Cortes 2024 Island-wide Beach Clean-up

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The first truckload was filled over the roofline with beach debris. Sam Gibb drove into the Klahoose village shortly after 10:30 AM on Saturday. Alex Bernier, followed with a smaller load. Helen Hall and Autumn Barrett Morgan, two other members of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI), were there to help them unload. Stephanie Valdal, Services Coordinator for the Comox Strathcona Waste Management Service, had come from Courtenay. The debris collected by Klahoose Aquaculture had not yet arrived. By the time the month long Cortes Island wide beach clean-up officially ended, on Sunday, there was a bin full of beach debris. This year’s clean-up was a collaborative initiative between Klahoose Aquaculture, FOCI, the Ocean Legacy Foundation and Comox Strathcona Waste Management Service. “This is the first time we've done a whole island beach cleanup. We've been able to do that because we've been able to work with Comox Strathcona Waste Management and with Klahoose to bring an Ocean Legacy bin to the island, and also to get the super sacks that we've distributed around the community. So suddenly from us just doing one beach cleanup, which is what we've done for a number of years, we've been trying to target the whole island,” explained to Helen Hall, Executive director of FOCI.