Ecological Reserves

Are you not only a paddler, but also a friend of an ecological reserve? It's nice to think of ourselves as friends to these protected places, based on our blog posts about some of 'em!
There's a great website that lists all the ecological reserves here in British Columbia. Many of these reserves are on lakes and islands; just looking at this list makes me want to take my little inflatable kayak out to paddle as many of these places as possible! As possible without treading on bird's nests or fragile plants, of course.

Protecting the Urban Forest

What does the Urban Forest have to do with kayaking? Plenty, for paddlers who live in a city. Most of the time we get to spend on the water is at the edges of our city -- or right in the middle, when we're on the Gorge! 

When it's hot in town, the neighbourhoods with trees are shaded and cool. When it's raining, the trees drink up much of the damp from the ground underfoot. And for purely visual enjoyment, a bit of Urban Forest is pleasant. I've paddled on urban waterways, and the ones with trees & brush along the banks were the best places to paddle. Give me a stretch of working harbour bracketed and broken up with tiny park-lets of green (road allowances and shoreline access points) any day over a shoreline of condominiums! What comes back to me, over and over, from my time on the Red Deer River is the breeze blowing me great gusts of pine and fir scent from a clump of trees on one shore... then I'd go round a bend and get gusts of sage and dust from the next riverbank.

Well then -- trees are good. And the municipality of Saanich is proposing amendments to their Tree Protection Bylaw. These amendments are intended to protect and enhance the Urban Forest. Here's a press release sent by Saanich for residents to consider:

A report from the Director of Parks and Recreation dated February 25, 2014 regarding the proposed amendments to the Tree Preservation Bylaw will be considered by Saanich Council at a Committee of the Whole meeting to be held on Monday, March 10, 2014, from 7:30 pm in the Council Chambers, Saanich Municipal Hall, 770 Vernon Avenue.
The details of the proposal are outlined in the report which is available at: www.saanich.ca/tree-preservation-bylaw.
You are invited to attend the meeting and make representation to Council on the matter if you so choose. Correspondence may be submitted for inclusion in the meeting agenda via mail to the address noted above, or by email, and should be received no later than 4:00 pm on the day of the meeting. All correspondence submitted to the District of Saanich in response to this notice will form part of the public record and will be published in a meeting agenda.
If you have any questions or require additional information with respect to the proposed amendments, please contact Saanich Parks at 250-475-5522. If you have any questions with respect to meeting procedures, please contact Legislative Services at 250-475-1775 or by email

Endangered Species!

Thanks for that thought, Tim Gill. Let's do our part as paddlers to keep from being an extinct species!

USA's EPA report on the Salish Sea

The Salish Sea is our home waters here at Kayak Yak. That's the inland waterway newly re-named to acknowledge the Salish First Nations people; previously, maps named parts of the Salish Sea according to various protocols. It's good to have a collective name that acknowledges how Georgia Strait, Desolation Sound, Puget Sound, the harbours of major cities, and the watersheds of many islands and the mainland are all connected and affected by common factors.

Western Washington University's map is on the EPA website

As a kayaker, it's tremendous to realize that we are living in what is one of the finest places in the world for cold-water sea kayaking. Apparently tropical sea kayaking is pretty darned nice too, but hey, I still haven't paddled every launch site near home yet, so I'm not jonesing for warm water! And we've got some terrific lakes to paddle as well, and river kayakers have good times in our area.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the USA has some comments to make in their recent Health of the Salish Sea Ecosystem Report. Check out their website and see what key indicators they've been studying to monitor changes both good and bad in this part of the world. I'm pleased to see that they're acknowledging both the needs of humans and of wildlife!

So far, they've found good news about air quality, freshwater quality, and toxic chemicals in the food web. But there is not good news about stream flow, and marine species at risk, and other key indicators. The executive summary of the EPA report sums up all their findings in plain language -- read it here.

The bottom line: appreciate where we are, and take good care of it.

