[Roxanne Rousseau]

 

Dear Members, The Outdoor Recreation Council (ORC) of which SKABC is a Member Organization, has provided us with the following:

Here is an excellent article on the deplorable state of BC’s Provincial Parks written by Peter Wood of the Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society and published in the Times Colonist.

Please see:

http://www.timescolonist.com/<wbr />opinion/op-ed/comment-budget-<wbr />fails-b-c-s-beleaguered-parks-<wbr />system-1.2188324

If you have troubles opening this link I can send to you directly the contents of the article.

 

Best,

 

Roxanne

Conservation Chair, SKABC

[Inge Zegel]

Do you have some great pictures somewhere of SKABC events–trips, training course, social events? We’d love to have them for possible use on the club website.

As you know, the website is undergoing some changes. We started with reorganizing and updating information. The next step will be update the look of the site. We intent to use more pictures to illustrate who we are and what the club is about. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

If you have photos from SKABC events, ideally with people clearly visible, enjoying themselves and looking (smiling) at the camera that you’d like to share, please email them to the Communications coordinator. If possible, include the location and/or event name.

Thank you!

[Nick Heath]

On time and sort of on topic – Vancouver Aquarium will host a session (as they did  last year) at 7 p.m. Monday, March 7, 2016 also via live streaming. See Aliens

They charge admission, unfortunately. The focus again this year seems to be still on tsunami debris, although anyone who paddles our shores knows that this is/was only a very minor part of the beach flotsam mess that we encounter everywhere.  I think it must have something to do with their funding source…and their wish to spend at least some of this cash on something other than salaries & benefits. Probably worth taking in anyhow, and you could ask some probing questions!

[Nick Heath]

Thanks for keeping this rolling, Roxanne! I’m unable to attend but hope you have a lively one.

I have been trying for some time on the Exec to get attention paid and revisions made to our Camping Guidelines course handout and our official Gear List.  I feel both of these should be sent to each new member and widely distributed to all other members, but only after some critical changes have been made to bring them into line with current LNT principles. I’d be happy to share my ideas wit the group for kicking around.

 

[Nick Heath]

I agree with  almost everything you say, Jonathan, but part of this is about influence and politics, so in order to generate the inevitable ‘spin’, organizations seem to feel the need to gather data and justify themselves.

I really like the idea of cleaning up wherever and whenever we go – this has become part of our family’s modus tourandi and it could/should be the club’s too.  One of the problems with picking up stuff is volume. Making a big pile on a beach for some other person to maybe pick up does not seem useful.  It is certainly a better idea is  to travel with a suitable container – a fine  mesh bag might work best.  I have used an old sail bag, but they are usually too big.

Some boaters (like me) might be willing to pick up stuff that is already piled on a beach, but it depends how far away it is – distance is fuel and fuel is both money and pollution.  Burning gobs of fossil fuel to pick up errant plastic bottles is hard to justify.

Eventually, our cleanup actions have to become normal rather than abnormal or special occasion behaviours.

I like the idea of a trip out to Cockburn Beach, but I suspect it would not generate enough participants. However it is worth a try.

[Roxanne Rousseau]

This was posted by Jonathon J.

Roxanne’s email reminds me to post my thoughts on doing a shoreline clean-up with Great Canadian Shore Line Clean-up, which I was keen on at our last meeting.

On the plus side, there are lots of pre-defined shoreline areas to choose from with this group, or one can submit a new one (but presumably it goes through a review process and my guess is that a site that is only accessible by kayak might be rejected as being inaccessible to many potential participants).

However, participation requires counting every item collected and weighing the results. Personally, I think this more than doubles the effort of simply cleaning a shoreline, and reduces the enjoyment. There is undoubtedly some value in the resulting statistics, but…

So, although I was keen on the Great Canadian Shore Line Clean-up, to begin with, I’m now thinking that simply getting out and cleaning up some shoreline, without official sanction, is simpler and more enjoyable. I’m with Reed on the idea of a trip to clean some area up, if a suitable one can be found, and otherwise, or in addition, I’d suggest that we work on making clean-up a part of every official SKABC trip and training course. If every club trip (and ideally every private one as well), took a few trash bags along and collected at least all the small stuff on a beach or campsite, if not the large items, it would make the site that much nicer for the next group. No matter that a few changes of the tide later brings new stuff; it’s not about perfection or returning the beach to a pristine wilderness state as much as it is just making it a bit better for the next group of visitors, in my view. I think this would provide a great sense of satisfaction, without having to record exactly how many plastic bags and cigarette butts were picked up.

Perhaps the next step in the above is to present this to the club executive for official endorsement of the idea that every club outing include a clean-up component, and to the trips and training coordinators to include in materials provided to trip leaders and training course instructors. Maybe it should go on kit lists as a standard item.

I’m going to attempt to put my money where my mouth is and take trash bags on my next paddles and see if I can’t make some small difference.

