research that a warming climate is making juvenile Skeena sockeye grow larger and is changing the habitats in which the young fish can thrive.
Price found that small, warmer and more shallow lakes that juvenile sockeye used to thrive in are now becoming less suitable for the fish, with larger, deeper and colder lakes taking their place as the optimal habitat for sockeye to grow before they make the daunting trip to the ocean.
Continue reading The past holds the key to the future for Skeena sockeye: SFU researcher
By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
There’s a serene pocket of mountainous habitat in northwest B.C. where 33 caribou live, drinking from glacial-fed creeks and grazing on alpine lichens. Though it’s peaceful, they have nowhere to go. They’re surrounded.
They’ve been cut off from where they gave birth to their young and the tracts of land that supported them through the long northern winters by highways, hydroelectric dams, rail lines, clearcuts and farmland. The herd’s range has been fragmented for more than a century and faces imminent threats.
Continue reading The last 33 caribou: fighting for the survival of a Wet’suwet’en herd
