Tag Archives: Wolves on Cortes

Arts, Community

Getting back to Blue Jay Lake Farm: Green Valley, A Film by Morgan Tams

Morgan Tams was an integral part of the Cortes Island community for eight years before he and his partner Carly left in 2024. He recorded part of their experience as members of the Blue Jay Lake Farm community on a documentary that will air at Vancouver’s DOXA Festival on May 3 and 9, as well as the Knowledge Network later this year. 

Morgan Tams: “ It was about five years working on this, not exclusively but of my time. I’ve had some really great showings on Cortes, which was really fantastic.” 

“Now to have it play in Vancouver where I think there will be some crossover, some Cortes people in Vancouver, but I think there’s a city where people are right now so interested in alternative ways of living. I think partially just the direction the world is going, ideas about community, about being more connected to our food sources, about being connected to one another and being connected to skills like building and growing food are really pertinent topics for our time.” 

Continue reading Getting back to Blue Jay Lake Farm: Green Valley, A Film by Morgan Tams →
Animals

Sabina Leader Mense & the Wolves of Cortes: A Story of Coexistence

Originally published, as part 5 of the Cortes Island Resonance series by the Cortes Community Radio Society.

On the wild, forested shores of Cortes Island, a unique relationship has taken root—one of deep respect and mindful coexistence between humans and wolves. At the heart of this ongoing effort is Sabina Leader Mense, a biologist, educator, and champion of wild creatures whose vision helped shape a community-wide approach to living alongside apex predators.

Continue reading Sabina Leader Mense & the Wolves of Cortes: A Story of Coexistence →
Animals

Study finds Black Bears are #4 in Wolves’ diet

Over the past few years there have been increasing reports of wolves preying on black bears. There have been no reports of this on Cortes Island, and a lot of residents first heard about it at the 2024 Wildlife Coexistence Gathering, at Linnaea Farm.

Todd Windle of Wild About Wolves explained that the evidences of wolves preying upon bears in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve go back to the reappearance of wolf population in the area. 

Continue reading Study finds Black Bears are #4 in Wolves’ diet →
Animals

Origins of the Cortes Community Wolf Project

There was an increasing number of wolf sightings and encounters on Cortes Island during the closing months of 2008. A number of posts in the Tideline over the course of the next two years mention ‘an awful lot of them on the island, in an awfully short time.’ There were mixed reactions. A Squirrel Cove resident wrote that 15 ran through one of their neighbours yards at 4 AM. Someone had a ‘magical encounter’ with a large black wolf, standing on the foot bridge over the channel connecting Gunflint and Hague Lakes, as she paddled through with her canoe. Another resident reported that three wolves killed her dog, only 70 feet from her house.

More than 150 people gathered in the Linnaea School, on January 17, 2009, when Sabina Leader Mense brought in two experts to share their experiences with wolves.  Conservation Officer Ben York thanked the audience for bringing him in to discuss the situation, rather than put an animal down. He also stated that some of the wolves on Cortes ‘are very habituated’ and ‘˜there is a level of tolerance for these animals that is endangering them.’

The other expert was Bob Hansen, a wildlife/human conflict specialist in the Pacific Rim National Reserve.

Hansen was also one of the principle speakers at the recent Wildlife Coexistence Gathering on Cortes Island.  He explained that prior to receiving Sabina’s invitation, his attention was primarily focused on the Pacific Rim community.

Continue reading Origins of the Cortes Community Wolf Project →
Animals, Forests

Connecting the Dots: Forestry Management And Some Implications For Wildlife

In the first of a series of articles from Cortes Islands recent Wildlife Coexistence Gathering, Cortes Currents looked at Vancouver Island’s first wildlife coexistence program in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The problem at that time was human/bear conflicts. By the time Sabina Leader Mense reached out from Cortes Island, in 2009, Bear Aware (later renamed WildSafeBC) had been dealing with wolves and cougars for more than a decade. 

Bob Hansen, Pacific Rim Coordinator for WildSafeBC, described the wolves’ sudden appearance. 

“Up until this point in time, it was bears and nothing but bears.  In 1998/99, the wolves showed up after being missing from our area for  decades.  Their presence was very dramatically felt.  I remember getting a phone call from the local paper in January of 1999,  ‘have you been getting wolf reports?’ I checked our database, and we’d had  six wolf reports since 1972.  I said, ‘nope.’ Within two weeks it started, the wolves were back.” 

Hansen suspects that modern forestry methods may be at least partially responsible for the influx of wolves and cougars into his area. 

Continue reading Connecting the Dots: Forestry Management And Some Implications For Wildlife →