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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FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED
MEETING NOTES – 6 SEPTEMBER, 2017
Mission: To protect and enhance the integrity and biodiversity of the Tod Creek Watershed.
Regrets: Carmel Thomson, Walter Wright
Present: Michael Derry, Pat Carfra, Audrey Barnes, Ann Allen, Ian Duncan, Woody Thomson, Bernie Bowker, Winona Pugh, Lori James Derry, Joanne Delage, Janet Williams, Mary Haig-Brown
Adoption of Agenda
Adoption of Meeting Notes of 5 July, 2017 with change 5 b) Tod Creek work…”restore Tod Creek from Hartland Road to Lohr Road”
Treasurer’s Report:
Closing balance 5 July $ 755.68
Cheque for SD Cards – 41.00
Deposit donation + 30.00
Balance 6 Sept, 2017 $ 744.68
Announcements:
Conservation Connection Forum – Thurs. Oct 12 at Hort Centre
Register at HAT web site or phone 250-995-2428. Cost $50.00. Mary has registered for this excellent event. See attached poster.
PSS Memberships available for those who have not renewed
Open House event Saturday Oct, 14th – Planning in progress. Watershed bus tours on Oct 7th and Oct 21st. Please register on PSS web site. Discussion about the timing of the bus tour. Perhaps Maltby Lake could be a separate event combined with the Historical Society AGM at the end of October.
Trail Connection – Janet Williams reported that Lister Farrer of Camosun’s Centre for Sports Excellence is organizing a bike ride which will cross private land under the power lines. This is a onetime only event. Unfortunately a map of the route showing the private land area as trail was published in the TC. This has led to cyclists crossing the private land without permission or respect for the land.
Email from PLPS re meeting was received by Winona suggesting some members would like to come to a meeting. We suggested she reply pointing out that all our meeting notes are posted on our website and asking if they have a specific item they are interested in.
Projects:
Water Quality monitoring – Ongoing on Tod Creek (7 sites), Maltby (3 sites). Also Kitty Lloyd of CRD is doing 5 sites on Tod and Killarney 5 times now and then 5 times after the rains start. We will share data.
Tod Creek Flats – Michael will be pouring footings for head walls at the creek end of the culverts. He hopes to set it up so that the fish traps will be easier to access, count and empty. The muskrat living in the central culvert will have to find a more conventional home.
The work on the creek between Hartland and Lohr Roads has been completed. Golden willow was removed and riffles installed to permit better flow.
Whitehead Park – On 18th July 28 Quebec Students came to hear Elizabeth May speak. Then we went to the Park where they did more cardboard and mulch, and removed blackberries and ivy. They accomplished more than expected which was great.
Fall planting on west side to cover the mulch and cardboard will begin soon. We had applied for a Small Sparks Grant from Saanich for plants, but have not heard so will probably spread some seed instead. The current HAT newsletter on bees has a list of plants to attract pollinators. We will use this and Kristen Miskelly’s list of suggested plants to guide us.
Maintenance on east side involves cleaning up trails and removing excess growth where appropriate.
The Wheelbarrow is gone! Michael has offered a replacement.
Web site – Lori has added the photo point monitoring photos of the flats to the site. She continues to update as appropriate.
Lake Stewardship – Winona – Aquatic Plant survey will take place in September or early October. Joanne will arrange for a floating dock and Winona will call for volunteers when she knows the date.
History – We are working on a history of FTCW. A group of us have been going through 17 years of Meeting Notes. It is a huge job as we have done so much in that time. We are trying to pick out a few key events with some sort of indexing system if possible. We need a brief summary of our history for October Open House. It has been an interesting process to review all this work.
Historical Society AGM is coming up.
Maltby Lake – Woody reports that the lake is high given the lack of rain. This is probably due to the work of the beaver at the old abandoned causeway. They have built dams and a third lodge there.
Historical Society AGM will happen this fall.
Next meeting – 1 November
Location: Pat Carfra’s house.
