Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - It has been six years since Klahoose Wilderness Adventures erected its first bear watching tower in Toba Inlet. Now there are six viewing platforms, but they are only for two months every year.

Cortes Currents asked Bruno Pereira, Senior Manager of Qathen Xwegus Management Corporation (QXMC) which oversees Klahoose First Nation business activities, if there are plans to expand their tourism offerings in Toba.

“Toba has always been a playground that wasn't exploited properly or to the fullest,” said Pereira. “The bears are only there when the salmon arrive. So in August, September - and all the other months of spring, summer fall, we are thinking how we could be present in Toba and offer services and tours to guests interested in?”

There are many possibilities for future development. This could be a destination for people who want to camp in the wilderness. QXMC could build a few cabins for bird watchers, or animal lovers.

They tried kayaking from kilometre 16 of the road at Toba Inlet.

“We put the kayaks in the river and just drifted down for almost three hours. It was the most amazing experience and we were like, ‘yeah, this could be a tour. This could be an activity that we can promote, and we can sell. This is an experience of a lifetime,” said Pereira.

“The ideas are there. The ambitions are there, but it's like everybody else it's a matter of capacity. It's a matter of human resources, the staff.”

Heather Reimer and Ron Quire are the new resident managers at Gorge Harbour Marina.

Chris Tait and Suzanne Fletcher are taking care of the Klahoose Wilderness Resort and bear tours.

“It's time for them to build their teams. So again, baby steps. One thing at a time, but we're getting closer,” said Pereira.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - It has been a year since Autumn Barrett-Morgan was hired as a Biological Monitoring Technician at the Dillon Creek Wetlands Restoration Project. This is in Cortes Island’s oldest farm site, currently known as Linnaea Farm, but prior to the land being a farm, it was wetlands. Three years ago the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) and Linnaea Farm partnered in a project to restore the wetlands, to help reduce the sediment and thus reduce the nutrients flowing down Dillon Creek into Gunflint Lake. The wetlands are also meant to enhance the breeding and foraging grounds for wildlife, including Species at Risk.

Barrett-Morgan told Cortes Currents, “Wetlands are the watering hole where biodiversity interacts, providing food, shelter and water. It becomes this meeting ground for land and water animals, and there’s so much variability in the species who visit the wetlands.”

Project Manager Miranda Cross, the Linnaea Farm stewards and Barrett-Morgan are constantly monitoring the wildlife; both animals and plants.

“The best way to observe wildlife is to open your ears and your eyes and your nose, and really to be present with the environment you’re in,” she explained.

One of her favourite tools, especially for birds, is a recorder. This enables her to capture soundscapes, and also provides an invaluable database for future reference. This is especially useful when she does not recognize a call.

While it is difficult to see or hear bats, the project’s Biologist, Dusty Silvester, brought a bat detector to assist in performing a bat survey. The device they used picks up bat sonar and can identify the species via a database. This has enabled her, and her colleagues, to detect six different species of bats, right after construction was complete.

One of the ‘cool’ things about Linnaea Farm is that it has been keeping records of wildlife observations for decades.

“We’re starting to see some species that may have existed in that particular field back when it was previously a wetland, but have not been observed since,” explained Barrett-Morgan.

Some wetland species would spend time in the field, being that it was a wet portion of the field, but there are certain species that need open water. So, this wetland restoration is becoming a beacon for wildlife.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - SRD Approves proposed bicycle project in Blenkin Park, in principle

At their April 27th Board meeting, the Strathcoan Regional District (SRD) Board approved a proposed bike park at Blenkin Memorial Park in principle, but is withholding its endorsement until it can ascertain the implications of this action.

Regional Director Jim Abram of Area C, which includes Quadra Island, explained that the community was behind the project.

“ I went to the school myself and made a presentation to an assembly of the school kids and after explaining to them about the regional district and all that, I asked them, what would you guys like to see on Quadra Island? What's your number one? And about a hundred hands went up and every one of them said ‘bike park.’”

