AWARDS AND COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
a) Rotary International (via the local Cataraqui Rotary Club chapter) honoured us with the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow award “In appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world”, Tues, Nov 20, 2018
b) Recognition for our work at Sustainable Kingston’s Evening of Recognition, May 30
c) Roger Healey and Mary Farrar have applied to be re-appointed to the North King’s Town Secondary Plan working group for the duration of the project.
d) Roger Healey will continue his representation on the Kingston Coalition for Active Transportation
AWARDS AND COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
a) Rotary International (via the local Cataraqui Rotary Club chapter) honoured us with the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow award “In appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world”, Tues, Nov 20, 2018
b) Recognition for our work at Sustainable Kingston’s Evening of Recognition, May 30
c) Roger Healey and Mary Farrar have applied to be re-appointed to the North King’s Town Secondary Plan working group for the duration of the project.
d) Roger Healey will continue his representation on the Kingston Coalition for Active Transportation
2) SUCCESSFUL 2018 SUMMER PROJECTS/EVENTS
a) World Wildlife Fund Canada grant of $1000 for four events successfully completed. In actuality, we did many more than four. Fifteen events were reported as part of this grant.
b) Community Foundation grant for $11,944 for “Tracking and Talking about Turtles in our Midst” was successfully completed. Huge thanks to Kenny Ruelland and Katie Walker our young “consultants” who were hired for this project and who did a splendid job. Huge thanks also to our approximately 50 volunteers who went out each morning and evening throughout the season and filled out data forms. Once again over 100 nests were successfully protected from predation and our media outreach was much improved. We now have a Facebook page.
c) Trailhead grant of $750 to connect Paddlers with Turtles. Thanks so much to Lesley Rudy and Jean Clipsham for organizing this.
d) Freshwater Future grant for $1500 US ( 1936.95) for a radio telemetry study to begin in the spring of 2019.
In addition to the daily turtle monitoring, the many turtle events completed this summer included:
April 22: Earth Day (in partnership with Ollin, a local Indigenous group)
May 2: Canoe Club Turtle and Snake Awareness Presentation
May 4: Beyond the Classroom presentation at the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority to a Grade 6 class from Madeleine de Roybon Separate School. They were also inspired to raise over $150 in support of our turtle projects.
May 5: Jane’s Walk “Inner Harbour: Past, Present and Future”
(NOTE: Also on May 5, Roger Healey also did an interesting cycle tour of the K&P as part of the Jane’s Walk initiative. Although not related to turtles he found some fascinating old stone infrastructure.)
May 23: World Turtle Day (in partnership with Ollin once again)
May 27: Turtle Awareness Day`
June 3: Turtle Awareness Day
June 5: Turtle Identification Workshop for volunteers
June 7: World Water Day (in partnership with the Limestone Board of Education)
June 8: Turtle Identification Workshop for volunteers
June 10: Turtle Table at FKIH Wheelchair Rally
June 20: Sangria Social volunteer appreciation event
June 23: Turtle Table at Skeleton Park Arts Festival
June 24: Turtle Table at Skeleton Park Arts Festival
July 12: Paddle & Pint Turtle Awareness event for paddlers
July 13: Queen’s Eco-Adventure Camp workshop on Turtles and Snakes
Aug 2: Kayakers meet Turtles Event
Aug 4: Turtle Table at Princess St. Promenade
Thanks so much to Kenny Ruelland, our local turtle expert, for his wonderful outreach at most of these events and to Katie Walker, his partner in arms for creating eye-catching, informative posters for our events, for creating and monitoring a volunteer schedule and for creating a great new Facebook page.
TV, radio and social media outreach was much improved from previous years and included:
a CKWS TV interview about our World Turtle Day event,
Station 14 feature on our turtle projects,
a radio interview with CFRC radio about our turtle projects,
announcements on Fresh Radio and Fly FM about our Turtle Awareness Days, and
a public service announcement about Doug Fluhrer Park that is still being broadcast intermittently on YOURTV.
