Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - SRD Protective services Coordinator Shaun Koopman gave an update on the progress of a grant to access the danger of sea level rise on Cortes and Quadra Islands.

“We will find out if we get that around the end of May,” he said.

Lidar data is a key element of flood mapping, and there isn’t any available for Cortes Island right now.

Koopman explained, “So about $40,000 would be spent getting Lidar data for Cortes. Another $40,000 to $50,000 would be spent analyzing the Lidar data for Cortes and Quadra and developing a map that shows sea level rise over time.”

The big ticket items of that grant would be having a consultant look at the vulnerability to storm surge, or waves coming in.

“One of the biggest we would want to take away from this process would be shelf ready recommendations on what the Regional District could do to mitigate the impacts of coastal flooding, whether that be storm surge or sea level rise on those islands, explained Koopman.

Is a foreshore embankment needed?

What about a sea break?

Does the ecosystem need to be restored? (example: would planting $20,000 worth of trees protect the foreshore from erosion?)

“We could quickly take the recomendations at around to a further stream of funding, with community consultation of course – we’re not skipping that.” added Koopman.

LIDAR of H.J. Andrews Forest by Oregon State University via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - While the number of active COVID cases on Vancouver Island has now reached 504, these are almost all in the South and Central Health Service Delivery Areas. Yesterday Island Health reported 32 active cases in North Vancouver Island.

Their are no school closures or outbreaks reported in our area.

The most geographically specific data available, week old Local Health Area statistics released by the BC Centre Disease Control on Wednesday April 7th, shows 12 cases in the Comox Valley, 7 in Greater Campbell River, 5 in Vancouver Island West and 1 in Vancouver Island North.

Their are no school closures or outbreaks reported in North Vancouver Island.

The only mention of COVID on Quadra Island is now almost a month old and, as there have been no updates, could be irrelevant.

There are no known reports of active cases on Cortes Island.

The only incident to report comes from the Session Taproom & Kitchen in Campbell River. On Wednesday, April 7, they posted the following note to their website:

“One of our team members had a COVID exposure this past weekend and has since developed some symptoms. As a precaution, while we await test results, we have decided to close the taproom for today, Wednesday April 7th, and perform a deep clean of our space.”

Their staff member tested negative and a subsequent note posted on the restaurant’s website states: “We are thrilled to report that we have been given the green-light to resume our growler fill program with any of our rotating BC Craft Beer taps!”

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - While the number of active COVID cases on Vancouver Island has now reached 504, these are almost all in the South and Central Health Service Delivery Areas. Yesterday Island Health reported 32 active cases in North Vancouver Island.

Their are no school closures or outbreaks reported in our area.

The most geographically specific data available, week old Local Health Area statistics released by the BC Centre Disease Control on Wednesday April 7th, shows 12 cases in the Comox Valley, 7 in Greater Campbell River, 5 in Vancouver Island West and 1 in Vancouver Island North.

Their are no school closures or outbreaks reported in North Vancouver Island.

The only mention of COVID on Quadra Island is now almost a month old and, as there have been no updates, could be irrelevant.

There are no known reports of active cases on Cortes Island.

The only incident to report comes from the Session Taproom & Kitchen in Campbell River. On Wednesday, April 7, they posted the following note to their website:

“One of our team members had a COVID exposure this past weekend and has since developed some symptoms. As a precaution, while we await test results, we have decided to close the taproom for today, Wednesday April 7th, and perform a deep clean of our space.”

Their staff member tested negative and a subsequent note posted on the restaurant’s website states: “We are thrilled to report that we have been given the green-light to resume our growler fill program with any of our rotating BC Craft Beer taps!”

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Museum’s Wild Cortes exhibit is reopening at Linnaea Farm on Earth day, Thursday, April 22nd, with ‘the Big Three.’

The big three: bears, cougars & wolves

As Jane Newman, Managing Director of the Museum, explained, “There will be an exhibit opening there that’s called the Big Three and I am sure people have been reading about in our newsletter, Tideline, the Cortes Marketer etc. It’s basically about the three large predators on Cortes: bears, cougars and wolves. The catalyst for Laurel Bohart and Donna Collins was the real activity of bears in Whaletown and Squirrel Cove this winter.”

As Bohart explained last November, when the Squirrel Cove Bear was still at large, “The Big Three is what we’re calling the next exhibit and Sabina (Leader-Mense) has nicely taken down her species as risk stuff for us. So we have a space to put up some information and Donna Collins, our museum’s new President, is making supports for the skins that are in there. A cougar, wolf and bear, which all came from my taxidermy business when I was a commercial taxidermist. They were given to me. They were all legally taken and yes they were shot.”

The three skins

The bear is a fall female, about the same size as the bears on Cortes Island.

