Gore Park

The Friends went to Gore Park for the spring wild flower show.

 

 

 

 

 

Photos from Anne Allen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Gore Park get together at Pat’s

 

 

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2021

 

July 20th: Michael Derry took the new Peninsula Streams Chair Daniel Healey, his wife Jill [plus their dogs], new member Kitty Lloyd, and Office Administrator Francesca Loro for an educational, getting-to-know-you hike to Maltby Lake. 

 

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2020

Nov 19th: Four of us took the self-guided tour of the 

W̱SÁNEĆ Ethnobotany Trail at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific

 

 

 

 

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June 30/ 2020:      

WSÁNEĆ  Teaching hike

by Tiffany Joseph   

Go to our Heritage Page for photos and info about our walk.

And more in depth information, go to our Resources Page to read the “briarpatch magazine” article

[July. Aug Vol 49 No. 4]:  Decolonizing ecology by Jade Delisle,

which includes two pages on Tiffany’s efforts ‘Restoring WSÁNEC PROTOCOLS

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Mountain Road tour with  Lorrie Adams: June 18th

Photos Courtesy: Dorothy Chambers and Lori James Derry

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Paddle Party during the time of social-distancing: April 15th

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Planting Party in Whitehead Park March 16th

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Building Bat-Houses 

March 3rd & 4th: Anne Allen & Ian Duncan kindly hosted and guided a group in bat-house building:

Finished Bat Houses:

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There was a good turnout and interested crowd for our Heritage Week event. These Two informative videos were presented about the history of Tod Inlet in relation to the early Chinese and Sikh immigrants of Vancouver Island.

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From Peninsula Streams:

Recent rains (and snow) have made water levels very high. In fact they are still too high to release the PIT tagged Coho as they can swim around the array.

They released some non-tagged Coho to get them imprinting (and it does not matter if they swim through the array). Friday Feb 14th photos:

 

2019

Peninsula Dinner Auction Gala Event 2019:

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Nov 4th Tour of The Plot Market Garden

Walking down to the gardens

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Sept Friday the 13th: An excellent group tour, lead by Andrea. Included are photo ID’s for the plants Andrea recommended for WHP plantings.

 

 

 

 

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Dominion Brook Park Tour

Rehabilitation of this heritage park began as a citizen initiative in 2000. Restoration is being done by volunteers through the non-profit society:

Friends of Dominion Brook Park in cooperation with the Federal Government and District of North Saanich.

http://dominionbrookpark.ca

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/peninsulastreams/sets/72157689205593566/

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Evergreen:  Uncover Your Creeks

Through the Uncover Your Creeks program, Evergreen engages community members in urban watershed restoration and education. Participants in the program get down and dirty removing invasive plants, planting native plants and collecting water quality samples from their local urban creeks.

Evergreen will be fortunate to share in these actions and conversations over the next year. The year will begin on July 17th with a workshop for residents, stewards and actors in the watershed and in the region to share their thoughts, stories and visions for the watershed. It will be an opportunity to revisit past conversations and look ahead to the future. On July 19th, we’ll get down and dirty in Whitehead Park at a stewardship event; come on out with friends and family alike to work on managing the invasive plant population, monitoring water quality and learning about Tod Creek ecology.

http://uncoveryourcreeks.ca/the-tod-creek-watershed-whats-the-story-come-find-out/

 

July 19th:  Some images from our weed whack at Whitehead Park.

“The invader plant with the creeping habit and yellow flowers is called ‘Creeping Jenny’ – Lysimachia nummularia
and widely used in hanging baskets for its pendent foliage.

It was likely introduced from a compost or soil dump. As it likes full shade, alder/shrub canopy will not kill it. Plants could be pulled and then layered over with cardboard and mulch for eradication.”

Todd Carnahan, Land Care Co ordinator
Habitat Acquisition Trust

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Watershed Connections

1) Five issues of a journal, Watershed Connections, were produced. The purpose was to develop an awareness,

understanding and appreciation for the watershed and to educate and encourage the residents to live in harmony with the environment, wildlife and each other.
The documents can be downloaded from this publications page:
Watershed Connections Publications

2) Workshops – From time to time we sponsor workshops to provide information on such topics as on-site sewage systems, water conservation, and gardening with native plants.

