• From July 21-25, Parks Canada worked with Hul’qumi’num and WSÁNEC Traditional Knowledge Working Groups to actively restore two ancient clam gardens in and around Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.
They guided Parks Canada staff, community members and volunteers in caring for two clam garden sites according to the traditional methods passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years.
Caring for these clam gardens involves digging for clams, turning over the sediment that makes up the beach, and hauling boulders to a place along the rock walls, which are ancient archaeological structures found in the intertidal zone.
• Jane Kilthei of the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre in Cowichan Bay had this to say recently:
“I want to take a moment to thank Cari Burdett and her Lila Music Choir for putting on the ‘Sing for Cedar &Salmon’ benefit concert for the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre on June 10 at Duncan United Church. It was an absolutely amazing concert and we are so grateful.
“Thanks also to musicians Yvonne Hernandez and her Coastline Fiddlers, Genevieve Charbonneau, Paul Ruszel and King Tide, Corbin Keep and Tanya Gillespie who sang and played their hearts out to a full house. A good time was had by all and the $1,600 raised for the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre in Cowichan Bay is already making an important contribution to hands-on nature education in the estuary.
“We have such incredible talent here in the Cowichan Valley and such a generous and giving community.”
• Chevron’s Adrien Byrne reports that the company presented $10,000 to the Mill Bay branch of Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR) on Thursday, Aug. 10.
The funding will enable RCMSAR to upgrade their search and rescue vessel and continue to ensure critical search and rescue support around the waters of southern Vancouver Island.