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April Update 2022

Dear Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour,
Trust you are all enjoying some lovely quality time this Easter weekend.
Thanks so much Debbie O’Grady for the wonderful sunflowers against the blue sky.  Our hearts go out to the brave Ukrainians who are suffering so much.  Truly makes us feel profoundly grateful for all that we enjoy here in this magical place..Lots of spring happenings. And lots to be grateful for about the value of Nature, esp. the value of trees.
 
LOCAL SPRING HAPPENINGS
1. Pitch-In Kingston Returns April 17-23
2. No Clearcuts in Kingston’s May 20 Public Meeting now online + City’s Tree Perspectives
3. Thurs, Apr 21 Public Meeting re proposed high rise at Queen and Barrie
4. Sat, Apr 23 Community Clean-Up of McBurney Park
5. Memorial Centre Farmer’s Market News
6.Sunday, May 1 McBurney Park Musical Event and SPAF Update
 
NEWS FROM FARTHER AFIELD
7. Marine Museum/H’Art Centre to deliver Arts Project
8. Canada Eyeing Green Shipping Corridor in the Great Lakes
9. Lake Ontario to Rise 6 Inches by May 1
10. How the Great Lakes Got Their Names
11. Massive Dock Construction Underway for Cruise Ships in Milwaukee
12. Maps of Great Lakes Shipwrecks Reveal one of N. America’s Biggest Graveyards
 
AND NOW THE FUN STUFF
15. Amazing Recipes for Wild Foragers.  So much fun
16. Great retrospective videos of our Turtle Appreciation and On the Wall Street Art Events in 2017
17. Bridge Program Success
18. Reducing  Microplastic Pollution from Washing Machines


1. Pitch In Kingston Returns April 17 – 23
If you would like to be involved with a few others, do consider taking on a small portion of the K&P Trail to clean it up. Due to COVID, FKIH will not be participating officially this year trusting that members will feel encouraged to organize themselves in small groups to help. I, MARY FARRAR, WILL BE PRESENT PERSONALLY AT THE USUAL RIDEAU AND RIVER ST. LOCTION ON SATURDAY, APR 23 AT 9 AM AND WILL BRING ALONG A FEW GOODIES FOR ANYONE WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN ME.Otherwise, see participation details are hereinbelow.

Sustainable Kingston, in cooperation with the City of Kingston’s Solid Waste and Public Works departments, is thrilled to announce that Pitch-In will be returning this spring. Taking place over the week of April 17 – 23, and coinciding with Earth Day on April 22.
Pitch-In will engage hundreds of volunteers in a community-wide clean-up. 

Sustainable Kingston’s COO, Cedric Pepelea, is thrilled to bring back the event that was cancelled due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. “I think we’re all ready to roll up our sleeves, get outside, and get all of those discarded masks and litter out of our public spaces,” says Pepelea. 
In 2019, the last year Sustainable Kingston organized this event, over 9,500 individuals collected an estimated 35 tonnes of waste. Sustainable Kingston received an award from Pitch-In Canada in recognition of this widespread community participation.

This year, individuals, schools, organizations and businesses can register online at: www.sustainablekingston.com/pitchin-2022-registration. A list of drop-locations and a Pitch-In FAQ are also available at sustainablekingston.com.

Yellow Pitch-In bags will be available to be picked up at the KARC Centre at Kingston Area Recycling Centre (196 Lappan’s Lane), and Kingston Public Works (701 Division St). If participants are unable to access Pitch-In bags, they may use their own.
 
For more information about how your organization can participate, contact Geoff Hendry, Manager of Communications and Business Development at Sustainable Kingston at geoff@sustainablekingston.com.

2. No Clearcuts in Kingston’s May 20 meeting now online + City’s Tree Perspectives
Received from Kathleen O’Hara Friday, April 15
Public Zoom Meeting: Wed,, Apr 20, 6:30 – 8:30
For obvious reasons, we are moving our 6:30 this Wednesday meeting to virtual We hope you can join us!  This isn’t just about North King’s Town. It’s about how all communities can be pro-active as City Hall clearcuts and “intensifies” with too little public discussion!
Here is the link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81708651843?pwd=UU1mYnFiazQwK2VYTjlMbit5c0ZuZz09
Kingston’s trees – and citizens – are facing many challenges! City staff, Mayor Paterson, and aggressive developers seem to be in a rush to develop several areas of the city.  Many of them forested!