The problem being that the Quadra Island Recreational Society lease Blenkin Memorial Park from the SRD and did not seek the SRD Board’s consent before applying for and obtaining a $180,000 grant from the Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program.

As title holders, the SRD would be legally responsible for an asset they have not authorized. They could be responsible for cost overruns during construction, and have not had time to consider oversight, maintenance or insurance costs.

The SRD Board was given three options in the associated staff report:

A - they could endorse the project as submitted

B - they could approve the project in principle, but withhold their endorsement until a report identifying the implications for the Regional District is prepared by staff

C - they could withhold their endorsement until the staff report is prepared

In the minutes of the April 27th meeting, it states that director Anderson moved and Moglove seconded a motion, “that the Board conditionally approve in principle, the bike park project of the Quadra Island Recreation Society as submitted, withholding endorsement until such time as a report identifying implications for the Regional District can be considered by EASC and the Board.”

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ FolkU -Today’s Folk U is a live event field trip. .. And if you stay home you’ll be able to catch the Folk U Radio show on CKTZ 89.5 FM or CortesRadio.ca on The history of Cortes Community & Our Forests.

This includes numerous presentations by the likes of Bruce Ellingsen, Christine Robinson, Lovena & Kai Harvey, and more about the unique history of our island, our community, and previous logging efforts. A really incredible listen. Don’t stay home just to listen though because it will repeat Monday at 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. AND will be available on FolkU.ca/podcasts.

It’s a beautiful day. Let’s be in community! (And learn more about who we are and who we’ve been).

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 and Mondays at 6:30 @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - While they have had a forestry license in Toba Inlet since 2009, Klahoose Forestry has been going through some significant changes.

Bruno Pereira, Senior Manager of  Qathen Xwegus Management Corporation (QXMC) explained that when he arrived three years ago, operations were managed by a partner from Vancouver.

“The last few years have been transition years going from thinking of transitioning, to acting on transitioning,” he explained.

“With the help of two gentlemen, John Marlowe (from Quadra Island) and Josh Hiebert (formerly from Interfor), we are now able to say that we are basically running the entire operations on our own.”

Klahoose Forestry is now the liaison between the various subcontractors, government and silviculture.

This season started about two months ago. Pereira said there currently are not many Klahoose employed as fallers and they subcontract the heli-logging.

“These are big trades that require a lot of training and experience,” he said.

One area where Klahoose members are very active is the brushing team.

“The brushing team basically clean up the roads, and the towers of the Run of the River Energex up in Toba,” explained Pereira. “We have had this contract for many years and every brushing season, we train people. We make sure that this team is up and running. They're special and very interesting characters. This is the masterpiece of Paul Muskie. We're super proud. We got them a brand new pickup last year, with their own logo.”

Forestry is an important component of the Klahoose First Nation’s economy.

“We want to be successful at it, but in a sustainable way. It is of the utmost importance for us to reduce waste and to make sure that silviculture is done properly,” said Pereira.

“It's a time of change, of transition. It's going quite smoothly, but it doesn't mean that there hasn't been a lot of work. There's a lot of moving parts in such a big operation. Again, super proud of the team, super grateful for gentlemen like John Marlow and for having Josh Hiebert on board with us, allowing us to really take on and get that experience.”

“We have fallers, heli-loggers and drivers. We will have road building eventually. Why not take one of these operations, or train some employees and be able to place them in those different operations up in Toba. We are really excited for the future. So everything is looking positive, looking good.”

Top photo credit: Toba Inlet by David Stanley via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -The public hearing for a proposed RV park on land owned by the Quadra Island Golf Course (Quadra Links) has been rescheduled to November 23, 2022.

This is a reversal of the decision made at the April 13 SRD Board meeting, when Regional Director Jim Abram had insisted the meeting be held on May 18.

