EVENTS
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NEWS
Beckwith Music in the Park 2017
Attend this a fabulous annual family-friendly event!.
The popularity of our 6th annual Music In The Park concert and picnic event last July nearly exceeded its bounds once again. A whopping crowd of 2200 enjoyed the music of “SOUL SHAKERS”, in the full splendor of Beckwith Park, for 2 hours on a glorious summer evening. This year, on Tues. July 18, 2017 we welcome the family friendly, folk/rock band "YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY". And there is a lot more happening!
For more information on upcoming July 18, 2017 Beckwith Music in the Park, click here.
Friends Of Beckwith Park (FOBP)
There’s been a lot happening in Beckwith Park these days! The volunteer group, Friends of Beckwith Park (FOBP), have been working hard regularly for the past 6 years to keep your park in great shape! In addition to eradicating Scotch Broom, our first target, FOBP continues to fight English Ivy, English Holly, Daphne, English Hawthorne and other invasive species. Please read the full article here.
Note from Eylin: We meet every month on the 2nd and 4th Saturday at 9:30 am for 2 hours. Tools are provided, so come whenever it works for you! Contact Eylin Gilbart at eylingilbart@hotmail.com or phone 250 479 1617.
Friends of Hutchison Park
Residents of North Quadra are most grateful to Suzanne Wood for offering to lead volunteers in restoring this small park gem on Rogers Ave, also known as Rockhome Gardens. Currently volunteers have been clearing invasive species on a call-out basis, often weekday mornings.
A message from Suzanne: "We are also gradually learning what can be done to enhance this park's beauty and to build a healthy thriving green space. New volunteers are very welcome. Everyone works as much or as little as they like. We also just enjoy each other's company. Tools and instructions are available. At present we are concentrating on removing invasive ivy from the trees. Please pass this message along to anyone else in the community you feel might be interested".
For time and date notification of the next work party event phone 778-433-3630 or email here. (ourpark@shaw.ca).
Our latest 2017 work party dates are Wednesdays: March 29, April 12, May 10, etc. Please do not hesitate to drop by and say hi even if you aren't able to join the work party.
Bruce Hutchison Park Invasive Species Removal Party
The North Quadra Residents' Association, in a partnership project with Pearson College students, has helped restore the Garry Oak Ecosystem of Bruce Hutchison Park. Bruce Hutchison Park, a beleaguered gem in North Quadra located between Rogers and Lily, is a small remnant Garry Oak area that has become overgrown with invasive species such as English Ivy, Daphne Laurel and Scotch Broom. In March 2014, The North Quadra Residents' Association, in conjunction with the District of Saanich Parks, and with the help of residents and community members, joined Pearson College students to remove invasive plant species.
More photos are can be seen here: Hutchison Park Work Party
Hutchison Park on Roger's Ave. is still in dire need of a rehab or stewardship program resembling Beckwith Park’s model. The key is volunteers, and most notably someone willing to stand as a group contact. Saanich’s Pulling Together Program takes care of all the planning, risk assessment requirements, logistics and tools and Saanich Parks is most supportive of volunteer efforts. Any effort, large or small, contributes a great deal to a park’s ecological restoration. If you can provide leadership or lend a hand with invasive species removal and native species planting, please contact Jenny Eastman at Saanich Pulling Together Volunteer Coordinator 250.744.1710 or Send Mail to ferns1@telus.net
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
Oil tank Leak
The two Saanich neighbours are struggling with the crushing costs of cleaning up a heating-oil tank leak, and one is suing the other, but Gina Dolinsky and Gavin Edwards still chat over the fence that separates their yards.
Edwards, who retired to Vancouver Island from Alberta last year, has spent more than $60,000 cleaning up oil leaking from an old tank he did not know was buried in the backyard of his home on Adelaide Avenue.
Click here for some more detail