Jason Bradley had Bohart work on two wolves, which he killed when there were a lot of wolves on Cortes Island. One was an Alpha male, whose pelt was made into a rug, which Bradley took with him when he moved to Saskatchewan.

“He said the eyes followed him around the room,” explained Bohart. “I said, that’s good.”

The wolf in the exhibit was killed in the lavender field around 2008.

“The cougar came from Vancouver Island and was shot by a cougar hunter who simply wanted the meat. He gave me the pelt. We’re talking like, in the 1990s,” said Bohart.

The Exhibit

Newman added that this seemed like a good opportunity to create an exhibit that combines old stories drawn from the archives and more recent experiences of “how we can co-exist and keep these animals wild.”

A documentary film will be played when people come into the space.

Newman explained that the first people to view this exhibit on April 22nd will be from the Cortes school.

“The students will go over that afternoon and if anyone from the general public wants to see it that day, they’d be very welcome to come probably after the students have left.” she said.

“There will be no refreshments that day, so we are calling it a soft opening. Later, when we feel like we can be a little bit more celebratory and invite people to the space – that will probably happen in late June or early July.”

photo credit: Cougars by Claire Gribbin via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Museum’s Wild Cortes exhibit is reopening at Linnaea Farm on Earth day, Thursday, April 22nd, with ‘the Big Three.’

The big three: bears, cougars & wolves

As Jane Newman, Managing Director of the Museum, explained, “There will be an exhibit opening there that’s called the Big Three and I am sure people have been reading about in our newsletter, Tideline, the Cortes Marketer etc. It’s basically about the three large predators on Cortes: bears, cougars and wolves. The catalyst for Laurel Bohart and Donna Collins was the real activity of bears in Whaletown and Squirrel Cove this winter.”

As Bohart explained last November, when the Squirrel Cove Bear was still at large, “The Big Three is what we’re calling the next exhibit and Sabina (Leader-Mense) has nicely taken down her species as risk stuff for us. So we have a space to put up some information and Donna Collins, our museum’s new President, is making supports for the skins that are in there. A cougar, wolf and bear, which all came from my taxidermy business when I was a commercial taxidermist. They were given to me. They were all legally taken and yes they were shot.”

The three skins

The bear is a fall female, about the same size as the bears on Cortes Island.

Jason Bradley had Bohart work on two wolves, which he killed when there were a lot of wolves on Cortes Island. One was an Alpha male, whose pelt was made into a rug, which Bradley took with him when he moved to Saskatchewan.

“He said the eyes followed him around the room,” explained Bohart. “I said, that’s good.”

The wolf in the exhibit was killed in the lavender field around 2008.

“The cougar came from Vancouver Island and was shot by a cougar hunter who simply wanted the meat. He gave me the pelt. We’re talking like, in the 1990s,” said Bohart.

The Exhibit

Newman added that this seemed like a good opportunity to create an exhibit that combines old stories drawn from the archives and more recent experiences of “how we can co-exist and keep these animals wild.”

A documentary film will be played when people come into the space.

Newman explained that the first people to view this exhibit on April 22nd will be from the Cortes school.

“The students will go over that afternoon and if anyone from the general public wants to see it that day, they’d be very welcome to come probably after the students have left.” she said.

“There will be no refreshments that day, so we are calling it a soft opening. Later, when we feel like we can be a little bit more celebratory and invite people to the space – that will probably happen in late June or early July.”

photo credit: Cougars by Claire Gribbin via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - There were new revelations at BC Ferries virtual meeting about changes coming to the Campbell River - Quadra Island run.

Two new Island Class ferries will take over this route in the Spring of 2022. They are powered by a electric/diesel combination, but could go fully electric in the next three to four years if more funding is made available to the program.

While the official capacity of the two new hybrid e-ferries is 94 cars per hour, this calculation does not take small cars into account. For example the “Powell River Queen’s’ official capacity is 59 cars, but it has actually carried up to 80 vehicles. A similar discrepancy between capacity and the actual number of vehicles carried will occur when the two Island Class hybrid electrics, whose nominal capacity is 47 cars each, take over this route.

The new hybrid e-ferries will add 59% more capacity to the route during peak hours.

The new schedule currently calls for one of the ferries to retire at 5 PM every day. As a Heriot Bay resident pointed out, the overloads from Campbell River often continue well after this and during the summer he has still been stuck in in Campbell River as late as 8 PM.

Peter Simpson, BC Ferries Director of Fleet Operations, replied that some of the overloads build up during the day and this problem should be addressed by the addition of more capacity. BC Ferries will keep an eye on any increased traffic arriving after 5 PM.

Cars on the first ferry from Cortes Island are currently given preferred loading status when they reach the Quathiaski Cove terminal, on mondays and thursdays. Simpson explained that it is easier to leave this system in place while they discuss scheduling. BC and the Ferry Advisory Committee may revisit the question when they deal with connectivity issues.

