Category Archives: Meeting Notes

March 2011

Present: Winona Pugh, Audrey Barnes, Art Dimock, Bernie Bowker, Woody Thomson, Frances Hunter, Mary Haig-Brown

Regrets: Graham Walker, Sherron MacPherson, Lori James Derry

  1. Adoption of Agenda m/s Audrey/Bernie
  2. Adoption of meeting notes from 5th January, 2011 m/s Winona/Pat Struggle with Web site may be solved soon.

3.   Announcements:

a) Marian McCoy is leaving Saanich Parks.  We are very sorry to see her go and hope that her position will be filled shortly.  In the meantime Cory Manton is looking after her work.

b) Have the Scottons changed their e-mail? Yes, they have.  Audrey sent the new one this morning.  See above.

c) FTCW have bought two square metres in the middle of Mary Lake.  Thanks to Sherron for arranging this.

d) Our Backyard deadline for submissions is March 16th.

e) Saanich Parks Pulling Together work shop – April 16th.

f) Salmon Enhancement Programme – Weekend Conference in Campbell River May 20-22nd.  This is a very useful conference for Streamkeepers and others interested in stream work.  http://www.pskf.ca/workshop/index.html will be the web link with further details.

g) Saanich – Development Permit Atlas is a new atlas showing areas of environmental concern such as wetlands, endangered ecosystems, marine shorelines, etc.  These areas are now provided protection similar to that afforded by the Stream Side Protection legislation.

Parks and Trails Survey is leading to the new Parks and Trails Master Plan being worked on by Saanich parks

h) Pacific Salmon Foundation and Salmon Kings fundraiser game – March 16th.  To volunteer to help or to get tickets contact Michelle Lam at PSF at (604) 664-7664 ext 108 or mlam@psf.ca .    We have an application to PSF for funding for Meadowbrook Reservoir.

i)               Saanich Climate Action: Tap by Tap programme www.tapbytap.ca for information on how you can get a free low flow showerhead.  These showerheads are for fixed pipe showers not hand held ones, but they are available to those on wells as well as those on city water.

j) Restoration Institue 2011 – Novel Ecosystems.  UVic May 27 – 28th.  This has just been announced.  Tod Creek Flats is a Novel Ecosystem, which is the term for created ecosystems to take the place of damaged or destroyed ecosystems.  More information to follow.  Later: Actually Novel Ecosystems are ecosystems that have changed due to changing climate so Tod Creek Flats is not really a Novel Ecosystem.

 

4.   Updates:

a)     Survey re: boat use: Graham is away

b)    Butchart’s Fishway – Thanks to Pat’s intervention Mary has emailed with Laura Akam who prefers to work with only one person. She has been talking with Erica Blake of DFO.  Erica met with Butcharts on Feb 10 who may go ahead with this project this summer.  Erica has recommended Ian Bruce as project lead.  Next week Erica is meeting with BC Parks about permitting for work in the Park.

 

5.   Projects:

a)     Tod Creek Flats – Mary and Deborah presented to Peninsula Agricultural Commission in January.  They recommended we talk to Saanich Council so Mary and Winona are talking with each Councilor to make sure they understand the project.

Mary met with Lana Popham, MLA, who suggested a community information meeting about Tod Flats Project.  She would arrange venue, food and publicity.  We agree this is a good idea and will proceed with the planning. The venue could be either Prospect Lake Hall or the Unitarian Church, which overlooks the site.

b)    Meadowbrook Reservoir:  We have applied through Peninsula Streams for a PSF grant to do this project.  Erica is supporting this with part of her rationale being the work on the Flats and on Butcharts fishway.  Art wonders how we will be sure the water dedicated for conservation actually gets down Tod Creek where it is needed.  We will have to keep watching for a mechanism to ensure this.

c) Eastlake – Sandy Munns, a Royal Road University student has offered to draw up a planting plan to this area.  Winona has rescued some plants that could go there.  We need to have another session of removing ivy.  This could take place near the end of April but should not conflict with celebrations at Whitehead Park.  We will contact people by e-mail when we have a date.  Lori has a list of those who took part in November.  Mary will call her.  Later: Lori will phone people on the list and we will collect e-mail addresses from now on.

d)    Whitehead Park – We have submitted a grant proposal to Walmart-Evergreen in partnership with Saanich to plan and plant the riparian area of Whitehead and Eastlake.  We want to involve Prospect Lake Students as part of this.  We should hear about grant after March 31st.

Planning for an opening celebration is in progress in conjunction with Becky Goodall of Saanich Parks.  The Mayor would like to attend so date is not yet set.  The next planning session with Becky Goodall is Friday March 11th, 10:00 at Tia’s.  Mary and Winona will attend.

e)     Prospect Lake School – Mrs Lael’s class is interested in doing a little fundraising to help buy some heather plants for the rain garden.  The acquisition and planting will be done with the help of Pacific Horticultural College Students.  We need to arrange this. Winona will find out from Lori who we should contact at the Hort College to arrange this.  Later:  Our contact is Anne Drummond.  The students are ready to do their fund raising, the plants are set aside and Mary will pick them up at the end of April.

f)     Heritage – Walk, research, etc.  Lori and Winona.  A very successful Heritage walk and gathering at Tia’s was held in spite of the rain and snow on Sunday, 27th February.  Mary and Winona have been interviewed by Gwen Currie who is doing a book on Tod Inlet.  Gwen’s research is getting far more detailed than she planned, but she is fascinated by what she is finding out and is a great source of information.

