Category: Uncategorized

Uplands Park April 22-2017 Earth Day BioBlitz Featured In Oak Bay News

“Oak Bay bio-blitzed to Celebrate Earth Day: Bioblitz highlights diversity, fragility of life” by Tim Collins

Published in Oak Bay News. Full article available online
Published Online: Monday, April 17,2017. Published in Print: Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Page A3.

Article Excerpts:

In Canada, 2017 will feature 35 official bioblitz events as part of the nation’s sesquicentennial

Not to be left out, Victoria will join the movement on Earth Day, April 22 in a bioblitz to catalogue the ecosystems and adjacent habitats of Upland’s Park, Beacon Hill Park and the University of Victoria campus

.… “We’re very excited about the event. It’s so important for people to get outdoors and develop a sense of place…an understanding of where we live and all the wonders surrounding us,” said Margaret Lidkea, the Chair of Friends of Uplands Park, one of the organizations contributing to make the event possible.

…. Her organization will have volunteers at Upland’s Park to help guide volunteers through the trails and to help safeguard some of the more rare species already known to exist in the park.

…. The blitz runs for 24 hours as experts work around the clock (from 6 pm on April 21 to 6 pm on April 22) to identify as many species as possible. For the general public, the action starts at 9 a.m. and run until 1 p.m. on April 22 when they are invited to join guided tours at all three sites. The public is encouraged to make notes and take photos of the species they encounter to add to the inventory.

….. In addition consulting with to the on-site experts, participants are encouraged to use their smart phones to document the plants, insects, birds, mammals, and every living thing and upload the photos to iNaturalist.org, an organization founded at UC Berkeley to develop a living history of life on earth.

…. Dr. Valentin Schaefer, the chair of the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT), heads up another of the partners in the bioblitz project. He said the project is critical in places like Uplands Park.

…. More information in the bioblitz is available at bioblitzcanada.ca.

Uplands Park 2016 – 2019 Restoration Plans and Map Featured – Oak Bay News – Sept 13/14-2016.

The Sept 14, 2016 issue of the Oak Bay News featured the restoration work being planned for Uplands Park over the next few years [2016 – 2019], supported by a significant three year funding grant from the federal Habitat Stewardship Program.
Oak Bay News article Posted online on Sept 13, 2016.
The article authored by Christine van Reeuwyk, of the Oak Bay News, can be viewed at http://www.oakbaynews.com/news/393182601.html

A planning map of treatment areas over the next three years.
A planning map of treatment areas over the next three years. Photo contributed to Oak Bay News by Oak Bay Parks. 

Friends of Uplands Park Activity: Building Birds Nests. Sunday April 24,2016

 

Friends of Uplands Park Activity: Building Birds Nests – A family  program

Sunday, April 24, 2016 from 1:30 to 3:00pm
Uplands Park – On the grassy area at the entrance to Cattle Point

“Do all birds build nests? Where do they build? Is a tree an apartment building? What materials do they use and how do they collect them? How do they hold their nests together? Join Friends of Uplands Park’s Margaret Lidkea , retired teacher from Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary. Observe a collection of bird nests. Participate in an inter-active presentation. On a ramble, look for birds building nests, gather your own materials like a bird and build your own nest. Suitable for all ages. Donations appreciated.”

FOUP Building Bird Nests April 24-2016 index

 

Poster by Margaret Lidkea

Photos from the Oak Bay Urban Tree Symposium [November 3, 2015]

The Oak Bay Urban Tree Symposium, hosted by Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT), the Friends of Uplands Park (FOUP), and Oak Bay Parks, held on November 3, 2015, at Windsor Park Pavilion, attracted a near full house. Councillor Hazel Braithwaite welcomed Guests. Chris Hyde-Lay, Manager, Oak Bay Parks Service, provided a well informed overview of the important benefits of the Urban Forest and introduced the members of the panel. Expert speakers both educated and inspired guests and entertained us too: Adam Taylor, (HAT Executive Director 2008 – 2015) reporting on the HAT aerial study of Greater Victoria and Oak Bay, showing significant tree cover loss and increase in impervious surfaces (roads etc.) over the last 5 years; Jill Robinson (new HAT Executive Director – November 2015 ); Ron Carter (Retired District of Saanich Arbourist);  Matt Fairbarns (Restoration ecologist, Member of Oak Bay Parks & Recreation Commission, and Trial Island Ecological Steward). The Friends of Uplands Park provided refreshments and closed the evening with a heartfelt thank you, from Margaret Lidkea, to all the guests and speakers. Thank you to Kevin Webber, Friends of Uplands Steering Committee Member, for taking the following photos.


Urban Tree Symposium Poster half size 2015-11-03 parks_symposium_flyer