A Quadra Island resident noted that as a result of preference being shown to Cortes passengers, the ferry often leaves Quathiaski Cove later on Mondays and Thursdays. Simpson explained that this was because Cortes residents are offloaded from their ferry in the same order they loaded, this takes a little more time.

Someone asked if a reservation system could be introduced on the Campbell River - Quadra Island route. Brian Anderson, BC Ferries Vice President in charge of Strategy and Community Engagement replied that BC Ferries is open to the idea and could discuss it further with the the Ferry Advisory Committee if there is a community desire for it.

Regional Director Jim Abram asked if preferred loading status could be given to island residents.

Anderson responded that this was outside the mandate of a public transportation system. BC Ferries has been allowed in specific circumstances, like a medical emergency or the preference given to residents for a limited time during the early stages of the pandemic, but the Ministry of Transportation is responsible for policy.

“Certainly we can bend in limited ways, but when it comes to wholesale (adoption) it is a broader discussion,” said Anderson.

He added, “This doesn’t mean it can’t happen, it is just a different conversation with a different group of people.”

More traffic could be coming to Cortes Island after the e-ferries . There are no immediate plans to change this ferries schedule, but when the Tachek is retired, in about 10 years, BC Ferries plans to replace it with a higher capacity Island Class ferry.

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - There were new revelations at BC Ferries virtual meeting about changes coming to the Campbell River - Quadra Island run.

Two new Island Class ferries will take over this route in the Spring of 2022. They are powered by a electric/diesel combination, but could go fully electric in the next three to four years if more funding is made available to the program.

While the official capacity of the two new hybrid e-ferries is 94 cars per hour, this calculation does not take small cars into account. For example the “Powell River Queen’s’ official capacity is 59 cars, but it has actually carried up to 80 vehicles. A similar discrepancy between capacity and the actual number of vehicles carried will occur when the two Island Class hybrid electrics, whose nominal capacity is 47 cars each, take over this route.

The new hybrid e-ferries will add 59% more capacity to the route during peak hours.

The new schedule currently calls for one of the ferries to retire at 5 PM every day. As a Heriot Bay resident pointed out, the overloads from Campbell River often continue well after this and during the summer he has still been stuck in in Campbell River as late as 8 PM.

Peter Simpson, BC Ferries Director of Fleet Operations, replied that some of the overloads build up during the day and this problem should be addressed by the addition of more capacity. BC Ferries will keep an eye on any increased traffic arriving after 5 PM.

Cars on the first ferry from Cortes Island are currently given preferred loading status when they reach the Quathiaski Cove terminal, on mondays and thursdays. Simpson explained that it is easier to leave this system in place while they discuss scheduling. BC and the Ferry Advisory Committee may revisit the question when they deal with connectivity issues.

A Quadra Island resident noted that as a result of preference being shown to Cortes passengers, the ferry often leaves Quathiaski Cove later on Mondays and Thursdays. Simpson explained that this was because Cortes residents are offloaded from their ferry in the same order they loaded, this takes a little more time.

Someone asked if a reservation system could be introduced on the Campbell River - Quadra Island route. Brian Anderson, BC Ferries Vice President in charge of Strategy and Community Engagement replied that BC Ferries is open to the idea and could discuss it further with the the Ferry Advisory Committee if there is a community desire for it.

Regional Director Jim Abram asked if preferred loading status could be given to island residents.

Anderson responded that this was outside the mandate of a public transportation system. BC Ferries has been allowed in specific circumstances, like a medical emergency or the preference given to residents for a limited time during the early stages of the pandemic, but the Ministry of Transportation is responsible for policy.

“Certainly we can bend in limited ways, but when it comes to wholesale (adoption) it is a broader discussion,” said Anderson.

He added, “This doesn’t mean it can’t happen, it is just a different conversation with a different group of people.”

More traffic could be coming to Cortes Island after the e-ferries . There are no immediate plans to change this ferries schedule, but when the Tachek is retired, in about 10 years, BC Ferries plans to replace it with a higher capacity Island Class ferry.

Manda Aufochs Gillespie / Folk U - Folk U Radio’s Reporters Roundtable on CKTZ: where we go in-depth on today’s big issues from a small community perspective with the journalists that are researching and writing about them from within these communities. Today’s topic is the unique nature of the Housing Crisis in rural/isolated and small communities.

Cortes Island the home of CKTZ Cortes Community Radio. Wherever you are I invite you to take a moment to think about the land, beings, and people that make up the place you call home and those that came before you. The Cortes Community Radio station is on the unceeded territorial lands of the Klahoose, T’liammen, and Homalco peoples. Thank you to these people, thank you to all the people who have walked this land through time and those that continue to love and work to honour this place we call home, and thank you to this land.

