About Charles Brandt
Charles Brandt was a nature lover, a scientist and a priest. His spirituality was eclectic and earth-centred. He had a deep interest in conservation, and was very concerned with the sanctity of nature particularly in the North Vancouver Island that was being butchered and destroyed at unprecedented rates by logging and mining activities. He was a founding member of the Tsolum River Restoration Society and the Oyster River Enhancement Society, and a long-standing member of BC Nature. His lifelong commitment to Vancouver Island’s birds, salmonids and historic environmental causes brought him numerous environmental awards. The Brandt Oyster River Hermitage Society has more details on his life.
Charles Brandt passed away on October 25, 2020. In his will, he made generous gifts to the various environmental organizations in the Comox Valley and Strathcona area which he had been part of since his arrival in the Comox Valley in 1964. The intent of these gifts is that beneficiaries will use the funds to perpetuate his memory by undertaking or supporting environmental causes dear to his heart.
Comox Valley Nature (CVN) was one of the beneficiaries of Charles Brandt’s generous gifts. To create an enduring legacy, CVN decided to establish an annual research grant for Honours or Graduate-level research on environmental science projects in the North Island.
Brandt Conservation Lecture Series
In addition, CVN has organized a lecture series to honour Charles Brandt with the inaugural lecture program scheduled as follows:
Date: Sunday March 8, 2026
Time: 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. (doors open at 1:00 p.m.)
Location: Stan Hagen Theatre, North Island College, 2300 Ryan Rd, Courtenay, BC.
The main part of the program consists of two presentations.
Presentation 1
“The state of salmon: mobilizing data, understanding resilience and informing recovery“
Outline:
- Overview of the state-of-salmon report. The value of data mobilization to understand broad trends. Examples of strong and weak stock/species combinations.
- Current Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) research on the ocean ecology of East Coast Vancouver Isaland (ECVI) Chinook (his own area of expertise) which are in a period of strength. Importance of research when stocks are doing well, not just when crisis hits.
- An example of current PSF actions in response to weakness of the upper Fraser Chinook recovery planning.
Speaker:
Will Duguid is a senior biologist at the Pacific Salmon Foundation and affiliate researcher of the Juanes Lab at the University of Victoria. A lifelong salmon enthusiast, Will has worked as a recreational fishing guide in Campbell River and as a salmon stock assessment biologist with LGL limited, primarily in support of BC First Nations’ stock assessment programs. His current research focuses on feeding, growth and survival of Chinook salmon in the marine environment.
Presentation 2
“Salmon Parks: restoring wild salmon in Nootka Sound for future generations”
Outline:
- The importance of salmon to Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation (MMFN): culture, sustenance, governance, trade and all the relations who also depend on salmon.
- The state of wild salmon in MMFN territory after a century of intensive extraction of resources on land and in the ocean.
- Salmon Parks: a long-term approach to restoring wild salmon populations:
- Identifying points of leverage in complex social-ecological systems
- Protecting critical salmon habitat at the watershed level
- Planning for a warming climate
- Hishuk ish tsawalk: everything is connected
- Concluding remarks.
Speakers:
Eric Angel is the General Manager of the Salmon Parks Stewardship Society. He lives in the territories of the Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations on Vancouver Island. As General Manager, he helps to implement the vision of the ha’wiih (hereditary leaders) of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation to protect and restore old growth salmon ecosystems in the hahuuthli (chiefly territories).
With an M.A. in history from Queen’s University and a Ph.D. in fisheries from Simon Fraser University, Eric has devoted much of his adult life to working with and for First Nations communities across Canada. The last nine years of serving the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations has instilled in him a deep respect for and commitment to the role he is privileged to play on behalf of communities that have lived on the land and water for thousands of years.
As a settler of mixed European ancestry, Eric has embraced his responsibility to embody iisaak — respect with care for all living and non-living things; to honour and hold up his teachers in the community; and to support the Indigenous stewards of land and water in their exercise of uu-a-thluk (caring for).
Eric and his partner Erin can be found hiking and running with their dog Lola on the trails
around Port Alberni, growing food in their small backyard garden, and hosting family, friends and visitors in their home.
Jamie James was born to a mother from the Plains, Montana and father from Assiniboine Sioux Nation, was adopted at age five by his Mowachaht/Muchalaht father and his wife and has since lived within the territories in Gold River.
After graduating high school, Jamie volunteered with his brother and eventually took over from him as a fisheries manager with MMFN. Jamie has had a varied career working as a sawyer in a shingle mill to tree planter and spacer, and from taking coast guard training to archaeology and doing surveys of culturally modified tree surveys.
Jamie knows the territories like the back of his hand and shares that knowledge as a member of the Community Advisory Group, educating people by engaging them in discussions about Indigenous ways of taking care of the land and resources and how to restore and revitalize them so they continue to nourish the people well into the future.
With gratitude towards the community that helped raise him, mentored him and taught him everything that makes him a knowledge keeper, Jamie sees his role as an advocate and amplifier of the voices of the Elders from the past and present, passing on the knowledge and involving everyone for the love of the land.
In his spare time Jamie enjoys competitive shooting, being outside and looking to top the once-in-a-lifetime experience of caring for Luna, the killer whale.
