Category Archives: Meeting Notes

FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED 

MEETING NOTES 

8 JANUARY, 2014 

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

Regrets: Sherron MacPherson,

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

1. Adoption of Agenda

2. Adoption of Meeting Notes of 20 November, 2013

3. Treasurer’s report: Joanne reports a balance of $1674.98. We bought Fence posts and plant markers.

4. Announcements:

a. I did not get an article written for Dec. Our Backyard

b. Shona Smith, DFO CA is coming Monday to look at projects in the watershed. We will meet at 9:30 at Whitehead park.

c. Banner for FTCW – Lori has looked into this and we would like to go ahead with it. Frances Hunter has offered to help with layout. Lori and Winona would like suggestions for pictures to go on the banner along with our name and logo. Perhaps we could apply for a Small Sparks Grant to help with this.

d. Lake Stewardship – Secci Discs and macrophytes. Where do we want to go with these? There was strong support for moving in this direction. More frequent Secci disc readings could be taken if it were quick and easy to put Lori’s kayaks into the lake. A discussion followed about building a small environmentally sensitive dock at Killarney Creek Fan in order to facilitate this and demonstrate low impact entry to the lake.

It was also noted that there is an Imax movie currently showing about beavers and that the Robert Bateman Centre is free from 5:00-8:00pm on Wednesdays until March 15.

e. Solid Waste treatment and a RRC at Hartland – PLDCA is taking action on this. See their web site for up to date information. A well attended and well run meeting took place on Dec. 11.

f. DO monitoring results and Butchart’s dam will be discussed with Shona on Monday. See b. above.

5. Projects:

a. Web site – http://www.todcreekwatershed.ca – Lori has added photos from Prospect Lake Reflections to the web site as well as some video of the salmon at the Colquitz River Fish Counting Fence. She is having difficulty putting the meeting notes on the web site, but will have another tutorial with Dave Renfroe when he gets home.

b. Killarney Creek Fan update – Winona reports that shoots are coming up from the bits of Yellow Flag Iris roots that we missed. Because the lake level is low she is able to pull then up quite easily so far.

c. Whitehead Park update – Pulling Together crew. We are now into the winter work of pulling blackberry crowns on the next section of the park. Pat reports that some neighbours thought they should not walk through this area because the sign says it is under restoration. We will ask on at the Pulling Together Workshop on Saturday, 11th January about a small additional sign to welcome people. We also wondered about the Parks policy around use of natural areas in parks.

6. Heritage: Lori and Winona met with Jane Evans of Saanich Archives. She is putting together a brochure for a self guided walking tour in this area using the information gathered by the Heritage Society.

7. Other issues:

a. Pat reports there is Daphne proliferating along the trail from Goward to the school and on to the Interurban trail. What is the best method to remove it and do we have the person power? We will bring this up on Saturday. 

b. Woody reported the formation of the Friends of Maltby Lake Watershed in response to the great support the Lake has received in the last little while. There was discussion of the format of the group. There are over 100 people interested. It is being spearheaded by former students who have lived and studied there over the years.

c. Lori has been tracking our volunteer hours over the past year. We put in 639.5 hours in Whitehead Park including River’s Day. For grant writing purposes these can be valued at $20/hour. Audrey and Lori are working out spread sheets to record the hours put into the various projects we do.

8. Next Meeting: 5th March, 2014. Audrey Barnes will host unless someone else would like to.

FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED 

MEETING NOTES 

4 SEPTEMBER, 2013 

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

Present: Joanne Delage, Bernie Bowker, Pat Carfra, Audrey Barnes, Winona Pugh, Mary Haig-Brown

Regrets: Rick and Donna Todd, Lin Callow, Lori James Derry

1. Adoption of Agenda

2. Adoption of Meeting Notes of 1 May, 2013.

3. Treasurer’s Report: Gift Certificates from Nurseries were not redeemed but probably can still be when we plant this fall. Current bank balance $4,164.03. There are several outstanding expenses, notably Killarney Creek Fan project and Whitehead plantings. We have bought several tools recently.

