Be sure to check the projects page often to see issues that your community association is currently involved with. What are your thoughts on the new website? Is the information provided relevant? Is there anything more you would like to see or hear about?

Drop us a note in the suggestion box...we'd love to hear from you!

 Everyone is welcome to attend our regularly scheduled board meetings!  Please call Terri at 604 826-2692 to confirm that the meeting is proceeding as scheduled, and to let her know if you have something you would like to add to the agenda.  We welcome your attendance and encourage your participation! 

Upcoming Community Events!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

Please join us for this fun family Easter event, which is so graciously being hosted by Theresa Wertman, who has kindly offered up her place! Come out for lunch and have a hotdog and pop, make a craft to take home, and enjoy an exciting Easter egg hunt. RAIN OR SHINE!!! Saturday March 22 at 11am at 13338 Sabo Street RSVP Theresa- 604 826-2933 after 5 pm PLEASE!

District of Mission Community Tree Planting Day

District of Mission Community Tree Planting Day - To celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, the District of Mission Forestry Operations will be holding a Community Tree Planting day on Saturday May 10 from 12 noon to 3 pm at the cut block at the end of Johnson Street, and they invite residents to come out and plant a tree, take a guided hike around Pike’s Pond and Doreen’s Trail, have hotdogs and balloons, and a visit from Smokey the Bear! For further details, please visit the District of Mission Forestry Operations page at http://www.mission.ca/Page87.aspx

News Headlines

DID YOU KNOW...?

Did you know that if you cover your load when travelling to the District of Mission Landfill you will receive a $2 discount deducted from your total! Did you know that the District of Mission Landfill is initiating an incentive to recycle program, with a three-month grace period, where a 50% surcharge will be added to landfill fees where recyclables are determined to be in your dumpload, rather than separated and deposited in the recycling section of the landfill.

PIKE'S POND AND DOREEN'S TRAIL

This is a new trail dedicated to two Steelhead pioneers.  Pike and Doreen Cameron are two of Steelhead's longest living residents and have seen the community grow and transform over the course of more than 60 years.  Pike was born in a small house just off Dewdney Trunk Road and grew up just down the street from where he resides today on Johnson Street. Pike met and married Doreen in 1935 and they moved into that house Pike's Dad built which he gave to the newlyweds and where they have raised their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Pike worked in the forestry department for the District of Mission in a life-long career and knows nearly every road built in the municipal forest because it was he who built them.  Earlier this year, as part of Mission's continual effort to encourage local recreation and protect the environment, the District had a trail and pond built by inmates from Fraser Correctional Centre and named them after Pike and Doreen.  There is a story told of how years ago Doreen took her grandsons for a hike in the forest and ended up getting lost and so she now will always be able to find her way home.  Long ago, beavers dammed up a pond that was washed away just this past winter during the heavy rains, so it was built up again making it part of the trail and named Pike's pond.

The trail begins about 700 metres past the forestry gates at the end of Johnson Road just up the street from where Pike and Doreen still live.  The trail itself, which goes around the pond and back onto the logging road, is about half a kilometre in length.  It is an easy hike with a number of rest spots and a picnic bench by the pond.  Bob O'Neal, manager from the District of Mission's Forestry Department says "these wetlands are a valuable habitat and we try to protect them".   Please leave nature as you have found it and pack out any litter you find or bring.  The area is still a working tree farm and is open on weekends but check for closures during the week.

LOOK WHAT'S NEW

Once again, we were handed a very heavy winter. It has certainly been a long and difficult snowy season, but with Daylight Savings Time having come early this year, spring is just around the corner bringing with it renewed energy and a smile on everyone’s faces! We are looking forward to a very exciting and busy time ahead of us and hope to see you all at the various social events to be held throughout the year. And of course, everyone is always welcome and encouraged to come out to any of the Community Hall work bees. We’d love to see you there!

