Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - This is a condensed version of ‘The World is Watching COP 26,’ roughly 28 minutes of audio from a 54 minute Sierra Club BC production broadcast directly from Glasgow.

It was hosted by Anjali Appadurai (Climate Justice campaigner) and Flossie Baker (Lead Organizer at Sierra Club BC).

The full 58 minute Sierra Quadra video

This is Appadurai’s 11th year of watching the COP process, during which time she has watched it decline from a regime that was attempting to be legally binding to “a kind of pledge and review” process.

“Every country makes voluntary pledges about how much they are going to reduce their emissions, with a series of review built into that, until the present day COP in Glasgow – where we are seeing that half of those pledges were not met,” she said.

Appaduri calls this ‘the COP of announcements’ and alleges they do not match what is being negotiated behind closed doors.

“The responsibility for the amount of emissions that are in the atmosphere right now, disproportionately rests with the richest countries in the world, which also happen to be mostly the colonial states and also happened to be countries that are quite wealthy and more capable of dealing with the impacts of climate change,” she said. “Unfortunately what we’ve seen is that the countries that have the most responsibility, for the largest part of that burden are the ones that really don’t want to pay their fair share.

Canada was among the nations that promise to have net zero emissions by 2050.

Appaduri notes that these are “not real emissions reductions,’ as polluters are allowed to continue pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere providing they find green projects to offset their tally. So a Canadian fossil fuel project may be offset by funding a treeplanting project in a developing nation like Zambia. One of the tweets in Scotland called this “the new climate denialism.”

“The biggest polluters, both corporate and governmental, are the biggest champions for net zero,” said Appaduri.

She noted that one of the key solutions brought forward in Scotland revolved around technologies that do not (yet) exist. Critics call this “chasing the carbon unicorn.”

Flossie Baker pointed out that while the commitment to end deforestation by 2030 means a great deal in nations like the Congo, where this is actually happening, it is meaningless in British Columbia where old growth forests are being replaced by plantations of much younger trees.

At Glasgow, Prime Minister Trudeau promised, “”We’ll cap oil and gas sector emissions today and ensure they decrease tomorrow at a pace and scale needed to reach net-zero by 2050.”

“This sounds hopeful and it’s lacking any legally binding framework,” said Baker. “Without that, we fear that it just a nice sounding aspiration.”

Photo - screenshot from the SIerra Club BC video

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Nine Cortes Island students are waiting to hear whether they will have to move to Campbell River during their high school years. This has been the norm for many Cortes families. Others sent their children to a boarding house in Campbell River during the week. The parents of nine Cortes students found another option. They send their children to a Powell River school two days a week, through the Partners in Education program (PIE), and teach them at home the other three days.

This involves a quick boat ride across to Lund, where their children board a school bus.

However the Ministry of Education is streamlining its independent learning programs. Powell River is in a different school district (#47) and it is not certain that Cortes Island students, who are in school district #72, will be allowed to attend in the 2022/23 school year.

Cortes students will be allowed to continue enrolling, if Powell River can become a provincial online learning provider. Unfortunately, it is not yet known if the Powell River program qualifies, or if this is even a possibility for a small rural school.

The podcast incorporates interviews with two of the mothers and an email from the BC Ministry of Education

Can Powell River's Partners in Education program qualify as an a provincial online learning provider? - Photo by Aleksandra Kornilova on Unsplash

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Fisheries and Oceans Canada (or DFO) is working with local groups to harvest salmon eggs and throughout the Greater Campbell River area.

Stacey Larsen, the DFO Community advisor for our area, recently came to Cortes Island.

“The Klahoose First Nation hatchery has been working with DFO for several years. I know at least over ten,” she explained. “Prior to Chum enhancement, Coho enhancement was being done. At that time we had Coho eye-digs that were moved from the Quinsam hatchery (in Campbell River) to the Klahoose hatchery.”

They were raised to fry and then released into Cortes Island streams.

Four years ago, they switched over to Chum salmon from the Tla-amin hatchery, north of Powell River in Qathet Regional District.

“This was the first year when we were able to have the numbers of returning Chum to harvest them from Basil Creek, which is the preferred choice,” said Larsen.

