by CKTZ | Nov 10, 2023 | CKTZ News
The Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island (FTCCIS) held a 24 hour Mycoblitz last week. Similar to Bioblitz, the educational community event records the biodiversity of a specific region, like Cortes Island, and the data is utilized by scientists to determine the range and abundance of any specific species. Sometimes this data contributes to the declaration of at-risk or nearly extinct species due to loss of habitat. The public event featured three mycologists: Andy MacKinnon, Paul Kroeger, and Paul Stamets and saw participation from all ages acting as citizen scientists, collecting information that will be used in multiple scientific databases including the UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. CKTZ attended the event at the Linnaea Education Centre on Nov. 1 which saw about 80 participants. The experts were asked why this moment in time is a significant opportunity to publicly engage communities about fungi. Stamets explained how we can learn from how mushrooms cooperate. “Every mushroom that you pick is a doorway into a vast underground network of mycelium that builds upon these elaborate relationships, guilds. Fungal networks create guilds of cooperating microorganisms, bacteria and so many other organisms that cooperate and the contribution of the skill sets of all these other organisms work in a guild, builds community strength and community immunity.” “I think Cortes in particular, is at the threshold of being a part of this paradigm shift,” Stamets continued. “The respect for the indigenous people, the respect for biodiversity, ethnicities… this culture here works, and maybe people don’t understand it.” Kroeger, president of the Vancouver Mycological Society, is responsible for documenting 3,500 mycelial species in British...
by Loni Taylor | Oct 12, 2023 | CKTZ News
Cortes Island is seeing Pink Salmon in three waterways for the first time in eight years. Longtime ‘Streamkeeper’ Christine Robinson has only seen pink salmon swimming on Cortes twice in the 20 years she has been observing the fish with her partner. Streamkeepers is a volunteer group of citizen fish scientists observing local streams. They are associated with the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI). “This is a delight and a surprise to discover that we have them showing up all along the east side of Cortes”, Robinson cheered. The DFO even asked the local citizen science group to help collect clipped fins from the Pink adult carcasses for DNA sampling, to find answers as to why the Pink Salmon populations are increasing in the region. “The Streamkeepers, through the prompting of [Department of} Fisheries, took DNA samples ..because we are trying to make some sense of this ‘Pink Mystery’ that is upon us.” Robinson said. Robinson referred to research actively being collected by Alexandra Morton about why the Pink are showing up in larger numbers and new places. “She is proposing that since the fish farms in the Discovery Islands… were pulled out a year and half ago …such healthy pink salmon is because they haven’t been exposed to the fish farms [that were previously] in the area.” Robinson explained. In an issue which may be related, Pacific Salmon Commission is forecasting 11.6 million Pink Salmon in the Fraser River, several million more than originally forecast. Robinson encourages quiet, respectful observations of the pink salmon migration on the island. “We have a wildlife safari here on Cortes”, she says. To...
by Loni Taylor | Oct 2, 2023 | CKTZ News
Pierre Belcourt and his wife Therese have lived on Cortes for almost 40 years, but this month is the first time they have attended the Friday Market. As a boat builder, Belcourt explained his social motivation to share his skills in blade sharpening with the local community. “We’ve been here…39 years now, but we hardly know anybody anymore,” he said. “They’re either left the island, gone crazy, or died.” Belcourt has worked as a carpenter for movie sets like Xmen III, Tron 2, Paycheck, and The Watchmen. He has built custom homes, like a German style home with local artist/builder Volker Steigman. But his most extensive work with his hands has been boat building. He has rebuilt a Baltic sloop and the first New York 30 by Nat Herreshoff from 1905. He has crafted dory skiffs and a 30 foot wooden oyster boat. Through his work, he explains why sharp tools are so important for the craft. “You have to keep your chisels and planes, draw shaves, adze-all those things sharp to cut wood, to slice wood, not to butcher it.” Several market-goers approached Belcourt while CKTZ observed, most with a variety of dull edges in hand. Belcourt says he’s happy to sharpen just about anything. “Chainsaws, shears, scissors, knives, wood chisels, wood planes, blades… ” Though sharpening tools may seem simple, the benefits for the Belcourts have gone beyond the dollars earned, they say. “It’s a good excuse to see people I haven’t seen in a long time,” Pierre said. The Belcourts will continue their skill-share at the Friday Market, hoping to connect with their community in the...