3) UPCOMING ACTIVITY AND GRANT PROPOSALS
a) Lesley Rudy will be officially beginning a Masters program with Dr. Stephen Lougheed of Queen’s University in January, 2019. We wish her great success. She has approximately 20 thermometers currently placed in covered nests in the Doug Fluhrer Park area. She monitors the nests every morning and evening. Hatchlings from two of the covered nests did appear this past fall. Video is visible on the Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour Facebook page. We are now hoping that the rest of the young hatchlings are alive underground and will most overwinter successfully in their nests. More anon…
b) We are in contact with the CFB Kingston Dolphin SCUBA Club to see if there might be a possibility for divers to go out in the Inner Harbour to try and determine where turtles might be congregating to hibernate. We would need to be careful not to disturb them.
c) Our Freshwater Future grant for radio-telemetry that will begin this spring is being done in cooperation with Dr. Stephen Lougheed of Queen’s and Dr. Greg Bulte of Carleton. The wonderful Kenny Ruelland of Reptile and Amphibian Advocacy will attach antennae to two map turtles in the early spring to try and learn more about their range. We know where they bask and where they lay but we don’t know where they go after they have laid and we don’t know where they hibernate. Kenny is in the process of acquiring an Animal Care permit from Queen’s University and a permit from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to officially be allowed to handle live turtles to attach the antennae and monitor the turtles through telemetry.
d) We have applied to World Wildlife Fund Canada for $1800 to bring to Kingston a wonderful pair of educators from the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre to kick off our new season of Citizen-Science. Costs include honoraria, promotion, mileage, hotel, hall rental and refreshments. We are hoping for the funding for them to do two amazing workshops including live Blandings, Painted and Snapping turtles.
e) Meghan North, a student in Cultural and International Studies at Queen’s, has applied for an OceanPath Fellowship on Conservation as Reconciliation. She has expressed an interest in partnering with FKIH to reach out us and our many connections who are interested in conservation as well as inter-faith and Indigenous groups to facilitate coming together with common purpose to connect with nature and share mutual concerns. This grant can be worth as much as $25,000 and will cover her living expenses for a year as well as expenses associated with her work. Wishing her success with this application.
f) The Daughters of the American Revolution have encouraged me and the Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour to apply for a grant for Conservation as Reconciliation. Deadline is the end of December.
g) We hope to apply to the Community Foundation in the spring of 2019 to continue our Citizen-Science Turtle Project for yet another year.
NOTE: There are no longer any provincial environmental grants that we can apply for. They have been cancelled by the new Ford government.
4) K&P TRAIL OVERPASS
Sheila Kidd, Director of Transportation for the City of Kingston has informed us that in the City’s upcoming Five Year Transportation Plan, preliminary work will be included to do an Environmental Assessment of the area, a necessary first step towards the construction of the overpass.
5) OBJECTS OF OUR CORPORATION
As an official charitable organization we are requested to update the objects of our corporation from time to time. Originally when the objects were formed in 2012, it was under the Harper government and they were extremely fussy about what was allowed given concerns about 9/11 and the fact that some charitable organizations were suspected of being fronts for terrorist organizations.
The original objects as formulated with help from the federal charities directorate were:
“a) To build, operate and maintain a public recreational trail in the Inner Harbour of Kingston
b) To restore, develop and preserve the designated historical sites in the Inner Harbour that the trail passes with a view to educate the public and commemorate the sites
c) To educate the public on the history of the Inner Harbour by collecting and disseminating information in a trail booklet and through the establishment and operation of audio recordings on the historical sites
d) To undertake activities ancillery and incidental to the attainment of the above objects.”
The new revised objects are as follows:
“a) To partner with the city as active stewards of the natural environment of Kingston’s Inner Harbour – helping protect and enhance the shoreline habitat of local amphibians, reptiles, fish and birds through yearly community clean-ups, environmental education and citizen-science initiatives of Inner Harbour turtles.
b) To assist in the preservation, restoration, development and potential designation of some of the Inner Harbour’s notable built heritage.
c) To educate the public about the Indigenous, French, British and Industrial Heritage of Kingston’s Inner Harbour by collecting and sharing information through tours, apps, podcasts and publications.
d) To assist the City of Kingston in creating a legal street art wall in Kingston’s Inner Harbour and to work with community members and the city to create other public art displays in Kingston’s Inner Harbour.
e) To work with the City of Kingston to create a network of Inner Harbour accessible trails on old rail lines as well as a fully accessible 20 km trail from the La Salle Causeway to Kingston Mills and back – and to connect this trail to the Trans Canada Trail.
f) To undertake activities ancillary and incidental to the attainment of the above objects.”
These new objects were submitted to the Charities Directorate in Ottawa last September.
A reply was received stating they were acceptable but that we needed to OK them with the provincial government first as we are a non-profit corporation with the Province of Ontario.
We submitted the new objects to the province and were told we would receive a response in early October. We have yet to hear back from them.