Chum runs have been declining along the south coast for the past five years and the DFO expects average to below average numbers this Fall.

“Salmon, including Chum salmon, face a number of challenges including: habitat loss; barriers to migration; changing ocean conditions that reduce food availability; and changes to watersheds resulting from climate change.”

The Chum returns were very low on Basil Creek in 2016. This year’s run consists of salmon that were transferred from the Tla’amin hatchery four years ago.

“In 2017, the Klahoose First Nation, Cortes streamkeepers, Friends of Cortes Island, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and DFO worked together to replace an aging culvert on Basil Creek that was proving to be a barrier to upstream fish migration. The new culvert has a natural stream bottom and allows for Chum salmon to move upstream,” explained Larsen.

Two weeks ago, 8,000 Chum salmon eggs were harvested in Basil Creek.

Larsen added that the returns in Qathet were better than expected this year and there will probably be more eggs coming from the Tla’amin hatchery.

“The Klahoose First Nation and Cortes streamkeepers will monitor and care for the eggs,” she said. “Once the eggs reach the eyed stage, which means the eye spot is visible, we will transfer them to in-stream incubation boxes where they will develop into alevin, which are newly hatched salmon that still have their yolk sac. In the Spring they will released back into the creek as fry.”

This is not the only creek that Larsen works in.

She has been working with the Sayward Fish and Wildlife Club to harvest Chinook eggs from the Salmon River. The eggs will be raised in the Salmon River hatchery until they are eyed, then transferred to the Quinsam hatchery until they are released next Spring.

The October rains were challenging in Zeballos, where DFO works with the Ehattesaht First Nation.

“We were able to get Chum into that hatchery as well.”

Larsen also participated in the release of one year old Coho fry into four creeks in the Campbell River: Sims, Nunns, Menzies and Mohun.

Photo credit: Screenshot of Tracey Larsen taken during the interview

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - In the conclusion of a series of four broadcasts about the island’s looming water problem, Jude McCormick, Bernie Amell, Kris Wellstein and Mike Gall describe some of the initiatives the Quadra ICAN water security team is taking.

They have good reason to suspect water is becoming less abundant , as the climate continues to shift and the expanding network of roads, ditches houses and other human infrastructure disrupts the penetration of rainwater. There are numerous reports of lower water levels in island wells; once year-round wetlands are drying up in the summer; many cedar and spruce trees appear to be stressed. These anecdotal evidences are backed up by data from the island’s Provincial Groundwater Observation Well, which shows that Quadra Island’s water levels have been dropping for the past twelve years.

One of the most popular local responses is to take pressure off Quadra’s aquifers by rainwater harvesting.

Jude McCormick, the water security team leader, explained that people are taking the water that falls on their roofs for a variety of purposes. Many use it to water their garden. Some store water for fire suppression. One of her neighbours in Granite Bay built their house on solid rock and have been totally dependent on rainwater since they moved to Quadra Island in 2005.

“They built their house with a lot of roof surface and, I think, put in two 1,500 gallon storage tanks. They can run their electricity from that, their toilets and all their domestic use.”

Bernie Amell and his wife use a composting toilet and have otherwise obtained all of their water from rainwater harvesting this past year.

“We are able to get 30 litres per day per person for water use, which means we made it through the drought with a fair reserve of water still in our tanks. It’s feasible to do because we do because we do have a good rainy season,” he said.

The Quadra ICAN water security team sells 250 gallon water storage containers at cost and helps people them set up.

Kris Wellstein said a lot of people have have been using them to collect rainwater for their gardens.

“Some people are being very effective at that, and taking the strain off the aquifer at this time,” she said.

A few Quadra Island residents are digging ponds to store water.

Mike Gall said, “If you really think about it, everybody is living off rainwater. The aquifers are recharged by the rain that comes from God, from the sky. It is really that simple.”

He stressed the idea that whether you are talking about power or water, “the best method to get yourself green is to conserve.”

“If you can find ways to conserve, that is more efficient than anything else you can do and it costs you literally nothing. It is just a change in your methodology.”

The security team has a number of educational initiatives underway. They are also collecting information about individual wells and plotting their locations on a map.

