Helliwell habitat restoration and fuel management update
By Chris Junck, Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team
Ecological restoration work that began in 2015 continues in Helliwell Provincial Park. With guidance from the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, BC Parks and the Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team, habitat enhancement is achieved through a combination of conifer removal, pruning, weeding, and planting/seeding of native vegetation. A broad variety of species are used in the restoration, including common camas, woolly sunflower, harsh paintbrush, small blue-eyed Mary, and others that are important host plants for Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies. With support from Wildlife Preservation Canada, the Vancouver Zoo has raised and released the endangered butterflies annually in the restoration areas since 2020. Several other at-risk and uncommon coastal bluff species benefit from this project, such as dun skipper and propertius duskywing butterflies, western bumble bee, western screech-owl, bats, and numerous other animals and plants.
Vegetation monitoring has been conducted annually to assess restoration success through time. The latest surveys that occurred in early March 2024 indicate that there has been successful regeneration of meadow vegetation. However, native vegetation specifically beneficial to Taylor’s checkerspot is not recovering to its full potential. Do you ever wonder why there aren’t a sea of wildflowers in the Helliwell meadows? It’s because of invasive grass thatch build-up and grazing by deer on blooming wildflowers.
Woodboring beetles have also affected the park’s ecology in recent years. Large numbers of shore pine along the bluff towards St. John’s Point have died or are dying due to beetle infestations. Additionally, there have been substantial blowdowns in some areas of the park. The resulting large number of dry branches, dead trunks, and dead fall is creating a potential fire hazard.
In 2020, BC Parks hired a consultant to conduct a fire fuel risk assessment and to write a fuel management prescription for Helliwell Provincial Park. Work on implementing the plan began in 2021 and has continued annually since then. Over these four subsequent years, forest fire fuel has been reduced around the parking lot and partway along the eastern portion of the bluff trail toward St. John’s Point.
Fuel management work consists of cutting, limbing, piling, and burning dead and dying shore pine and invasive English holly. Most dead wood was removed, however, both standing and fallen logs providing wildlife benefits were retained. Although arbutus on site also had dead and dying limbs, dead wood from this species was left in place. The total material removed over these three years of treatments was just under 5,000 m3, or about the same as 500 tandem dump truck loads.
All cut wood was hauled to 13 burn sites distributed along the bluff trail. Custom native plant seed mixtures prepared by Satinflower Nurseries were spread on the burn areas in early March each year. In previous years, burn sites and other restoration areas were also planted and seeded by volunteers from the Hornby Island Natural History Centre, Hornby Island Community School, Conservancy Hornby Island, Hornby Island Provincial Parks Committee, contractors, and BC Parks staff.
According to Neil Wilson of the Hornby Island Natural History Centre, “The planting event with the Hornby Island Community School last fall was a great success.” He adds, “This was the seventh year they have participated in the restoration project in Helliwell and have planted around 25-30,000 plants. An amazing accomplishment!”
BC Parks and the project team thank Cowichan Tribes, Halalt, Homalco, K’ómoks, Lake Cowichan, Lyackson, Penelakut, Qualicum, Snaw’Naw’As, Stz’uminus, Tla’amin, We Wai Kai, and We Wai Kum First Nations for allowing us to restore ecosystems in their traditional territories. There has also been a lot of local assistance for the project from Helliwell Park neighbours in High Salal Ranch Strata and community volunteers.
The recovery project has benefited from funding and in-kind contributions from the BC Parks Licence Plate Program, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, the Environment Canada Habitat Stewardship Fund, the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and others.
The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team includes biological consultants and representatives from the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, BC Parks, Denman Conservancy Association, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, Greater Vancouver Zoo, Mosaic Forest Management, Wildlife Preservation Canada, and others.
Learn more about the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly:
https: //goert.ca/activities/taylors-checkerspot/
and
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/species-ecosystems-at-risk/implementation/conservation-projects-partnerships/taylors-checkerspot
Photos
Photo 1.
Caption 1. Botanist Kristen Miskelly conducted the annual assessment of Helliwell’s coastal bluff meadow restoration on March 2nd, 2024. Photo by James Miskelly.
Photo 2.
Photo 3.
Caption for photos 2, 3: Before and after photos of a forest fire fuel reduction site near St. John’s Point. Photos by Bonnie Zand.
Photo 4.
