Mount Douglas Park is more than a sought out hike, itB次元官网网址檚 a bastion of nature, a battleground between nature and city.
ItB次元官网网址檚 the hill SaanichB次元官网网址檚 tree-hugging residents are ready to die on (not to mention its rich WSANEC history as Pkols).
And yet, itB次元官网网址檚 abused as a nursery for locals in search of native plants. ItB次元官网网址檚 a convenient garbage dump for locals looking to dispose of old appliances and furniture. ItB次元官网网址檚 a Christmas tree nursery.
Legally, itB次元官网网址檚 none of those things.
ItB次元官网网址檚 a Saanich park, an iconic tourist spot and a hometown favourite and itB次元官网网址檚 also protected by law. Nothing should be left there and nothing should be taken.
But thatB次元官网网址檚 not how it goes.
About 100 metres from the summit of Mount Douglas Park there is a Douglas fir. In the past three years the tree has been topped, twice. Both times, Darrell Wick noticed it was a fresh cut. Both times, it was mid December.
B次元官网网址淵ou can tell by the diameter of the cut and the health of this tree this was an ideal Christmas tree,B次元官网网址� said Wick, president of the Friends of Mount Douglas Society. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 right on [Churchill] road, so itB次元官网网址檚 easy for someone to pull up, cut it and drive away.B次元官网网址�
Depending on the season, Mount Doug Park offers a lot. ThereB次元官网网址檚 all kinds of mushrooms. This reporter even witnessed a young family using a hammer and a chisel to remove rare tree mushrooms in September. Definitely not legal and according to Wick, who has put in a full-time effort to preserve Mount Doug since he retired as a Camosun instructor, itB次元官网网址檚 not cool.
Judy Spearing has been part of the Friends of Mount DougB次元官网网址檚 many invasive pulling missions which have cleared holly and broom from acres of the park. It wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be the same park without them. SpearinB次元官网网址檚 seen people leave with fiddleheads, Christmas trees, cedar boughs for wreaths, beach material (driftwood, sand, shells, clams) and firewood.
If you take your kids to Fort Rodd Hill, youB次元官网网址檒l learn the park rangers do not allow even a stick to leave the park. Not even a pine cone.
But at Mount Doug, Wick and Spearing have found evidence of cedar lumber removed by chainsaw. In one story, Saanich Parks staff caught a fella cutting cedar shingles on site.
Well, it wasnB次元官网网址檛 known as Cedar Hill for nothing.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e seen one-metre by 10-centimetre strips of cedar bark taken, and that is not the long strips First Nations use,B次元官网网址� Wick said. B次元官网网址淲e find holes in the ground where ferns used to be, small trees such as arbutus or cedar, rare plants and bulbs, such as camas.B次元官网网址�
Yes, the annual Christmas tree hunt at Mount Douglas is on.
Spearing hopes it isnB次元官网网址檛 going to catch on, and that most realize how illegal, immoral and brazen such an activity is.
And she really hopes the dumping will stop.
B次元官网网址淎n old freezer. Bed Frames. Couches. Boxes of clothes. What IB次元官网网址檇 like to see, what the Friends of Mount Douglas would like to see, is for Saanich to close the road after dark,B次元官网网址� Spearing said.
At the moment, the gate is closed at night until 12 noon. But once upon a time, cars were mostly restricted from driving up Churchill.
Tree topping, rubbish and garden compost dumping is done in the evening when few people are around, Spearing says.
In January, a lot of trees are unfortunately brought back and dumped in the park, Wick said.
B次元官网网址淪o far this year there have been signs of native flower bulb removal on Little Mount Douglas, there was an excavation of a large sword fern, and a small arbutus was dug out,B次元官网网址� Wick said.
Mushroom pickers come in the fall, fiddle head fern pickers will come in the spring. Berries that grow in the park are off limits, except theyB次元官网网址檙e picked, and clam digging on the beach or any removal of sea life is verboten, but again, it happens.
B次元官网网址淓ven the holly thatB次元官网网址檚 here, which is an invasive, is removed illegally. We pull the holly out but that doesnB次元官网网址檛 mean itB次元官网网址檚 open to the public to pick,B次元官网网址� Spearing said.
Anyone who thinks the shiny, dark, green foliage of Daphne Laureola would be nice for flower arrangements could incur a sorry lesson on that plant, all parts being toxic.
Even if a tree is dying, its woody debris is essential for restoring soil nutrients, and for bug growth, which is beneficial for the ecosystem and for Douglas CreekB次元官网网址檚 young salmon.
What Wick would like to see is a steward program, wherein empowered stewards are able to walk the park and engage users, educating them while also enforcing illegal activity.
B次元官网网址淚f we could create a steward program and put up some signs, we could prevent a lot of this,B次元官网网址� Wick said.
