White Water Rafting 101 ?

It was a beautiful day to enjoy the McIntyre Creek, and the two young ladies in the photo below were riding their rafts down the mini rapids at the Creek.

The paved trail has been completed to the road that leads to the Pump House.  It wasn't paved as wide as the area that was cleared.  I noticed a couple of dogs and their people walking down the trail today, checking it out.

June 22 - 2012

Well today I saw my first wild rose of the season.  It seems that because our summer has been so delayed, all the flowers are hustling to get blossoming, much quicker in succession than normal.

I spotted more people fishing at the Creek today, and others sitting just enjoying the environment and sunny day.

Unfortunately, it appears that more partiers have decided to invade more of  the McIntyre Creek area, and have created a fire pit, and have it loaded for burning.   The pit has been here for awhile, but it is obviously active now. As much as they are near the water, this isn't safe if sparks fly and ignite the bush, especially being so close to Takhini and Porter Creek residential areas.

The normal party area was closer to the Pump House, but there have been more signs of parties going on for the past while in this location.

I hate to be a party pooper to people who want to enjoy summer, but this is definitely unsafe behaviour, and illegal when there is a "no burning" notice out.  There was a box with the beer cans and garbage for burning close by, so at least they picked up after themselves, but still not good to have a fire pit here.

A Friends of McIntyre Board Meeting

Although the Friends of McIntyre Creek Board take the protection of the McIntyre Creek area very seriously, they are not above enjoying their meetings while they discuss the business at hand.

The photo below was taken the June 2012 meeting, showing some of the eight Board members.

McIntyre Creek cleanup

About a month ago I noticed some black garbage bags along the power line adjacent to Mountain View Drive,  leading to McIntyre Creek pump house.  I first thought someone had dumped their garbage again, but on closer inspection, saw that some anonymous folks had done a cleanup.  So to whomever you are, thank you for taking responsibility to help keep this area clean.

However, after a month, when the bags were not picked up, and the ravens and weather had started to deteriorate the bags, I contacted the City of Whitehorse to collect the bags, which they have done for us in the past when we do the Great Canadian Shore cleanup in the fall.  I contacted them one day, and the next day they had collected the bags, so a big THANK YOU to Douglas Hnatiuk, Gilles Lapres, and their staff for the quick response.

So folks, when you do your cleanups, if you are not intending to remove the bags yourself, it would help if you could place the bags at one pick up point, and then contact one of the following people at the City of Whitehorse, to collect the bags:

Douglas.Hnatiuk@whitehorse.ca
or
Gilles.Lapres@whitehorse.ca

Again, thank you to the anonymous Friends of McIntyre Creek for the cleanup, and to the City of Whitehorse for their quick response to pick up the bags.

June 17, 2012 - Finally a sunny day

On our hike today, we found people jogging with their dogs, hikers, and fishers, both human and avian.

I had been seeing an eagle on the cropped tree that was too big to be a young bald eagle, but I wasn't able to identify if it was a golden until today, when s/he was down on the shoreline watching the creek for fish, and I was able to see the golden colour on its wings.  .

The humans were fly casting at the mouth of the creek where it enters the little pond.

I have been keeping an eye on the little trees, but although some have shown life, many more have not yet, so hope there is time yet for them to root.

It appears that the housing crunch has eased up, with a decrease in demand, so we are hoping that will be a slight reprieve for McIntyre Creek, and the proposed Porter Creek D development.

This fall with the City municipal election, it will be very important for us all to ensure the people we vote to City Council are willing to listen to the people, and recognize the value of saving McIntyre Creek area for a park and recreation, as well as protecting the wildlife corridor.

Post from Mark Daniels, KSA

Here's a photo of the rock some unknown party placed to block access to the multi-use bridge a week past.  The kids and I used pipes and blocks to move it aside.  We should collectively condemn this unsafe act of ill-will.

Also, some vandal knocked over the poplar-rail fence that was protecting the revegetation just downstream of the crossing last weekend.  It was obviously done with a large motor vehicle based on the tracks and the extent of the damage.  I didn't have a camera with me on that trip but I see there are a couple of good photos on the Friends blog site.  We should also collectively condemn this act of vandalism.

Thanks,

Mark Daniels
President, KSA
Head, TCT (Yukon)

Note:  The rock was previously in front of the large rock on the left, as additional buffer to large vehicles crossing the bridge.  It was moved further to the left than its original position, which was similar to the one pictured on the right.   Gerry