Unfortunately Abram had not consulted with the golf course, which was not ready for a meeting in May and had been under the impression their meeting was to be in the fall.

They promptly wrote the SRD Board, “The arbitrary date of May 18th is not acceptable to Quadra Links. We want to be very clear. Quadra Links will not attend and will not participate in any way if the Area Directors move forward with that date. We expect the public hearing will continue to be scheduled for November 23 as previously agreed by Director Abram.”

They explained that a number of the public comments they received require more careful consideration than Quadra Links has time for at the beginning of the golfing season.

They ended their letter, “It’s completely unfair and undemocratic for the SRD to try and force an applicant to a public hearing when the applicant has clearly stated they need and been granted a later date.“

The matter was brought up for reconsideration at the April 27 SRD Board meeting and Abram withdrew his earlier motion.

He also explained that his earlier motion was not arbitrary:

COVID is expected to flair up again in the Fall

There will be an election

SRD staff will be busy with electoral matters

Everyone will be getting ready for the Christmas break

The results of a late November hearing will not even be looked at until November.

Abram called the applicants request ‘highly unusual’ and ”a complete departure from our normal way of setting public hearings” but said he was willing to go along with it.

Mayor Andy Adams of Campbell River responded, “Thank you. I just want to say words of appreciation for the reconsideration of this. It has been a long process, but I don't think there's any reason to go against what is good for the SRD, good for the area, but also good for the proponent.”

There were no objections to the November 23 date, which carried.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -Tim Pley and Associates has been hired to conduct a feasibility study for a fire brigade to serve the Outer Discovery Islands. The Surge Narrows Community Association (SNCA) requested the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) investigate the costs and implications of this project last September. A motion to hire Pley and Associates passed without comment at the April 27, 2020 SRD Board meeting.

The Surge Narrows Community Association (SNCA) represents the approximately 147 full time and over 120 part time residents of Read, Maurelle, North Rendezvous and southern Sonora Islands.

“Our residents are interested in pursuing a service that provides firefighting training, standardized equipment and responder insurance coverage. We are not currently interested in open burning regulations, large trucks or construction a large fire hall,” wrote the board of the SNCA in a joint letter.

Tim Pley and Associates is a new firm based in Port Alberni.

Prior to his retirement, Pley was was the Chief Administrative Officer for Port Alberni. He began his public service career as a fire fighter in 1990 and has served as a deputy fire chief and later fire chief for a total of 16 years.

All of the members of his team have extensive records in fire suppression.

They submitted a bid for $8,500 plus GST.

They intend to complete the feasibility study in eight days.

The project is to begin with Pley and Associates meeting with the SRD and SNCA teams virtually.

Two days are allotted for an onsite tour of the designated area.

They will prepare a draft report, with recommendations on how to set up a fire brigade for the outer Discovery Islands. These include:

- Training and operations

- Interoperability

- Dispatch and communications

- Fire suppression equipment costs (not including fire apparatus

- Organization and administration structure

- Other related topics identified by the proponent and discussed with the SRD

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents -Public opinion and Federal and Provincial policy are finally swinging (at the eleventh hour) towards protection of the pathetic remnants of BC’s old growth forest and possibly some reform of forest management practise. In response, the timber/pulp industry appears to be mounting a last-ditch PR effort to defend its traditional extractive model and discredit its most vocal critics.

One fingerprint of this effort can be found in a recent Times-Colonist opinion/editorial by Alice Palmer. Published on April 20th, the article reassures readers that

The supposed “fact” that less than three per cent of B.C.’s productive old growth remains standing, and the implicit suggestion that we’re about to lose that too, are both patently untrue.

There is actually much more old growth left, and the majority of it is protected from logging.

Ms Palmer goes on to define “old growth.” She then cites some statistics from “forestry consultants” — from reports “from 2020 and 2021” — but with no authors, titles, or links. One set of data indicates concern because only about 3 percent of our old growth still stands, the other is far more reassuring and claims it’s more like 25 percent, nothing to worry about.