Here are some of the threats:
A) The former Davis Tannery site:  The two recent Planning Committee public meetings on Patry’s Tannery proposal to clearcut 1800 trees were a triumph for citizen participation! 
The first meeting, March 24, was watched by 163 people, 37 spoke against the proposal (3 for), and more than 370 have since watched it on YouTube.  16 more engaged citizens spoke at the second meeting a week later … all against.
Unfortunately, the format was frustrating.  Patry’s men were given time to respond to our concerns and questions, but we weren’t allowed to challenge inadequate or inaccurate statements.
So, the campaign continues!  We are still gathering names on our petition.  We are also researching less destructive ways of cleaning up the site, so the urban forest can remain. Any help/contacts appreciated!

B) Past and Present Clearcuts:  
a) Patry has clearcut Walnut Grove at Princess and Sydenham Rd
b) Trees have been cleared at Eunice Drive
c) More than 2000 trees are being removed on Clogg’s Rd)
d) The forest on Resources Rd is now being cut.

Proposed Clearcuts:  
a) Two forested sites on Montreal St.  
b) It looks like the new zoning bylaw will allow a subdivision in a forest between Little Cataraqui Creek and Taylor Kidd  
c) The Central Growth Strategy makes way for the destruction of homes and trees along Johnson St. and Wright Crescent.

C). Misleading Tree Count:  
Some of the damage being done to our tree canopy seems hidden by city staff’s method of tree counting.  
According to the tree bylaw, only trees 150 cm (6 inches), diameter at breast height, are being counted.  Those under that width are not.  This leaves a whole category of trees unaccounted for – making cuts, especially clearcuts, seem less damaging.
At the same time, city staff are adding any young trees they plant to their inventory.
This is highly misleading.  The tree count in city staff’s recent Tree Report must be corrected and the tree bylaw amended!
Please use the information above and send your concerns to the city clerk, John Bolognone, jbolognone@cityofkingston and mayor&council@cityofkingston.ca. One line will do.  They need to know many are watching/aware!

D). City staff, Mayor Paterson, Patry, and other developers claim that the Tannery and other projects are required for “intensification.”  Yes, more housing is definitely needed, but not on land covered with forest and wildlife!
There are empty fields along Montreal St. crying out for development!  Why are they being ignored?
Please join us at 6:30 pm, Wednesday, April 20 to discuss better intensification locations and models.  We want mixed, affordable, walkable, green homes and neighbourhoods.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A most interesting and encouraging Environment, Infrastructure and Transportation Policies committee meeting was held last Tuesday, April 12 to address some of these issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-TaSBGaAJc
Wonderful delegations by a variety of university students connected with Loving Spoonful and Little Forests as well as interested and informed citizens were offered. City staff’s responses to these delegations and to Council questions were encouraging. Definitely recommended  background viewing for all who would like to attend the No Clearcuts meeting online on May 20.


3. Thurs, Apr 21 Public Meeting re proposed high rise at Queen and Barrie
Received from Lea Westlake, Friday Apr 15.
“NO 16 @ Barrie & Queen
Varsity Realty Inc. and Podium Development have applied to build a 16 storey high-rise at the corner of Barrie and Queen around the 2 storey home of Rose Deshaw.
There is a public meeting about this on April 21st at 6pm. 
You can register for the meeting here: 
https://www.cityofkingston.ca/residents/city-calendar-events/-/calendar/QUmzuR567ExT/event/39089589
Send letters of opposition to this proposal to the Planning Committee by April 18th at the latest. Here’s a copy / paste email list.
rkiley@cityofkingston.calosanic@cityofkingston.cajneill@cityofkingston.cawhill@cityofkingston.caschapelle@cityofkingston.carhutchison@cityofkingston.caefawcett@cityofkingston.catpark@cityofkingston.caggrant@cityofkingston.camrobidoux@cityofkingston.ca

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks Don Mitchell for this wonderful link about options for density https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFkxoDUgcwU

