Rochelle Baker
Journalist | Quadra Island |
English
About Rochelle Baker
Rochelle Baker is the Quadra and Cortes Islands reporter for Canada's National Observer, thanks to a grant from the Local Journalism Initiative of the Government of Canada. Rochelle has worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer in BC's Lower Mainland for over 10 years.
West Coast heat wave burned B.C.’s shellfish sector
The nasty irony is that shellfish farmers had already been hobbled by COVID-19, which shuttered restaurants and export markets last year.
Should DFO rein in sport fishing to help save salmon?
The federal government has failed to do enough to reel in the recreational fishery, which also impacts salmon returns, despite making historic and dramatic reductions to the commercial fleet on the West Coast, say conservation groups.
A billion tidal creatures likely baked to death in B.C. heat wave
The heat and the stench was staggering after masses of mussels, barnacles, clams, hermit crabs and starfish cooked to death at a number of Lower Mainland beaches, says biologist Chris Harley.
Sudden deaths triple in B.C. amid unprecedented heat wave
A minimum of 486 sudden deaths occurred over the past five days after dangerously high temperatures gripped coastal and Lower Mainland communities in an unprecedented heat wave this week, the BC Coroners Service reports.
Old-growth in contentious Fairy Creek region could be worth more standing than logged
Protecting old-growth forests near Port Renfrew could result in an additional $40 million in net economic benefits compared to logging as usual, according to a new study.
West Coast cleanup nets over 200 tonnes of marine debris
A shocking 210 tonnes of flotsam and plastic detritus was removed over six weeks from a mere 300 kilometres of B.C.'s intricate 25,000-kilometre shoreline in a massive cleanup of the ecologically sensitive shores of the Great Bear Rainforest.
B.C.’s new old-growth advisory panel 'a glimmer of hope' for ancient forests
The new panel will ensure the province is using the best science and data available to identify at-risk old-growth ecosystems and prioritize the areas slated for old-growth logging deferrals, said Forests Minister Katrine Conroy.
House committee pushes feds to scale up action to save wild salmon
Despite releasing its wild salmon policy 15 years ago, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has made little headway in stabilizing the decline of wild salmon, much less restoring at-risk populations, a parliamentary committee concluded this week.
Star power harnessed to save B.C.'s old-growth forests
More than 100 celebrities and prominent voices — both national and global — have joined the battle to save B.C.'s old growth. But the Ministry of Forests says their efforts aren't going to work.
Activists seeking to protect Canada’s old-growth forest say they are aligned with First Nations. Is that really true?
By protesting in places they’re not wanted, settler conservationists looking to save old-growth forests are being called out by some Indigenous leaders for exemplifying the colonial or paternalistic approach taken by their forebears.