Meeting Notes
Friends of Tod Creek Watershed meet the first Wednesday of every second month.
You are welcome to join us.
Mission: To protect and enhance the integrity and biodiversity of the Tod Creek Watershed.
To view notes from previous meetings, use the “Meeting Notes” Archive links on the right panel.
__________________________________________________________________________________
FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED
MEETING NOTES
3 MARCH, 2010
Present: Lori James Derry, Michael Derry, Bernie Bowker, Art Dimock, Steve
Scotton, Wil Shulba, Audrey Barnes, Woody Thomson, Sarah Verstegen, Jennifer
Elliot, Mary Haig-Brown
Regrets: Sherron MacPherson, Winona Pugh, Pat Carfra
1. Presentation – Jennifer Elliot and Sarah Verstegen – Community Mapping and Saanich
Inlet and Peninsula Shorelines (SIPAS) Presentation. Jennifer explained that Community
mapping is about maps made by the people who live in the area of the map. The map is
on line and continually being added to. Check it out at: mapping.uvic.ca. Click on The
Maps and choose Coastal Mapping to see this great map. Sarah gave a presentation on
the work of SIPAS. Mapping of eel grass beds and shoreline modifications for Saanich
Inlet and around the peninsula were used to rate the health or otherwise of the beaches
and the life that depends on them.
2. Agenda accepted as printed.
3. Meeting Notes for 6 January, 2010 accepted as posted on web site
4. Announcements –
a) Streamkeepers courses; Several of us did this work a few years ago and
enjoyed it very much. A few current members expressed an interest in taking
the courses and building on the work that was done earlier.
__Streamkeeper Training Weekend March 26th and 27th – Still looking for participants
for this event. $50 tuition waived to the first 25 applicants. Classroom work at Spectrum
School, fieldwork on Colquitz River. Secondary and university students and adults
welcome. Contact Don Lowen at 388-4756 or h2oship@shaw.ca for more information.
Streamkeeper Training Opportunity
If you are interested in Streamkeepers training for protecting and restoring local aquatic
habitat, contact Susan at susanlow@shaw.ca or 250-703-2175.
b) Shorekeepers course Training May 1-2. Beach Days in May and June. Contact
Denis Coupland deniscoupland@telus.net for more information.
c) Additions to library – Lori James Derry donated a copy of Saanich Heritage
Buildings for our growing library. It is a fascinating look at the heritage houses of Saanich
and tells a little about their early owners.
5. Business arising –
a) Whitehead Park invasive removal – Pat Carfra has been talking with Marian
McCoy, Natural Areas Technician with Saanich Parks about removing
invasives from the natural area of Whitehead Park as an Earth Day exercise.
She will check out the area and let us know if this is possible. Mary to follow
up on this as Pat is away.
b) Prospect Lake School garden – Several of us have been weeding the native
plant garden at Prospect Lake School. We will work on it next on Monday, 8
March at 10:00. Everyone is welcome to join us.
c) Meadowbrook Reservoir – Steve Scotton has spoken with the owner about
repairs to the dam. The owner is interested. We will continue to work at it.
d) Mouth of Killarney Creek – A second estimate on the boardwalk has been
received. It is hoped that funding can be found to help with this project
demonstrating low impact living on the lakeshore.
e) Butchart’s dam – The dam needs a fish ladder, which Butcharts have said they
will build. Nothing is happening. Mary has written asking about this, but has
received no reply.
6. Heritage Book Project – Lori and others are gathering information and stories and will
be working out their plan of approach.
7. Web site – Wil is working on the website. He can add more pages. He will make a
page on which we can post nature notes of interest.
8. State of the Watershed – Wil would like to start a project for Tod Creek Watershed
similar to one for the North Saskatchewan. This project can be arranged to suit the
participants’ interests. Wil is hoping to have a workshop in April to explore this idea
with interested people.
9. Tod Creek Flats Project – Mary is arranging a meeting of landowners, government
personnel and other experts to work out the Terms of Reference for the engineered
drawings of the project. This meeting is to take place in the fourth week of March.
10. Walk up Little Saanich Mountain- Sunday, March 28th at 1:00. Meet at the
parking lot at the bottom of the Observatory road. We hope the wild flowers will be at
their best. Everyone welcome.
Next Meeting – Wednesday, May 5th
Location: Art Dimock’s house, 170 Estelline Road.
