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.
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7 JANUARY, 2015
Mission: to protect and enhance the integrity and biodiversity of the Tod Creek Watershed
Regrets: Lori James Derry, Andrea Neumann
Present: Audrey Barnes, Bernie Bowker, Woody Thomson, Carmel Thomson, Pat Carfra, Sherron MacPherson, Joanne Delage, Frances Hunter, Winona Pugh, Mary Haig-Brown
Adoption of Agenda with addition of 2 items: 4 e) Paper and 5 f) Whitehead Park
Adoption of Meeting Notes from 5 November, 2014
Treasurer’s Report. Closing balance last meeting: $1672.98
Closing balance this meeting: $1673.05
Outstanding item: $30 for web site support
Announcements:
Grants available: Walmart-Evergreen due Feb. 2, 2015
PSF due Feb. 15, 2015
Small Sparks grant
Discussion followed: Evergreen should go through June, PSF may be used for Butchart’s or Tod Flats projects, no need of Sparks grant just now – later for a few more tools and plants. The banner was discussed again. The money is in our account. It is just a question of designing banner and ordering it. Winona and Frances will do this.
RFCPP grants submitted for Tod Creek Flats Project and Butchart’s Fishway on Dec 15 through Pen Streams. They are being reviewed in Dec. and Jan and then sent to National DFO office for selection. We hope to hear good news by March.
Lori has collected the volunteer hours for 2014. They are arranged on a spread sheet which will be circulated when we have it electronically. Mary to talk to Lori about this when she gets home.
Peninsula Streams AGM is on Saturday 14th February 3:00-5:00. Location to be announced. Guest speaker: Elizabeth May. This will be the time to renew membership which gives us insurance on PSS work parties.
Paper Making – Frances Hunter brought samples of the paper she has made from Yellow Flag Iris leaves collected in Whitehead Park and also some pale green paper made from the inner bark of Daphne. We could make booklets from these as gifts or sale items made entirely from products from the Watershed. Frances brought bags of dried YFI leaves which several of us took home to break into small pieces. We will have a day long paper making session complete with pot luck lunch at Frances’ house in the spring. We will set the date at our next meeting. In the meantime we will source the Daphne and collect the inner bark. Mary will check on the current thinking for methods of removing Daphne.
Projects:
Evergreen Uncover Your Creeks. Work parties on the third Saturday of each month. Next one: 17th January. Possible jobs are removal of ivy on Meadowbrook Road, removal of ivy etc. in Whitehead Park West side and removal of ivy from Eastlake. Pat and Joanne say this last is not necessary as they are picking away at it to keep it under control. We will include the Green Team on these. They were part of the planting crew at Lohr Road in November.
Evergreen plans include a bus tour of the Watershed to take place in February. June will arrange for a mini bus with overflow following in cars. The tour will start at Maltby Lake and include Tod Creek Flats and Tod Inlet. A community mapping exercise in conjunction with the Heritage Society will also happen. This should bring out many stories of life in the watershed. Sherron will check with Dean Rebneris to see where a previous map is now located. Check the Evergreen web site for updates on these projects or email June Pretzer <junepretzer@evergreen.ca>
Lake Stewardship – Winona and Mary have met with Laura Kline and Christoph Moch of CRD Water Quality. Questions about liability insurance came from Laura. As members of BC Lake Stewardship Society we are insured. Friends of Maltby Lake are also members of BCLSS. Winona will email Laura to arrange a further meeting to plan a protocol.
Maltby Lake – Carmel and Woody The beaver are eating the non-native water lilies, but not the native ones. A trip to Vancouver for the court hearing into TLC offers resulted in 17 people attending on behalf of Maltby Lake but the issue was deferred. The price required by the court monitor seems to keep rising. At present the date for TLC’s final proposals is February 2nd. See Friends of Maltby Lake Stewardship Society web site for more information.
Web site – Lori is away, but check out the web site as she keeps working on it.
Whitehead Park – Audrey has been in charge and reports much progress. Saanich has removed black berry roots and planted many shrubs and Doug Firs. Audrey marked out a trail loop through the southern area and work continues on clearing the trail. The older trails are freshly mulched and the little stream is working well. She has had help from Taylor McComb and friends from Claremont who worked hard.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, 4 March, 2015
Location: either Lori or Pat.