When you signed up as a member of Sunnyside Acres Heritage Society we forwarded your name to Surrey for inclusion on their mailing list for “Surrey Stories”.
However we have felt that this does only a partial job of keeping you up to date on our various activities. We plan on sending out missives such as this one on an irregular basis to keep you informed.
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As you have no doubt gathered from the write-ups in the Peace Arch News and the Now we have had two quite successful activities during the spring. On May 10 we pulled a lot of Lamium and planted many trees and shrubs followed three weeks later by our birthday party when we honoured Roy Strang for his many years of effort. Another re-planting is planned for Saturday Sept. 27, you will be reminded of that event in early Sept.
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Our President, Ron Meadley, has twice encountered individuals releasing squirrels into the Forest. The pesky Grey or Black Squirrel, same species, just variation of colour, that is so common in our residential areas is an introduced animal that has driven out the much smaller native Douglas Squirrel, which is virtually never seen in residential areas any longer. It is regularly encountered only in forested areas but even this last refuge is being put at risk by people transplanting their problem squirrels into the depths of the Acres. It is against Provincial laws to either trap or transport a fur-bearing animal and it is against Surrey By-Law 13480 to introduce any plant or animal into any Park. If anyone has a problem they should contact a Pest Control Company that has the equipment and licences to trap animals, and then follow up to ensure that they do not just release them into a Park .
A common comment heard from regular visitors is the lack of rubbish bins. Like all of us the Parks Dept. has budget problems and are not planning on installing more garbage cans. They have placed a new bin at a trail entrance on 144th Street in the vicinity of 26th Avenue and we have assumed responsibility for emptying it on a regular basis. If we, as “binkeepers”, do a satisfactory job of staying on top of the rubbish at this location there could be more of them placed at other trailheads. But how many are we prepared to look after???
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Off-leash dogs, or rather, the owners of off-leash dogs, are an ongoing problem, as they tend to be at every other Park. We, as volunteers, can only mention to these people that it is not an off-leash area, even that, on occasion, produces language that you would not expect from seemingly well-behaved respectable people. The By-Law Officer will be entering the Forest for short periods twice a week during the summer, after a few warnings she may be issuing tickets, these are not low-priced items and maybe the word will get out that the law is there to be obeyed.
Ron Meadley 604-535-3507
Brian Bjarnason 604-531-5069
Al Gasser 604-535-5443
Mark Williams 604-538-6043
SUNNYSIDE ACRES NEWSLETTER
Winter 2009