The Strathcona Regional District will not use $28,000 of its gas tax funds to help the Cortes Island Food Bank. At their October 22 meeting, 7 of the 14 district directors voted against a motion to fund the food bank.
Directors opposed to the motion were concerned about the potential impact that supporting a third party organization could have on future SRD applications for gas tax funding.
Continue reading SRD Will Not Use Gas Tax Funds for Cortes Island Food BankShane Berg, BC’s Chief Forester, has a message he is taking to trading partners around the world. On Thursday, October 2, 2025, he made a presentation to the Strathcona Regional District’s Natural Resources Committee.
In today’s broadcast there are select clips from that presentation, including reactions from the committee. Also Bruce Ellingsen, one of the founding directors of the Cortes Community Forest Cooperative and a local thought leader on forestry matters, gave his opinion about the presentation and what he believes it lacks.
Berg claims that the amount of old growth forests is increasing. According to Ellingsen what is not clear is that he is talking about the 80% of relatively small old growth trees growing in less productive areas, not the ‘big tree old growth’ that the environmental community is concerned about.
Continue reading BC’s Chief Forester Tells the SRD the State of BC’s Forests, or notFrom the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney
This is a Special Edition Director’s Report with “breaking news” and an action request. Recently I reported that municipalities in the SRD were discussing joining the Electoral Area Land Use Planning Service, something which could impact the independence of our community. This item has now been referred to each of the SRD’s five municipalities & the Kyuquot-Checleseht Nation for their consideration.
As a reminder, the Land Use Planning Service controls all the land use decisions in the electoral areas. This includes applications for rezoning, official community plan amendments, development permits, and land use bylaws like our OCP.
Continue reading Special Area C Director’s Report: action needed to save rural independenceThe City of Campbell River is considering taking control of the Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) Electoral Areas Planning Service away from rural directors.
Currently, the members of that planning service are the four Regional Directors of : Area A (Kyuquot/Nootka-Sayward), Area B (Cortes Island), and Area C (Discovery Islands and Mainland Inlets) and Area D (Oyster Bay – Buttle Lake ).
Campbell River’s five Directors are looking at joining the service, though it would cost the city’s taxpayers close to $500,000 per year for its share of the service’s assessments. They asked the other incorporated municipalities in the SRD—Tahsis, Zeballos, Gold River, and Sayward—to consider joining as well.
On Wednesday, October 1, 2025, the Regional Directors of Areas A, B and C issued a joint press release rejecting the idea. In today’s story they outline why they believe the planning service must remain in the hands of the rural areas.
Continue reading Rural Directors against Municipalities taking over the Electoral Areas Planning ServiceSRD staff will prepare a staff report identifying public lands on Quadra Island that may be available for affordable housing development.
This is the second time that Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney of Area C brought forward a motion asking for a report and in both cases she was opposed by Directors from Campbell River and Area D. They successfully blocked it at the August 20th SRD Board meeting, but an amended motion passed on September 17, 2025.
Continue reading SRD Staff to identify public lands on Quadra for potential affordable housing sites
