News & Updates from the park

New Off-Leash area for Transcona

Posted by president@kilconaparkdogclub.ca / in Information /

 

Future dog park behind Costco on Regent

Photo credit: Leslie McLaren

A dog park in Transcona, part of a new subdivision, received final approval from Winnipeg city council last week.

And Transcona Councillor Russ Wyatt credits Kilcona Park Dog Club for lobbying for more off-leash areas.“They’ve brought a new awareness in terms of what the value of these parks are and also the need in terms of having more dog parks in the city.”

Read the full story on the Winnipeg Dog Blog at http://winnipegdogblog.weebly.com

 

Making Kilcona a Greener Park

Posted by Kilcona Park Dog Club / in Information /

KPDC’s Board of Directors is urging The City of Winnipeg to install beverage container recycling bins at Kilcona Park. In a letter to Parks and Open Space Division, KPDC President, Donna Henry issued an invitation. “This is an opportunity for the City and the club to work together to reduce the amount of garbage going into landfills and make Kilcona a “greener” park.”

KPDC volunteers set up recycling bins whenever the club hosts an event. Other than that, there are no recycling bins in Winnipeg’s largest park.

 

Kilcona Park’s Leslie Eng collects recyclables at KPDC’s BBQ.

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Kilcona’s recyclables end up in trash bins with dog waste.

 

After KPDC’s spring BBQ, Marketing Committee member, Kevin Gordon, approached the Board with the idea for permanent recycling bins. Kevin recently arranged to have beverage container recycling bins installed at the downtown law office where he works.

 

Photo credit: CBCRA

The bins are free through the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association (CBCRA) new RECYCLE EVERYWHERE Program. CBCRA is a not-for-profit organization supported by beverage companies. The RECYCLE EVERYWHERE Program’s goal is to insure Manitobans can conveniently recycle beverage cans, cartons, juice and milk boxes, and bottles – no matter where they are.

 

 

Photo credit: CBCRA

Kevin Gordon spoke to RECYCLE EVERYWHERE about having bins installed at the park. The bins could be set up as early as this summer. Henry says, “KPDC has applied for bins for the club’s September BBQ and Fundraiser and, as official off-leash area steward has offered to apply for bins for the dog park. Park staff would be responsible for collecting the recyclables from the bins. KPDC will make every effort to promote recycling through its website, Facebook page and the park bulletin board.”

Transcona Councillor, Russ Wyatt, Chair of the Mayor’s Environmental advisory Committee, is a strong supporter of  the new program. “It is clear that Winnipeggers want to recycle and that providing more access to recycling is one key to success. With the help of RECYCLE EVERYWHERE, Winnipeggers will have increased access to beverage recycling bins when using city facilities. This arrangement is a great fit with Winnipeg’s new waste management plan that emphasizes increased recycling. The fact that CBCRA is providing the bins at no cost is a bonus for taxpayers.”

Bins have been installed at Kildonan and Assiniboine Parks and three Winnipeg golf courses. Plans are for bins to be installed in various arenas, pools, community centres, and other facilities.

 

Photo credit: CBCRA

This week Park Services East Area Technician Karl Thordarson, responded to KPDC’s request for bins, “At present there is a pilot recycling program on at Kildonan Park.  Public Works position is to complete that pilot program and assess before moving forward with any additional sites. We will be mindful of locations like Kilcona when time comes to expand.”

Park Your Butts!

Posted by Kilcona Park Dog Club / in Information /

Park Your Butts!

Sign at the entrance to Winnipeg’s McPhillips Animal Hospital

Everyone has heard Health Canada’s warning about cigarette smoking but – what about cigarette eating? Dogs, particularly puppies, tend to eat things first and ask questions later.

Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco products contain nicotine, an ingredient that is extremely toxic to dogs. If left untreated, nicotine can paralyze a dog’s breathing muscles and this can cause death within hours.

Nicotine has been used by gardeners for years as a commercial pesticide and fumigant. Powdered nicotine comes in a can with a wick that, when lit, becomes a smoke that is extremely toxic to anything in the vicinity. Greenhouses that use this insecticide ensure that windows and doors are tightly sealed to keep the smoke from escaping.