4. Announcements:

a. Killarney Creek Fan work party, Saturday, Sept. 7th 9:00 – Noon We hope to finish the job, both digging and some replanting.

b. Prospect Lake School tree planting will take place on Saturday, 26th Oct from 2:00 – 3:00 at Whitehead Park. We will give the students some of our new logo stickers. Come and watch the students plant their trees.

c. LakeKeepers course took place on August 17 & 18 at the Horticultural Centre and on Prospect Lake. 18 participants learned about lake function and how to test the quality of the water. Thank you to BC Lake Stewardship Society and RBC Blue Water Project, Saanich Spark Grant, Thrifty’s and Level Ground and to Barry Britnell for the use of his dock.

d. Survey of Plants on and in Prospect Lake was a suggestion from BCLSS. Angeline Tillmanns from UVic helped us on the practical part of

the course and will come to do an initial survey of Macrophytes this week or next. (We were rained out today.) This may lead to grant applications to do a full job which would cost several thousand dollars over 3 years.

e. Web site – Lori has been working on the site and she and Carol McDougall are setting up a Face Book page. Check out our web site as it keeps growing and getting better. Some suggestions:

Update East Lake Project, with pictures of the new plantings.

First issue of Watershed Connections is not there. Is there a PDF? Apparently not, but Joanne knows how to make one from the hard copy. Watch for it soon. Pat will talk to Frances Hunter about reprinting Returning the Loon to Prospect Lake. 

Pictures of Tree Appreciation Day are mis-dated

Add note about borrowing books from the library which are available to anyone interested. Audrey donated a hard copy of Lewis Clark’s beautiful Wild Flowers of British Columbia and Pojar and MacKinnon’s Plants of Coastal British Columbia. Both are excellent reference tools.

f. There will be a Septic Savy workshop sponsored by the CRD at Hartland Learning Centre on October 5 from 9:30 – 12:00. This will be followed by an optional tour of the Landfill. A very informative and interesting event.

5. Projects:

a. River’s Day – Sunday, 29th September at Whitehead Park. Plans are developing very well. There will be a number of displays from a variety of people and organizations, events for children, a raffle and refreshments. Everyone is welcome to come and celebrate our “river.”

b. Whitehead Park – work continues in preparation for a fall planting on the East side. On west side the plastic mesh is to be removed by Saanich staff on Monday, Sept 9th. We will then be able to get out some sprouting YFI and other invasives that are springing up.

c. Killarney Creek Fan – a successful work party was held on August 24th. Much material was removed. A follow up Work Party will be held on Saturday, Sept 7th from 9:00 to Noon. Some planting will take place as well as more invasive removal. We hope we can finish the job at that time.

d. DO monitoring on Tod Creek. We have completed a year of monitoring. The results show that the creek is in need of restoration in some spots to improve water quality during the low flow period. Margaret Wright of DFO has sent results of testing on samples she took from the creek at Farmington Road and Durrance Road.

6. Heritage – The trip to Port Angeles was enjoyed by nine people. The excellent guide showed them the underground parts of Port Angeles as well as the insides and hidden corners of some historic buildings. Heritage activities will get started again now that fall is here.

7. Next Meeting – Wednesday, November 6th. Location to be announced, but possibly at Frances Hunter’s house.

FRIENDS OF TOD CREEK WATERSHED 

MEETING NOTES 

1 MAY, 2013 

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

Regrets: Frances Hunter, Rick Todd, Winona Pugh

1. Adoption of Agenda

2. Adoption of Meeting Notes of 20 March 2013

3. Treasurer’s Report: Bank Balance March 31st $3,260.32.

4. Announcements:

a. POLIS Project on Ecological Governance, Water sustainability project. Needs and Priorities of Watershed Based Groups in B.C. Report on phase 1 is at <poliswaterproject.org/publication/535>

b. PSS Dinner and silent auction raised $5,700

c. Web site – Lori continues to work on this. Check out Whitehead Park page where she has added text and pictures covering our restoration work.

5. Projects:

a. Whitehead Park – We are now working on the final third of the east side. We are removing blackberries and other invasives. We decided to plant the area as we clear it which will mean watering new plantings through the summer but prevent too much reinvasion. Last fall’s plantings are doing well. We have done some weeding around them and deer predation has not been heavy so far.

b. Killarney Creek Fan Project – We are working on getting permissions and paper work to do this project in August. Mary and Winona will work on this. 

c. Water Quality Monitoring (DO) – time to go out again on our monthly sampling. Mary and Lin will go this weekend.

d. Maltby Lake – Woody has talked to lawyer John Alexander about the process of subdivision and lake access. Bruce Hacking, who was handling this file, has retired from Saanich.

6. Heritage – AGM is 5th May at Maltby Lake starting with a walk around the lake at 1:00pm followed by the meeting.

7. Gift Certificates. Joanne reports we have two gift certificates from a wholesale nursery that must be used by June 30th. Mary will talk to Saanich about taking advantage of these for plants in the newly cleared area of Whitehead. 

8. Next Meeting – Sept 4th at Audrey Barnes’, 140 Kiowa Place