Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - An overwhelming majority of the 50 or so people that turned out (in person or via ZOOM) to the Cortes Island Firefighting Association (CIFFA) AGM on Thursday, Mar 30, were supportive of the fire department.

CIFFA has a contract to provide fire fighting services, with the Strathcona Regional District (SRD).

A number of attendees questioned the Strathcona Regional District’s current idea of setting up of a regional system, with a Fire Chief in Campbell River.

“I just wondered if the Regional District has a mandate to provide the level of fire service that Cortes Island has developed for itself over the last 30 years? If they take over our department, is there any saying whether or not they have to provide the kind of fire service that we have here?” asked Aaron Ellingsen.

Christine Robinson added, “I think there's no concern about the budget, it's about governance and process. I want to know once we pass the budget, what comes next? How do we get clarity from the SRD as to how we move forward in keeping self-governance on Cortes?”

Andy Ellingsen said, “I would hate to leave this call without a clear statement of the importance that I see of keeping the control of our fire department at the local level. I do not see how we can run a volunteer fire department with a Chief that's appointed and answers to the SRD in Campbell River.”

This was one of the many supportive comments that prompted a round of clapping and applause.

The entire slate of 7 DIrectors proposed by CIFFA was voted in. Sadhu Johnston, the former City Manager of Vancouver who at one point in the meeting was called CIFFA’s ‘ringer,’ will continue in his new role as President. Chris Walker is Vice President. Lisa Ferentinos is the new Secretary/Treasurer. Wes KIrk, Chris Dragseth, Aaron Ellingsen and Dave Robertson are Directors at Large.

Most attendees recognized that there must be an increase in the budget in order to meet the new provincial standards taking effect in March 2024. The budget for 2023, which calls an increase of just under $250 for the average property owner, was approved.

Someone did question the budget’s pay rises, “You can only pay so much out of your local tax base. Obviously you can't pay your Fire Chief on Cortes the same amount that you might have to in Campbell River. It's a completely different tax base. So how do they work that up?”

Interim Fire Chief Eli McKenty replied, “The Chief on Cortes makes less than a regular firefighter in Campbell River. The Chiefs in Campbell River and all the officers are paid vastly more.” 

(In a previous interview, Vice President Chris Walker pointed out that CIFFA wants to pay the Fire Chief $90,000 per year and the average firefighter in Campbell River makes $120,000.)

Sadhu Johnston explained, “If we look back at the past decade, the spend thrift nature of our operation has kept costs really low and really what it should be doing is going up evenly over time so you don't have this kind of bumpy increase. I think it's incumbent upon the board to be thinking about the next five years and looking at what increases are needed. So we can stay on top of it and not have a big jump in one year — which is really jarring.”

“It's something to recognize that training, fuel insurance, all of these costs are going up. We need to project that out and try to be proactive so that taxpayers know what to expect in the years ahead. Typically what a municipality would try to do would be to project those costs over time and try to predict a little bit in advance, which I think we've done well with the fire truck that's needed. The money's been put in reserve so we don't need to pay it all at once. It can be purchased with the money that's been put in the bank over time. That is the kind of approach we want to take with the whole department.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - A number of Area C Initiatives were passed at the Wednesday March 29, 2023, Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board Meeting.

The only audio clip I am using in this broadcast comes from a segment

dealing with Grants in Aid.

Chair Mark Baker is speaking throughout most of the clip. He brings a levity to the board that I do not remember witnessing in the four years I have been observing SRD meetings. You can hear an example in the podcast. There is usually some laughter, even if only for a few moments. As none of the directors had anything they wished to say, the segment is almost like a drum roll: “discussion, all in favour? opposed? seeing none the motion is carried.”

That clip shows how all of the initiatives that follow were handled.

The draft Integrated Community Sustainability Plan for Area C has been approved. This is a vision document, to be consulted when making decisions or regulations. Some of the stated goals include:

Becoming a net carbon sink and adapting to a changing climate

Enabling affordable residential housing to meet diverse community needs in planned areas that avoids sprawl and negative impacts on natural areas and the rural character of Area C.

Being inclusive of all people and treat everyone with fairness, respect, and care, resulting in high levels of mutual trust, safety, and wellbeing.

Enabling small-scale resource-based economic activity that supports employment and a diverse resident population while protecting environmental and human health and the rural character of the area.