“I think we’ll get people thinking about it and there will be less sprinklers on gardens and lawns, and more drip systems in their gardens,” said Wellstein. “Perhaps people will start to think what they are doing with their properties a little more as their awareness of water security consciousness is raised.”

Photo credit: Jude McCormick, Kris Wellsetin and Bernie Amell with 250 litre water containers - Courtesy Quadra ICAN water security team

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - This is the third in a series of programs arising from an interview with Quadra ICAN water security team members Jude McCormick, Kris Wellstein, Bernie Amell and Mike Gall. In a previous episode, they listed evidences that the groundwater supply is diminishing. This episode is dedicated to the sources of Quadra island’s groundwater and the things affecting them.

Amell explained that only a limited amount of data is available. Some people have registered their wells and there is a provincial groundwater observation well near the corner of Heriot Bay and Smith Roads.

“The first indication we have is that there are several different aquifer layers below the south part of the island, plus the karse typography which is the same thing that generates limestone caves, in the north part of the island,” he said. “We think that’s the major source of the water that is in the centre of the island. It would be seepage out of the karse typography,” he said.

He stressed the need to understand these water sources, what they mean to Quadra Island and how the island needs to adapt to further climate change.

Gall added, “Climate change is one thing we are concerned with, but the other is how we affect surface precipitation getting down to the aquifer systems through development. Every hard surface that we add, or change in the topography when we develop, affects the ability of the aquifer to recharge. Each road, every ditch creates new drainage lines that weren’t previously there.”

Screenshot from chart of Heriot Bay Road Groundwater level - courtesy BC Government

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - With the deadline for registering irrigation, commercial or industrial use wells fast approaching, the Quadra ICAN water security team is concerned that some people may miss out.

According to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development press release, “A water licence is not required for a household well or groundwater used for domestic purposes, such as watering lawns and gardens. Domestic groundwater users are encouraged to register their well for free.”

Kris Wellstein pointed out that water used for home industries like egg stands, market gardens and fruit trees (if the fruit is sold) is classified as commercial.

The Ministry states “Existing groundwater users who have not applied by the deadline will be unlicensed and must stop using groundwater.”

The deadline for filing is March 1, 2022, but “Consequences for not filing with the registry can be substantial, with penalties up to $25,000 for an individual, or $50,000 for a corporation, or 5% of the assessed value of the property, whichever is greater.”

Bernie Amell pointed out that there are already parts of Canada where businesses use water metres and their reports are checked by the government.

“That’s for major water users,” he said. “Even in the prairies, the domestic use is on an assumed basis.”

He added that while “theoretically the licensing for industry is above domestic, but in my experience, watching it happen in the prairies, it never comes down to that because these are people in your neighbourhood. You’re not going to cut them off from domestic use. There is a difference between legally what might happen and what actually happens. There is a lot of scare talk and it is not useful to get engaged in that sometimes.”

(There is much more in the podcast and written article)

Photo credit: Looking up from inside the well - Photo by Josh Kahen on Unsplash

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Dino Tsakonas, Regional Manager for CityWest, gave Cortes Currents an update on the Connected Coast initiative to bring high speed internet connection to our area is progressing.

The campaign to get Cortes Island residents signed up for free internet connection is over and CityWest is now focusing on the inhabitants of Denman and Hornby Islands.

“We’re still working with the Ministry of Transport to finalize a bunch of details for Cortes, but they are just minor details. Half of the island is already approved,” he said.

As a result of global supply chain disruptions, the ‘Dropping-in’ campaign to connect individual households on Cortes Island has been set back until January. Tsakonas said that, for example, an incredible amount of conduit is needed to put conduit into every home that is receiving fibre . CityWest just finished work in Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake and is now in Haida Gwaii.

He explained, “Everyone’s doing it, all over the world, and when you think about the corona virus, a lot of people are using those materials to make more masks, more ventilators. Those materials were pushed towards that.”

Tsakonas said the Dropping-in campaign will start on Cortes, then they will move on to Hornby and Denman, and finally Quadra Island.

The funding to bring high speed internet to Quadra has not yet been finalized, “but it is going to happen.”

CityWest is still negotiating a possible buyout of Twincomm, the local internet provider for our area.