3) Trails – we promote the use and development of trails in the watershed. The mountain bike trails in Mt Work Park accessed off Meadowbrook or Hartland Road are a great asset.

4) Water Quality Monitoring – members took training in Benthic monitoring in order to monitor current conditions of streams feeding into Prospect Lake.

5) Education in schools – In conjunction with Peninsula streams members offer programmes in local schools.

6) Riparian planting – Restoration of riparian vegetation where appropriate.

 

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Tree Appreciation Day at Whitehead Park

3 November, 2013

A sunny Sunday after several days of rain.  We had over 400 plants ready to be put in our prepared ground.  We also had 200 feet of fencing to install.  We made two exclosures with a deer corridor in between. Work started with the laying out of fencing and the placing of plants that were semi deer resistant at chosen spots throughout the East side.  We put Oregon Grape among the cedar and alder we planted last week and many snowberry plants near the Goward Road bridge.  Oregon grape, sword fern and two different honeysuckles went under the cedars and along the stream bed.  Similar plants went among the maples at the top to the main site.  All the rest should go in the exclosures.  We will be planting for quite awhile to come.  Joanne also took a few to Eastlake and we will take a few more over there in the coming days.

 

Thanks go to Greg Carmichael, Gordon Porritt, Ben Bowker, Adam Bowker, and Colin Dower.  From Saanich Thanks to Don Illingworth, Riel and Lindsey.  From FTCW were Winona, Joanne, Audrey and Mary.  Jason Clarke of Saanich and Bernie Bowker provided background support.

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Oct 26th:  Prospect Lake Grade 4 Students

Students in Grade 4 at Prospect Lake School planted alder trees they have been caring for over the summer. The trees were given to them by Peninsula Streams Society who came last June to talk about the salmon cycle, watersheds and the importance of trees to the life in the streams.

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Rivers Day Event:  Oct 26th, 2013.

The Friends of Tod Creek Watershed held their BC Rivers Day event on Saturday October 6th afternoon. Originally planned for the previous weekend on the actual day of Rivers Day, September 29th, the storms had us post-pone the event. Luckily, we had an even better day weather wise! Julia from Peninsula Streams joined the event to demonstrate the characteristics of a watershed and the importance of being environmentally-friendly using a 3D watershed model. There was a raffle for various prizes including a locally-written book (by Roderick Haig-Brown), gift certificates, and a few others. Information about the local area, how to make changes to be more environmentally conscious, and other helpful tips were available for visitors including a display of native and non-native plants found in the local area. Overall, it was a glorious day for this event and we would like to thank the visitors who attended and provided us with positive feedback. Thank you also to our donors for the support and for the volunteers whose knowledge, enthusiasm and experience made this a successful event.

Our set-up, along the path from Goward Rd to the new dock.

Display Boards

Audrey’s excellent display of labeled, live cuttings: Invasive plants in our watershed.

Joanne’s organized main table: flyers, educational material, raffle prizes, stickers and more.

One of our sponsors:  MLA Lana Popham.

Teacher, and local author, Carol McDougall provided materials for making bookmarks.

 

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Prospect Lake School Project 2010

Members of Friends of Tod Creek Watershed have been spending time at Prospect Lake
School tidying up their garden.  One session of weeding turned into many as we cleaned
it up and then watched the weeds come happily back to fill the spaces.

After more weeding we got smart and called in students from the Pacific Horticultural College to help us get on top of things.  On 4th November, 2010 the students came and what a great group of knowledgeable young people they were.  After a good session we had help from the School Board Maintenance people who brought us a couple of loads of mulch and helped us spread it

The rain garden area in the corner needs to be kept clear of weeds in order to function.
Its purpose is to take water from the roof of the school and let it seep underground and
slowly disburse rather than flooding the entrance to the school.  According to the Pacific
Horticultural College staff we could plant it with heather, which will keep weeds at bay and allow water to infiltrate.  Students from Mrs. Lael’s class came by to chat and agreed
to help us plant the area.

On 24th May, 2011, the class came out and worked hard getting all the little heather plants in the ground.  We are hoping to watch them take root and spread over the rain
garden infiltration area, looking pretty, keeping the weeds down and allowing the rain water to soak into the earth.