As for a clean-up day trip by this group and interested others, I defer back to Reed on finding a suitably garbage-strewn area for us to visit. Happy to join that paddle. What about a tour of a few spots in Indian Arm, like Racoon or Twin Islands? Or surely there is some garbage somewhere in Howe Sound. Maybe the mid-June trip can plan to bring back whatever is found.

Jonathan

[Roxanne Rousseau]

Hello and greetings from Roxanne, Conservation Chair with SKABC – our next social gathering will be Tuesday March 22, 2016 at 7pm at Zawa’s Restaurant on Commercial Drive. Hope you can come for a lively discussion on themes that matter to club members. Discussion on leave no trace camping and thanks to Alison for starting a conversation. We will talk about best practices as another topic for the night. As a member how do you feel about the use and effect of microbeads in our waters – thanks to Karin for sending in a link to: http://www.ecojustice.ca. Check the site out and the information on micro-beads. There is a lot of passion on shoreline cleanups and thanks to Reed and Jonathon who have contributed to this conversation.  Let’s continue the talk!! Action can be part of our planned kayak trips! See you soon and let me know if you can join us at Zawa’s.  Roxanne

[Roxanne Rousseau]

This was posted by Reed Clarke:

Paddled out of Pender Harbour to Cockburn Beach on Nelson Island, yesterday. I think this would present a very worthy target for a club cleanup.

Check it out on my blog: https://seareedblog.wordpress.com/

[Reed Clarke]

Paddled out of Pender Harbour to Cockburn Beach on Nelson Island, yesterday. I think this would present a very worthy target for a club cleanup.

Check it out on my blog: https://seareedblog.wordpress.com/

[Jonathan Jacobsen]

Roxanne’s email reminds me to post my thoughts on doing a shoreline clean-up with Great Canadian Shore Line Clean-up, which I was keen on at our last meeting.

On the plus side, there are lots of pre-defined shoreline areas to choose from with this group, or one can submit a new one (but presumably it goes through a review process and my guess is that a site that is only accessible by kayak might be rejected as being inaccessible to many potential participants).

However, participation requires counting every item collected and weighing the results. Personally, I think this more than doubles the effort of simply cleaning a shoreline, and reduces the enjoyment. There is undoubtedly some value in the resulting statistics, but…

So, although I was keen on the Great Canadian Shore Line Clean-up, to begin with, I’m now thinking that simply getting out and cleaning up some shoreline, without official sanction, is simpler and more enjoyable. I’m with Reed on the idea of a trip to clean some area up, if a suitable one can be found, and otherwise, or in addition, I’d suggest that we work on making clean-up a part of every official SKABC trip and training course. If every club trip (and ideally every private one as well), took a few trash bags along and collected at least all the small stuff on a beach or campsite, if not the large items, it would make the site that much nicer for the next group. No matter that a few changes of the tide later brings new stuff; it’s not about perfection or returning the beach to a pristine wilderness state as much as it is just making it a bit better for the next group of visitors, in my view. I think this would provide a great sense of satisfaction, without having to record exactly how many plastic bags and cigarette butts were picked up.

Perhaps the next step in the above is to present this to the club executive for official endorsement of the idea that every club outing include a clean-up component, and to the trips and training coordinators to include in materials provided to trip leaders and training course instructors. Maybe it should go on kit lists as a standard item.

I’m going to attempt to put my money where my mouth is and take trash bags on my next paddles and see if I can’t make some small difference.

As for a clean-up day trip by this group and interested others, I defer back to Reed on finding a suitably garbage-strewn area for us to visit. Happy to join that paddle. What about a tour of a few spots in Indian Arm, like Racoon or Twin Islands? Or surely there is some garbage somewhere in Howe Sound. Maybe the mid-June trip can plan to bring back whatever is found.

Jonathan

[Roxanne Rousseau]

Dear All,

Due to conflicts with volunteerism (exec meeting on the 23rd of Feb) and conflicts with a proposed date on the 24th of Feb for most people, we will have to reschedule our conservation social meet up for March 22, 2016. I do realize that this is during the Spring Break but I wanted to keep to the third Tuesday of each month.

This will give me time as well to pull together some topics for the next time we see each other. Some good news is that the Howe Sound trip is coming together for June 15th. I have also received a lot of information regarding Leave No Trace Camping and hope to bring up the topic at the next executive meeting. Finally could we plan a day trip and perhaps look at some measures of garbage documentation and or pickup – Jonathon could we have some ideas?

Do let me know if you can commit to the 22nd of March 2016 at 7pm at Zawa’s.

Best wishes,

Roxanne

[Nick Heath]

Already gave another commitment for that evening. I’m sorry to not attend.

 

[Jonathan Jacobsen]

Hi Roxanne,

There’s a 50-50 chance I can come Wed eve.

Jonathan

[Sandy Rubin]

Sorry but I can’t meet on Wednesday, Feb 24 as I have another commitment.  Sandy

[Rob Leeson]

Hi Roxanne

Sorry I can’t make Wed for our meeting.

Rob

[Author]

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