Tag Archives: Wildlife corridors

Environment, Industry

Friends of Cortes Island: Re the proposed Cortes Island Quarry Expansion

To: Ministry of Mining and Critical Infrastructure

Re: Cortes Island Quarry, Mine File 1610613

Friends of Cortes Island wishes to formally object to the proposed expansion of Cortes Island Quarry by the applicant 2385425 Alberta Ltd (operating locally under the business name of Island United).

We are deeply concerned that the proposal will cause significant harm to nearby sensitive ecosystems, namely riparian and wetland habitat and fish-bearing creeks. It will also result in the direct loss of a sizeable area of associated forest habitat.

In addition, we are very concerned that the application has been submitted without a comprehensive environmental impact assessment or any meaningful mitigation measures. As such, we respectfully ask the Ministry to reject the proposal in its current form. Please see our comments and recommendations below.

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Animals

Wolf Tales from Cortes Island

Cortes Island’s wildlife coexistence programs can be traced back to  human/wolf conflicts in 2009. Local biologist Sabina Leader Mense reached out to Bob Hansen, then wildlife-human conflict specialist with Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.  The Cortes Community Wolf Project is modelled on the Wild Coast program that Hansen had been running in the Pacific Rim for more than a decade. Hansen and Conservation Officer Ben York helped Sabina write ‘Learning to Live with Wolves on Cortes Island,’ a five-point primer which FOCI endorses and posts throughout the community.

Hansen returned to Cortes at Sabina’s invitation, for the first time since 2011, on February 3. He gave a workshop on electric fences and a demonstration on using bear spray at Linnaea Farm. There were also a lot of ‘wolf stories’ and new information. 

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Animals

Recent sightings: Co-existing with wolves on Cortes Island

There’ve been reports of wolf sightings on Cortes island, which actually isn’t too surprising.

“We’re incredibly lucky to have wolves on Cortes. They’ve disappeared on a lot of the other islands. This is one of the last islands in the Salish Sea with wolves on it. Obviously we want to do everything we can to make sure that they can carry on living here, and that we can coexist alongside them,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI). 

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Animals, Forests

Earth Day 2023: Wild Cortes Displays (P 1 – the Mother Tree)

Wild Cortes celebrated Earth Day, on Saturday April 22, with the opening of the new Mother Tree Exhibit. One of the advantages of being among the first to arrive, is that the facility was not too crowded. There were only half a dozen people when Wild Cortes opened at noon. Local biologist Sabina Leader-Mense agreed to give Cortes Currents a walk through.

She was making some last minute touches to the exhibit when I asked some of the first viewers, ‘What’s your impression of the exhibit?’  

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Forests

Open letter to Mosaic Forest Management 

” … When asked about volumes, the answer was ‘approximately 6,000 to 8,000 m3 per year.’ That’s a potential of 18,000m3 to 24,000m3 total over the 3 yr plan and that would amount to approx. 500 to 700 logging truck loads. One logging truck at approx 35m3. So one truck load some say is approx 6500bft of milled lumber and approx enough lumber for a 1,000 ft2 home. Not sure ? I would like to hear island miller’s comment on that.”  

Originally published on the Cortes Tideline

By Sonya Friesen

Attention: Colin Koszman, RPF, RBTech

I live within the forest community of Squirrel Cove on the unceded territories of the Klahoose, Tla’amin and Homalco First Nation. I honor their history of 10,000 years of knowledge learnt from time in place, and their respect for all natural systems kept in balance.

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