Caption for photo 4. Sites where fire fuels were piled and burned were weeded prior to planting and seeding. Photo by Bonnie Zand.
Photo 5.
Caption 5. BC Parks conservation coordinator Stephanie Govier, Hornby Island Natural History Centre volunteer Bill Caywood, and Hornby Island Community School students replanted burn pile sites on October 14, 2023. Photo by Bonnie Zand.
Photo 6.
Caption 6. Over the last seven years, Neil Wilson and other Hornby Island Natural History Centre volunteers, and students from Hornby Island Community School helped to plant 25,000-30,000 native plants in Helliwell Provincial Park. Photo by Bonnie Zand.
Background Information
Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori)
- Also known as Edith’s Checkerspot.
- Historical range was Hornby Island, southeastern Vancouver Island, Puget Trough and to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. In B.C., they were once abundant at 10 sites in the Greater Victoria Area, one site each near Mill Bay and Comox, and sites on Hornby Island (including Helliwell Provincial Park).
- They were thought to have been extirpated (became locally extinct) from Canada by 2000 when no Taylor’s Checkerspots could be found in their last known sites on Hornby Island despite intensive searches. However, new populations were discovered on Denman Island in 2005 and near Campbell River in 2018.
- It is federally listed as Endangered (COSEWIC, SARA Schedule 1), and is on the BC Red list of at-risk species.
- Taylor’s Checkerspot butterflies need open sunny meadows where they can find suitable host plants (food for larvae and nectar producing flowers for adults), such as woolly sunflower, common camas, small-flowered blue-eyed Mary, wild strawberry, sea blush, and yarrow.
- Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation are major factors in the species’ decline. For example, the meadows along the coastal bluffs in Helliwell Provincial Park became less suitable for butterflies due to invasions of non-native plants and encroaching forests.
- Habitat enhancement work (weeding, selective limbing +/or removal of conifers, re-planting and seeding with native species) has been ongoing in Helliwell Provincial Park for several years.
The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project
The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project is led by Jennifer Heron of the BC Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship and is guided by the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team’s Invertebrates at Risk Recovery Implementation Group. It is a collaborative effort to restore Taylor’s checkerspot populations in British Columbia through habitat enhancement, captive butterfly rearing and release, monitoring, public outreach, and other activities.
Team Members
Jennifer Heron (Chair), B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship, Vancouver, B.C.
Erika Bland and Andrew Fyson, Denman Island Conservancy Association, Denman Island, B.C.
Deborah Bishop, Denman Island, B.C.
Menita Prasad, Greater Vancouver Zoo, Aldergrove, B.C.
Eric Gross and Ross Vennesland, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, B.C.
Crispin Guppy, Entomologist, Whitehorse, Y.T.
Molly Hudson and David Vey, Mosaic Forest Management, Nanaimo, B.C.
Chris Junck, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team and B.C. Conservation Foundation, Victoria, B.C.
Suzie Lavallee, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry, Vancouver, B.C.
Patrick Lilley, Private Consultant, North Vancouver, B.C.
Erica McClaren and Stephanie Govier, BC Parks, Black Creek, B.C.
Kristen Miskelly, Satinflower Nurseries, Victoria, B.C.
Derek Moore, Area Supervisor Von Donop Area, BC Parks, Black Creek, B.C.
Nick Page, Raincoast Applied Ecology, Vancouver, B.C.
Hazel Wheeler and Andrea Gielens, Wildlife Preservation Canada, Guelph, ON.
Bonnie Zand, B.C. Conservation Foundation, Fanny Bay, B.C.
Supporters
B.C. Conservation Foundation
B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
B.C. Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship
B. Parks
BC Parks License Plate Fund
Conservancy Hornby Island
Denman Conservancy Association
Environment Canada Habitat Stewardship Fund
Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team
Greater Vancouver Zoo
Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation
Hornby Island Community School
Hornby Island Co-op
Hornby Island Natural History Centre
Hornby Island Provincial Parks Committee
Mosaic Forest Management
Sea Breeze Lodge
University of British Columbia
Wildlife Preservation Canada
For more information about the Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project, visit: www.goert.ca/activities/taylors-checkerspot/
Or contact:
Project Lead/GOERT Invertebrates at Risk RIG Chair
Jennifer Heron
Provincial Invertebrate Conservation Specialist
B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship
Office: 778-572-2273
Jennifer.Heron@gov.bc.ca
Public Outreach Coordinator
Taylor’s Checkerspot Recovery Project Team
Chris Junck
chris_junck@hotmail.com
* More photos available by request
BC Parks
Erica McClaren
Conservation Specialist
Office: 250-331-9922
Erica.mcclaren@gov.bc.ca
Climate Bytes: The Carbon Tax and Beyond
This is another note in a series about aspects of the climate crisis.