Enabling Area C community members to meaningfully and collaboratively participate in the decision-making process to achieve the shared vision and goals of the region

You can access a copy of the draft report on the SRD website, or through a link on Cortes Currents.

The SRD will attempt to secure a Licence of Occupation for access road and parking area for Hoskyn Channel Landing. This is where people leave their vehicles before crossing over to Read Island.

The following Grants in Aid have been approved:

$400 to the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society to assist with costs associated with the operations of rehabilitation and educational programs;

$1,000 to the Quadra Island Chamber Music Society

$2,000 to the Stuart Island Community Association, to assist with 2023 administration and insurance costs.

$3,000 to the Surge Narrows Community Association.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents- A provincial biologist visited Cortes Island over the weekend. Emily Upham-Mills is an ecosystems biologist with the Ministry of Water, Lands and Natural Resource Stewardship and an important member of the team working with the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) on the Western Screech Owl Project.

Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI, explained, “Emily very kindly came up on the weekend to talk to the community. This project's a really important for FOCI. We're doing really interesting scientific work and that data is going back both provincially and federally. It puts us in the spotlight with this particular species. It's a project that's running for three years. We're in the second year of trying to discover whether there are Western Screech Owls on Cortes Island.”

Up until a few weeks ago, there has not been any reports of Western Screech Owls on Cortes Island since 2017. That changed when Sabina Leader Mense, and her husband Dennis, discovered one of the elusive owls in the northern part of the island. On Saturday, at a meeting with about  30 members of the community, Leader Mense announced the discovery of a second Western Screech Owl.  

HH: “We've been working with Emily since the start of the project. Her role is to work on a number of different species at risk, and to work with partner organizations like us to get conservation work happening and to engage with community groups.”

“It was key for us to work in partnership with the ministry in order for us to obtain the grant, and also for them to bring in a whole load of resources that we needed. They were able to loan us some of the recording units we have been using. The ministry were also able to advise us on where to conduct our surveys, and how to conduct them.”

Emily works closely with another important member of this project, the Pacific Megascops Research Alliance.

The Western Screech Owl project is also being funded by the Federal Government’s Habitat Stewardship Project.

HH: “This project raises our profile with biologists that we're working with, also with the federal grant given body. We're hoping that other projects might follow this one.”

Saturday morning, some key FOCI leaders took Emily on a hike.

HH: “Sabina, Autumn, Emily and I went out to a patch of older growth forest near Basil Creek. We were putting up an autonomous recording unit. We have a number of recording units in that forest for the next two weeks, to see if we can record any Screech Owls at night. We wanted to show Emily the kind of ecosystem that we were working in and also just to get her to see what we are doing on the ground.”

CC: Did she have any comments about the area?

HH: “She thought it was potentially good habitat for Western Screech Owls, so also a really useful place to put up autonomous recording units.”

“We had a wonderful presentation at Linnaea Education Centre on Saturday afternoon. There were about 30 people, and Emily was able to give us a really good overview about Screech Owl distribution and conservation. The Western Screech Owl was once abundant in coastal BC, but there's been a steady decline in their numbers since 1990. What they're trying to do is to figure out why?”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The 2023 MicroGrants 4 Neighbours program is focusing on projects that promote youth empowerment, but also encourages any other projects to apply.

Successful applicants will receive grants of between $50 to $500 and do not have to return any unused funds.

While Cortes Island has had microgrant programs for the past 10 years, their nature changed after the Cortes Island Community Foundation took over in 2021.

Cortes Currents asked Isabella McKnight what is different about the MicroGrants 4 Neighbours program.

“We can now give small amounts of money directly to Cortes neighbours and community members. We want to empower Cortes Island neighbors to do projects that they want to do or that they want to participate in. So for example, if you've always wanted to learn how to carve. You could run a workshop if you had the knowledge how to carve for beginners or you could hire somebody in the community who had that knowledge,” she said.

“We've only been open for about two weeks, but I love reviewing the applications that come in.”

CC: Can you tell us anything about the projects that are coming in?

IK: “I can't talk about them quite yet, but it's going great.”

CC: Tell us some highlights from last season.

IK: “We had over 40 projects that we funded in 2021. There was an Indigenous language course, some classes which were just this great way to engage the community and retain language and work towards reconciliation as well. There was a free library project. Esther worked on building these little wooden libraries that were put up around the island, that have books that people don't want and they switch out and people can borrow them and put them back and put in old books and they're really cute and sunny and beautiful.”

