2025 Forest Trust For the Children of Cortes Island Society AGM

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - This broadcast opened with the Klahoose Singers chanting a blessing to the forest and the land in general,  at the Forest Trust For The Children of Cortes Island Society AGM on Saturday, April 5, 2025.   

As many of you are aware, the Society was set up to try and obtain 624 acres of forest adjacent to Carrington Bay Regional Park on Cortes Island, that are currently managed by Mosaic. Around 40 people were present when Chair Chris Dragseth announced they were making progress in the negotiations for 261 acres. 

 “The society's been in place for 15 years and we've been in serious discussions with Mosaic since 2019, about the operational issues around negotiating a fair market value for the properties. We've done some work jointly with Mosaic over this period of time. We've hired timber valuation companies and land valuation companies to come to a point where we've had what we feel is a fair market value for the property. The big step is coming up. We are probably going to be in a position in the very near future to actually make an offer. This will really be the key point for 2025,” he began.

“Once that agreement is reached, the clock will start ticking because it will have a built in provision to allow us to do serious and significant fundraising over the coming months.”

“We can't and are unable at this point to give the value yet because we haven't finalized the price with Mosaic, but it's my expectation and my hope that in the very near future we're going to be able to give you some very positive news. Then we'll start moving forward.” 

The Society intends to purchase another 363 acres that are not included in this initial purchase.   

Chris Dragseth: “There's still three properties that are not in the package right now. Those three parcels were put into the carbon capture by Mosaic, through the Big Coast Program, and  they have another 20 years to unfold before those properties will come up for discussion. Those parcels will eventually become part of  a longer term discussion.  Once we take possession, probably in a year's time is what we're hoping for, then a longer term vision will be required.” 

Christine Robinson gave a slideshow of the property, what had taken place during the year, and an outline of the society's history. 

She asked, “I'm just curious, if you've been anywhere in the Children's Forest, just raise your hand.” 

 It seemed like the whole room responded.

Christine Robinson: “Lovely. We have a very familiar audience right now, all of you pretty much long term on Cortes, but it is  a gem in the heart of Cortes.”

As the audio quality was poor, here is a quick summary of her talk as written in the slideshow: 

The Children's Forest Trust was created in 2010 and would not have been possible without the expressed support of the Klahoose First Nation. 
These lands are ecologically significant and support 14 species at risk and the rare occurrences of 11 ecological communities.
Cortes Island is part of the Discovery Islands Archipelago that forms a ‘bridge’ between Mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island and may provide important information on genetic diversity in species.
The geographic location of the 50th parallel north marks the transition between the Coastal Douglas-fir and Coastal Western Hemlock bio geoclimatic zones.
Important wildlife corridors are provided by landscape level ecological networks through the Children’s Forest.
In the last 12 years the Forest Trust For The Children of Cortes Island Society has delivered a strong youth nature based program that has become an important part of the youth culture on Cortes Island.