THE CARBON TAX AND BEYOND
There has long been a public policy doctrine that governments should tax those things that are harmful to society and subsidize what is beneficial. Because CO2 is the root cause of global warming, there has been support from scientists, economists and politicians for incentivizing switches from high to low or zero sources of carbon emissions. This was the rationale for creating Canada’s “carbon tax”. And, it has been working. Climate scientist James Hansen has repeatedly urged the introduction of a program he calls “carbon fee and dividend” and this, in its simplest terms, is what Canada’s program is about. In Hansen’s idea, 100% of revenue from the “carbon fee” is shared equally as a “dividend” to the public. In Canada, almost 100% of revenue is returned as a rebate to the public and the remainder is spent on climate mitigation. Canada’s mistake has been to call it a tax rather than a fee and to omit words like dividend or rebate in the program title. Surveys show that, of the millions of Canadians who have received rebates, over half seem to be blind to that fact. Likewise, they are unaware that most rebate amounts have been greater than carbon tax payments they have made. Because of single-minded aversion to the word “tax”, many Canadians have been open to believing the misinformation being disseminated by opposition politicians and other opportunists.
Canada’s version of James Hansen’s “carbon fee and dividend” has been acceptable to governments partly because it works more so because it does not otherwise disrupt “business as usual” and does not require abandonment of the prevailing economic world view. Economists, even Nobel Prize winners, have posited dangerous views such as that a 4oC Earth temperature rise would be economically beneficial. In contrast, climate scientists predict that even a 3oC world would be destabilizing at best and, at worst, civilization-ending. Such thinking by economists is a continuation of the long-time disconnect between conventional economics and the natural world and has a been used effectively by climate deniers and other magical thinkers and, of course, by the greedy fossil fuel industry. Following that path leads us to disaster.
More than that, we need to restructure our economy. Seth Klein’s book [A GOOD WAR, Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency] tells us that the scale of change that is needed to combat global warming has precedents. At one level, in response to calamitous events such as the 2008 financial crisis, 9-11 and, most recently, the COVID Pandemic, governments acted quickly if only to protect the status quo and the financial elite. But the closest we have come to an existential crisis such as we now face is Klein’s story of the early years of World War II. Then, almost overnight, entire economies in Canada, Britain and the U.S. were transformed and manufacturing capacity was commanded to shift from producing cars and other consumer goods to producing military equipment and aircraft. Governments successfully convinced the citizenry that the enemy was at the gates and to accept willingly that rationing programs and other compulsory hardships and privation were a necessity.
Once again, an enemy is at the gates. We must start accepting that truth and acting accordingly. Earth warming in 2023 was “off the charts” and climate scientists are dumbfounded and unable to explain what happened. This underlines our need not only for a carbon tax but also for the equivalent of Victory Gardens, Victory Bonds and dedicated use of all resources to the single end of survival. We can choose that route or we can continue the path we are on, a condition that is almost certainly terminal. Nature, as it always has, is showing us who is in control.
Letter to the Editor – Helen Grond
The Trust is busted!
The Islands Trust has been trying to ban home-sharing on Hornby Island for decades. No valid reasons have ever been given. Gaslighting and fear-mongering have always replaced facts and data. Hornby Island has survived this ongoing onslaught through the protection offered by our Official Community Plan (OCP). Changing the OCP through the Advisory Planning Commission (APC) is the only way to stop home-sharing under current laws. The APC is hand selected in secret by the Trustees. They are required to be fair and unbiased but that wouldn’t have achieved the desired outcome in this case. As early as 2016, plans were being made between the Trust and our local Trustees to “rig” the APC by excluding all community members who might have differing or unbiased views. I have seen the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) documents proving this.
