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Environment

2017 Park Clean-Ups, Educational Walks, Inner Harbour Community Rides + Turtles

Clean-Up:
Sat, April 22, Earth Day Trail Clean-Up.
This year, the park didn’t need our help after other volunteer crews did work on “Pitch-In” day.

Educational Walks (and Events):
Sun, May 7, Jane’s Walk “Bagot Street North – Oral History from the Swamp Ward and Inner Harbour History Project”
June 5, World Environment Day – Welcoming C3 ship that was travelling up the Atlantic, through the north-west passage and back down the Pacific. An afternoon of turtle awareness, guided shoreline walk with Kenny Ruelland of reptileandamphibianadvocacy.com, and building bird, bee and butterfly houses for later installment courtesy of Lee Valley.
June 3.4.10,11 “Turtle Awareness Days” thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation in partnership with Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Keepers and reptileandamphibianadvocacy.com.
June 10, Grand Opening of the K&P Trail that now goes from Doug Fluhrer Park to the Trans Canada Trail, meeting it in Sydenham.

Rides:
Fri, June 9, Commuter Challenge with dignitaries beginning this year at Binnington Court to celebrate the new K&P Trail. Joining us this year were cycle commuters from as afar afield as Sydenham!
July 18, Wheelchair Rally where wheelchair users and friends travelled on the K&P Trail from Doug Fluhrer Park to Quattrocchi’s and back. This event actually won a prize in the “Other” category from the City’s Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee. Thanks are due to our partners, the Kingston Community Health Centres and Easter Seals Ontario, to the Community Foundation for funding and to Quattrocchi’s for some delicious free watermelon.

Turtle Monitoring Project:
For a second year, volunteers were organized to monitor and note turtle behaviour. Again we covered and protected over 100 nests of Northern Map, Painted and Snapping Turtles. Daily notes were given to a coordinator who submitted those with photographs to Ontario Nature. In addition, students of Dr. Stephen Lougheed of Queen’s University came to GPS locate the nests and create maps. At the end of the season, we met with Dr. Lougheed and agreed to expand our work beyond that of citizen-science by applying for research grants to do a long-term demographic study of Inner Harbour turtles from the LaSalle Causeway to Kingston Mills on both sides of the Great Cataraqui River. We would begin in the winter of 2018 with a hibernacula study in the Inner Harbour area close to Doug Fluhrer Park and the Tannery. We hope to get enough money for a study in the spring/summer of 2018 involving both capture and release and gps monitoring.

2016 Park Clean-Ups. Educational Walks, Inner Harbour Community Rides + Turtles

Clean-Ups:
Sat, April 9, Trail Clean-Up
Sat, April 23, Clean-Up of Douglas R. Fluhrer Park
Once again, many thanks to all of our amazing and wonderful volunteers and donors.

Educational Walks (Talk and Events):
Sun, April 10, Spring Wildlife Tour with Kingston Field Naturalists Lesley Rudy and Gaye Beckwith
Wed, April 27, Steve Manders speaking on the history of the K&P Trail
May 7, Laura Murray’s Swamp Ward and Inner Harbour History Project tour
Sun, May 15, “Woolen Mill Experience” organized by Woolen Mill businesses
June 7, Turtle Awareness Evening with Indigenous community members Georgina Riel and Jolie Brant.

Rides:
June 10, Ride with MPP Sophie Kiwala as part of the Commuter Challenge. This year, the ride began at the intersection of John Counter Blvd and Elliott Ave east of Division to celebrate the work on the new K&P Trail.

Turtle Monitoring Project:
This year for the first time we began a turtle monitoring project. From May to August, a volunteer would go out each morning and afternoon to monitor and note turtle behaviour and to cover nests with screening to protect them from predators. We covered and protected over 100 nests of Northern Map, Painted and Snapping Turtles.

Park Clean-Ups 2015

April 25: Doug Fluhrer Park Annual Spring Clean-up

Park Clean-Ups 2014

Again this past spring and fall, FKIH were involved in a number of clean-ups.

Sunday, April 27, Doug Fluhrer Park
Thanks to the many volunteers that came to help out and to the Main Street Market for coffee, Quattrocchi’s for fruit and the Bread and Butter Bakery for awesome treats.

Sunday, May 24, Trail just south of Belle Park
Special thanks to Kendra Noble and friends for organizing the trail clean-up this year. Signs posted along the trail meant more helpers than ever before! Pictures have been put up on the gallery on the webpage – www.friendsofinnerharbour.com

Friday, September 25, Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-Up
Thanks so much to Allen Yuen from the Ministry of Health at the OHIP building for organizing the fifteen helpers who came out this time to clean up in Douglas R. Fluhrer Park. His summary (required by the organization) states that 403 items of garbage, 95 recyclables and 3 items of concern were found. The most collected items, as usual, were cigarettes/cigarette butts (157). The most unusual items were part of a shovel, one dangling ear-ring, and an item of drug paraphernalia. The heaviest item was a tire. The funniest item was a pair of men’s underwear. And the items of concern were just dead fish and a dead animal – thankfully no needles or syringes. The tally is always interesting.

