Strange Happenings at McIntyre Creek

If you happen to be in the McIntyre Creek area behind the Yukon College this week, you may have come across some strange beings inhabiting the woods. The Aikido Yukon Club were holding a samurai camp during the week of June 21 to 25, and with their costumes, masks and "weapons", were having fun conducting their wars in the woods. This is another indication of how our valued area is utilized by many Yukoners, for sport, recreation, education, and just plain fun!
Photos by Gerry Steers, Gerry's Computer Magic copyright.

Spring Celebration 2010 Report

"The Friends of McIntyre Creek Spring Celebration held June 11, 12, 13, 2010 was well attended, and enjoyed by the people who took part. The weather was windy and chilly but there was no rain for the event. Several people attended the Yukon Invasive Species weed pulling, (there are a lot of weeds at Yukon College). The dog powered sports dry land racing was an interesting event, and dry land casting was very educational with Dennis Zimmerman and Bruce Ross demonstrating the techniques. Exploring nature with your child was poorly attended as it seamed the soccer and ball tournaments took all the youth. The Bird walk on Friday evening revealed many birds in the wetlands, and a visit to the salmon fish incubation hatchery along Mountain View was very educational. During this event we sampled many of the bugs and things that live in the creek and make it a great place for fish to live"










Photos by Dorothy Bradley.

Schedule for the June 11, 12, 13, 2010 Events

Time	Event and Sponsor	Details
6:30 – 7:00 PM	FOMC: Tami Hamilton Registration for June 19th & 20th Wetland Keepers Program	Yukon Arts Center parking lot.
7:00 – 9:00 PM	Bird Walk Yukon Bird Club led by Katie Aitken	Meet at Yukon Arts Center parking lot.

Saturday June 12^th

9:30 – 10:00 AM	FOMC: Tami Hamilton Registration for June 19th & 20th Wetland Keepers Program	Meet at far end of Yukon College parking lot, closest to student residences.
10:00 – 12:00 AM	Yukon Fish and Game Association: John Carney Dry Land Casting.	Meet at far end of Yukon College parking lot, closest to student residences
12:00-1:00 PM	Yukon Environment: Bruce Bennett Exploring Nature with your Child	Meet at far end of Yukon College parking lot, closest to student residences
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM	Yukon Invasive Species Council: Bruce Bennett Invasive Species Walk and Weed Pull	Meet at far end of Yukon College parking lot, closest to student residences. Wear sturdy shoes and bring work gloves.
3:00- 6:00 PM	Northern Research Institute Open House McIntyre Creek Salmon Incubation Facility: drop in any time between 3:00 and 6:00 to tour the facility, see incubated salmon and fish from McIntyre Creek, invertebrate sampling, etc.	We suggest walking down the trail from the Yukon Arts Center toward Range Road, then north along Mountain View Drive to the hatchery. If you decide to drive to the fish hatchery and park at Mountain View Drive please be very careful of traffic.

Sunday June 13^th

6:00 PM

Dog Powered Sports dry land racing with Jonathon Lucas

Meet at Icy Waters on the Fish lake Road.

First Annual General Meeting June 14, 2010

Friends of McIntyre Creek are having their first Annual General Meeting, Monday, June 14, 2010, 7:00 pm, at the Yukon Public Library. This is a very important meeting for us to choose officers, and set our course for the work required to protect the McIntyre Creek wildlife corridor, and begin our planning for the proposed park. Please plan to attend this meeting with us and share your views.

McIntyre Beach?

It isn't my idea of a beach, but this is the second time in two weeks I have seen people relaxing on the small gravel area at McIntyre Creek by the pumphouse.
This just shows Yukoners are tough folks, and the pleasure we get from being around McIntyre Creek, is worth any discomfort we might feel from lying on the gravelly "beach".

Flowers

It is easy to walk by the many blossoms that are flooding McIntyre Creek these days, but this blossom caught my attention. Do you know what it is? Yes, it is the common dandelion, the plant we all consider a nasty weed, yet if you let yourself observe the flower, you will see it is truly beautiful. We fight so hard to grow flowers in our gardens, and hate the dandelion, but it really is an amazing plant. You can eat the leaves, it has beautiful flowers, and it doesn't need to be babied, as it grows in even the most difficult soils. So maybe we should slow down and observe some of the beauty nature offers us, which requires nothing from us, but to enjoy.
Photo by Gerry Steers

Garbage at the Creek

I was very disappointed to see that sometime last night, against the fire ban in Whitehorse, that some one built a fire in McIntyre Creek at the beaver pond near the Takhini sub division. I think they might have felt they were being responsible, by putting the fire out with sand, but they also left their cans and garbage in the sand pile. It never ceases to annoy me that people find it so easy to carry their drink cans & their food bags into the Creek area, yet once they are empty, they find it too difficult to carry their empty containers out. How do we educate people to be responsible to the environment??? I expect they enjoy the environment, or why else would they be there, so why do they not respect it? More mysteries to be solved...