A small quarry on Cortes Island, BC, could soon grow to more than four times its current size and local streamkeepers say the province may be considering the expansion without a full picture of nearby creeks, wetlands and fish habitat.
Island United, a local construction company, runs the Cortes Pit — a rock and gravel quarry in Whaletown. The company is asking the province to greenlight its plans to expand the quarry from 1.25 hectares to 5.16 hectares, add gravel washing and a concrete plant and extract about 40,000 tonnes of rock and gravel each year.
In a formal objection, Cortes Island Streamkeepers, a local volunteer group that monitors and restores island streams, is asking the province to pause the application while it works to set the record straight on what it calls “misleading information” about nearby streams and fish presence.
The group says the project documents Island United submitted to the province for consideration do not fully account for the surrounding watershed, where volunteers and fisheries partners have spent decades monitoring and restoring salmon habitat.
They say the quarry is surrounded by headwaters of James Creek and Hume Brook, with the watershed divide cutting through the proposed expansion area. Hume Brook provides drinking water to three households, while Quarry Creek flows into James Creek, which streamkeepers identify as part of a fish-bearing system.
Cec Robinson, co-coordinator of Cortes Island Streamkeepers, said the quarry sits on high ground, with water draining toward the creeks and wetlands below. “Any kind of runoff from that height is going to go downhill, and there’s fish-bearing water on all sides of it,” Robinson said.
Christine Robinson, Cec’s wife and also a co-coordinator of Cortes Island Streamkeepers, said even small changes to runoff, sediment, groundwater or water use could affect fish-bearing streams, wetlands, drinking-water sources and restored salmon habitat.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Klahoose Fisheries and Cortes Island Streamkeepers have recorded yearly salmon spawning returns, restocking and live fry trapping in those creeks since 1984. Those records show chum and coho salmon in James Creek and coastal cutthroat trout in the watershed. In April, streamkeepers counted seven cutthroat trout during live fry trapping, including one fish that was 17 centimetres long. Cutthroat trout are considered at risk in BC.
Christine Robinson said the presence of fish does not rule out development but it does trigger stricter setback requirements and is expected to slow the application process, as a professional assessment by a registered professional biologist would likely be required.
The group is asking the province to conduct more environmental studies before approving the project. They want updated mapping of streams and wetlands, hydrology studies, fish habitat assessments and clearer answers about runoff and water use for gravel washing. Christine Robinson said residents are trying to understand how the project’s environmental information was prepared.
“There was no one coming here to actually do an on-site assessment and observation,” she said. “What is their assessment based on? That’s the question that most people in the community are asking. We don’t know.”
The proposal is being reviewed by both the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals and the Ministry of Forests.
In an email response, the Ministry of the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals said it checks information about streams, wetlands and fish habitat using satellite images, the BC Freshwater Atlas, professional reports and site visits when needed. The application has also been sent to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship’s Ecosystems division for review.
Staff are reviewing whether proper setbacks are needed from the nearby watercourse. Public comments, local knowledge and streamkeeper information will be considered and may lead to more studies or permit conditions.
Canada’s National Observer reached out to Island United and the Ministry of Forests but did not hear back before the publication deadline.
The proposal has also raised broader concerns.
Cec Robinson said the expansion could increase truck traffic, fuel use and industrial activity on an island where tourism and the natural environment are central to the local economy and their lifestyle. He said Cortes needs gravel and the existing quarry has served the island for years. Local supply can reduce the need to bring material over by ferry, but the current proposal is too large and should be rejected “as presently worded” until the company addresses the group’s concerns.
Cec Robinson noted a smaller expansion could still meet the island’s needs while leaving more room to protect nearby streams, wetlands and drinking water. The proposed extraction level would be six to 16 times higher than historical levels, he added. “This is simply an industrial activity at a scale that Cortes Island has never had and never wanted,” Robinson said.
The debate is also part of a larger question about how small waterways are treated when development is reviewed. Christine Robinson said small creeks are easy to overlook, especially when each one appears minor on its own, but those streams can have a larger cumulative importance for fish habitat than they appear to have when assessed in isolation.
“The big picture on the BC coast is that most of the little waterways are small,” he said. “Each time they’re perceived as being just a little tiny thing — it’s just a little trickle of water, that’s all, it doesn’t matter that much. But actually, it has been terrible.”
Christine Robinson said proponents turned down three invitations to attend Thursday’s community meeting, leaving residents with more questions than answers. The Ministry of Mining has since extended the public comment deadline to May 22.
