171 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

In a March 7 The Capital Daily article, Murdock said he wants people to continue to be able to exercise their dogs on the trail, but “the alternative may be to have dogs on-leash only, which nobody wants.”

When asked, the mayor clarified his comment.

“My comments regarding change to on leash is not about the vandalism prepetrators. I agree, we don’t know who did it. It’s about the effectiveness of the fencing as a barrier. If there’s ongoing damage, it becomes ineffective as a protection of the sensitive areas. Without protective fencing, the trail will have to be leash only. No one wants that,” said Murdock in a text message.

Mills assessed the damage left behind on Sunday, noting several damaged fences and some holes in the ground. For the past two weeks, she says, only one person said they didn’t have an issue with the fencing.

She argues that instead of the page wire fencing, it should be split rail fencing.

 

https://cheknews.ca/...s-park-1310149/

[aastra]

 

And with all these events the park did just fine. 

As a Gordon Head kid, I attended all of those events - year after year. 

Funny thing is that the park looks today exactly as it did back then.
Cancelling and banning all such activities certainly did nothing positive for the park.

 

You obviously don't appreciate the nuances of greenspace stewardship and preservation.

 

Here are some facts:

1) Dog-walkers in Mount Doug park are a grievous threat to the park's very survival

2) Campers trashing Beacon Hill Park were no problem whatsoever, maybe even a good thing

3) Many of those Beacon Hill campers also had dogs

4) and so forth

[aastra]

Now if you'll excuse me I need to pat myself on the back for not ruining Clover Point today by selfishly visiting it.

[Blair M.]

 

2) Campers trashing Beacon Hill Park were no problem whatsoever, maybe even a good thing

Speaking of camping at Mount Doug Park.

 

Camping in Mt. Doug Park would most certainly get you a quick visit from Saanich PD - and yet some of the very finest, and most valuable pieces of Canadian art were generated by a lone woman, who was indeed  a habitual camper at Mt. Doug Park: https://www.artnet.c...bF8Jswvgen9_CA2

Edited by Blair M., 09 March 2026 - 12:52 PM.

[max.bravo]

Blair, that is interesting. Do you mean she merely set up her easel and spent a lot of time there painting? Or is there evidence she actually camped overnight in Doug Park?

[dasmo]

Blair, that is interesting. Do you mean she merely set up her easel and spent a lot of time there painting? Or is there evidence she actually camped overnight in Doug Park?

She could walk home from there but a solid walk. So plausible she camped. 

[Blair M.]

She had a camping caravan that she used it around southern Vancouver Island, but mainly in and around what's now the CRD.

She called it "The Elephant", and it figures into some of her stories. 

During the time she was using it, she was a pretty die-hard camper, often spending days away painting on location.

I believe she spent the majority of her camping adventures with the "Elephant" out Metchoisin way at various locations, but she also camped at Goldstream, and out at Mt. Doug. 

 

https://emilycarrchr...ephant-friends/

 

So she would have made this particular trip from her house in James Bay, out the then undeveloped, fairly rugged Shelbourne Valley to paint at Mt. Doug.

 

Sir James Douglas made Mt. Doug into a "government reserve" in 1858, so it was well established as something of a "park" when she painted there in the 1930's.

It's my understanding that much of what is now the coastline of Mt. Doug Park had many small, quite remote family summer cabins on and near the beach - perhaps she knew somebody with a cabin and a spot where she could set up her "Elephant"?

Edited by Blair M., 09 March 2026 - 05:57 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A controversial section of wire fencing along the Glendenning Trail at PKOLS (Mount Doug) Park was vandalized last week, a month after it was installed.

Saanich said in a statement that between $3,000 and $5,000 worth of damage was done to the fencing over the past week — sections of fence were bent, posts were pulled out, and more than 20 posts were stolen.

Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock released a video saying damage to the fence “costs taxpayers money” and takes parks staff away from other important work they could be doing around Saanich.

Murdock said the fencing is intended to protect vulnerable wildlife from being damaged by people and pets who use the park for recreation.

The stretch of trail is one of the few left in the park where off-leash dogs are permitted since Saanich’s People, Pets and Parks Strategy was implemented in the fall of 2023.

Eulala Mills, a member of the CRD Dog Owners and Friends for Good Governance Society — or DOGGS — said she’s upset by the vandalism, even though the new fence “looks awful.”

 

 

https://www.timescol...alized-11983700

[Mike K.]

Saanich council didn’t tell the electorate that with population growth and higher densities they’d be losing park access.

Is this another one of those benefits we don’t talk about at the council table?

[dasmo]

$5k is huh? That’s the cheapest way to build a fence possible. $5/post and $200/100ft. So maybe $500 in materials lost. Holes are dug. A man day to fix. So $1000 in damage really.

It’s not only ugly, it’s unnecessary. A low barrier would naturally stop off leash dogs from straying into a protected zone.

Edited by dasmo, 11 March 2026 - 07:19 AM.

[lanforod]

What was it for a fence in the middle of a highway median upisland? 1m?  Makes 5k seem cheap. 

Still, this fence is duuuumb.

[dasmo]

It’s vandalism that they installed that eyesore. I would say a very angry member of the public cleaned it up! It’s our park right? Right?