Tag: Hibou

May 2017: Hibou Trail Clipping Afternoon

Volunteers can help us improve the trails.

When:  Tuesday May 9/17 at 1:oopm till about 3:30

Where:  Meet us at the first parking lot after the Hibou Entrance coming from Owen Sound.

What to bring:  large branch clippers, work gloves, water and hat etc.

Giving the trails a good clipping in the spring keeps them in good shape for the rest of the year. It would be helpful if you could let us know if you are coming.  But just showing up is fine too.

Our Website: We are feeling really good about enhancements we have made to our web site.  Click here to look around the site.  You may even see your picture on it somewhere.

Note:  Committee members meet briefly at 12:30 same location.

Beach Clean-up Tues Apr 25, 2017 9:30am

When: Tuesday morning April 25th at 9:30 till noon

Where to meet: at the beach parking lot

What to bring: work gloves, tools such as rakes and pitchforks plus a wheel barrow if you have one.  we simply have to move the sawdust debris from the shore and dump it back a little so that the GSCA tractor can pick it up.

It is getting to be that time again.  Sometime in the last century there was  sawmill and they dumped the sawdust into Georgian Bay.  The current picks up what lies on the bottom and takes it to be dumped along the shoreline at the Hibou beach area.  By getting rid of it a little at a time, it makes the beach area much more pleasant for swimming through the summer.  We are hoping that by doing this in early spring this year we will catch more of the sawdust before it is washed into the water.

It is so helpful for us to know roughly how many will be there to help. If there is significant rain that morning we will have to reschedule. Many hands make lighter work.

let us know by email at friendsofhibou@rogers.com

 

New Boardwalks For Hibou

Oct 2013aWe are very grateful for all the help we get from our volunteers.  Thank you so much for your contributions of time and energy.  The pictures show well the success of work teams in the past.  You are great.

We have scheduled two mornings when we plan to build boardwalks again.  We need volunteers.  Can you help?  Please let us know ahead.  Email Bob Knapp rmknapp@yahoo.com

Date and Time:  Wed July 27 and Thurs July 28,  9:00 to 12:30.

Location:  meet at the garage at the left parking lot at main beach.

Bring: hammer, work gloves and ear protection if you have it and a bathing suit if you want to swim.Oct 2013 e

Plan:  There will be pre-cut wood on the site.  We will work in teams to build 8 ft sections.  They will be stored in the garage until a later date when we use them to replace some of the older sections in the wetland.

Please contact Bob Knapp ahead if you plan to come:

rmknapp@yahoo.com or phone 519 371 1255

Hibou Beach Cleanup May 17th

IMG_4925Reminder:  Help us get Hibou Beach ready for kids and adults to enjoy this summer.  Last year the beach was significantly improved when several volunteers came together for a morning  to work at removing sawdust and wood debris along the shore. Let’s do it again!

When: Tuesday May 17th from 9:30 till noonish.

Where:  Meet at the beach.IMG_4923

Bring rakes, pitch forks, wheelbarrows, work gloves if you have them.

Please RSVP if you can join us.

Email: marieknapp@rogers.com

or phone us at 519-371-1255 and leave a message.

Hope to hear from you.

For more information about Friends of Hibou go to www.friendsofhibou.com

Marie and Bob Knapp

Grand Opening of the Hibou Boardwalk Trail May 10, 2015

Opening 1The new boardwalk trail is ready to be officially opening.  Marie Knapp talks about how it was a community that brought the Conservation Area into being, a community that began Friends of Hibou and now a community of volunteers that built the Boardwalk.

 

Opening 2The Trail is officially opened when Evelyn Holley who is on the Friends of Hibou Committee, and Susan Tuohy, Bank Manager from TD Canada Trust, the funder of the materials necessary to build the Boardwalk, cut the yellow ribbon.

 

Opening 3Bob talks about how the Boardwalk makes an area passable that would otherwise be underwater due to Beaver activity and nature.  In spring the wetlands come to life.

 

 

 

Opening 4 The group enjoys walking along the 200 feet of Boardwalk built by volunteers and laid down late fall 2014.

 

 

 

 

Opening 5Marie shows Susan where we walked in and how the trail system works.  There are maps at all junctures on the trails and each map is placed so the reader is facing North to simplify map reading.

May 11 at 12:30 Grand Opening of the Hibou Trail Boardwalk

Oct 2013 eIn the Fall of 2014, an enthusiastic group of volunteers built and placed about 200 ft of boardwalk over a wet portion of trail.  That trail had been impassible for a good portion of the year.  Now we will celebrate by officially opening this new boardwalk.

Come and join us Monday May 11 at 12:30pm for a brief opening ceremony located in the north east section of the park.

Park on the road by the beach entrance and head north towards Leith to the trail entrance.  Try to arrive at the Boardwalk for 12:30pm opening which should be very brief. Light refreshments will be served.

Anyone who would like to volunteer for trail work following the opening, bring some clippers or a pruning saw and we’ll be making sure the trails are in good shape.

A Successful Building Day

Oct 2013a  Oct 2013 e

Following a week of rain and two days of cold sun, we were lucky to have cloudy, dry warm day to bring a group of 11 workers together to construct the 25  eight-foot boardwalks for the wet part of the trail.  Three hard working teams managed to complete the task by just after noon.  What a group!

Those of us who love to use the trails are grateful for your time and effort in making this happen.

Thanks also to TD Canada Trust and their environmental funding for the purchase of the wood.  We are definitely off to a great start in making the trails more user friendly.  Soon you will see new signage with maps identifying “You Are Here.”  at specific points along the trail.

If you are interested in joining the work groups, be sure to give us your email.  There will be more work parties needed in the spring when the area dries out and the constructed boardwalks can be appropriately placed.  (See the picture below)

Where the boardwalks will be placed.

Enthusiastic Group Begins

by Marie Knapp

For me this is like picking up where we left off over 30 years ago.  Bob had been very involved with the procurement of Hibou.  We have continued to visit the area for a walk along the shore or for a ski or snowshoe over the years.  The water levels changing have had an impact on the beach at Paynter’s Bay but that didn’t keep us from entering the trails more to the south and finding a place for a refreshing dip in the water on a hot summer’s day.

Frequently it crossed my mind that we should develop a Friends of Hibou to help with the upkeep of the area.  In his book published in 2008, Bob Knapp wrote: “Thirty five years have passed since Hibou became a park.  Perhaps it is time to form a friends of Hibou organization to assist with the park so that it continues to be a very special place on Georgian Bay“.

The timing is right.  Malcolm Kirk died in September 2012.  In his obituary I found the following: “An ardent conservationist throughout his life, Mac was deeply committed to the preservation of Ontario’s and Canada’s natural heritage. Mac and his generation were the pioneers of Ontario’s modern environmental movement. His legacy is manifested in numerous nature reserves which were secured in conjunction with public and non-profit nature organizations.”  Yes the time is right!  It is partly filling a legacy left behind by those of another generation who were ahead of their times.  This is very exciting!

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