4. Sat, Apr 23 Clean-Up of McBurney Park
Saturday April 23 at 9am – Park Clean Up and Garden Planting. Annual mulch around the little trees, clean up and help plant seeds at the Garden Beds. Bring Gloves, Rakes, Wheelbarrows. Masks are a good idea. Meet at Bay street by the mulch pile or at the Garden Beds. (rain date 24th)

5. Memorial Centre Market News
Received early April, 2022
a) The online market will close up for the spring/summer as of Thursday April 21st.
b) Sunday May 1st marks both the re-opening of the outdoor market and our Tenth Anniversary. 
c) Summer market hours will remain the same at 9am-2pm Sundays through October 30th.
d) While it’s too soon to say if there will be any special events this year, we will definitely be welcoming back live music and yoga class-on-the-grass.
e) As always, we continue with our mandate to increase access to locally produced food and to breathe new life into the Williamsville neighbourhood.
f) Individuals, businesses, and families alike are invited to be a part of our next chapter!
We invite you to help us continue to build strong local food infrastructure by becoming a sponsor of the market.
g) Are you part of a market family? Individuals and families are invited to sponsor with any amount and, if you wish, offer a short personal dedication on the market website.
Are you part of a local business or brand? By becoming a sponsor, your business will:
Be seen strengthening the shop-local economy
Be heard supporting local artists and entertainers
Be known for growing local food infrastructure and vibrant community
All sponsorship funds received support the development, community engagement, and promotion of the farmers’ market activities: performances, food education content, special events and arts.

In turn, we offer these benefits:
$50 – $249 MARKET FRIEND
– Name of individual, or message, on market website
– Collective thanks on social media
– (Anonymous contributions also welcome)
$250 – $499  MARKET SUPPORTER
– Company logo on market signage
– Company link, & logo on our website
– Individual thanks on social media
$500 – $999 MARKET SUSTAINER
– Everything listed above plus…
– Logo included in our weekly e-newsletter (3000+ subscribers)
$1000+ HEADLINING SPONSOR
– Everything listed above plus…
– Additional signage at market music tent
– Brochure/Flyer space at the market information table
– Logo included on any printed promotional material.
We are available to answer any questions you have.

Contact Jolene Simko at marketing@memorialcentremarket.ca or 613.583.2569.
The deadline for logos to be included in on-site signage is 9am Friday April 22nd. 
Sponsorship campaign ends 9am Wednesday April 27th.

Ready to sign up? Follow the link for registration and payment instruction.

6.Sunday, May 1 McBurney Park  Musical Event and SPAF Update
Sunday May 1st at 12 noon – 3pm Annual Park Update Meeting with Music. Teilhard Frost and Jason Mercer will entertain, sponsored by SPAF!, meeting to start at 1pm. By the Garden Beds, bring a chair.Lemonade will be served, bring a mug.
Hear what we’ve been up to, share and visit with neighbours you haven’t seen all winter, or for 2 years. kids welcome.
Rain (it won’t rain) We will meet at Next Church, Colbourne Street.

NEWS FROM FARTHER AFIELD
7. Marine Museum, H’art Centre to deliver ‘Our Great Lakes’ arts project, Kingstonist News, April 13, 2022.  The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston is partnering with H’art Centre to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the US.  According to a release from the museum, this partnership is an opportunity for the museum to increase access to its programs through a relationship with H’art artist participants while collaboratively building community art initiatives through the ‘Our Great Lakes’ project.

8.Canada eyeing green shipping corridor in the Great Lakes, Offshore Energy, April 5, 2022 (also appeared in 2 other publications).  Members of Canada’s Chamber of Marine Commerce (CMC) are looking to explore the potential for a multi-stakeholder initiative to establish a new Canadian green shipping corridor in the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence waterway.  As explained, the industry could collaborate with government and research facilities to create a green shipping corridor in the Great Lakes where recent practices would be demonstrated.  This would include the use of cleaner energy sources being put to the test and, as viable, used to reduce carbon.  Bruce Burrows, CMC’s president/CEO, is quoted.