Heritage AGM is in March.  Time and place TBA.

g)     We all lament the huge loss of trees in the area due to new house construction and excessive clearing around them.  There seems to be no recourse.

 

Walk: We will do the Heritage walk following the script written by the Heritage Society.

Meet at Prospect Lake School Sunday 27th March at 1:00.

7. Next meeting: Wednesday, 4th May, 2011

Audrey Barnes house, 140 Kiowa Place at 7:30 p.m.

 

 

 

January 2011

5 January, 2011
Posted on February 2, 2011 by mary

Next meeting: Wednesday, 2nd March at Haig-Brown/Bowker’s, 237 Meadowbrook Road.

Present: Graham Walker, Bernie Bowker, Pat Carfra, Sherron MacPherson, Frances Hunter, Audrey Barnes, Winona Pugh, Mary Haig-Brown

1. Adoption of Agenda m/s Bernie/Audrey
2. Adoption of Meeting Notes from 3rd November, 2010 m/s Audrey/Pat
3. Updates:

a) Survey re boats on Prospect Lake – Rick and Donna have decided not to pursue this. Through discussion we agreed we would like to collect data about boat use and local resident’s desires for the lake. Graham agreed to draft a questionnaire to be circulated to residents living on and near the lake to determine this. We will also consider polling users of the boat launch on Echo Drive and at Whitehead Park sometime in the summer.
b) Heritage Society – Have had an information gathering meeting with Bruce Davies, the curator of Craigdarroch Castle. They have also begun gathering information through interviews. Several other names of people to interview were suggested.
c) Septic Savy Workshop – attendance was low perhaps due to the first snow fall, but excellent information was well received by those who did attend. I was reminded that effluent should stay in the tank as long as possible in order for the bacteria to break down solids before they go to the drain field. No more doing two loads of laundry in one day.
d) Butchart’s fishway – Pat will talk to Barry Britnell to see if he can urge it along.

4. Projects:
a) Tod Creek Flats – Grant application score so far 0/4. Deborah Curran and Mary will make a presentation to the Peninsula Agriculture Commission next Thursday.
b) Killarney Creek Fan – Winona will ask HAT to come and have a look at the area with view to a possible conservation covenant. She will also ask for ideas on yellow iris removal or control.
c) Meadowbrook Reservoir – Engineer Mike Thompson is drawing up plans for a repair to dam. Ian Bruce and Francesca Loro of Peninsula Streams, a heavy equipment operator (Spider backhoe) Walt, Mike Thompson, Bernie and Mary will be going up to the reservoir on Saturday to measure depths and slope of toe of dam, work out logistics and make cost estimates. These will be used in a PSF grant application due Feb. 15th.
d) Whitehead Park – work area is underwater. We look forward to getting back to work later in the season.
e) Eastlake – We had an excellent turnout of 22 people for the Ivy Pull in November. There is more ivy to pull and we need to replant the area we have cleared. Mary and Sherron will work on a Walmart-Evergreen grant application to support this work. Marian McCoy has agreed to help with this. We may include Whitehead Park in the area for replanting.

5. New Business:
a) Lori is concerned about coconuts falling on people’s heads, but since this is in Hawaii we decided it was outside our watershed and therefore outside our mission.
b) Celebration of Whitehead Park playground opening. We would like to hold a celebration of the park and our restoration work for Earth week in April. We could apply to Saanich for a matching grant to go with our $250 from the Invasive Plant Council for our work on Eastlake. We could have interpretive walks, Pen Streams watershed model, invasive plant info etc. Sherron to start process going. Mary and Sherron to work on next steps. Anyone who would like to help, please let one of us know.

6. Walks: Next walk is another visit to Mary Lake. Saturday, 15th January at 10:00. Meet at Whitehead Park at 9:15 to car pool.

7. Next meeting: Wednesday, 2nd March at Haig-Brown/Bowker’s, 237 Meadowbrook Road.

November 2010

3 November, 2010

Next Meeting:  5th  January, 2011 at Pat Carfra’s house, 181 Goward Road.

