Posts by lmairs:
- photograph Margo Yacheshyn
- Rachel Mercer (trumpet), Nicole Cormaci, Virginie Magnat
Tia Mclennan drawing
Apr
19
It’s difficult to move along from all the wonder that occurred here during the official opening of the Woodhaven Eco Art Project last Saturday, so I’ve made the executive decision not to. It’s sticking with me, so I’m sticking with it. I’ll offer a closer look at each contribution interspersed with news of the current evolution in the natural cycle of Woodhaven, one at a time as the days go by.
This wonderful piece of eco art is found in the cedar grove. The rocks were gathered from just outside the fence line, not from within the park but as close to it as possible. The students painted words on each and brought them to this felled cottonwood. The intention is for visitors to move the stones around just like fridge magnet poetry. I have seen a number of different combinations already and we’re only 3 days in. This arrangement begins with the words, “Surprised we weeded their habitat.” This phrasing lead me here, habitat that hasn’t been “weeded” or disturbed or changed in any way from the original.
This is the look of natural Okanagan. This is the dry hillside on the far north side of the park. Here the Saskatoon is bursting with white bloom, the yellow Balsam Root has flowered and the Ponderosa Pine stretches gnarly branches into the scene. This is how so much of this area appeared before development and irrigation. The Okanagan is really at the far end of the Sonoran Desert. This hillside boasts Prickly Pear cactus, Great Mullein and a strange lizard I’ve seen only a few times in my tenure here. This is fragile habitat and, like all of Woodhaven, precious.
Precious. That word came up in conversation the day after the opening. In fact it was a conversation with some of the UBCO faculty while finding ways to capture the richness that is Woodhaven and dare I say, “the magic” of the place. We enter this space thinking we’re going into a park, and exit as if the park has entered us. It was Michael V. Smith who used the term “a precious concentration” to describe all that’s here. From one distinct climatic zone to the next bio region there is flora and fauna as diverse as any, and even more so than can or more likely should be in one small area. It is after all only 22 acres within the fence line that distinguishes it and frames itself as “place.” What is inside the fence line was once outside the fence line. It is alarming to think the opposite could have also been realised.
Always grateful to Jim and Joan Burbridge.
Woodhaven is at 4711 Raymer Road. Please come and change up the Log Poem it is, after all, its purpose.
Apr
18
Oh my. If there were a way to capture yesterday and seal it tightly in a bottle I would put a chain on it and wear it around my neck. Here are the moments.
Inner Landscapes
Natalia Hautala, Rachel Mercer, Tracy Valcarcel
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
Vocal Soundscape
Virginie Magnat
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
Blue Darlin’
Lara Haworth, Nicole Cormaci
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
Bell Soundscape
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
Log Poetry
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
The coveted Woodhaven Trading Cards
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
Tia Mclennan drawings with Nancy Holmes poetry along the fenceline.
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
Nancy Holmes and Lori Mairs, Co-ordinators
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
It’s all about these ones.
photograph Margo Yacheshyn
No more words.
Apr
16
It feels like a birthday party or a wedding or maybe even a special surprise is about to happen in Woodhaven tomorrow. The Opening Day of the Woodhaven Eco Art Project is less than 24 hours away and there’s a buzz in the air with all that needs to be ready. Musicians, performers, writers and visual artists have buffed up their best ware to offer tomorrow.
I wonder if the critters know? Not sure if they really care. That herd of mule deer I told you about earlier has firmly established themselves here. They’re starting to eat the fresh greens on both the maple and hazelnut around the house and of course get in the last gobbles of snowberries down in the parking lot.
It seems like a perfect time to be holding this welcome. Spring is here in full regalia with the Balsam Root in bloom on the dry hillsides, the maple buds juicy, lime-green and full, the elderberry with shoots stretching upwards to the sun, mock orange and Saskatoon berry with their small translucent kelly green leaves bursting from thick red stems and the big black Cottonwood sending out its first leeching of aroma into the woods. If we get a little breeze the vultures might make an appearance and yesterday there were hawks circling above the meadow.
Directions: South on Gordon, cross over DeHart, second left is Raymer Road, it zig zags a bit, stay on it. Slow to 30km, keep left and there at the T in the road is Woodhaven.
The Woodhaven Eco Art Project Opening 1:30-4:30 Saturday April 17
Apr
13
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Regional District Press Release………….
A Unique Eco Art Project
A unique artistic endeavor is officially underway in Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park.
Dr. Aleksandra Dulic
It’s called the Woodhaven Eco Art Project and is being facilitated by UBC Okanagan Creative Writing professor Nancy Holmes in collaboration with local artist Lori Mairs. It celebrates the unique aspects of this special conservation regional park: its silence, solitude and diverse natural environment.
Dr Virginie Magnat
In describing this artistic project, Holmes says, “Throughout the remainder of the year, local artists and students, including musicians and performers, writers, sculptors and other visual artists will create multiple works of art in the park and in response to the park. As the key principle of eco art is to do no harm to the environment and to respect the place in which it unfolds their works will have minimal impact on the park’s natural environment. Participating artists will leave nothing in the park that shouldn’t be there and remove nothing from the park.”