Nicotine poisoning is a real concern anywhere that dogs have easy access to discarded cigarette butts and Kilcona Park’s parking lot and off-leash area are littered with thousands of them. At last year’s Spring Clean-up, volunteers filled two large black garbage bags along the north side of the parking lot alone.

The biggest concern is that nicotine from the whole cigarette is drawn into the butt, so butts have a high concentration of nicotine. Eating cigarettes is more dangerous than smoking them because all of the nicotine becomes available for absorption into the body.

KPDC Gold Sponsor, McPhillips Animal Hospital says nicotine toxicity depends on the weight of the dog and the amount ingested. Nicotine is toxic at the level of 0.5 to 1 mg milligrams per pound of body weight, while the lethal dose is 4 to 5 mg.

Small dogs are at greatest risk. Just two to four butts are enough to kill a puppy.

Kilcona Park’s new cigarette butt receptacle will make it easy for smokers to park their butts safely. The receptacle, which KPDC purchased and donated to the park, has an 8,000-butt capacity.

The receptacle is located at the west end of the parking lot – a convenient spot for smokers entering, using and leaving the grassy play area, where the greatest number of people and dogs gather – and far enough away  from the picnic tables by the map so that people and dogs that gather there aren’t affected by second-hand smoke.

KPDC Director of Marketing, Jeff Henry and Senior Park Foreman, Chris Olbrecht install the receptacle.

KPDC President Donna Henry and Vice President Susan Argue turn over the keys to Park Foreman Chris Olbrecht.

 

The initiative is a pilot project, a cooperative effort between KPDC and park staff who will maintain it. If the receptacle and education program reduces the accumulation of butts in the parking lot and play areas, KPDC will purchase more receptacles for the off-leash area.

 

 

 

 

News story just released in “the times”

Posted by Kilcona Park Dog Club / in Events, Information /

News story link in CanStar “the times”
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/times/correspondent/Kilcona-Park-Dog-Club-remains-committed-to-its-members-214785551.html

OMG – What’s that Smell?!

Posted by president@kilconaparkdogclub.ca / in Information /

OMG…What’s That Smell?!

Some Kilcona dog owners are wondering out loud about the dirt that’s being trucked into the park. And some are complaining that is smells bad and wondering if it’s safe for dogs. So…here’s the scoop.

As we all know, Kilcona Park is a decommissioned landfill. When the landfill was closed (around 1986) a clay cap was placed over the hill in the off-leash area. A cap is an umbrella over a landfill to keep rainwater out. The purpose of the cap is to prevent any connection between landfill waste and the surrounding environment, particularly with groundwater. The cap is specially sloped to promote rainwater runoff.

So basically, a landfill is a bathtub in the ground. Bathtubs can leak two ways: out the bottom or over the top. But in Kilcona’s case, we’re not just talking about a bathtub leaking bathwater.

Over time garbage in the landfill decomposes. One of the products is leachate. This highly toxic sludge is created when rainwater comes in contact with garbage in all its nasty forms – heavy metals; herbicides; pesticides; gasoline, oil and other hydrocarbons; etc. Leachate seeps to the bottom of a landfill and is collected by a system of pipes.  About 660,000 gallons of leachate are pumped out of Kilcona each year and trucked to the North End Sewage Treatment Plant.

The constant decomposition of garbage and the removal of leachate mean the landfill is not stable. Over the past thirty years the top has subsided in some areas. The spots that have settled – the dark areas – can be seen on the park map, which was created from a satellite photo.

The low spots on the hill collect rainwater, which is prevented from percolating easily into the ground by the heavy clay cap. The stagnant ponds are first class, foul smelling mosquito breeding grounds.

Settling means the original sloping that was designed to promote rainwater runoff has been compromised and must be corrected. If the cap is not maintained, rain will enter the landfill resulting in a buildup of leachate to the point where the bathtub can overflow its sides and wastes can enter the environment.

KPDC’s Board of Directors has known for several years that the City’s Water and Waste Department needs to fill in the low spots with clean, heavy clay. City administrators talked about using fill from the Chief Peguis construction.

Now the City has secured a convenient source of clean fill from a construction project that’s underway in Sun Valley, just a couple of kilometers from Kilcona. Thirty to 40 tandem truckloads of clean fill are being delivered to the park. Once the soil’s in place, crews will be bringing in a Cat to correct the slope.

And the stench – it’s coming from those foul smelling ponds that are being disturbed.