Present: Bernie Bowker, Audrey Barnes, Lori James Derry Winona Pugh, Pat Carfra, Frances Hunter, Art Dimock, Sherron MacPherson, Woody Thomson, Mary Haig-Brown

1. Adoption of Agenda

2. Adoption of Meeting Notes from 7th  September, 2010

3.Updates:
a)    Conservation Connection – Audrey and Bernie reported on a very successful day.  They were impressed by the discussion among politicians and their commitment to the environment.  They noted there were no provincial Liberals on the panel.  The presentation by CRD Parks offered a chance to talk to Parks personnel.  They also enjoyed the networking with other groups.
b)    Hartland Happenings – Mary did not register soon enough to reserve a table this year.  We agreed we would like to attend next year.
c)    Saanich Parks Volunteer training – Winona, Sherron, Audrey and Mary attended.  The discussion about signing for a criminal record check in order to be a Lead Steward was interesting. No FTCW members agreed to sign.  We appreciated the chance to talk with other volunteers and laughed at how many invasives were being pulled from parks.  A tour of Cuthbert Holmes Park to view recent work near Admirals Bridge and discussion about plans for plantings on Tree Appreciation Day (Nov 7th) was instructive
d)    World River’s Day – happy time at Whitehead Park with the willows gone
e) Prospect Lake School garden and Hort Centre – Sherron and Lori have arranged for students from Glendale Gardens to come and do a proper clean up and mulching of this garden.  This will happen this Friday Nov 5th at 9:00 am when Derek Duffy and his students come.
f) Survey re boats on Prospect Lake – Rick and Donna are away.  They will bring the draft questionnaire to the January meeting.  Art has the results of a visual survey he did in 1987 counting power (ski) boats.  It would be interesting to repeat this next summer to see if there is a difference.  We also wondered about students gathering data on all boats on the lake and including counts at the two boat launching sites.  This issue will be discussed more fully at our next meeting.
g) Web site: Winona, Lori and Mary had lessons from Dave Renfroe.  Check out the web site.  We are slowly getting brave enough to make more entries.
h) Heritage Society: Lori and Sherron have launched a GAB (Guided AutoBiography) group as a fund raiser/awareness for the Society.  They are working on a brochure for a Heritage walk in our neighbourhood..  Lori and Winona have been to the archives where they found a map with the names of the original settlers.  They will be conducting their first interview tomorrow.  The subject is Mrs. Durrance.  The curator of Craigdaroch Castle will be the guest at their next meeting.
i) Saanich Parks Plan – Winona attended the session for Parks volunteers yesterday.  Again a discussion about the Criminal Record checks.  Also a discussion about speaking to the press as an individual or as a representative of Saanich Parks.  A need was expressed for an inventory of plants and other resources in natural areas of the parks preparatory to a Parks Plan.  Attendees also noted the need for more support for Saanich staff especially over the removal of invasives.  Mary will be attending a similar session for Saanich Committee members on Monday.
4.Projects:
a)Tod Creek Flats – Mary reported that grant proposals are going ahead.  We were rejected by the Real Estate Foundation of BC, are on the short list for Van City EnviroFund, and have submitted proposals to Agriculture, Environment & Wildlife Fund and to Enviro Canada’s EcoAction Fund.
b) Killarney Creek Fan – Winona has learned that we will need more partners for the project to be successfully funded.  We will build these partnerships and apply again next year.
c) Meadowbrook Reservoir – Mary, Ian Bruce and retired engineer Mike Thompson looked at the dam today.  Mike suggested a method of repair that would not involve digging into the existing dam and would probably not involve any heavy equipment needing to cross the stream.  Details are being worked out in time to apply to Pacific Salmon Foundation in February.
d) Whitehead Park – Pat reported on a chance meeting with the biologist, Sarah Stallard, who oversaw the removal of the willows.  She had driven rebar into the sediment.  Near the bank the muck was 5 feet deep and farther out it was 10 feet deep.  The hope is that the weir will be opened slowly so that this sediment is not washed down all at once.  Members continue to work in the park on Mondays at 9:30 am and welcome anyone who cares to join us.  With the help of Marian McCoy we planted some native willow stakes (from Rithet’s bog) on Monday.  Members thought that we had done enough of that and were reluctant to see more willows (even native ones) go in where the others had come out.  We still have much picking up to do and will concentrate on the east side of the creek.

5.New Business:
a)    Development Permit – Estelline Road.  The request is to add on to the existing house in the area between the current house and the road.  We saw no problem with that and have advised Saanich planning of our decision.
b)   Eastlake Communities Pulling Together – Sunday, 14th  November from 1:00-3:00 – Frances has made a wonderful poster and handbills advertising this event.  We will post these on mailboxes and pass out the handbills.  Mary to send a copy to Invasive Plant Council of BC to post on their website. Pat and Frances will deliver notices to residents near Eastlake.  Mary will ask Marian if Saanich can lend us some tools.
c)    Septic Savvy – Saturday, 20th  November 2-4 p.m. at Prospect Lake Hall– Winona has some posters which are on some mailboxes already and members took more to post.  The event will include some information on related issues such as composting and Saanich’s pesticide by law.
d)    Book List – Lori has made the attached list of the books in our library.  If anyone would like to borrow one, let Lori know.  SOMEONE HAS BORROWED SAANICH HERITAGE STRUCTURES.  WILL WHOEVER IT IS PLEASE RETURN IT TO LORI?
6.Walks:  We will go to Mary Lake in the Highlands.  Date and time to be announced.

7. Next Meeting:  5th  January, 2011 at Pat Carfra’s house, 181 Goward Road.