CC: What kinds of challenges have you faced?

IK: “The biggest challenge is just deciding which of the amazing projects to run, because there's so many, and we don't like to say no to the projects because every project that somebody submits impacts a different niche of the community in a positive way. So having to decide or choose which ones to fund is really challenging.”

“Luckily, we have an amazing community jury that we switch every year. So we get neighbors who might not necessarily see eye to eye or have much in common debating and discussing which projects to fund, which really cool to see going on in the community.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - RCMP have been attempting to crack down on drug trafficking in Campbell River.

Their most recent press release states that on Thursday March 16, a cache of drugs and guns were found in a house on Ebert Road.

According to Cst. Maury Tyre, Media Relations Officer for the detachment, “Police seized over $3000 in cash, 17 grams of crack cocaine, 4 grams of cocaine, 13 grams of Fentanyl, 316 Hydromorphone pills and several other prescription pills.”

“The home had been the scene of four suspected drug overdose deaths since 2017.”

“As a result of the investigation, a 66 year old Campbell River woman and a 27 year old man from the Lower Mainland were arrested. Both were released and are scheduled to attend court in June, 2023.

This is the latest in a series of drug related arrests in Campbell River.

On February 28, the RCMP seized a significant stash of drugs, scales, packaging materials, replica guns and more than $6,000 in cash, after raiding two houses in the Campbellton neighbourhood. Two 41-year-old men and one 43-year-old woman were arrested, released and now wait to appear in court.

On November 16, two Lower Mainland residents were apprehended after they were witnessed trafficking. Subsequent to arrest, police located cocaine and fentanyl packaged for street sale. As of last month, Parmvir Dhaliwal and Gurvinder Deo were still awaiting trial.

On November 4, the RCMP seized ‘a substance consistent with being cocaine, along with a prohibited weapon’ from a residence on Holm Road. A 20-year old Campbell River man was arrested for Trafficking a Controlled Substance.

After a two month long investigation, police arrested Brandon Viskovich on December 10, 2021. The Campbell River RCMP Street Crime Unit seized 22.85 grams of Cocaine, 347 grams of Psilocybin and approximately one pound of marihuana, over $26,000 in cash and what is believed to be Viskovich's drug client list.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On Monday March 6, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) closed the waters and intertidal foreshore of Deep Bay Harbour, on Vancouver Island, to oyster and scallop growers, due to ‘sanitary reasons.’

 Erik Lyon, owner operator of Rising Tide Shellfish on Cortes Island explained, “The problem is too many people in too close a proximity to shellfish farms. You can't have any shellfish destined for human consumption in water where there's any kind of a man-made dock, boat liveaboard or float house within 125 meters. That's a setback that's always been in place.”

“The US was considering a total ban on BC oysters. Luckily DFO was taking lab samples of oysters for a few weeks about a month back and in the end, we were deemed as acceptably clean. That ban didn't go ahead, but in response to that threat of a ban on BC shellfish, I believe, the DFO is now going to stricter measures in terms of closing certain waterways as growing sites.”

Lyon’s company is one of the 10 or so lease holders belonging to the Bee Islets Growers Corporation, in the centre of Gorge Harbour.

“There's millions of dollars worth of sustainably produced seafood coming out of that harbor every year. That's jobs, small businesses, a whole way of life,” he said.

“My representatives at the BC Shellfish Growers Association tell us the industry is in decline here.”

EL: “Why is that when we have this incredible ability to produce this high quality product that the worldwide demand for is super strong. When we talk to our processors about oyster orders coming up next week, all we ever hear is, can you send twice as much? The international demand for shellfish flesh is not being met, let alone the domestic demand. We have this incredible resource, working with nature, producing this high value sustainable product, yet here we are just ‘shitting’ all over that opportunity.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -The audio portion of this story starts with a chorus of croaking frog voices, rising up from a wetland. After a few seconds, the distant call of an owl is introduced.

Autumn Barrett-Morgan first learned about soundscapes when she was studying bird identification in college, but it really come alive after she became a Monitoring Technician with the Friends of Cortes Island Society.

“In the past two or three years, I started really diving into the soundscape. On the Dillon Creek Wetland Restoration Project, I found it really important in birding, because not all birds are visible or make themselves visible and that left me not knowing who I'm listening to. So it got me really inspired to dive into observing the soundscape through studying the bird calls once I got back home,” she said.