Holmes adds, “Throughout the rest of the year, visitors to Woodhaven may find a new ‘natural object’ installation, a new poem or an interesting sculpture. Each visit could find a new sample of artistic expression, generated from the inspiration of each participating artist.”
She says, “We’ve created a website for the Woodhaven Eco Art Project: woodhaven.ok.ubc.ca from which people can keep up to date with what’s going on or download MP3 files for Woodhaven Audio Walks. There will also be collectable Woodhaven Trading Cards and strange little ‘zines’ to flip through – poems that people can read as they stroll along a path. There’s even a fridge magnet type log poem that people can use to create their own poetry.”
Throughout the project, there will be special guided walks, performances and events and a short film about the art projects and people involved will be created to document the project.
Composer & Musician Professor Kenneth Newby
Regional District Chair Robert Hobson says, “Our Board supports this unique endeavor because it is sensitive to the stewardship and history involved with Woodhaven, which was protected thanks to the vision and environmental activism of Joan and Jim Burbridge. Hopefully, this history and the wonderful natural surroundings of Woodhaven will inspire the participating artists and we look forward to their creative expressions. Our Regional Parks encourage people to leave only gentle footprints. As that forms the focus of this art project ‘that nothing will be left behind’, Woodhaven is the perfect location.”
The Woodhaven Eco Art Project is funded by the Hampton Fund at the University of British Columbia and is supported by the Regional District of Central Okanagan.
Opening Day for the Woodhaven project is Saturday April 17th 1:30-4:30
South on Gordon, cross over DeHart, second left is Raymer Road, it zig zags a bit, stay on it. Slow to 30km, there’s a blue sign that says ‘Woodhaven Regional Park, keep left and there, at the T in the road, is Woodhaven 🙂
Apr
12
take my tongue to task, pin
me in my tracks, forcing open
the where
of my ears and feet
take me into this place with care,
with memory,
with open eyes”
“Open My Eyes: Twelve Woodhaven Poems” is the title of a work by Nancy Holmes, Head, Department of Creative Studies at UBCO. The poems are accompanied by drawings by Tia McLennan, MFA graduate student. Both the words and the visuals draw upon the rich history of the preservation efforts of the land and the current and vital experience of being in Woodhaven as it emerges through the seasons. These poems and drawings will be mounted on the fence that marks the border of the park and can be seen for the first time during the Woodhaven Project Official Opening Saturday April 17.
Opening our eyes and genuinely seeing what is really in our presence can sometimes be a challenge. The pace of imagery in film and on screen is boggling in comparison to the pace in which ecosystems take to emerge from one way of being to another. The experience of being in Woodhaven causes a natural slow down that’s difficult to achieve when hard wired into technology. The peace of a place like this is available only if you want to have the experience.
Sometimes that pace can cause a random act of art. 
Something like this.
Apr
11
Saturday, April 17th 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
WHO?
Nancy Holmes, Project facilitator, UBC Okanagan Creative Writing professor
Robert Hobson, Chair, Regional District of Central Okanagan
Local artist Lori Mairs, Faculty members Virginie Magnat, Aleksandra Dulic and Kenneth Newby, plus over 30 UBC Okanagan Creative Studies students and graduate students
WHY?
Join in the celebration of art, nature and environmental stewardship during the launch of this unique artistic endeavour within Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park. UBC Okanagan students and faculty will be in the park to introduce the project and its myriad of components. At 2:00 pm there will be an opening ceremony followed by short performances, music and various art projects throughout the park during the afternoon.
The Woodhaven Eco Art Project is funded by the Hampton Fund at the University of British Columbia and is supported by the Regional District of Central Okanagan. It is facilitated by UBC Okanagan Creative Writing professor Nancy Holmes in collaboration with local artist Lori Mairs and celebrates the unique aspects of the park while promoting environmental awareness and the challenges of stewardship.
Contact:
Nancy Holmes
UBC Okanagan
250-807-9369
Bruce Smith
RDCO Communications Coordinator
250-469-6339
Apr
10
These are the good kind, turkey vultures. They’re the head of the clean up crew of the winged world yet they have such a poor reputation. I like vultures, at least the ones that come to Woodhaven I like, although I have to say I haven’t met many others.
They soar on wind currents sweeping and swooping up high above the trees. They land with almost a single flush of the wing flap in the dense upper reaches of the tallest Douglas fir. They travel together, a flock of turkey vulture is called a “kettle.” Vultures can have a body length of 64-81cm (nearly 3 ft) and a wingspan up to 180 cm (6 ft!), these are huge birds. Fear not these old world raptors, they are ill equipped to harm anyone or anything. They have short curved beaks for pulling and ripping and they don’t have aggressive talons because their only need is to grip and stay not to attack. They are not predators, they are scavengers.
I saw the first vulture arrive on Wednesday with a pair, then Thursday I counted 7 and Friday was at least 11. I once counted over 50 but it was difficult to stay on track even with two others helping with the tally. They fly and land all over the park but keep a regular routing up the back by the flume trail and dry hillside, and in close to the house at the entrance to the trails by the woodshed.