Clean-up crew on Belle Park Trail Saturday 24 May, 2014

Clean-up crew on Belle Park Trail Saturday 24 May, 2014
Clean-up crew on Belle Park Trail Saturday 24 May, 2014. Park and trail clean-ups are organized yearly.

Park Clean-Ups 2013

The Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour is committed to preserving and enhancing our waterfront as well as educating the public about relevant environmental and heritage issues.  Work done in 2012 & 2013 includes clean-ups, public education tours and information sessions. To learn more about public education tours and information sessions, click the Community Events tab to the right and also have a look at both the calendar and the gallery.

In 2013, we did a couple of clean-ups in the spring and another on Sept 27 at noon. The first clean-up was of Douglas R. Fluhrer Park on Sunday, April 28. The second was at the old rail line from River Street to Belle Park. Both were great events. Not so many old tires, beds and sofas this year. Mostly regular junk. Thanks so very much to our support from Kingston businesses: Quattrocchi’s, the Sleepless Goat, Costco, The Bread and Butter Bakery and the Main Street Market. So very much appreciated.

A final clean-up happened on September 27, 2013 in Doug Fluhrer Park. Thanks to David Austin of OHIP for organizing this once again under the umbrella of Loblaws’ Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up. To sign up, google Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup and type in your postal code. See you there. 

Three major clean-Ups of 2012

On April 27, 2012, the first was organized by Hearthmakers to clean up Douglas R. Fluhrer Park.  We partnered with several community organizations including the McBurney Park Neighbourhood Association, Transition Kingston, the NDP Community Action Group, Street Health, the Kingston Coalition Against Poverty and the Society for Conservation Biology.  Food and supplies were generously donated by the Main Street Market, Quattrocchi’s, Card’s Bakery, The Bread and Butter Bakery, the Wolfe Island Bakery, Transition Kingston and Living Rooms.  The Boiler Room Climbing Gym graciously provided a BarBQ for participants.  Kyra and Tully kindly entertained us all with their music.

On May 12, 2012, a second clean-up was organized along the old K&P line going from River Street to Belle Park. Gavin Hutchison from Transition Kingston provided his truck and ten dedicated volunteers took out 31 tires as well as a couple of old sofas and mattresses and 15-20 bags filled with collected garbage.  The City later disposed of the collected junk.

On Sept. 20, 2012, a third clean-up was organized by David Austin of OHIP who had signed on as a community leader for a nationwide effort, the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up.  Participants included members of the Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour, workers from OHIP, and young women from the Limestone Board of Education’s Focus Program, Girls Inc.

Public Education Tours

On June 9, 2012, we participated in a Water Stewardship Cycle Tour organized in cooperation with Hearthmakers.  Our role was providing the Cycle Tour participants with Inner Harbour pollution issues in Douglas R. Fluhrer Park as well as in the Orchard St. Marsh and the Davis Tannery property.

On May 6, the Friends led a “Jane’s Walk” celebrating the Inner Harbour community past and present.

On May 27, 2012, we led a tour for members of Kingston’s Rotary Clubs, and on July 14, 2012, a tour for the Frontenac Heritage Foundation.  In addition, we did two tours as part of the Inner Harbour Waterfront Celebration in September of 2012.

Public Education Sessions

On each Wednesday afternoon in July, 2012, Matt Ellerbeck, Kingston’s Salamander Man, came to Douglas R. Fluhrer Park to educate interested families about Inner Harbour amphibians and reptiles, bringing his live turtles, snakes and reptiles.

On Sept 14-16, we held an Inner Harbour Waterfront Celebration that included informative displays from the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY, the Frontenac Heritage Foundation, the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Network, the Friends of the Phoebe, the Marine Museum, the K&P Trail,  Parks Canada’s Voyageur Canoe replica, the Brigantine, the Friends of the Rideau, the Water Keepers, Save the Salamanders, Mac Freeman with his restored St. Lawrence skiffs, Andy Soper with his historical display of metal splicing as well as tours of the historic Woolen Mill and Inner Harbour Heritage tours.

On Oct 21, 2012, a public lecture was given about heritage and environmental issues in the Inner Harbour to Quill (Queen’s Institute for Lifelong Learning)

On Dec 2, 2012, a presentation was made to the Daughters of the American Revolution in Toronto about our work preserving and enhancing Kingston’s Inner Harbour.