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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In memory of Don Sanford and Jack Whitehead, two people who have worked on water quality of the lake for many years before us.
Present: Audrey Barnes, Pat Carfra, Sherron MacPherson, Woody Thomson, Winona Pugh, Bernie Bowker, Mary Haig-Brown
Regrets: Joanne Delage, Frances Hunter
- Adoption of Agenda – carried
- Adoption of meeting notes from 4 January, 2012 – carried
- Finances – Sherron
Feb 1, 2012- Bank Balance: $1733.78 plus .05 interest
Expense: Plants from Island View Nursery 128.80
Feb 29, 2012 – Bank Balance $1605.03
Outstanding cheque Saanich (weed puller) 155.00
To date bank total $1450.03
- Announcements:
a) Butchart’s Dam – DFO involvement. Erica Blake is arranging for DFO Engineer and Biologist to visit site once Fish habitat potential is established. Butchart’s Gardens recently donated $25,000 to Saanich Inlet Protection Society (SIPS) to further their work in Tod Inlet with the Nature Float and Pumpty Dumpty, the sewage pump out boat that services yachts in the Inlet.
b) Saanich Invasive Species Management Strategy is now ready for comment. Check on line at Saanich Parks under Natural Areas and follow link. Comments needed by 16 March. The strategy is very well thought out.
c) Saanich Environmentally Significant Areas Atlas. Request for potential additions. Check on line GIS maps to see what is already listed. It is very interesting to see what is already protected, but spots may have been missed. This is the work of Adriane Pollard’s department, Environmental Services.
d) Weed Wrench is now here. It is strong enough to be borrowed. Woody has borrowed Audrey’s for a work session at Maltby Lake this weekend.
e) Article for Prospector- submission date 15 March. Mary to do this explaining what is happening in Whitehead Park and stressing the importance of riparian vegetation.
f) Angeline Tillmanns’ UVic class field trip – Sunday, 1 April. The class is a watershed restoration class of about 30 students. We will start at 8:30 leading them up to Killarney Lake to see headwaters. This will be followed by a session in Whitehead Park, pulling up sprouting willows, digging up Yellow Flag Iris from a patch back from the lake shore, touring the work site and cutting blackberries. The class will then go to Tod Creek Flats to discuss plans for that area.
g) Web Site!!! Winona has figured out how to add the meeting notes to our web site. We may even figure out how to add pictures and add updates on our projects. Thank you, Winona.
- Projects:
a) Meadowbrook Reservoir –not likely to happen because of official fear of dams. DFO has advised us to drop the idea.
b) Blue green algae monitoring – Pat Carfra has talked to several people around the lake who have observed it. Pat will devise a reporting sheet with input from Angeline Tillmanns who did her PhD on the subject and from Tricia Demacedo of Saanich Environmental Services.
c) Whitehead Park – East side:
l) Marian McCoy has made a plan for us to follow in our restoration of the East side and has given us a great deal of help in following it. We will attempt to get this on our web site.
ll) Progress: We have cleared blackberries, spread mulch brought by Saanich Parks on areas with very shallow soil, made the beginning of a path back from the stream, planted sword fern along the path, marked out the preferred route of the ephemeral stream leading to the wetland, planted salmon berry and red osier dogwood stakes on the old path in the hopes that will keep people a bit back from the stream and discourage persistent dumping of yard and garden waste and installed a silt fence to keep runoff carrying clay or mulch from going directly into the stream. When we have proper riparian vegetation in place the fence will be removed.
lll) Planting Party on Saturday, March 31, from 1:00-3:00. We will pull a few more blackberry roots, spread mulch, and plant a selection of native plants. Please spread the word to friends and neighbours. Drop by to see what we are up to or better yet come to help and eat cookies.
lV) Plant tags – we will purchase some metal plant tags from Lee Valley in order to label some native plants so visitors will know what they are looking at. Mary to buy these.
m) Whitehead Park – West side – Ideas for summer work pending grants available. Essentially we want to remove the Yellow Flag Iris along the stream bank and replant with native shrubs.
- Grants: Winona
a) Fido Evergreen – This is the grant of $2,000 we received in the fall. We are using it for the East Side restoration.
b) Saanich Matching Grant We have applied for $2,000 to work on the Yellow Flag Iris removal. Winona and Mary will defend the application on March 15. Requests for matching grants total $29,224.06. Saanich has $14,133.55 available.
c) Scotts Miracle Gro – Winona has sent in the application. The grant is for native plant gardens.
5. Heritage Report: Heritage week display at Tia’s Heritage Café was very well received. Vicki Sanders spoke about retrofitting a heritage house to prevent heat loss. The information was very interesting, but not many people attended.
The book on Prospect Lake area will be published in May.
- Other business: The Prospect Lake/ Tod Creek Action Plan that many of us worked on in 1998-99 has been posted on the PLDCA web site.
The February walk up the trail from West Saanich Road and along Caldicott was very enjoyable. A beautiful but muddy walk. We decided not to schedule another walk until the weather is better and work in Whitehad slows down.
Mary will check with Cory Manton about the wording on the signs that are being prepared for our restoration sites.
7. Next meeting: 2 May, 2012. Location: Haig-Brown/ Bowker house at 237 Meadowbrook Road.
