(Contact Project Watershed via projectwatershed@shaw.ca if you are interested in taking a wetlandkeepers or streamkeepers course.)

Many thanks to Shaw TV for Keeping It Living by sharing this footage.

(Contact Project Watershed via projectwatershed@shaw.ca if you are interested in taking a wetlandkeepers or streamkeepers course.)

Many thanks to Shaw TV for Keeping It Living by sharing this footage.

Dear editor,

My earlier letter (Record, July 2) was for Ralph Shaw only.

Anyway, the point of my letter was to remind Ralph of his obligation to educate people who imagine that releasing small fish and keeping big fish is a sensible thing to do, or that it is ethical to catch salmon headed for other people’s rivers.

As local archeologists Nancy Greene and David McGee have shown, Valley rivers once produced so much fish that aboriginal peoples came from north and south and across the Strait to harvest. Even 60 years ago, when I was born here, this place produced enough salmon to feed everyone in the Valley many times over.

I believe it could do so again, despite the population increase, and that restoration would prosper every local business. Here are the steps, not necessarily in order:

• Remove all hardening, and outlaw new hardening, on the east bank of the Courtenay River, and place a moratorium on new construction there.

Yes, that puts Lewis Park at risk, but I think Mr. Lewis would understand and agree if he were here to tell us.

• Double the riparian zones on the Puntledge and Tsolum Rivers and their tributaries.

• Buy the logging rights to the watershed from TimberWest, and relicense them to local loggers and mills.

• Replace the Dyke Road by an elevated two-lane highway — let the river go where it wants beneath the highway.

• Build better fish ladders around the dam, then shut down the Puntledge hatchery.

• Build elevated walkways and bikeways across the Courtenay estuary.

• Redevelop a high-density multi-storey Courtenay along the west bank of the Courtenay River below the confluence of the Puntledge and Tsolum. (We are already halfway there, and there is no good reason to preserve the shabby one-storey downtown I knew as a child.) Elsewhere in the Valley, outlaw new residential construction not connected to villages by walkways and bikeways.

• Remove the dam on the Puntledge, and move power production above salmon habitat. Run-of-river hydro isn’t bad if it’s done correctly.

Let other places brag about their malls. Courtenay would have as its slogan: Wildness in the heart of town, or maybe Wildness from the mountains to the sea.

I’m pretty sure people would come from all over the world to visit a place that cherished wildlife, fish and fishermen, forests and loggers. And if they don’t, we’ll enjoy it all the more ourselves.

Neil Frazer,

Courtenay

Courtenay councillors are joining the Stick in the Mud Club.

Council approved a sponsorship of $500 to the Project Watershed Society to sponsor the cost of carbon dating one wooden stake from the ancient fish traps in the Courtenay River estuary Monday.

Nancy Greene and Jim Gillis recently spoke to council about the multi-year mapping and research work undertaken in the past seven years on the thousands of aboriginal fish traps in the estuary and asked council to consider sponsoring the cost of carbon dating one of the wooden stakes as a member of the Stick in the Mud Club.

During the presentation, Greene told council the Comox harbour fish trap site is noted as having the merits of a national historic site.

To move forward, the wooden stakes must be radiocarbon dated so Greene and research partner David McGee can complete a report on their studies.

The $500 will come out of a provision in the city’s 2010 budget that set aside $2,000 for small civic grants, Tillie Manthey, the city’s director of financial services, noted in her report to council.

Coun. Jon Ambler thought it would be a worthwhile investment.

“You look at what our community is and you look at the future of our community, and you look at the role the estuary plays, and if we look at developing tourism in this community and green and a reverence for our heritage, I think it behooves the City of Courtenay to make a very modest investment in this,” he said.

“As it becomes increasingly important, and we can prove it’s an important heritage site, then people will come here to see it, things will grow around it … and I notice staff has already identified we have money put aside for just this sort of thing, so I think for a very modest investment, we can be part of an important initiative here in the estuary,” Ambler added

writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com

Cash left from bash

The Comox Valley SPCA, Comox Valley Land Trust and the Keep It Living estuary campaign benefited recently from a surplus of funds from the Ruth Masters 90th birthday party.

“We asked people to donate to cover the expenses for the event and the surplus would go to causes Ruth supports,” said organizer Pam Munroe. “Community came through generously, including the Comox District Mountaineering Club, which covered half the cost of the facility rental.”

Local businesses such as Thrifty Foods and Sure Copy also provided donations that reduced costs. Streamside Nurseries provided the greenery that gave the Florence Filberg Centre hall a forested look.

“Ruth’s wishes for the donations reflect the values that she lives by,” organizers said in a recent news release. “The Comox Valley SPCA will benefit from Ruth’s concern for animal welfare, Comox Valley Land Trust receives a gift reflecting Ruth’s love of trails and the Keep it Living fund for the estuary is a gift to the future of the Comox Valley.”

Organizers said they are happy to help her pay it forward to community causes and look forward to another celebration for Ruth’s 100th birthday.