9Lake Ontario to rise 6 inches by May 1, WSYR, April 4, 2022.  Water levels on the Great Lakes are expected to rise as temperatures increase this spring.  According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, water levels on the Great Lakes remain above their long-term averages except for Lake Superior.  As of April 1, Lake Ontario was 20 inches above its 2021 level and Erie was nearing its 2021 level. Water levels on all other Great Lakes were lower than one year prior.
Ice melt, above average precipitation help lower Great Lakes rise, Detroit News, April 7, 2022.  The Great Lakes should start their seasonal rise over the next month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District said.  Lake levels trend upward in the summer months, crest in July and then slump during the winter.  Hydrologists do not anticipate the lakes will rise near their record-high levels in 2022, though lakes Erie, St. Clair and Michigan-Huron likely will be above average.  Water levels on lakes Superior and Ontario are projected to be about average.

10. How the Great Lakes got their names, FOX 2 Detroit, April 5, 2022.  The Great Lakes may surround Michigan, but it’s the region’s indigenous and colonial history that surrounds the ways we know and identify them.  From Ypsilanti to Tecumseh, to Ottawa and Mississauga, the cities and towns and geographic features that dot the Michigan landscape are full of references from the past.  Many of the names are derived from indigenous tribes and chiefs.

11Massive dock plans underway as Milwaukee strives to become top cruise ship destination on Great Lakes, CBS 58, April 7, 2022.  After two years of a halt in the cruise industry because of the pandemic, Milwaukee is expecting a boom in that industry.  Port Milwaukee has plans underway to add a larger dock to their South Shore location to serve larger ships.  “Since 2018 we have seen a precipitous increase in cruise activity on the Great Lakes coming to Milwaukee,” said Adam Tindall-Schlicht, director of Port Milwaukee.  He said they’re expecting over 10,000 cruise passengers in 2022. That number in 2018 was 1,000.

12Maps of Great Lakes shipwrecks detail one of North America’s biggest graveyards, Big Think, April 7, 2022.  Though they seem peaceful, North America’s Great Lakes can be as dangerous as the open seas.  There are enough sunken ships in these lakes to justify a Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum (at Whitefish Point Light Station on the northern shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, near the eastern end of Lake Superior).  There are over 6,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, which have claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.  At least 200 lie along the particularly treacherous 80-mile stretch of Lake Superior shoreline, which bears the cautionary nickname “Shipwreck Coast.”

AND NOW THE FUN STUFF
15. Amazing Recipes for Wild Foragers.  So much fun
https://practicalselfreliance.com/spring-foraging/
including pictures and recipes for marsh marigolds, chickweed, fiddleheads, curly and yellow dock, day lily shoots, hosta shoots, violets, plantain, ground ivy, garlic mustard, wild garlic, dandelion, nettles, burdock, pussy willows, Japanese knotweed,  thimbleberry, yarrow, queen Anne’s lace, linden leaves, tree sap

Here is a sample fromashley.adament@gmail.com
You can enroll for her updates.
Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) is one of the first wild edible plants of spring. It’s commonly cooked as a pot-herb, and people once welcomed it to their tables after a long winter of stored food.
While everyone’s getting excited about spring dandelions, they’re missing out on an even earlier spring green (and flower). Marsh marigold carpets shady wet spots, bursting into a stunning display of yellow blossoms about a month before the first dandelion.
In the north, they’ll arrive later in April, but they’re already out in warmer climates…
New Post: Foraging Marsh Marigold

16. Great retrospective videos of our Turtle Appreciation and On the Wall Street Art Events in 2017
https://youtu.be/AeQbnzd0K0Y

  

https://youtu.be/RC5i8RxpvSA

17. And a reminder once again of just how wonderful the Limestone Board’s Bridge Program is. We are so grateful that the students have adopted the canoe as a fellow classmate and it is thriving among them there.https://youtu.be/wOjLmM6p3eE.
Hopefully next year, post COVID, we will be able to help organize another community build.

18. Interesting Initiative to Reduce Microplastics from Washing Machine Waste Water.
https://georgianbay.ca/washing-machine-filters/

So that’s it for April. 
Wishing you all a Happy Easter Weekend and a wonderful spring season ahead,
Mary Farrar, President,
Friends of Kington Inner Harbour