Today we are joined by

Shalu Mehta is a reporter for The Discourse in the Cowichan Valley and on the West Shore. She has worked at news outlets throughout Canada is the recipient of the Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Science, Technology, Health and Environment Reporting (2019).

Rochelle Baker is a Quadra Island resident and local journalism initiative (LJI) reporter with the National Observer who covers issues in the Discovery Islands and the North Island region.

Binny Paul, is the local Journalism Initiative Reporter for Campbell River and North Vancouver Island & more recently the Black Press newsroom in Northwest BC.

Roy Hales is the editor of Cortes Currents (formerly the ECOreport), which has been a local news website and program on Cortes Radio since 2014.

Marc Kitteringham is with the Campbell River Mirror where he writes about environmentalism, housing, emergency services and local government, as well as any other topic that piques his interest. Previously he lived on Salt Spring Island, where he worked as a reporter covering similar topics.

Each of these reporters has been living, researching and writing about the issues important to people living on the islands and has experience at looking at the issues of the housing crisis from the unique lens of small, isolated communities. Now let’s hear from our experts.

warmly - manda

Photo credit: Tiny House by Paul VanDerWerf via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Manda Aufochs Gillespie / Folk U - Folk U Radio’s Reporters Roundtable on CKTZ: where we go in-depth on today’s big issues from a small community perspective with the journalists that are researching and writing about them from within these communities. Today’s topic is the unique nature of the Housing Crisis in rural/isolated and small communities.

Cortes Island the home of CKTZ Cortes Community Radio. Wherever you are I invite you to take a moment to think about the land, beings, and people that make up the place you call home and those that came before you. The Cortes Community Radio station is on the unceeded territorial lands of the Klahoose, T’liammen, and Homalco peoples. Thank you to these people, thank you to all the people who have walked this land through time and those that continue to love and work to honour this place we call home, and thank you to this land.

Today we are joined by

Shalu Mehta is a reporter for The Discourse in the Cowichan Valley and on the West Shore. She has worked at news outlets throughout Canada is the recipient of the Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Science, Technology, Health and Environment Reporting (2019).

Rochelle Baker is a Quadra Island resident and local journalism initiative (LJI) reporter with the National Observer who covers issues in the Discovery Islands and the North Island region.

Binny Paul, is the local Journalism Initiative Reporter for Campbell River and North Vancouver Island & more recently the Black Press newsroom in Northwest BC.

Roy Hales is the editor of Cortes Currents (formerly the ECOreport), which has been a local news website and program on Cortes Radio since 2014.

Marc Kitteringham is with the Campbell River Mirror where he writes about environmentalism, housing, emergency services and local government, as well as any other topic that piques his interest. Previously he lived on Salt Spring Island, where he worked as a reporter covering similar topics.

Each of these reporters has been living, researching and writing about the issues important to people living on the islands and has experience at looking at the issues of the housing crisis from the unique lens of small, isolated communities. Now let’s hear from our experts.

warmly - manda

Photo credit: Tiny House by Paul VanDerWerf via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - Cortes Island's updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan will be completed mid-April.

 

The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) will also be holding two virtual sessions with wildfire expert Bruce Blackwell on Tuesday April 13 and Wednesday April 14 from 7-8pm (both sessions will be the same). These sessions will be devoted to the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, the island's wildfire risk, and on ways that you can incorporate FireSmart principles on your properties and neighbourhoods. There will also be a question and answer period.  

So I asked SRD Protective Services Coordinator Shaun Koopman, Is there anything new?

“Ahhh, I wouldn’t say so - but I spend every sing day in this area.

If a Cortes Islander reviewed the ten year old plan and hasn’t engaged in any wildfire planning, things might look a little different, but I am going to wait for the engagement session because I don’t want to take away from the consultant,” he responded.

One of the key elements will be looking at the old wildfire map:

- What changes have there been?

- What are the most hazardous areas on both private and public land?

- What are the areas most in need of treatment?

What does treatment consist of?

The first step in a treatment consists of drawing up a ‘prescription.’ This identifies specific trees that must be taken out and potential fuel areas for a wildfire. It is also the document that will be presented to the SRD Board, when applying for funding.

Several areas on Cortes Island have already been identified for treatment:

- 11 hectares of Crown land in Carrington Bay

- 10 hectares in Squirrel Cove

- 4 hectares adjacent to the Cortes Island Recycling Centre

= a 10 hectare FireSmart education area in the Regional Park at Hank’s Beach

The SRD also wants to reduce the risk of wildfire to community buildings.

- Replacing some of the siding with non-flammable material,

- making sure there is a six centimetre non flammable buffer between the ground and the start oif the building.

- replacing some of the gutters

- replacing wooden stairs with metal stairs