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| Local
News
Goings-on
and Plans within our Community
Spring
2010 Newsletter
Our
most recent newsletter is now available.
Spring
2010
For
previous Newsletters, click here.
A
boulevard tree for free! - 2010 Planting
For
information on signing up for a free tree for your boulevard,
see our Activities page.
Friends
of Beckwith Park
The
Friends of Beckwith Park seek to restore the park to its
natural beauty. They are looking for volunteers to assist
with removal of invasive species. You can contact them
by email
here.
Artcards
are available of:
THE
HOME OF BRUCE HUTCHISON
Original acrylic painting by Barbara Weaver-Bosson, 2006
For more information, please go to our Activities
page.
Saanich
Council
To
keep informed on local and regional projects, Saanich
Council meetings and such, check out the District of Saanich
website www.gov.saanich.bc.ca.
Local
Bylaws
NQLUPA
past-president Ron Warden had a talk with Doug Roberts, Senior
Bylaw Enforcement Officer for Saanich, regarding Bylaw Enforcement
within Saanich.
Please click here for a transcript of this interview.
Saanich
Bylaw information is available on the Saanich
website.
Pesticide
Free CRD
is a local organization with a local cause: to influence the
ban of pesticides in each of our CRD communities: including
Central Saanich, Colwood, Esquimalt, Highlands, JDF, Langford,
Metchosin, North Saanich, Oak Bay, Saanich, SSI, SGI, Sidney,
Sooke, Victoria, and View Royal. To learn more, please visit
their website at www.PesticideFreeCRD.ca.
Together we can make change happen.
Reynolds'
Secondary School Recycling Program
The
students at Reynolds are at the forefront of green initiatives
in our community. On the fourth Saturday of each month,
they will host a drop-off collection for recyclable goods
which are not covered in the municipal blue-box program.
This
is a fund-raising effort and will be charged on a "by donation"
basis.
Some of the items accepted accepted include styrofoam, holiday
light strings, TV sets, vacuums...please see the attached brochure
for further details:
PMD Recycling Brochure
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Local
Developments - What
projects are currently underway and what is being proposed
This
page gives details of recent Development within the North
Quadra Community, including:
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| 4045
Rainbow Street: |
"Rainbow
Hill": More development to Southwest Slope of Christmas
Hill |
| 4030
Borden Street: |
Condominium/Townhome
development |
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Infrastructure
Improvements - What work
is being done or is proposed by Saanich
This
page gives details of recent improvements within the North
Quadra Community, including:
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| Douglas
Street: |
Sidewalk
Extension |
| Cedar
Hill X Road: |
Traffic
Circles and Speed Humps |
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From
2005: Lost Lake Seed Orchard development
threat eased!
Development of the
Lost Lake Tree Seed Orchard at 1020 Beckwith Ave. has gone
to the back burner. The developer that explored the possibilities
in the past couple of years has sold the property to a third
party who has no interest in developing the property at
the moment.
Thanks to all the
residents who attended the two open houses and who wrote
into Saanich Hall to express their ideas about this property.
Thanks also to the many volunteers who took the time to
deliver newsletters and fliers concerning this property
and special thanks to Eric K. and Bruce K. for leading the
information drives in their neighborhoods.
We will keep you informed
of any changes.
Below is some background
information we have compiled on the property. If you
have any additional information, history or stories that
would add to this, please send it to the webmaster.
If you have walked
the trails around the back of the ponds in Beckwith Park,
have looked west from the Blenkinsop Trestle Bridge, or
are familiar with St. Margaret's School, you will have seen
the large property with until recently operated as a tree-seed
orchard, and more recently used to run sheep.
This property contains
precious remnants of the Blenkinsop lake wet-lands, and
flood plain, and creates a critical western extension of
the Mount Doug Park area. It is also completely within
the Agricultural Land Reserve, and thus has stringent limitations
on its future use.
That is assuming the
ALR survives current provincial government review!
A developer has acquired
the land, and presumably will pressure municipal and provincial
authorities to free up the land for re-zoning, and subdividing,
to maximize return-on-investment.
If you feel this is
not the best direction of that area, please contact the
politicians, or become involved in your Community Association!
We have prepared a
map
and an airphoto
of the Seed Orchard.
History
of Lost Lake Seed Orchard Synopsis
Rayonier Canada
started the Lost Lake Seed Orchard on approx. 70 acres of
the western slopes of Blenkinsop Lake in the late 70's.