6) HERITAGE BUILDINGS UPDATE
a) Thomas Burrowes house called “Maplehurst” at Kingston Mills
Thanks so very much to the small working committee chaired by John Grenville that included Dr. Brian Osborne and Bob Cardwell for putting together a masterful detailed application for the house to be designated as a National Historic Site celebrating the life and work of Thomas Burrowes who was the clerk for the lower section of the Rideau Canal, responsible for the logistics of construction. Originally the current owners had expressed support for this idea. They were planning on returning to the US and selling the property. However it appears they have had a change of heart. Despite health problems, they have decided to stay in their home until further notice. So, for the time being this application will remain on the shelf.
b) Bailey Broom Company
This building has been bought by RAW Design, a design company, to create an Eastern Ontario headquarters. Negotiations are currently in process with the city’s Planning Department for the rebuild.
c) The Outer Station
Hank Doornekamp and associates want to buy the property and transport the stone portion to the Inner Harbour to rebuild stone by stone. Last spring federal employees from the Ministry of the Environment, in charge of heritage properties came to Kingston to hear from local people about their concerns. Several Kingston groups and individuals spoke against this proposal including Shirley Bailey from the Frontenac Heritage Foundation, Vicki Schmolka from Building Kingston’s Future as well as a number if interested individuals including Laura Murray of the Swamp Ward and Inner Harbour History Project. As far as we know at this point, no final decision has been rendered.
d) 9 North Street – The Queen City Oil Company
John Duerkop did a wonderful history of this building that is available on our webpage – www.friendsofinnerharbour.com. Who would have thought that an ancestor of today’s Ted Rogers of media fame was actually the original owner? John’
s report includes other really fascinating details. Do have a look. This building is currently owned by the Doornekamps who plan on repurposing it into 8 apartments with the front entrance on Wellington St. As part of their plan, they will build a 2 lane road to the disability parking that will be located on the north side of the building. Their plans have been approved by the city. This past fall they tidied up the lot and stabilized the building following the collapse of the roof earlier this year. To date there has been no actual application to the city to start building.
7) WEBPAGE
The format of our webpage was recently revised. Thanks so much to Clair Grady-Smith for her work on this. Some sections still need a bit of an update. A good project for the snowy days of January.
8) ON THE WALL UPDATE
City staff has said that they would put together a report for Council with a suggestion that the wall become a permanent legal wall. This has been our aim from the outset. It was supposed to happen last spring. We are still waiting.
9) MY RETIREMENT AT THE AGE OF 80 – IN TWO YEARS
I really am serious about finishing off the work I have been committed to with this organization over the last few years. I want to move on to activities involving a more spiritual connection with the earth. I have reached out to everyone I can think of who might be interested in running an official charitable association for purposes of their own choosing – so far to no avail. Personally I would prefer an Environmental focus but an Arts or Community focus would also work. Unless someone or some interested group steps up to the plate, we will officially cease to exist in two years. All remaining funds in our bank account will be donated to other official charitable associations.
10) THANKS SO VERY MUCH TO ALL OF OUR VOLUNTEERS
We couldn’t have accomplished everything we have done to date without your continued support.
2) SUCCESSFUL 2018 SUMMER PROJECTS/EVENTS
a) World Wildlife Fund Canada grant of $1000 for four events successfully completed. In actuality, we did many more than four. Fifteen events were reported as part of this grant.
b) Community Foundation grant for $11,944 for “Tracking and Talking about Turtles in our Midst” was successfully completed. Huge thanks to Kenny Ruelland and Katie Walker our young “consultants” who were hired for this project and who did a splendid job. Huge thanks also to our approximately 50 volunteers who went out each morning and evening throughout the season and filled out data forms. Once again over 100 nests were successfully protected from predation and our media outreach was much improved. We now have a Facebook page.
c) Trailhead grant of $750 to connect Paddlers with Turtles. Thanks so much to Lesley Rudy and Jean Clipsham for organizing this.
d) Freshwater Future grant for $1500 US ( 1936.95) for a radio telemetry study to begin in the spring of 2019.
In addition to the daily turtle monitoring, the many turtle events completed this summer included:
April 22: Earth Day (in partnership with Ollin, a local Indigenous group)
May 2: Canoe Club Turtle and Snake Awareness Presentation
May 4: Beyond the Classroom presentation at the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority to a Grade 6 class from Madeleine de Roybon Separate School. They were also inspired to raise over $150 in support of our turtle projects.
May 5: Jane’s Walk “Inner Harbour: Past, Present and Future”
(NOTE: Also on May 5, Roger Healey also did an interesting cycle tour of the K&P as part of the Jane’s Walk initiative. Although not related to turtles he found some fascinating old stone infrastructure.)
May 23: World Turtle Day (in partnership with Ollin once again)
May 27: Turtle Awareness Day`
June 3: Turtle Awareness Day
June 5: Turtle Identification Workshop for volunteers
June 7: World Water Day (in partnership with the Limestone Board of Education)
June 8: Turtle Identification Workshop for volunteers
June 10: Turtle Table at FKIH Wheelchair Rally