The newly appointed APC was drawn from a small but highly vocal group of anti-home-sharing advocates. They had already spear-headed a smear campaign that promoted misinformation and succeeded in creating widespread negativity towards home-sharing in 2019. They produced a report in March, 2022 that included no facts, data or evidence to support their recommendations, which were to change the OCP and remove the legal rights of the community. Hornby home-owners were expected to lose their livelihoods and privately supply the critical low-cost housing that the government has repeatedly failed to do. The community was misled to believe that banning home-shares would solve the housing crisis and alleviate congestion. The report was not up for debate and it’s false conclusions were adopted without challenge by the Trustees and the community was ruthlessly bullied into silence on social media.
Home-sharing is the cornerstone of Hornby’s economy and millions of dollars of direct and widespread benefits cannot be replaced. The Trust’s plan was near completion when surprising new provincial laws were brought in last fall to abolish STVRs in communities over 10,000 people. The province removed the right to “grandfather” and that took away the carrot the Trust was dangling in front of the community to entice them into giving away their rights. Communities under 10,000 could choose to opt in to the new regulations and there was strong pressure from a tiny local group to do so. An emergency March 22 Trust meeting was called to address the situation. The Community hall was full of Islanders desperately seeking clarification.
It was icy cold in the Hall. No heat was turned on to provide any comfort and there was no opportunity to speak. This was not a meeting. This was an exceptionally uncomfortable lecture. With their futures hanging in the balance, the community had to sit through three long hours listening to the Trustees thoroughly prove how confused and biased they truly are. The refusal, once again, to listen and dialogue with the community was disrespectful. Alex Allen was in favour of opting in and Grant Scott advocated for a less punitive option. What was agreed upon was a temporary “stay of execution”. The only honest option would be to cancel the whole project and start fresh with a fair and unbiased approach.
The Trust operates in secret and has for many years. The only way to explore the Trust’s real agenda, is to seek freedom of information requests (FOIA) or hope that a staff member or a Trustee slips up. Luckily for Hornby, Alex can usually be counted on to blurt something out that would normally be withheld. It’s comical to watch the reactions from the other Trustees and the staff when he does it. Grant often gets quite annoyed and frustrated when this happens. The animosity between the Trustees played out in the tension filled meeting.
Alex didn’t disappoint us. He lamented that he “had” to go to the meeting and cut short his vacation in Tofino. I wonder what his accommodations were? In his monologue, Alex admitted that banning home-sharing would unlikely provide any new rental accommodation. He indicated he had his own personal reasons for wanting them gone. He claims to love Hornby; apparently that love doesn’t extend to the hundreds of people trying to survive here. He scoffed at the plea from families who had owned property on Hornby for generations and depended on a few weeks rental to help cover expenses. “Why would they need the income – they should have paid off their mortgages by now” That drew quite a gasp from the silenced crowd!
What Alex reveals is that he doesn’t even believe the conclusions of the APC report himself in spite of his loud support for it. True agendas are hard to hide.
The Trustees have aggressively targeted home-shares as being the main contributors to congestion, even though they only represent 7% of total island accommodation. Why then, did they approve the high density controversial Thatch condo development? Why didn’t they consider the problem with excessive campgrounds. Tribune Bay campground, (the “Feed-lot”), hosts 500 people (10% to 15% of total) per day in our congested village centre. If 500 people were no longer at Tribune Bay, the Coop and the Ferries, we wouldn’t even recognize Hornby in summer! If I were queen for a day, I would turn the campground into a cosy neighbourhood of portable housing for locals. Tax payers bought it soooo……
The new Park acquisition of Tribune Bay campsite and the adjoining ten acres were secretly negotiated without community consultation. Why? Our Trustees have been tight lipped throughout. It’s worth considering that new tourist accommodation providers like the Thatch and the Park’s planned new resort would benefit significantly if competing, local family provided accommodation was gone! Just sayin.
The Trustees have lost the confidence of many to make unbiased and evidence based decisions. Their agenda is glaring. They should resign before any more harm is done.