Hey! New issue of Georgia Strait Alliance newsletter

Y'know, I figured that nobody really wants to hear again about me scooting around inside Cadboro Bay. I get to do it so often, and at times of day when other people are stuck indoors for things like jobs or appointments. No one needs another "freelance writers work long hours so we can take looooong coffee breaks in a kayak" post today, not when our pals Robyn and Mark are writing about a wonderful kayak camping trip they just took through the DeCoursey group of islands to Valdez for five nights. Check it out here, for photos of their boats and the shores, wildlife & float planes.
Maybe you'll wonder, like me, about how their buddy got a full-sized axe inside his kayak... I'm guessing it's handy when chopping driftwood for a camping fire, but ooo, not so much fun if he happens to roll his kayak.

Instead, I'll post a link to the latest issue of the Georgia Strait Alliance's newsletter. Hot damn, this is an active group, with connections to all sorts of groups in this area and info on what matters to bring to the attention of your local government, your MLA, and MP. If you're a paddler in the Salish Sea, whether year-round or on vacation, you can find out how to turn your interest into socially-responsible activities that support small boat users and the environment. Go here for the GSA's website with links to its online atlas and other resources.

Vote For The Coastal Environment

Yes, there's an election called for May 14, here in British Columbia. No, that's not a kayaking topic, not at first glance. But I'm hoping we'll all go into this election ready to vote not only as citizens, but as small boat people.
I hope that we'll all make sure that whoever we vote for as a local candidate, whichever party they represent, all of the people we want to represent us will also represent our concerns for the natural world where we live. Sustainable use of our resources supports jobs and people as well as the environment! The Department of Fisheries and Oceans cannot do good work without good directions from provincial and federal authorities.
Check out Alexandra Morton's blog here to see her concerns for salmon preservation. There must be other websites and blogs that you can recommend to help us all be informed about our candidates and our parties, and our local concerns. I also like to go to Anne Hansen's blog, not only for her comments but for her artwork -- check it out and scroll down to see oystercatchers & other charming coastal creatures!

Plastic

When we're out in our kayaks, we pick up bottles and bags floating in the lakes and bays.
It doesn't take much effort. And it's really worth it. Trash takes a long time to break down. Every summer there's a clean-up day here in the Gorge, and volunteers take away heaps of trash. There are kayak rental places in Toronto that give renters a price break if they come back with a bag of trash picked up during the boat rental.

If you've ever wondered why there's all the fuss about plastic trash in the ocean or lakes, here's a reason why. Plastic is shiny or colourful, attracting the attention of birds and many other kinds of animals. And they eat it.
A speck or two of plastic does no good but isn't much trouble to a large bird. But albatrosses have been found with their bellies full of plastic. It doesn't digest, and it can blog the animal's stomach, killing it.
Even a few bits of plastic cause problems to smaller animals, with BHP and other chemicals affecting the animal's health if it doesn't choke outright. It's enough to make me resolve that when my plastic kayak is finally at the end of its useful span years from now, the plastic will be recycled instead of put in a landfill.

News for Fuel Tank Owners About Spills

Hey, yesterday's post about a fuel spill in a local creek didn't cover everything. I may have mentioned salmon spawning in Colquitz Creek, but there's also many other fish and living things in that creek and Swan Creek year-round. When kayaking there, we've seen raccoons and many kinds of birds.
The Saanich News wrote an article about these animals and also included information of interest to homeowners with fuel tanks. Turns out that they've got advice on fuel tank maintenance and a pdf to download from the municipality. Knowledge is power. We can learn things to help us keep our neighbourhoods cleaner!

Not In My Back Yard!

