The Quadra Island Nut Tree Project's 3rd Planting

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Food security is a major concern in the Discovery Islands. 98.4% of the 245 respondents to a ‘Quadra Island Eating and Growing Local survery’ stated they wanted more access to locally grown food. Most participants at the recent Conversation Cafe, on Cortes Island, shared a rough consensus that the existing food system (industrial farming, long-haul transport, and large scale grocery chains) was likely to falter or fail under the pressures of climate change and rising energy costs. The Cortes Community Economic Development Association [CCEDA] will soon be releasing a report of the findings at that event. A Garden Club/ICAN Food Security Team project is increasing that island’s protien supply.

229 blight resistant nut trees were most likely planted on Quadra Island during the past 12 months, and that number should soon increase. There are Hazelnuts, Sweet Chestnuts, Black Walnuts, Persian/English Walnuts and a Heartnut. Most of these trees have been sold to private residents, but the Quadra Nut Tree Project’s third planting was on January 4, 2024.  

“We really wanted a source of plant protein as well as oil, and so nut trees that are going to do well on our island as the climate changes was something that we thought would be a good idea, in terms of our overall food security strategy,” explained Jen Banks-Doll, one of the principal organizers.

“So far we've planted 76 nut trees  and we're hoping to get to 85, in terms of commercial or government owned land.  In addition, we sold trees to help fund the project and also to meet our goal of getting as many nut trees planted on Quadra as possible. So we ended up selling 153 trees. Overall by the end of this month, we hope to have added 238 nut trees to Quadra Island. ” 

“These are all the new varieties. There are a lot of hazelnuts on Quadra already, but they're the older varieties that are not blight resistant. All of our trees are eastern blight resistant varieties, so they hopefully will last for a very long,”

“It started with a conversation with a few members of ICANN, the Island Climate Action Network. Food security was one of the very hot topics in terms of preparing for climate change and increasing the resiliency of our island. We've had many different projects on the go. We were looking at the United Way food security grants and thinking of a project we could use, apply for a grant. My partner, Mark Doll, came up with the idea for the nut tree project. His idea was to plant as many nut trees as possible on Quadra Island. I've been involved since then.”