Tag Archives: Whaletown

Rivers & Oceans

Low seasonal return of chum salmon to spawning grounds ‘a mystery,’ say local monitors

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

So far, monitoring of creeks and streams on Cortes Island indicates a very poor return of chum salmon to their spawning grounds this year, according to Christine and Cec Robinson. They’re longtime members of the local stream keepers project, overseen by the conservation and stewardship organization Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI). Monitoring of the chum return occurs from mid-September to early December each year.

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Arts, Forests

Raising $10,000 for the Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island, two reasons why  

‘Giving Tuesday’ is just five days away. The Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island Society (FTCCIS) is trying to raise $10,000 for the valuation and assessment which will hopefully lead to their purchasing two parcels of forest. There are actually several components to this story. This morning we are going to talk to two young women involved with the new Children’s Forest Video made for this fund raising drive. 

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Parks, Politics

Whaletown Commons just got Bigger

Whaletown Commons, on Cortes Island, is growing. A 9½ acre parcel of forest is being added to the Northwest corner of this Regional Park.  

At their November 23 meeting, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board passed the motion to annex this parcel of Crown land in less than two minutes.

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Arts, Forests

The New Children’s Forest Video

The Cortes Children’s Forest Trust has just released an incredible video, as part of fundraiser that will end of Tuesday November 29, 2022.  As the audio is strong enough to stand on its’ own, I am playing it in today’s program.

If you live on Cortes, you may recognise a few of the voices:  Al Huuskonen, Andy Ellingsen, Bruce Ellingsen, Christine Robinson, Daniel Tucker, Emma Mathieu, Kai Harvey, Kiera Tsaknoas, Paul Stamets, Tosh Harvey, Tzeporah Berman, or Zyla Schmidt.

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Fire

Interview with Cortes Island’s new Interim Fire Chief

(Transcript of the radio program, with edits)

Eli McKenty had been Cortes Island’s Interim Fire Chief for 15 days when I interviewed him. He was actually the Department’s preferred choice as Fire Chief five months ago, but turned the job down, so they hired someone from Alberta. After five months of a six month trial period, the Cortes Island Fire Department came to the conclusion that ‘aspects of Dave Ives’ leadership style were at odds with the culture of our fire department’ and he was dismissed. McKenty agreed to be the Fire Chief until they can find a replacement. 

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