Ms Palmer strongly implies that the first set of numbers was arrived at by outmoded methods, whereas the second set is state of the art science; and therefore “We can relax, knowing BC’s old growth is safe.” She ends with the now industry-standard condescending pat on the head for activists:

… before risking your life for the cause, I beg you: please read the science first. You’ll be glad you did.

Is this the best the timber industry can do to fend off its critics? A few quick clicks are all it takes to cast some shade on this sunny picture.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Unlike their Mainland cousins, Vancouver Island’s Black Bears make their dens almost exclusively in large-diameter old trees, stumps, logs, or root wads. Dens are normally left dormant for a while after use, due to parasite infestation and the need to escape predators. However a study in the Nimpkish Valley, south of Port McNeill, found that 72% of the dens were reused over a 15 year period. In one case, the den was occupied during four winters.

“Many bear dens are being destroyed. Helen Davis, the scientist that worked on this, did a survey in southwest Vancouver Island. In an area where normally she would have expected numerous bear dens to exist and to be used, there was only one den that was still usable after the logging had gone through. We are losing large numbers of bear dens, and they're not being replaced because the second growth forest that comes back is not being allowed to get big enough as old growth to accommodate bear dens. They need the big trees to have holes that are big enough for the bears to get in and out of,” asserted Calvin Sandborn, Senior Counsel at the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre.

He is also the supervising lawyer of a report detailing what it would take to protect the bear dens in BC’s forests.

Three of Sandborn’s students prepared this submission at the request of Helen Davis and Sierra Club BC.

“The Environmental Law Centre is a class that is offered at the Faculty of Law at UVic where law students are learning to be advocates for the environment and to act for environmental groups and first nations community groups that are concerned about the environment. In this case, we were looking at the question of how the law could be changed to better protect bears,” explained Sandborn.

Mark Worthing, of Sierra Club BC, said, “Part of the reason we decided to take on this project is our field work mostly on Vancouver island, but also in the Great Bear Rainforest to a lesser degree in other places in B.C. Not only were we finding bear dens in at-risk forests that were slated for logging, but we were finding destroyed bear dens or lone single bear dens left in clear cuts and things like that. So we thought, dang, this is a problem.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There was one Cortes and four Quadra Island reports in this week’s email from the Quadra RCMP detachment.

None of these involved an arrest, fine or any police action beyond a warning. In one case, a group of youth were commended as ‘good citizens.’

With temperatures rising, the RCMP are receiving more complaints about cars speeding on Quadra Island. This has led to more police patrols and the Quadra Speed Watch Program is looking for volunteers. If you are interested, please contact Judy Hagen at [email protected].

There have also been multiple calls an aggressive panhandler on Quadra the last few weeks. He has been banned from multiple businesses and the RCMP advised him that he could be arrested, under the Trespass Act, if he returns to any of those premises.

The Cortes Island incident relates to a threat. On Thursday, April 21, a boat approached the government dock at Gorge Harbour too quickly, causing a considerable wake. This angered a local tenant, ‘whose dock and boat had been tossed about by the wake.” Harsh words were exchanged, but ‘the two parted on calm terms soon after.’ The man who caused the disturbance phoned the RCMP to advise them of the situation.

On Tuesday April 19th, Constables Clelland and Draht completed a fraud presentation for the local seniors at Heriot Bay Inn. Their presentation included topics such as current phishing scams, new scams related to Covid, and various social media scams. The Quadra RCMP would like to remind the public that should they encounter a scam, to call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or go to the anti-fraud website at https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm.

That Saturday a group of young adults gave an on duty officer some loyalty cards they had found. The RCMP were able to locate the owner’s family and return the cards. This report ends with the police formally thanking the good citizens who located and returning the cards.

And that was it from the Discovery islands, where there has not been a report of any physical altercations or petty vandalism for two weeks and no recent mention of theft other than phishing schemes.