“The CEO told me things are getting close, so we’ll see if both sides agree upon a number” said Tsakonas. “There is no real rush, it could happen six months from now and it would still be fine.

He still does some work for Twinncom, where he served as the

The ‘CanPac Valour’ arrived in Campbell River and is about to start laying cable over 3,400 kilometres of the West Coast. Tsakonas suspects they may begin in Vancouver because that is where the fibre optic cable is coming from, but he is not yet privy to this information.

On a personal not, Taskonas said he is doing really good and will be going trout fishing after our interview.

He said tell Cortes residents, “Be patient everybody, fibre optics is coming.”

Photo credit: Scientist holding fibre optic cable - Photo by Lars Kienle on Unsplash

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Campbell River Chamber of Commerce is protesting the provincial government’s handling of a proposed deferral of 2.6 million hectares of old growth forest.

“The BC Government needs to sit down at a table with the First Nations, industry, labour and representatives from all the communities and have meaningful dialogue before they implement these deferrals. If they don’t, it is going to have devastating impact on all of our communities,” said Executive Director Mary Ruth Snyder.

She was citing a BC Council of Forest Industries press release, that states:

“These deferrals would result in the closure of between 14 and 20 sawmills in BC, along with two pulp mills and an undetermined number of value-added manufacturing facilities. This represents approximately 18,000 good, family-supporting jobs lost, along with over $400 million in lost revenues to government each year – revenues that help pay for healthcare, education and other services British Columbians count on.”

Snyder says the timing of the government announcement could not be worse. It has been only two years since the forest industry was in the midst of a devastating strike and the COVID 19 virus arrived almost immediately after that.

“We are still trying to recover from the strike; we are still trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic on small and medium businesses across this province,” she said.

Snyder says the NDP announcement does not reflect any of their previously stated intentions of discussing, planning and negotiating complex issues like this with all the interested parties.

“It is very, very, disappointing,” she said. “There has to be conversation and dialogue before they can make any sweeping statements like they’ve made.”

Photo credit: courtesy the Wilderness Committee

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, is among those speaking out against Horgan’s proposal to defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of the province’s most at risk old growth forests.

He also spoke against “the alarming reduction of old growth forests due to unsustainable logging practises.”

Phillip praised the “incredibly dedicated, committed, individuals who understand the incredible value of old growth forest” and are opposing Teal Cedar Products logging operations at Fairy Creek. (The RCMP have arrested 1,160 as of Thursday, November 4.)

“When John Horgan ran in the last snap election, he made a commitment to safeguard, protect, and ensure that logging in old growth forestry would be deemed to be absolutely sustainable and that there would be a dialogue with Indigenous peoples and other groups (that have a vested interest in the preservation and protection of old growth forests) and so on and so forth, but unfortunately that did not happen,” said Grand Chief Phillip.

He calls the government’s “confusing announcement” yet another example of this administration’s “crisis management, whereby the Horgan government lurches from issue to issue.” The idea of giving First Nations 30 days to respond to it is “ludicrous.”

If the government wants to address this issue, Phillip says it needs to commit to a “formal legislative process with a time frame of three to five years,” and provide funding for the project.

He described the current announcement is a delaying tactic: “As we speak, logging continues in old growth forest stands. Permits are firmly in place. Other permits are being issued. What the Horgan Government has done, effectively, is defer the deferrals.”

The Horgan Government also promised to honour the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip pointed out, “They promised to realign the laws of British Columbia to incorporate our jurisdictional interest - and we all know that did not happen.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Quadra Island’s groundwater appears to be disappearing.

“We need to figure out where it’s going, how much we have that we don’t know about and then how we can make sure that not just on the people on Quadra, but also the environment and businesses get they need,” said Jude McCormick, the leader of Quadra ICAN’s water security team. “It is a Herculean task and the first part is to make people aware that we have a problem.”

In the first of a series about Quadra Island’s water issues, McCormick, Bernie Amell, Kris Wellstein and Mike Gall explain how they know the water is disappearing.

Photo credit: Jude McCormick, Kris Wellstein and Bernie Amell with IBC water totes - courtesy Quadra ICAN