Category Archives: Meeting Notes

FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED
MEETING NOTES
2 SEPTEMBER 2015

Mission: To protect and enhance the integrity and biodiversity of the Tod Creek Watershed.

Regrets: Sherron MacPherson, Frances Hunter, Pat Carfra

Present: Carol McDougal, Joanne Delage, Lori James Derry, Michael Derry, Winona Pugh, Woody Thomson, Bernie Bowker, Carmel Thomson, Audrey Barnes, Mary Haig-Brown.

1. Adoption of Agenda

2. Adoption of meeting notes from 8 July, 2015

3. Treasurer’s report:
Closing balance last meeting: $1437.63
Add interest .06
Closing Balance $ 1437.69
Discussion about spending money from Unitarian Church that is being held for us by PSS. Lori will look into getting signs made to recognize work done and planned for the flats. Costs? Design?

4. Announcements:

• Birding:  Notice sent to us by Dorothy Chambers.
  Interested in learning about local birds, enjoy walking local beaches, and want to learn more about reducing disturbance to shorebirds? Then here’s an opportunity for you!
  Bird Studies Canada is looking for volunteers to participate in two coastal monitoring programs in the Victoria area. A free workshop and guided walk is being held this Saturday September 5th.
• WHAT: Free workshop and guided walk to learn more about BC waterbirds and how to conduct Coastal Waterbird Surveys and Beached Bird Surveys, and the new Shorebird Disturbance protocol. Suitable for new and current volunteers.
  WHEN: Saturday September 5th 9:30am – 12:00pm
  WHERE: Burnside Gorge Community Centre, 471 Cecelia Rd, Victoria
  Dress for the weather and bring binoculars if possible
  To register, contact Karen: bcvolunteer@birdscanada.org or 604-350-1998
• Butchart’s Fishway – They have taken on the building and PSS has cancelled the grant. Butcharts has done the preliminary work and it is expected to go ahead this year or next. Ian is confident that it will.
  Paper making: Frances is working on more Daphne and has ideas for a note pad suitable for fund raising.

5. Projects:

• Tod Creek Flats: Project is going ahead!!! Started at Farmington Road cleaning channel of approximately 1 meter of silt as well as invasives. The bank has been reshaped and seeded. Many of the existing willows have been replaced, but we will do more planting. Working upstream we are doing similar work on the next property and preparing access to Flats at northern edge. Work will start on a berm to assist in controlling the flooding (not preventing it) and preventing fish being stranded. Wet weather is slowing work, but weather reports look better for the days ahead. Lori will take some photos and post them on our web site.
  Whitehead: Continuing with weeding and keeping blackberry shoots in check. Rain will soon make it possible to dig roots and prepare for planting of the last section in the south east of the park.
  Eastlake: Joanne continues to pull bits of ivy and to water. The site is looking good.
  Work parties for planting in Flats project and Whitehead to be arranged. Both Evergreen and Green Team will help. Mary to arrange for this.

6. Heritage:

• Winona reports they had a meeting with Darrell of the Royal Oak Historical Society and talked about taping people’s stories. Ken Josephson is tidying up the mapping info that has been collected to tie it in with existing maps. The society will decide on the focus of the map which will help then choose what to include.

7. Lake Stewardship:

• Winona reports they did the Seechi disc reading. The lake was a little more turbid than last year which was not unexpected as the reading was taken the day after a huge rain storm. Discussion about doing a proper survey of the growth in the lake at some future time.

8. Web Site:

• Lori continues to add little things for time to time. She will be putting more on the page for Tod Creek Flats.

9. Maltby Lake.

• Carmel reported that the Min of the Environment did a study of invasives in B.C. Lakes. Maltby was included. There were only two found, Yellow Flag Iris and one other. In Maltby. Results of the study will be posted on the Ministry web site.

Next Meeting: October 4th, 2015 at Pat Carfra’s house.

FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED
MEETING NOTES
8 JULY, 2015

Mission: To protect and enhance the integrity and biodiversity of the Tod Creek Watershed.
Regrets: Sherron MacPherson, Frances Hunter, Lori James Derry, Winona Pugh

Present: Pat Carfra, Bernie Bowker, Joanne Delage, Woody Thomson, Audrey Barnes, Mary Haig-Brown

1. Adoption of Agenda

2. Adoption of meeting notes from 6th May, 2015

3. Treasurer’s report:
Closing Balance last meeting: $1427.57
Add interest + deposit for closing balance $1437.63

4. Announcements:

• PSS received two grants from RFCPP for work on Tod, one for Butchart’s Fishway which is going ahead under Butchart’s supervision. Very exciting. It will be an aluminum fish ladder which can be removed if dam repairs or changes are needed. Aimee Gentile made a video of cutthroat jumping in attempts to get over the dam which may have helped emphasize the importance of a fish ladder.
• Tod Creek Flats – work of stream restoration is expected to start soon. Some surveying and soil exploration has been done. The creek cannot be relocated on the west side as originally planned. Meeting tomorrow to discuss ways to improve it on current site. It is likely we will enhance the creek in or near its present course as well as building some retention/irrigation/storage ponds.
• Fund raiser for PSS on 8th May successfully raised about $6 000.
• Paper Making on June 22 – Pat Carfra, Joanne and Audrey went to Frances Hunter’s house. They made paper from Yellow Flag Iris leaves. Unfortunately a table collapsed and all the Daphne slurry that Frances had prepared spilled on the ground. We will continue to collect and strip Daphne and try again when Frances has some time.
• Coast Capital Work Party at Whitehead postponed until fall.
• Stantec Work Party removed blackberry and did cleanup on East side. We will plant in the fall. They enjoyed themselves and would like to come again.
• Community meeting on 27th May looked at Prospect Lake/Tod Creek Action Plan and discussed actions that could be taken to complete the Vision.
• Randall Garrison, our MP, introduced a Bill C-698, An Act to amend the Navigation Protection Act (Tod Creek) which would restore environmental protection to the Tod Creek Watershed. This protection was removed from all rivers, lakes and streams on Vancouver Island in 2012. The restoration would demonstrate the Federal Government’s interest in the work being done by local stewardship groups. This motion was suggested to Mr. Garrison by Carmel Thomson. We thank them both.