A Lament for Israel
Oh Israel, “You built your towers strong and tall, can’t you see they’ve gotta fall someday?“ (Townes Van Zandt) Israeli architect Eyal Weizman describes your fortress-like character, marked by towers and walls, as “an archipelago of enmity and alienation”. (Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation @ p.155.) You have ghettoized yourself, become the “tough Israeli” in service of “Never Again”; you have lost your bearings. You have blindly believed that you could somehow keep your boot on the neck of a population until they simply submitted and perhaps forgot they once had land and liberty. You have deluded yourself that your iron- clad military rule in the West Bank, your 17 year siege on Gaza, your 2019 “Nation-State Law”, your settler enforcers, would make you safe. You’d be fine with your imperial protectors, the UK & then the US. You could falsely teach your children that Jews have always been hated, take them to Auschwitz to keep the Holocaust trauma alive and the guilt going. You could silence criticism by shouting “antisemitism!”, and thumb your nose at the global community as represented by the UN. You have failed to listen to the brilliant Jewish philosophers, journalists, & artists who have lovingly warned that you are headed for disaster – Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, Ilan Pappe, Gideon Levy, Marjorie Cohn, Norman Finkelstein, Amira Haas and so many more. In fact, you have tragically dismissed these caring critics as “self-hating Jews’”.
The world is not out to get you. The world does not hate you. The Palestinians are not going to “drive you in to the sea”. In fact, you did that to them in the 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe); the photos show it all. But in your fear, you are now conducting a “2nd Nakba” on Gaza, as one of your government ministers described it. But what about all the other Palestinians in Israel, in the West Bank, in the diaspora? Will you have to eradicate them as well to secure your Jewish- supremacist state on their traditional land? Will it ever be over?
It will be eventually over, in the sense of using the same violent approaches to accomplish your legitimate goals of security & safety. The global community won’t stand for it. You will have to do a deep reckoning and a reset.
For now, Big Brother, the US, is giving you cover for your genocidal actions in Gaza, for your use of starvation as a weapon of war. As Netanyahu bragged many years ago: “America is a thing that can be easily moved”. Yes indeed. You are in fact calling the shots, and the bumbling, flailing US politicians have become objects of shame and ridicule. The country itself has lost stature worldwide; people watched in utter disbelief videos of US missiles raining down on a ravaged Gaza at the same time as heavy, expensive bundles of US aid were dropped from the skies. Humanitarian aid actually killed 5 people by landing on them, when thousands of fully- supplied aid trucks wait just across the border with Egypt. Aid that could be driven in and distributed by those trained to do so, UNRWA workers. By not allowing that to happen, what are you thinking? Are you imagining the world is not watching? That the peoples of the world are not seriously distressed by witnessing suffering on an unprecedented scale? When you could stop the madness tomorrow?
Oh Israel, the days of “Exodus” are over. Your transfixing creation myth has been thoroughly exposed for the land grab and dispossession of a people it was. A people who did not cause your oppression, who are not to blame for the Holocaust, who had lived on that land for millennia. And who were promised a state by the British. Just as you were promised a state on the same land. Your state was specifically not to be created at the expense of the local indigenous population, but you forgot that part (Balfour Declaration, 1917).
The Western imperial powers have made many catastrophic mistakes with their hubris, their racism, their greed for resources. Their complicity in the creation of the State of Israel on Palestinian land was one of their greatest missteps. Zionism began not with Jews, but with early Christian Zionists in Britain, and in a time when antisemitism was common, creation of a State for the Jews seemed like a good idea. The problem was, as one early Zionist scout reported back to Theodore Hertzl (father of Jewish Zionism), after a visit to Palestine: “The bride is beautiful, but she’s married to another man”. Nonetheless, the arrogant settler-colonialist mindset got behind a traumatized Jewish population desperate for security and safety. The UN pushed through a fatal resolution in November, 1947, without consulting the Palestinians, who have never accepted their dispossession.
And now here we are. In an impassioned but devastatingly clear analysis, Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs asserts the UN must immediately vote a Palestinian State into being. His compelling interview is really worth seeing. (The Bottom Line (Aljazeera, 17 March, 2024, https://youtu.be/krznHIAgwcY?si=Qnl2J83kBy6_UWL9) He says that only with international recognition on a State level (not simply “observer status”) will Palestinians have the bargaining power they need to create a just & equal society of two peoples sharing the land. Oh Israel, imagine truly becoming “a light unto nations”. The possibility is there.
Ghost Town
Walking the streets of this ghost town, watching ghost people laugh and play and indulge like Gaza isn’t burning, like children aren’t starving, like people aren’t dying slowly trapped under rubble next to the corpses of their loved ones, like IDF troops aren’t merrily picking off civilians with drones and snipers while children get their limbs amputated without anaesthetic, with the full support of this ghost civilization and its ghost leaders.
