Tag Archives: Whaletown

History, Rivers & Oceans

Paul Kirmmse remembers Cortes Island in 1971

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Born in New York, he chose Canada. Another two years passed before he arrived on a remote island off the West Coast. Paul Kirmmse remembers Cortes Island in 1971.

“I originally came here in January of ’71, looking for land. A guy gave me a job for the summer, beginning in April, serving coffee to the fishers and the loggers. There was a little cafe just above Mansons Lagoon, across from what used to be the Barton store – which I understand is now the Cortes Island Museum. It was dragged up the road and put in place to become the museum,” he says.  

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Transportation

Cortes Cyclist nearly struck by pickup truck

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Editor’s note: This article uses the pronoun ‘it’ to refer to a person – as that is the preference of the person.

At the end of March, Tamias was riding its bike when it was nearly struck by a pickup truck.

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Rivers & Oceans

The Discovery Islands Sea Star Monitoring Program

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Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has become the Hakai Institute‘s first partner in a new citizen science sea star monitoring program.

As Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI explained, “”We just launched a really exciting joint project with the Hakai Institute. They are initiating a project to monitor the health of Sea Stars in the Discovery Islands and we can contribute from Cortes Island.”

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Rivers & Oceans

Sea Stars – Wolves of the Ocean floor

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Kelly Fretwell from the Hakai Institute recently described sea stars as wolves of the ocean floor.

The topic came up when I mentioned that they prey upon the oysters in Gorge Harbour, on Cortes Island. 

Julia Rendall, President of the Bee Islets Growers Corporation, said they normally eat about a third of her crop. The bottom clusters are “all chewed, eaten.”  She remembers the summer that Sea Star Wasting Disease reached the Gorge.

“That was the year I had the very best harvest, for shuck oysters,” said Rendall … I got about $8,000 a raft instead of $5,000.”

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Forests

Reviewing the scenic impact of logging in the Outer Discovery Islands

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The BC Government is currently reviewing the scenic impact of logging in the Outer Discovery Islands. They are determining the level of viewshed protection for scenic corridors important to the $50 million-a-year marine tourism industry, local residents, and recreational users. All of the crown lands on Cortes, Read, Maurelle, Raza, Stuart, and the Redonda Islands are being given new Visual Quality Objective designations.

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