And on the subject of snow - this past winter the Steelhead community had more snow than most residents can remember ever having. Consequently the road conditions were extremely hazardous and many community members have expressed their frustration to the Board of Directors of SCA over the job the District of Mission did with snow removal and salting/sanding our roads. The SCA will write a letter to the District outlining our community concerns and will keep the community posted on developments. Please drop off any correspondence in the SCA suggestion box by mailbox on Cardinal Street regarding your concerns on this matter.

Community Outreach

With another record snow fall this year, many Steelhead residents were unable to get in or out of their driveways for weeks. The Steelhead Community Association is concerned about our elderly residents who might need help either getting to town for supplies or with shoveling snow in order to get out. We would like to offer our help to these people and encourage them to call either Christina at 604 814-3583 or Laura at 604 820-6520.

Annual Memberships Due

It is that time of the year again! Steelhead Community Memberships are now due. Your membership dues will be used to keep alive a collective voice that will ensure the community’s concerns stay on the local government’s agenda and that Steelhead receives its fair share of municipal revenues for road improvements, snow removal, etc. Through continual fundraising efforts and your membership fees, we can also have reserves for social events, area improvements, and of course, our Community Hall. These are just a few of the ideas, and with strong community involvement we can accomplish many more. Attached to this newsletter is your new membership form. The fee is $10 per family, paid once yearly. We encourage you to support your community by filling out the form, pop it in an envelope along with the $10 fee, and then you can drop it off in the locked suggestion box at the mailboxes on Cardinal Street, which will be checked daily. The Steelhead Community Association would like to thank you in advance for your participation and support in the 2008 membership drive.

Heads Up

The Steelhead Community Association’s Annual General Meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday June 24 this year. Please make a point of attending this very important meeting, where an overview of the past years’ accomplishments will be given, as well as what is ahead, and of course the all important elections to the board will be held. More details will follow. Hope to see you there - please! We would love to see plenty of new faces and additional hands!!!

COMMUNITY HALL PROJECT UPDATE

As you will have noticed if you have driven by the hall site, there has been no progress since last fall's snow, which does not seem to want to melt this year! Alas, the spirit was definitely willing, but the weather was certainly not. Even now with the remains of a good layer of snow, fear not, work on the hall will be resuming as soon as possible. Keep your eyes on the signboard at the corner of Dewdney & Cardinal, as we will be posting all future work bees there. We hope you are as eager to get going again as we are. There are many ways you can help, and we strongly encourage you to come out and join us and become involved in this very exciting project that promises to be a great addition to our community!

Great achievements are nurtured with the cooperation of many minds with a common vision working toward a common goal.

Forestry Update

We have recently received an email from Kelly Cameron of the District of Mission’s Forestry Operation to bring us up to speed on the upcoming logging in the area. She reports: “We are completing the logging at JR1, just 400 m. from the gated logging road at the end of Johnson St. It is ground harvesting, therefore there are no whistles required like you may have heard in 2006. There will be some machine noise that will be able to be heard. We expect it to take approximately 1.5 months, but have tentatively suggested full completion by April in case of unforeseeable circumstances – such as equipment breakdowns or log marketing issues – there will be one to four loads of wood hauled per day, but averaging around two, and some days there won’t be any. Tree planting will ramp up between March and April to reforest this setting.” Their active operations map will be posted shortly at www.mission.ca under Forestry Operations

Adopt-A-Block

We are currently in the process of registering for this spring’s Adopt-A-Block program. If anyone is interested in participating in this very worthwhile volunteer event, please call Christine at 604-814-3583 or Terri at 604-826-2692 for more details. Let’s keep our community litter free and beautiful!

Speaking of Litter

It seems that the area around the mailboxes on Cardinal continues to have a problem with litter, litter everywhere! If anyone has any suggestions as to how we can keep this unsightly problem under control, or perhaps would like to volunteer to take recyclable junk mail to the dump, please call Terri at 604 826-2692. Let’s truly keep Steelhead “Mission’s Mountain Gem”.

Current Weather Conditions in Mission