Falaise St Jacques Birder's Blog

 Following the success of the Eastern Falaise, the second day of the clean up took on the Western side.   Rather than tires, found primarily in the East, the Wild Wild West was home to the shopping cart. The Volunteers quickly spread out attacking the problem. By the time noon came around, there was quite a display on show at the Central Access Road. The first visitor noticed that day was in the Valley of the Birds, a Cooper's Hawk. Some came too late for the main event, but still in time to view the progress. A complete list of the photos can also be viewed, as well as a spreadsheet listing the progress of the tire removal .

 At 9:00 am, 23 October 2021, a group a volunteers began to gather at the Skate Board Park for a day of tire rolling, garbage picking and other fun stuff on the Eastern Falaise. Some Rotary Club jackets were spotted amongst the Tire rollers. Most however, were difficult to determine whom they were.... Some of the volunteers took on specialized jobs. A Photo gallery was posted online , as well as a spreadsheet listing the progress of the tire removal .

 Four of us set out for a final round of He Man, ( no women today) work and to try out the new wheelbarrow before the official clean-up 23-24 October.  We tire tested the wheelbarrow on the eastern trail and after moving some shopping carts and general garbage down the hill and found that the Falaisosaur was now illegally parked!. The tire count on the access roads are now: Eastern access road 5 Central access road 38 Western access road 4 Grand total 47 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SSfm0PsUo-IWIvs43s17B0jUhzUvuyQ0ljiZc9oYilk/edit#gid=0

 Building upon what was done earlier on the Western Path 5 members gathered to prepare the path for the upcoming Clean Up weekend. Much of this was just fun and games..... And some was posing for pictures.... The count of tires taken down to the access roads is now 22. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SSfm0PsUo-IWIvs43s17B0jUhzUvuyQ0ljiZc9oYilk/edit#gid=0

 We made our way down Bird Valley near Rose Bowl Lanes and turned left toward the eastern Falaise and the new rue Pullman. Our objective was to clear the walking trail that runs along the Falaise. There were 7 of us, plus 2 bow saws, a pair of lopping shears, a pair of small pruning shears and ….. the 2-person crosscut saw! All to improve access in the Falaise and provide an easier path to remove debris on October 23 rd and October 24 th during the Falaise Autumn Clean Up.   The trail is well established but trees have fallen across it. Our job was to cut and move those dead trees and branches. This was a manual work party, especially when it came to the two-person crosscut saw that we used on the big trees. It brought back images of lumberjacks before chain saws, working their ‘godendarts’ in the woods of Quebec.  We knew beforehand that the Falaise is a haven for birds , but it was news to us that it is also a haven for bees.    However, it’s also...

 The number of tires at the central access road is now 9.  Progress spreadsheet:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SSfm0PsUo-IWIvs43s17B0jUhzUvuyQ0ljiZc9oYilk/edit#gid=0 Six tires were also moved uphill to the footpath from the bottom of what was the River of Tires.  I thought that would complete the collection phase of the river but noticed that there are still a few on the hill to bring down.

 Falaise Clean-up signs were put up along the fence on St Jacques, along the path in the Valley of Birds, near the skateboard park, and at the central access road. In addition a new bird feeder was installed. Some more garbage was collected...