This ghost town full of ghost cars, ghost buses, ghost trains, ghost pubs, ghost concerts, ghost theme parks, ghost cinemas, ghost festivals, ghost laughter, ghost feasting, ghost shopping, all going on just the same as it was before all this started. Little children running around with flesh on their bones and their organs inside their bodies like they’re supposed to be, supervised by ghost parents with heads full of social clout and gossip.
Last month a man set himself on fire before the Israeli embassy and screamed “FREE PALESTINE” as he burned. He was not a ghost. He was flesh-and-blood real. He saw it. He responded to it. He treated this nightmare like the thing that it is.
We don’t do that in this ghost town. We stare at screens and shovel snacks and booze into the gaping void within ourselves and flail our attention around looking for anything that will keep us from an even momentary encounter with the real. We do not look at Gaza. We look at everything except Gaza.
So we keep the charade going. Frantically keeping the gears of this ghost town turning like hamsters on a running wheel, running faster and faster because we can feel the wet mouth of authenticity nipping at our heels. It’s like a giant theater improv game we’re all playing together, where the whole instruction is to keep the scene in a constant state of frenetic motion.
Because we all know what will happen if we are still, on some level. We all know that stillness allows the smoke to clear and the mud to settle in the water, and from there it’s only a matter of time before we find ourselves in the tyrannical grip of clarity. And then it will all bubble up. The lies. The phoniness. The discontentment. The feelings. Shame. Guilt. Truth. Gaza.
But there’s only so long you can run from yourself. There’s only so far you can flee before you get exhausted and fall down and find yourself staring up at the sky you’ve been living under your whole life. This fraudulent ghost town can’t keep up this charade forever. None of this is sustainable. At some point and in some way, truth inevitably comes crashing in.
_______________
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Ayurvedic Spring Tips
One morning a couple weeks ago, I awoke to birds singing and sun coming through my window. It felt like winter would never end and then overnight, it felt like the earth woke up in celebration again.
Spring is one of my favourite times of the year. The flowers bright with colors begin to peek out of the soil, the air gains a warm welcoming breeze and the herring spawn turns the ocean turquoise.
However, for many, spring can be uncomfortable with seasonal allergies, runny noses and catching a cold easily.
Thanks to nature’s intelligence- foods and herbs that are available in this season come to the rescue. Plants like nettles, cleavers, dandelions begin to crop up.
Ayurveda, a 5,000 year old medical system from India has a lot of wisdom to share to stay in balance with nature during this transition.
According to Ayurveda, spring is the season of Kapha. Kapha is composed of Earth and Water. Spring, like Kapha, has a cold and heavy quality to it. Ayurveda is all about balance and so to counterbalance this heavy cold quality of spring, we want to do the opposite.
To balance kapha, we eat light, warm, drying foods. This may help with the typical issues we struggle with in the spring season.
During spring season:
- Eat more baked, broiled, steamed or grilled foods.
- Enjoy pungent spices like ginger, clove, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric
- Enjoy bitter foods like dandelion greens, nettles
- Make sure to keep warm, wear a hat and scarf to protect yourself from cool drafts
During spring season avoid/reduce:
- cheese, yogurt, ice creams
- Cut down on sweets and fried foods
- Reduce sweet, salty, sour tastes
- Cold drinks and cold foods
Some other Ayurvedic spring tips are to reduce napping during the day, and dress in warm, bright colors like orange and red. Begin an exercise program or do a stimulating yoga practice a couple times a week.
Ayurveda is customized medicine and there is no one size fits all in Ayurveda. However, these are general guidelines that one can follow if you do not have any serious health issues. Make sure to consult with a doctor whenever you begin a new diet, try new supplements/herbs or exercise programs. With trying anything new: go slow, be moderate and enjoy the journey.
Happy Blooming,
Angelika Forray:
Ayurvedic Health Counsellor
Letter to the Editor – Hersh Chernovsky
Letter to the Editor
Islanders know about the advantages of using the Experience Card, and in the case of seniors, riding the ferries from Monday to Thursday. There are several more ways to take advantage of the benefits when it comes to returning to Denman and Hornby.
If a child has an activity off island any time in the year, including during the summer, the child is free. No slip is needed; it only requires that the details are stated at the ticket booth.
If a medical procedure or test can only be provided off island, the patient needs a pink slip from the Denman Clinic for a free ride on the ferry for the patient, vehicle, and escort. It has to be filled out before the trip. This applies locally, as well as for treatment in Vancouver.