by Louis Belcourt | Sep 15, 2023 | CKTZ News
An anonymous donor has donated around $250,000 to create a one time, experimental grant program that gives directly to the Cortes community. The Cortes Island Community Foundation (CICF) was chosen to create the program and distribute the funds in the form of one time, cash “gifts” to individuals. The gifts never have to be paid back, and the CICF do not need receipts of how the cash was spent. “We want people to apply for money for their specific needs instead of trying to fit their needs into a box like most other grants,” says Isabelle McKnight, executive administrator for the CICF. “What the Cortes Foundation wants to do is just have people apply for what they actually need, whether that’s a car to get their kids to school or dental work that they need to get to town for, whatever it is.” The funds will be distributed in gifts ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 and aren’t taxable. The program is looking to focus on families and individuals that are in acute financial need. “It’s a very generous, one time thing that the donor has offered and they wish to remain anonymous,” says McKnight. “And it’s a pilot program, so if we can figure out how to run this and it’s really successful, we’re hoping to attract other donors to do projects like this, because this is the core of what we want the foundation to be, is to provide whatever people in the community actually need.” More information can be found at the CICF’s website. Listen below for more from CKTZ: https://cortesradio.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/CKTZ-Giving-Well-Story-2.mp3 ”...
by CKTZ | Jul 18, 2021 | Folk U
Chief Kevin Peacey of the Klahoose First Nation presents Klahoose Success and Strong Leadership and answers neighbours questions. Then Colin Funk gives a brief update on the Cortes Community Economic Development Association and Carrie Saxifrage gives an update on the Community Forest. This was part of the Making it on Cortes forum, providing resources and a network for neighbours making a life and a livelihood on Cortes. Folk U Radio asks “What do you know?” with host Manda Aufochs Gillespie. Tune in to hear neighbours share their interests, knowledge and skills with each other. This show has the diversity and breadth of the people of the Salish Sea: featuring everything from ancient history in the area form a professor who wrote the book to the current take on Wildfire protection and everything in between. Folk U Radio is produced by Folk University in collaboration with CKTZ 89.5 FM and support from Cortes Currents. Folk U Radio: taking old-school viral. Host Manda Aufochs Gillespie is the author of the Green Mama series of books, free-lance journalist, writer, and provost and producer at Folk University. Learn more at FolkU.ca. Links of Interest: Klahoose First Nation website Cortes Forestry General Partnership website Cortes Community Forest Co-operative website Cortes Community Economic Development Association website The Folk U website (Folk U)...
by Manda Aufochs Gillespie | Nov 23, 2020 | Folk U
Today’s Folk U Radio is called Board Reality 101. And by board I am referring to a piece of wood. What is a tree? What are our forests to us? On today’s Folk University we look deeper into this question and the incredible partnership between the Klahoose First Nations and non-nation members in creating a forest managed by a community. Folk U Radio: Manda Aufochs Gillespie interviews Mark Lombard& Nick Gagnon from the Cortes Fortes General Partnership Cortes Forest General Partnership: A Unique Model for Community Forest Stewardship Mark Lombard, ecological builder and manager with the Cortes Forest General Partnership, joins us to open this episode to explain the Partnership, the Cortes Community Forest Coop, and the impressive and rare community stewardship being modelled on Cortes. The Cortes Forest General Partnership holds a 3,800 ha Crown land tenure and was won thanks to visionary work of those that came before including the Klahoose First Nations and their generosity. The Partnership includes three members of the Klahoose Nation and three non-indigenous members, which are selected by the Cortes Community Forest Coop. The primary function of the Coop is to represent the non-indigenous community and select these three members of the Partnership. The Co-op has no other operational decision-making regarding the community forest. Creating Lifestyle Businesses from Protecting Forest Ecosystems Nick Gagnon is from a family business of silviculturists. Silviculture is the “art and science” of cultivating forest health for the trees, and the wildlife, water, soil, and for the land stewards/users. His family supported themselves actively managing forests for their health and using the dead or lower quality trees to create fibre resources. This was heavily dependent on...