A series of short whistled hoots mixes with the cresendo of ‘rib-its’ in the audio.

Barrett-Morgan explained, “This is what the soundscape could sound like. That relationship between two species, the Western Screech Owl’s breeding call and the breeding and mating call of the Pacific Chorus Frog a few days before the first day of spring. Of course, we are manipulating that soundscape by playing a recording, but that is what a West Coast wetland could sound like and does sound like in many parts of Western British Columbia,” explained Autumn Barrett-Morgan, a Monitoring Technician with the Friends of Cortes Island Society.

“Once you develop and deepen your relationship to the soundscape, you become enchanted by all of the sounds that you hear. You notice the absence of any species that you're used to hearing at a certain time of year, it can actually have a profound impact emotionally on someone because that the relationship that we have to that species is no longer presenting itself.”

“That's something that I've been really tuned into throughout this Western Screech Owl monitoring project, that FOCI has been embarking upon last spring season, as well as this current one.”

“Sabina Leader Mense and I have been walking the forest at night with volunteers and doing call playback surveys, which is essentially projecting a mating call of the male western screech owl into the forest at night to elicit a response from hopefully another Western Screech Owl. We have had one observation on the northern tip of Cortes Island.”

“I haven't personally heard a Western Screech Owl on Cortes, and so I don't have that historical knowledge of that soundscape. But I know that many, many people that grew up here know the call very well. Over the past few decades that sound has become absent.”

“When I think about soundscapes and species at risk, this is an area often overlooked within soundscapes.”

“The declining of population sizes has, of course, a significant impact on the landscape and the web of life that plays out here on the earth plane, but also in the soundscape.”

“What I love about that recording that we started this interview with was to be able to actually hear what we could be hearing if Western Screech owls were in this neck of the woods.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Streamkeepers are looking for volunteers, and also hoping that the community steps up its efforts to combat climate change.

“There's quite a few tasks we have to do,” explained Leona Jensen.

One of them is in the Klahoose hatchery.

LJ: “It was such a long dry fall that we had really no water in the creek when it was October, even November when it's time for the fish to spawn there was no water. They were just out in the ocean and dying.”

CC: So how many fish made it to the creek?

LJ: “I think maybe 10 fish in Basil Creek, where we often have a few hundred. That was pretty disastrous. Usually, we try to get some eggs from the fish and then some of the sperm. We can't take them unless we have a certain amount and then we breed some eggs and keep those over the winter, grow them in our boxes and let them hatch.”

“We managed to get a few from Tla’amin, in Powell River, because fishery said they have the same genetic makeup as here. So we are allowed to bring those to this stream.”

CC: 52,000 Chum eggs were brought over from the Tla’amin hatchery in December. Why are Chum so important on Cortes Island?

LJ: “Our streams dry up in the summer.”

“Chum don't need to stay in the streams over summer. As soon as the fry are ready to go, they swim right out.”

“I know that sometimes the Chum can miss a year. They might wait five years before they come if the conditions are not too good. Maybe next year will be a good year if the weather's good, but with climate change getting worse, it doesn't bode well. If the streams just get warmer and the ocean gets warmer, the fish will tend to go north instead of here.”

“That's what they're finding down in Washington. Somebody that works for the Department of Fisheries told us that they might not have too many more years of salmon. That would be really sad.”

“I think salmon are so important for our environment, for us as a people, for our culture, for our nutrition, for nutrition of wildlife, or just the forest because the creatures that drag all the salmon out of the creeks fertilize the forest too.”

“We have to do the best we can to enhance the salmon and try to keep them coming.”

“The public knows about climate change, but I think the public needs to be reminded that it's everybody's responsibility to do what they can as far as just their own fossil fuel imprint, their own purchasing power of what they buy, and contacting their political leaders to try to get changes.”

CC: Let’s get back to the Chum eggs, what kind of help do the Streamkeepers need?

LJ: “We have some that have hatched and they've been able to feed on their yolk sacks for nutrition. Pretty soon they will go into the troughs at Klahoose.”