You’re invited to join the K’ómoks First Nation, I-Hos Gallery and Vancouver Island MusicFest for an all-ages evening celebration of National Aboriginal Day and the summer solstice.

It happens June 21 from 5:30 to 10 p.m. at the K’ómoks First Nation land on the shores of the Courtenay River estuary.

Come and meet renowned guest artist Corrine Hunt, co-designer of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic medals.

Hunt is a member of the Raven Gwa’waina clan from Ts’akis, a Kwakwaka’wakw village on Vancouver Island. Her paternal grandmother, A’neesla’ga, was a Tlingit noblewoman from Alaska. She combines Kwakwaka’wakw and Tlingit influences in her work.

Norman Brotchie, a maternal uncle, attracted Hunt’s interest with his beautifully hand-engraved jewelry and was instrumental in introducing her to the Kwakwaka’wakw art of engraving.

Hunt has been working as a jeweler since 1985, and in recent years has worked on large-scale sculpture and custom furniture, blending traditional design with contemporary materials like stainless steel and aluminum. She says of this combination, “I want to show how both the First Nations people and the art have evolved.”

Then experience the stories, songs and traditional dances from the K’ómoks First Nation and the K’umugwe Dancers. The K’umugwe Dancers take great pride in preserving the ancient traditions of their ancestors. Through sharing the songs and dances of the K’ómoks and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, the K’umugwe Dancers feel that they are able to help facilitate respect and understanding within the local community and communities abroad.

Members of the dance troupe have been practising and performing together since 2001. The K’umugwe Dancers feel that by encouraging young members of their community to learn the ancient songs and dances of their people, they will ensure the survival of the culture for generations to come.

At 8 p.m., folks can kick back on their lawnchairs and take in a free open-air concert by acclaimed Canadian aboriginal singer/songwriter Art Napoleon.

Napoleon is a bushman from the boreal foothills of northern B.C. and an underground troubadour whose words and music bridges cultures. A versatile bilingual singer-songwriter armed with a wicked sense of humour, he has an uncanny ability to improvise and engage audiences of all ages. A born entertainer, he can embody both trickster and shaman to cast a spell on the gathered. Whether he is telling a story or singing about a life of intriguing and mystical experiences and characters, he manages to be both irreverent and deeply spiritual.

Napoleon has been featured on many radio and TV programs including Zed TV, Dead Dog Comedy, CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival, CBC Roundup, Cree for Kids, Beyond Words, All Points West, Rez Blues and is also host of CHUM TV’s The New Canoe. His previous indie recordings have been nominated for numerous music awards including the WCMAs, Canadian Folk Awards, the NAMMIES and the CAMAs.

His latest CD, Siskabush Tales, delves into the alt-country fold and is receiving rave reviews across Canada. His moose-nose stew has been known to heal broken hearts and encourage compassion for the culturally deprived.

Enjoy local delicacies on the barbecue and Pentlatch Seafood Chowder from Tria Culinary Studio. The performances and concert are free and the food concession has affordable and delicious dinner options.

Check out www.islandmusicfest.com/get-involved/national-aboriginal-day/ to find out more.

No, you weren’t dreaming.

Those were the Dyke Road Dancing Ducks you saw on Comox Road near the Rotary viewing stand — wiggling their bills, kicking up their web feet, shaking their tushes, and waving their red and white No Gas on the Dyke signs. It’s their way of courting support in courting season.

The Sierra Club will be back in court Monday to try to block the development of the proposed Gas and Go service station on the Dyke (Comox) Road, Mike Bell, chairman of Sierra Club Comox Valley, announced this week.

The Comox Valley Regional District has issued a development permit for the project despite the objections of many local residents.

The site is on a floodplain and earthquake zone area, on unstable land, less than 60 metres from migrating salmon in the estuary, and in the middle of a designated Canadian Important Bird Area — the second most important estuary for migrating birds in B.C., the Sierra Club noted in a news release.

This summer, the Dyke Road Dancing Ducks will take their show on the road, appearing at major community events. They are supporting the real avian inhabitants of the estuary, whose habitat will be threatened if the Gas and Go goes ahead.

The Sierra Club Comox Valley is looking for volunteers to help with various events in its Save Our Estuary public awareness campaign.

If you want to help, or you want more information, you can e-mail sierraclubcv@gmail.com or call Arlene at 250-890-3671. You can also find the Sierra Club Comox Valley on Facebook.

— Sierra Club Comox Valley

This video takes a quick look at some of the highlights of the art entered into the auction…

Click HERE to see it.

In the meantime, here’s something to wet your appetite. Doug Cox and Todd Butler were Keeping It Living at Zocalo Cafe, getting people into the spirit of things. Enjoy.

“The Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) has launched a new water education campaign urging residents to adopt simple measures that will assist in achieving a 27 percent reduction in consumption for the Comox Valley water system by 2014.“

We love each and every one of our rain drops, which has been falling in abundance for the past few weeks.

Give some online kudos by subscribing to Zac’s YouTube channel or visiting the CVRD’s “Water” section on their website.