The Woodhaven vultures are not of course exclusive to Woodhaven but they do spend a great deal of time here. I think they come to feed on the carrion in the fields and farms of the Lower Mission and East Kelowna. Once they’re a full kettle by the end of April, they’ll arrive from the south at sun up and leave at sunset back over in the direction of Okanagan Mountain Park, not every day of course, but with enough regularity that that it can be relied on for a few weeks.
Woodhaven is open to the public.
APRIL 17th is the official opening for the Woodhaven Project 1:30-4:30 the public is welcome. There will be music, poetry, painting and official words of welcome and the like. Art and nature, what a sensible mix.
Apr
6
Some of you may know that Woodhaven was closed for over two years from February 2007 to June 2009. Concerns about the health of some tree species and for the nesting habitat of the Western Screech Owl were paramount in that decision to restrict visitors to the park. During this closure a hazardous tree expert and a specialist in GPS surveying were hired to map the park. They identified trees that were of concern, trees that were vital habitat for the Western Screech Owl and trees that were habitat for other birds and critters. They also identified remedial work required to make the park safe again for visitors. Here’s the part where the wood comes in.
Once these areas of concern were identified, the Regional District sent in a team to remove the hazards. This is a little tricky because Woodhaven is a Nature Conservancy and not really a regular park. The entire 22 acres is a delicate ecosystem and cannot be disturbed by machinery or tree removal equipment that could compromise this balance hence a labour intensive exercise followed. The crew who came in had to fall, buck and cut up each hazardous tree on site then piece by piece each log was placed in an automated wheel barrow and walked out of the zone. Each wheel barrow full was brought to the parking lot and eventually removed from the area. Now here’s the really good part…..
Some of those wheel barrow loads ended up at my woodshed. I heat with wood and believe me this was a real gift last winter, couldn’t be a better example of sustainability. The wood from Woodhaven heats the house that occupies space in the park. Perfect. And here’s one better. My friend Claire who, among other things is a metal sculptor, a ticketed welder, is qualified in cabinet making and joinery, and is the metal shop tech at Langara College in Vancouver left here after a visit last weekend with her van loaded with lengths of a beautiful maple that had to come out. It will be made into a cabinet of curiosity, again, perfect. 
It must be this way. We are always better when the cycle is complete, when systems are cared for and managed and when little waste is generated. We are even better when “waste” becomes fuel and materials for art making, when warmth and beautiful objects are the result of careful management. It makes a difference. Always has, always will.
Opening Day for the Woodhaven Eco Art Project is April 17, 1:30-4:30 Performances, poetry, music and various art projects will be seen throughout the park.
Apr
1
It’s April 1st and Woodhaven is open to the public. Seems like a long time since I’ve hooked the bottom of the swing gate into its latch knowing it would stay that way all day, I guess it’s been five months. What a delight to do it now!
I am always happy when Woodhaven is open. People wander in for a morning wake-up stroll and make it a part of their exercise route. And on long weekends it is the perfect place for a group walk after the family dinner.
I went for my walk this morning in the park, how could I not? This precious forest has gone through many, many changes since it became shared space. I wonder at it every day, every day. I fussed over what image to include on this very special day. Of course the gate getting unlocked is obvious, but here, here is such an important part of the park that it cannot be missed. The bench at the meadow that honours the conservation work of Jim and Joan Burbridge.
These people must be acknowledged from the start for their efforts to garner the support of community, battle their way through bean counters, red tape and rules, regulations, stipulations, requirements, provisions and clauses to successfully secure the land that is Woodhaven for all to share, always.
Welcome! Welcome! Come for a walk. Open from sun-upish to 8 pm. South on Gordon, cross over DeHart, second left is Raymer Road, it zig zags a bit, stay on it. Slow to 30km, keep left and there, at the T in the road, is Woodhaven.
Note: April 17th, 1-4pm UBCO hosts an afternoon of music, poetry, sound and sculpture in Woodhaven Nature Conservancy.
Mar
20
whitetail doe
The Woodhaven deer are quite the crew. Yes I anthropomorphise every little detail of their behaviour, they feel like family at this point. I photograph them and keep track of the babies as best I can. I also keep tabs on when they come and when they go and sometimes they really go, if you know what I mean.
whitetail yearling coming up on the patio
The deer population fluctuates. In 2002 there was a herd of about 17 whitetails, sometimes more that regularly wandered through, then came the summer of 2003 with the fires. They didn’t return after the fires until the following spring and there were lots of babies 2004. They recovered for a couple of years then dwindled again when the Gordon Drive expansion project was finished. It’s a 4 lane bypass that feeds traffic into the upper Mission. Sadly, I think it also crossed over a major wildlife corridor. It is only this year that I’ve seen the population return, I guess they’ve successfully negotiated the traffic, they are resilient.
muleys in the yard
Usually there are only whitetail deer in here. The last two years there has been a single mule deer skulking around the fence line to the north at the edge of the cedars. Then early in February a couple of muleys showed up, soon a few more and finally I counted 11 including a buck in velvet, very unusual. The white tails have also returned in full form, yearlings, does, a buck…..hmmm I wonder if this forest is big enough for everyone this year?
Woodhaven opens to the public April 1