5. Projects:

• Eastlake: Joanne reports that Eastlake is progressing well. There has been some spontaneous regeneration of ocean Spray and other indigenous plants. YFI will need more eradication.
• Whitehead: Prepare for planting in the fall on the East side. We are currently maintaining trails and continuing to weed. Most plants are surviving the current hot dry weather although a large willow and an alder have died in one corner of the lower exclosure.
• Butchart’s fishway: see above
• Tod Creek Flats: meeting tomorrow to discuss plans for the creek restoration in that area.

6. Maltby and TLC:

Woody and Carmel have gained control of most of the portion of the undivided property that was in the hands of TLC. However, TLC is being threatened by a few people over the disposition of another property. See attached. “Important Update from TLC”. TLC needs letters of support before July 21. Please write.

7. Heritage:

Winona reports:
The Heritage Society held our AGM on June 22 at the Prospect Lake Golf Club. The Presidents report is attached
I have copies of Gwen Curry’s book Tod Inlet: A Healing Place if anyone would like to purchase a copy ($25). This is a lovely book to look at and beautiful read as well.

8. Web site:

We have received a report on soils and vegetation from Deborah Ormkist which we have permission to post on our website

9. Lake Stewardship:

The BCLSS Secchi dip in is on during July. We will take a reading at Prospect Lake with the next two weeks.
General discussion suggested it would be a good idea to take secchi readings before and after the weed cutter operates in the lake.

10: Next Meeting: Wednesday, Sept 2.
Location: to be decided. Any volunteers?

FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED

MEETING NOTES6TH MAY, 2015
Mission: to protect and enhance the integrity and biodiversity of the Tod Creek Watershed.

Present: Joanne Delage, Ron Delage, Bernie Bowker, Woody Thomson, Audrey Barnes, Pat Carfra, Winona Pugh, Lori James Derry, Andrea Neumann, Mary Haig-Brown

Regrets: Sherron MacPherson, Frances Hunter, Carmel Thomson

1. Adoption of Agenda
2. Adoption of Meeting Notes from 4 March, 2015
3. Treasurer’s Report:
   Closing Balance last meeting: $1457.48
   Expense for Web site – 30.00
   Interest + .06
   Closing balance $ 1427.57
4. Announcements:
   Board of Variance approved height variance of building discussed last meeting. No building permit has been issued yet.
   PSS Fundraiser this Friday, 8th May – plans are coming together very well.
   PSS received a grant from Saanich as requested.
   Saanich Environmental Award ceremony will be on 15th June.
   Paper making no response to last meetings request for show of interest. Pat will talk with Frances. Audrey, Bernie, Mary, Joanne, Pat and Winona are interested in gathering and stripping Daphne. Mary checked some she stripped a while ago and stored in a paper bag. It is green and flexible.
5. Two work parties at Whitehead:
   Sunday 17th May with Coast Capital Insurance – Ivy on the south fence. Mary will find out the time.
   Wednesday 20th May 5:30 pm with Stantec – Weed, cardboard and mulch final bit of East side by lake.
6. Community Meeting 27th May, at PL Hall re follow up to Prospect Lake/Tod Creek Action Plan endorsed be Council 14th August, 2001. Shawn Steele, Winona Pugh and Mary are working on this. Format will be worked out at a planning meeting on Monday.
7. World Ocean Day 6th June – World Fisheries Trust is hosting an event at Gorge Park. Andrea will talk to Francesca about moving the PSS display from the Ocean Discovery Centre where she works to Gorge Park.
8. Projects:
   1. Eastlake: The Salal is slow growing but still there. There is some Wild Chervil, a new to us invasive. The site looks very nice thanks to Joanne.
   2. Whitehead: Much weeding is going on. Early plantings are flourishing. We may take down the first 2 exclosures later this summer.
   3. Butchart’s dam – Cutthroat trout have been seen trying to jump over the dam. Meetings with Butchart’s are going on. We still have not heard about the RFCPP grants we applied for.
   4. Maltby Lake Update – Woody says the court approved the sale of 29% of the TLC share of the property to Woody and Carmel. The date for appeal has passed and the money has changed hands. A big round of applause to Woody and Carmel. Next steps will involve going to Saanich for subdivision approval so owners will hold properties fee simple instead of percentages of the whole.
   5. Heritage – Winona said the Mapping Workshop held with help from Evergreen and Ken Josephson of UVic went very well. Valuable resources were gathered via video taped interviews done by students of Ken. The info will be transferred to CRD Green Map. Winona’s goal is to have a hard copy of the Community Map.
9.  Sherron and Winona were judges at the Royal BC Museum for student projects. They really enjoyed seeing what the students had done.
10. Mosi’s is having a rotating display of historic photos in the bakery.
11. Lake Stewardship – A BCLSS course was held at Elk/Beaver Lake. The lake has many problems because of the history of the lake shed and the many different users of the lake.
12. Web site and Facebook page – Lori continues to enrich our website. Andrea is in tune with Facebook and posts frequently. She is getting some very nice comments on her posts. She will keep adding more.
13. Next meeting: Date: 8th July
    Location: Audrey Barnes, 140 Kiowa Place.

I will be away for the month of June. For Whitehead Park contact Audrey. For other FTCW business contact Winona.