Launch of the Cortes Community Ecosystem Mapping Project’s Map Series

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Community Mapping Project recently launched its Cortes Island Map Series in Linnaea’s Lakeview Room. This morning’s program consists of gleanings from the three speakers: Sabina Leader Mense, David Shipway and Eve Flager.  Sabina Leader Mense: “I want to give you a little bit of background on how we got this project started. In a nutshell, the project is best described as putting community maps into community hands. That’s been our goal. I’m just one of the team members working on this project. Eve Flager, whom you’ll be hearing from shortly, is our GIS (Geographic Information System) analyst. David Shipway is the keeper of maps on Cortes and has been a big part of this project. Sonya Friesen, ground-truther extraordinaire, has been working with us. Maya Buckner, who is not here, was born and raised on Cortes and is a newly accredited GIS analyst through Vancouver Island University. So we have our own resident analyst mentored by Eve. We’re in a really good position to move forward with our maps.