It was declared surplus by Western Forest Products and quietly
sold to a developer about 18 months ago.
The property contains
eight western
redcedar, Sitka
spruce, and western
hemlock orchards, a yellow-cedar
cutting orchard and a hybrid poplar stoolbed. Species:
Western Hemlock 39%, Douglas Fir 36%, Western Red Cedar
11%, Sitka Spruce 8%, Western White Pine 5%, Yellow Cedar
1%. Annual Production: Seed - 4.2 million seedling
equivalents; Cuttings - 300,000; Seedlings - 2.6 million.
The 1999 western red cedar crop produced an estimated 14
million seedlings from the seed produced by 93 hectolitres
(hl) of cones harvested.
The land is almost
entirely within the ALR, and surrounded by operating farms,
parkland, a school, and residential areas.
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What
do you know about the watershed you live in?
The
North Quadra area lies entirely within the Colquitz
River watershed - a fact that is certainly well hidden
to its residents, since most drainage takes place through
underground pipes. Despite this, we are surrounded by three
relatively well-know lake/wetland areas - Swan Lake to the
south, Blenkinsop Lake (formerly Lost Lake) to the east,
and Rithet's Bog to the north.
The
areas in the eastern parts of our neighbourhood drain into
Blenkinsop Lake or the creek connecting it to Swan Lake.
This creek runs more or less adjacent to the Lochside Trail,
and only runs through pipes under the Mackenzie/Borden intersection
and under Quadra. There is a little-known tributary that
comes down from the southeast slopes of Christmas Hill,
running through the Saanich Yards, and joining the main
creek right under Mackenzie/Borden.
The
area north of Christmas Hill drains north into Gabo
Creek (aka Rithet's Creek), a virtually unknown and
ignored waterway, which connects Rithet's
Bog with the Colquitz River.The new weir  installed
to control water in the Bog spills into a culvert, and few
people seem to know where the water goes. The other end
of the culvert is in a virtually inaccessible location east
of the Quadra exit ramp off the Pat Bay Highway, and behind
residences on Dieppe Road. The Creek is only visible where
Dieppe turns into Douglas, across from the former Fatt's
poultry plant, where it again enters a culvert heading west
under the highway. There is a trail heading west from Glanford,
leading to the ignominiously named Industrial Buffer Park,
where the creek comes back to light. This connects to Copley
Park, where the creek joins the Colquitz River, which runs
from Elk Lake to the Gorge at Tillicum.
Both
of the water systems are know to have river otters, and
Swan Lake has recently (2004) become home to a beaver. As
wetlands they are extremely important in maintaining may
species if plants and animals!
There
is an "open ditch" running along the east side
of Douglas, north from Rogers. This is in effect a
intermittent stream tributary of Gabo Creek, and collects
much of the surface run-off from the west-sloping land between
Quadra and the highway, north of Christmas Hill.
As you
wander around our neighbourhood, you'll notice many storm
drains with yellow fish painted beside them. These are a
reminder that the water - and any contaminants - flowing
down those drains end up in the above-mentioned creeks.
These drains tend to be the only visible evidence of or
connection to the watershed we live in, in many ways a sad
symbol of how disconnected we are from the natural world.
When
you are washing your car in your driveway, or think you
are solving a disposal problem by dumping chemicals or waste
petroleum products down those drains, remember that there
is no "away"! The health of those streams is affected
by your actions!
It would
be wonderful if more people would take note of the sparse
evidence of the watershed that we live in and entry points
to the system. As you go on walks around the neighbourhood,
watch for them. Teachers and parents should draw attention
to the watershed to the young and maybe integrate this knowledge
into activities.
Any
comments or additions to this article would be welcomed.
Harald
Wolf |
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Rithet's
Bog
Please
click here to have a look at
the Rithet's Bog material
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| Quadra-McKenzie
Action Plan update...
In
2001 Saanich received funding from the provincial government
to develop an Action Plan, which would serve as a guideline
for expected development in the Quadra/Mackenzie intersection
area. The North Quadra and Quadra/Cedar Hill neighbourhood
associations served on the advisory committee but, in the
end, were very displeased with both the process and the
product. Based on our strong comments, it now looks
like the resulting report has been received by Council,
but will not carry any official status. Hopefully
a new process will start soon which will take into consideration
the opinions of the existing residents.
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|
 There's
a Monterey Cypress on the west side of Christmas Hill, in
amongst the new development. Is it worth saving? Read
one opinion ...
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