If a medical procedure is required anywhere in Canada on an urgent basis, Hope Air provides an all expenses paid trip for the patient and an escort for as long as is necessary. That’s the flight, hotel, shuttles, and meals. The benefit is income based. Instructions are available on Google.
B.C. Ferries has a bill of rights that supposedly covers the hotel, plus costs, if you miss the final ferry to the island. Customer service in the head office decides if they’re at fault. This only applies to reserved bookings on the big ferry. The 6:35 ferry from Vancouver arrives in Nanaimo at 8:15 p.m. It’s deemed to arrive too late for drivers to catch the final 9:30 p.m. from Buckley Bay. Islanders are shit out of luck.
But if you tell the customer service on the Vancouver run that you are trying to catch the connection, they will ensure that you are one of the first cars off, and will inform the crew at Buckley Bay to delay the final sailing until you arrive. You don’t have to risk your life by flying over the speed limit.
Apply for the 2024/2025 Semester at Cortes Island Academy
Are you a high school student (grades 10-12) looking for an extraordinary educational experience? Cortes Island Academy (CIA) is thrilled to announce that applications are now open for the upcoming semester!
About Us:
Cortes Island Academy is a unique opportunity for students, both on and off Cortes Island, to immerse themselves in a place-based high school program. At CIA, students don’t just earn credits; they become part of a vibrant community, learning from scientists, local knowledge holders, and thought leaders. Our program is designed around a central theme, and for the 2024/2025 semester, our focus is on Climate. Through the lenses of art, science, and experiential education, students will explore this critical issue and its impact on our world.
Why CIA?
The need for innovative educational models in rural areas has never been greater. CIA exists to bridge this gap, providing rural students and communities with an out-of-the-box educational experience that prepares them for the challenges of the 21st century.
Apply Today!
Don’t miss your chance to be part of this incredible opportunity! Visit our website at cortesislandacademy.ca to learn more about our program, read testimonials from past students, view photos, and stay updated on the latest news.
Application Details:
- Application Period: OPEN NOW UNTIL APRIL 18, 2024
- Information Sessions: check our website for dates and times
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Join us at Cortes Island Academy and embark on a journey of discovery, growth, and community like no other!
Stash it! Don’t trash it… Save the date for the second annual Cumberland Repair Café!
Community and Media Advisory
Tuesday, Mar 26, 2024
Stash it! Don’t trash it… Save the date for the second annual Cumberland Repair Café!
Do you have items that you have been meaning to fix, but don’t know how? The Cumberland Repair Café is here to help.
Cumberland Community Schools Society (CCSS) is hosting a Repair Café at Cumberland Community School, Beaufort Gym on Saturday, April 27th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This community event provides an alternative for household items destined for the landfill to be repaired and reused for free.
“We are delighted to once again be partnering with the Comox Strathcona Waste Management to help in their goal of having biannual Repair Cafes in the Comox Valley,” says Kate Ashton, Program Coordinator for CCSS, “over 50 items were repaired at our event last year and our goal is to double that this year.”
Lindsay Eason and Tina Willard-Stepan, educators for Comox Strathcona Waste Management, are excited to support this community initiative, which tackles waste diversion through public education.
“Repairing items is an essential part of keeping products in use, rather than immediately recycling them or throwing them out when something goes wrong,” says Eason. “Learning how to repair your own stuff can build lifelong skills that save money and reduce waste.”
Lake Trail Community Education Society held their second Repair Cafe this fall and doubled the number of repaired items compared to the year before. “There is a growing awareness of Repair Cafes in the Comox Valley,” says Tina Willard-Stepan, “which means residents are deciding to hold on to their broken items and bring them to Repair Cafes to be fixed, instead of throwing them away.”
The Cumberland Repair Café is currently looking for volunteers for this event. If you have expertise in fixing items such as jewelry, small appliances, toys, or electronics, please email us at coordinator@ccssociety.org to sign up as a volunteer.
CCSS is a registered charity that works to strengthen our community by improving access to healthy food, recreation, lifelong learning and a network of support. FMI on the Repair Cafe and other CCSS programs and events visit www.ccssociety.org
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For more information contact:
Kate Ashton, CCSS Program Coordinator
250-650-8305 coordinator@ccssociety.org