The usual meaning of "Not in my back yard" seems to be "Put that inconvenient urban necessity out of sight from MY house" for many people who campaign against sewage treatment systems and jails. Now, as for me, I'm usually more of a YIMBY than a NIMBY. I want my sewage treated responsibly and I figure that as far as jails go, though we don't need as many new prisons as the current federal government is trying to push on us, what jails we do have should be clean, supervised and close enough to urban centres for... but I'm digressing.
I had a NIMBY moment today, on the water. Stephanie took this photo a couple of winters ago, showing Karl paddling on Panama Flats when Colquitz Creek was flooded.
This morning dawned so calm that after walking the dogs I got into my wetsuit. The sun was just rising as I took the little green rec kayak down to the beach. Lovely! The mist was rising off the water and blowing off-shore, the sky was so clear that I could have seen the volcano cone of Rainier if there hadn't been clouds piled up along the Olympics and in the direction of Puget Sound. The weather will probably change later this morning.
Today I took time for only a short paddle to the little rock garden and into Sheep Cove. I had to get back quickly to write this post before going to class. The kingfisher scolded me again, and perched to be admired. Other than him, the rest of the birds pretty much ignored me dabbling along. At the head of little Sheep Cove, I looked up into the bare trees along the tiny creek that pounds down the rocks in the rainy season. There it was -- the little red bridge that I love to see in winter! The tiny creek runs under it, and under another footbridge nearer the shore, and falls into a scoop of shoreline mostly circled by a low cement wall. It was a perfect moment to watch the tide swell up just a little, washing a gentle wave into the scooped pond, and then watch the water drain out. This is the only place I've found with a reversing current like that.
I paddled back over winter-clear water, enjoying the sight of the bottom fifteen and twenty feet down as the sun rose higher. The bubbles from my little kayak's wake were still there on the calm water, twenty minutes and more after I'd passed on my way out from the beach.
I passed a floating plastic bag that might have blown off a boat, and a sunken tin pie pan that was probably frisbee-ed from shore. Seeing human trash reminded me of why I had to get to my computer and write this post. There has been another fuel spill locally.
You can read about it in the Saanich News in their article appropriately titled "Oil spill stains urban miracle." It's on the front page, with a sub-heading "Catastrophe strikes Coho-laden creek."
This spill was not from a fuel truck crash. It was from a home heating oil tank that leaked a few days ago.A pipe leading from a homeowner's fuel tank sprung a leak, and over a few days released an estimated 1,000 litres of heating oil into Swan Creek, which drains into Colquitz Creek. John took this photo of Colquitz Creek. That's the salmon stream that we've written about here on the blog, the one Karl and Stephanie have paddled down from Panama Flats.
Swan Creek doesn't run through my own back yard. But it does run past my aunt's condo. I've walked in a little park along this creek that also runs past the townhouses where our friends Leslie and Darren used to live. That fuel tank wasn't mine or in my own neighbourhood, but I must have walked within a hundred yards of it several times before eating and relaxing at a nearby home.
That's it, for me. Not in my back yard. Not in my friends' and families' back yards. Accidents happen, but fuel tanks are owned by people who can look after them. There's no excuse for letting a newly-filled tank drain over several days.
No excuses. I walked back from the beach this morning, put the kayak away and looked at my landlady's fuel tank. No oily stains, no petroleum-product smell, no leaks visible from the tank or lines into the house. No fuel slick on the puddles around the Beach House. Not in my yard.
I'm putting out a call to readers of Kayak Yak. If your home is heated with fuel of any kind, go check that the fuel tank and pipes aren't leaking. I mean it. Go to the tank in your yard or the gas pipe that enters your apartment building. And while you're at it, check if the driveway near your home has any oily stains spreading into a storm drain. I'm just sayin'.
And then write a comment in reply to this post, telling me you checked that your heating fuel is not leaking. John's got some features on the right-hand column of this blog, showing our regular readers. You know who you are. We know that we can't stop all the fuel spills in the world, but we can each look after our own yards.And if you see any fuel spilled on the ground or water in BC, in town or out in the boonies, call the 24-Hour Spill Line toll-free at 1-800-663-3456.

New Orca Calf Spotted

Following up on Alison's interesting post yesterday about using dogs to track whale scat to determine the health of our local endangered orca pods, the Victoria Times-Colonist reported that L Pod has a new arrival, the first known calf for the mother, L82.
The orca calf mortality rate runs at about 50%, and one calf born earlier this year has already died, as have two older L Pod males, and K11, the 77 year-old matriarch of K Pod. The current number of orcas in J, K and L pods is 87. Historically, the number has been around 120 but decades of hunting and captures reduced that number to 71 in the early 1970s.

Sniffing out whale scat, on Radio 4

Came across this on the Radio 4 website: The Dog and the Whale - scientists training dogs to guide them to whale scat, as a source of information about whale health and wellbeing.

Tucker's [the sniffer dog's] work means the scientists can start to piece together an explanation for why a special population of killer whales in North America is at risk of extinction.

This community of orca lives between Vancouver Island and the mainland US Pacific coast. They number about 90 individuals and in recent years they have suffered some terrible times. Two years ago, about one in ten died. Several years earlier, 20% of them were lost.

The program should be available to listen until next Tuesday, 9 pm GMT.