Oziles Marina Canoe Club Reservations
Petrie Island Cleanup 24 June 2017
On Saturday, June 24th at 10am, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) will be hosting a cleanup with our help here on Petrie Island. It will involve a general cleanup of debris/garbage, and likely some trail maintenance as well. WWF will be bringing a van with information and displays on aquatic animals from the Vancouver Aquarium, and will be set up just north of the picnic area parking lot. If you are interested, please come prepared to do some work with proper footwear (rubber boots or other closed toes shoes you don’t mind getting a little muddy) and work gloves if you have them. We look forward to seeing you and hope you can all make it out to see how the flooding has affected Petrie Island!
2017 SPRING FLOOD: Floodwaters have receded, and the island is now accessible. Both Friends of Petrie Island volunteers and City of Ottawa crews are busy restoring the park and trails, which suffered considerable damage. Planned activities will resume when it is safe to proceed, so please keep monitoring our website for updates and a revised calendar, check signs posted by the City on site, and keep checking our Facebook page for more frequent updates. Many thanks to all who offered assistance.
More photos of the island in flood are filed as Dispatches.
2017: TWENTY YEARS OF SERVICE
As Canada turns 150, the Friends of Petrie Island mark their 20th year of volunteer service to the community. In 1997, members of a group formed to maintain the walking trails of Queenswood Heights /Fallingbrook in Orleans saw potential in a nature preserve and park at Petrie Island, acquired in 1983 by the municipality from its private owners. The Friends of Petrie Island also opposed construction of a new interprovincial bridge that would have been destructive to the island environment. They also saw possibilities for an environmental education program. Twenty years later, that program has been a resounding success, and the volunteers and staff of Friends of Petrie Island are proud to serve the community by managing the trail system and picnic area. Many thanks to all who have served, and especially to the elected representatives and municipal officials and staff who supported us along the way. Over the years, Friends have received over $200,000 in support.
2017: VINGT ANS DE SERVICE
Alors que le Canada célèbre son 150e, les Amis de l’île Petrie marquent 20 ans de bénévolat. En 1997, plusieurs membres d’un groupe constitué pour entretenir les sentiers de Queenswood Heights et Fallingbrook à Orléans ont vu le potentiel d’une reserve naturelle, avec un parc, à l’île Petrie, que la municipalité avait acheté en 1983. Les Amis s’opposaient aussi à la construction d’un pont interprovincial à l’île Petrie, projet qui en aurait dégradé l’environnement naturel. Les Amis envisageaient aussi un programme d’éducation. Vingt ans ont passé, et ce dernier est un franc succès, alors que les bénévoles et le personnel des Amis de l’île Petrie sont fiers de servir la communauté en assurant l’entretien du réseau de sentiers et du terrain de pique-nique. Nous remercions tous ceux et celles qui ont fait partie de l’effort, et surtout les représentants élus et le personnel municipal qui nous ont appuyé. Au fil des ans, les Amis on reçu plus de 200 000$ de soutien.
What’s coming in 2017
Our popular Junior Naturalist day camp program, adult guided walks, theme days (Turtle Day, Membership Day Open House), group cleanups, invasive species removal as well as flower and tree planting and our regular Wednesday work days are among the activities planned for 2017. Attention teachers: school class visits are now being booked for mid-May to June. They include a tour of the Interpretation Center, short scavenger hunt, nature walk and free time, for a total of two hours or so, including a snack break. Fee is $5 per child, no charge for adults.
Click on Programs and Events for details.
A QUICK LOOK BACK: 2016 HIGHLIGHTS
After a short winter Petrie Island was flooded four times between January and May, with roads closed a total of 43 days. Beavers were very active during the flood, debarking many large cottonwood trees. Volunteers wrapped a dozen large trees to save them. It also became evident that a large number of ash trees were dead or were dying from the ash borer disease. The City came in to remove over 30 large dead ash trees. Friends is working with Forestry to protect trees by wrapping with wire mesh as well as growing and planting replacement trees.
Friends received grants to hire five students through Careers Canada. This allowed us to expand our educational programs, do our displays and initiate development of a tree nursery. We had an increased number of school tours, with over 1,200 students and parents from 15 schools attending 15 tours in May and June and our Junior and Youth naturalist had 36 events attended by 811 people.
We continued our Wednesday adult workdays on a variety of projects to maintain the picnic area, trails and nature centre. Work continued on new trails, benches and completing the new storage facility in the plant nursery area.
The City purchased private property at the head of the Bill Holland trail where one new loop trail was developed with fine river views.
The Membership program was continued with two open houses and tours highlighting features of Petrie Island including edible and medicinal plants, archeology of the area, trees of Petrie island and invasive plants. We also sent out regular dispatches to members.
We continued our monitoring of Turtle basking and nesting started in 2005.
We continued to support Kayaking at Petrie Island with the newly formed Canoe club under Sarah Kennedy. The club ran day camps during the summer using the Friends’ activity tent and storage areas for their program.
We would like to thank members and many others for their support of our programs, all continuing in 2017.
Al Tweddle, Chair – Friends of Petrie Island
Want to know more about FOPI membership and volunteering? Find out more here: Get Involved
Looking for something to do with your kids this summer? Check out FOPI's naturalist programs, running every Tuesday and Thursday! Register in person on the island, through email, or come try out a drop-in session!
www.petrieisland.org/childrens-nature-programs
Canada Day is returning to Petrie Island! The Kiwanis Club of Orleans will be offering free activities all day from 11am-11pm. Friends of Petrie Island will have games, face painting, nature displays, and live animals in our tent area from 11am-4pm, and will be running tours at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm (available by donation). Stop by to join in some family fun and learn all about Petrie Island!
For more information about transportation to the island and an overview of the activities offered by the Kiwanis Club, please visit www.orleanskiwanis.ca/CanadaDay/what-s-happening.html
Stop by Petrie Island this Sunday from 10am-2pm to register your child(ren) in our Junior and Youth Naturalist programs, or ask us any questions you may have about any of our programming. Check out the info on our website before you stop by!
www.petrieisland.org/childrens-nature-programs
This Saturday, June 24th at 10am, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) will be hosting a cleanup with our help here on Petrie Island. It will involve a general cleanup of debris/garbage, and likely some trail maintenance as well. WWF will be bringing a van with information and displays on aquatic animals from the Vancouver Aquarium, and will be set up just north of the picnic area parking lot. If you are interested, please come prepared to do some work with proper footwear (rubber boots or other closed toes shoes you don't mind getting a little muddy) and work gloves if you have them. We look forward to seeing you and hope you can all make it out to see how the flooding has affected Petrie Island!
Calling all volunteers! We will be needing help in the coming weeks to get our trails, nature centre, and picnic area back in shape for the summer season after the flooding. If you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering, please fill out the following volunteer survey!
www.surveymonkey.com/r/GV2SPVG