Tag Archives: Squirrel Cove

Rivers & Oceans

Pink Salmon return to Cortes after 8 years, but water levels are too low

Part 2 of a series, click here for part 1.

Cortes Currents was mistaken in the original version of this story. The Chum run did not come into Basil Creek early this year – these are Pinks.

According to Cortes Island Streamkeeper Christine Robinson there have not been any Pink runs on Cortes since 2015 (when most of them perished in front of the culvert in Squirrel Cove), but there was a huge surplus this year.  Pinks are known to stray and find creeks other than their natal streams, and this may be an explanation for their presence on Cortes Island. They started to turn up in Squirrel Cove Creek two to three weeks ago, and Basil Creek and Chris’ Lagoon around Sept 28, but there does not appear to be enough water in the creeks for them.

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Clothing, Waste

A regional model: free stores and other waste reducing facilities

At a time when the average Canadian spends more than $3,000 a year on clothing, many Cortes Island residents are satisying their personal needs and disposing of clothing through the local freestore. Similarly, Creative Deconstruction has supplied materials used in ten new homes on Cortes Island. Mark Vonesch, the Regional Director for Cortes Island, suggests that centres like this may offer a model that needs to be promoted throughout the Comox and Strathcona Regional Districts. 

“I’m just getting back from the Comox Strathcona Waste Management Board meeting. This is a board that I sit on as a director, and we provide guidance and leadership to the waste management services in the Comox Valley District and the Strathcona Regional Districts,” he explained. 

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Food, Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Paul Muskee on Klahoose Aquaculture & QXMC

Paul Muskee has been working for QXMC for close to 15 years and for the last decade has been with Klahoose Aquaculture.

“I feel like my life has led me this way. When I was younger, I did work in aquaculture and I did work in forestry. I was also a mining technologist for a bunch of years, but I grew up  around Powell River, Lund and Desolation Sound.  Running boats has always been part of what I’ve done. I’ve loved working for Klahoose. They’ve been a great employer and I really like the people I’ve work with,” he explained.  

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Business, Indigenous Nations, Tourism

QXMC: Search for a new General Manager

QXMC, the Klahoose First Nation development company, is looking for a new General Manager. 

 “We’ve retained a search company that has a great track record of looking for candidates of this type of size.  In the past, we’ve used companies like Boyden that sort of do searches for Fortune 500 companies, and that’s not what we’re looking for,” explained Ron Buchhorn, Chairman of the QXMC Board.

“We’re looking for people who can run a diverse business. We’re probably talking about $140 million in revenue. It’s a big business mainly on the logging side, which is where most of the revenue comes from, but it’s diverse in terms of logging,  aquaculture, resorts, ecotours, our bear touring operations, and having a sensitivity to our owners and understanding their goals and how they’d like the company operated.” 

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Business, Indigenous Nations

QXMC: The Squirrel Cove Project

It has been almost two years since a parcel of land the Klahoose acquired in Squirrel Cove was added to the reserve. Shortly after that, the  Klahoose development corporation (QXMC) discussed plans to develop 30-40 campsites. Then there was talk of a gas station. 

All of these ideas became much more real about a month ago, when a contractor started falling trees. Now there is a cleared area and freshly drilled well on the part of the property west of Squirrel Cove Road. Across the road, to the east, the path of a future driveway is laid out as a u-shaped clearing. There is also a second well.  

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