“We are only a small part of looking at doing the hatchery. Klahoose is the major part of that, but we'll need people to help. They need to be fed every day, and there is some cleaning out. When they get to a big size, they need to be put into the creek.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Amanda Smith, of the Quadra Island Food Bank emailed, “Obviously our buying power has diminished across the board due to inflationary pressures. Increases for fruits and vegetables and eggs have been most disturbing. Our vegetable choices are now largely governed by price. 2022 saw a 35% increase over 2021 for the number of hampers distributed. The number of hampers distributed so far in 2023 is markedly higher than 2022 and there is no relief in sight. Every distribution this year has registered new first-time users.”

Samantha Statton, President of the Cortes Island Food Bank, reported a rise of about 15%.

SS: “In 2021, from my records, we served 91 clients. In 2022, 105 people were served.”

Filipe Figueira, Treasurer, of the Cortes Island Food Bank agreed that the numbers had gone up, and also said that declining real wages mean that working people are having to use the food bank much more.

FF: “We’ve definitely seen an increase. There's a lot higher need out there and I think there's still a reluctance to use the food bank. They really only come to us when they're in a desperate situation.”

“In 2022 we served clients 105 times, but we have probably around 21 unique clients. 60% only come once a year because they only need help in some emergency. We only had one customer who came four times last year.”

CC: How long would a food hamper typically last?

SS: “I think they'd probably last about two weeks for an individual. If they're families, then we try and give them obviously more and bigger quantities, family size things. So that might last two to three weeks for them, maybe a month.”

FF: “It also depends on the items. Right now we've got tons of pasta, tons of potatoes, so that could last for a long time, but we may have less of some other stuff. We're trying to get a well-rounded box that somebody can eat well for two weeks. If it doesn't last that long, they can always come back and get more.”

“It's not like they're dependent on the food bank. It's that some emergency comes up and we are now in a position where we can step in and help them out with at least some of the key costs. Nobody should be struggling to eat.”

“These are all challenges in all rural communities but I think, just as the last census shows, Cortes is in a particularly difficult situation. 10 to 15% of the population is now living below the poverty line. People are struggling and it doesn't take much to take them over the edge.”

SS: “On Cortes people are finding they're not being employed year round. Emergencies come up, things happen, and they have to choose between having to pay their rent versus food. There's a lot of aspects that bring them to the food bank and it's an all around difficult time.”

FF: “If we have a message to put out there.”

SS: “There’s no stigma.”

FF: “We’ve got plenty of food available to help people. If you are suffering because of some emergency that's happened, don't hesitate to contact us.”

Smith encountered the same problem on Quadra, “Our ongoing challenge is trying to reach all those who need food assistance. We know there are people out there who are struggling, but they are reluctant to use the food bank.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The audio version of this story opens with a chorus of frogs, into which the distant call of an owl is introduced.

“This is what the soundscape could sound like. That relationship between two species, the Western Screech Owl’s breeding call and the breeding and mating call of the Pacific Chorus frog happening together a few days before the first day of spring. Of course, we are manipulating that soundscape by playing a recording, but that is what a West Coast wetland could sound like and does sound like in many parts of Western British Columbia,” explained Autumn Barrett-Morgan, a Monitoring Technician with the Friends of Cortes Island Society.

“Once you develop and deepen your relationship to the soundscape, you become asphyxiated and enchanted by all of the sounds that you hear. You notice the absence of any species that you're used to hearing at a certain time of year, it can actually have a profound impact emotionally on someone because that the relationship that we have to that species is no longer presenting itself.”

“That's something that I've been really tuned into throughout this Western Screech Owl monitoring project, that FOCI has been embarking upon last spring season, as well as this current one.”

“Sabina Leader Mense and I have been walking the forest at night with volunteers and doing call playback surveys, which is essentially projecting a meeting call of the male western screech owl into the forest at night to elicit a response from hopefully another Western Screech Owl. We have had one observation on the northern tip of Cortes Island.”

“I haven't personally heard a Western Screech Owl on Cortes, and so I don't have that historical knowledge of that soundscape. But I know that many, many people that grew up here know the call very well. Over the past few decades that sound has become absent.”

“When I think about soundscapes and species at risk, this is an area where I also feel is often overlooked within soundscapes.”

“The declining of population sizes has, of course, a significant impact on the landscape and the web of life that plays out here on the earth plane, but also in the soundscape.”

“What I love about that recording that we started this interview with was to be able to actually hear what we could be hearing if Western Screech owls were in this neck of the woods.”