Tag Archives: Squirrel Cove

Water

Harvesting Rainwater on Cortes and Quadra Islands 

There have been many droughts in Vancouver Island’s history. A University of Victoria study of tree ring data found that some were worse than anything in modern records, but also predicted a mega-drought is coming. This year’s wet Spring may make a difference, but there have been reports of wells running dry every summer since 2014. Consequently, increasing numbers of people throughout the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, Quadra and Cortes Islands have turned to rainwater harvesting.

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Water

Cortes Island’s impending water shortage

Cortes Island is experiencing a wetter than normal Spring this year, but some of Cortes Island’s shallow well owners experience water shortages every summer. Scientists appear to agree that there will be more severe shortages in the future. 

This is a global phenomenon and there appear to be many causes: the depletion of forest coverage, growth of human infrastructure, natural drought cycles and, on top of all that, the transition to a warmer global temperature.

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Fire, Forests

Focusing on wildfire fuel mitigation

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The Cortes Forestry General Partnership is currently focusing on wildfire fuel mitigation strategies. 

While none have been large, there were recent fires on West Redonda, Read, Quadra and Sonora Islands.

“It’s highly possible that we can have a fire here,” said General Manager Mark Lombard.  

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Forests, Rivers & Oceans

Environmental concerns about the Gorge Harbour log dump

When a large volume of logs were dumped in Gorge Harbour, during the 1970s and 80s, they caused extensive damage to the underwater environment.

One of the questions raised at Mosaic’s Cortes Island ZOOM meeting, last January, revolved around the possibility that reactivating the log dump could also have negative impacts. Mike Moore dove beneath the log dump about fifteen years ago. At that time, he observed a thick layer of wood debris and sediments, covered by ‘bacterial mats.’ Moore was concerned about the possibility a new disturbance of the sediments could pollute nearby shellfish operations. 

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Waste

Garbage is an Issue on Cortes Island Docks

Recently the Harbour Authority of Cortes Island (HACI) decided to stop offering garbage disposal services on our docks. This news sparked a flurry of discussion on Cortes Island Facebook groups. Some people were upset at the HACI decision, while others supported it. Most people agreed that there is a “garbage problem” on our docks, but opinions varied about who is to blame and what should be done.

On Saturday, May 21st I visited the Gorge Harbour Government Dock to interview Billie Fleming, who has worked for HACI as a garbage collector. Billie is now offering her own garbage pickup service at the Gorge Harbour public dock from 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM, Wednesday through Saturday.

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