In Pippy Park
August/September 2002

Did You Know?

The Ocean Ranger Memorial was sculpted by Scottish born Newfoundland Sculptor and Painter A. Stewart Montgomerie. The sculpture is part of the Ocean Ranger Memorial garden which is located on a commanding site immediately to the west of Confederation Building East Block.

The C.A.Pippy Park was named after Mr. Chesley A. Pippy, in 1966 by an Act of the Provincial legislature. Mr Pippy was owner of Nfld Tractor and Equipment Co. A large supplier of heavy construction equipment. At the suggestion of Joey Smallwood he made a generous pledge of a very large sum of money for land purchase and capital projects for the proposed park. In 1968 the Pippy Park Commission Act was passed establishing the Pippy Park Commission and delineating the boundaries of Pippy Park.

The Old Pippy Park Headquarters at 79, Nagles Place is reputed to be the oldest concrete building in Newfoundland. It was built around 1914 as the "Colonial Laundry", presumably making use of the Nagles Hill Brook as its source of water. It was subsequently used as a slaughter house, mink farm and construction company shop and office. If anyone can confirm, elaborate or correct this information please let us know. The building is currently used mainly for storage.

The top part of the Nagles Hill Brook trail is now passable from Burnt Pinch Road to the Three Pond Barrens gate. Follow the yellow tape. This trail is intended to be a rustic, low impact trail so don't expect a level, or even an entirely dry, walking surface. Eventually the trail will extend downstream to the Fluvarium..

WORK ON NAGLES HILL BROOK
REPAIRING THE DAMAGE FROM "GABRIELLE"

On Sept. 18th. 2001, Tropical Storm "Gabrielle" deposited almost 150 mm of rain on St. John's within a 15 hour period. This deluge caused considerable damage to the lower reaches of Nagles Hill Brook around the Fluvarium. Nagles Hill Brook has always carried a quantity of debris down the steep hillside from the Three Pond Barrens after heavy rain but after "Gabrielle" the reservoir that controls the flow of water into the fluvarium pools became filled with gravel, rocks and debris. More debris was deposited below the footbridge and changed the course of the brook. In addition sections of the stream bank below the spillway were severely gouged and undercut causing at least one large tree to topple into the streambed.

The Grand Concourse Authority has been commissioned to take remedial action and work is now underway. The reservoir will be cleaned out to a depth of just under a metre, the west banks of the spillway pool and the brook where erosion was severe will be protected with large rock rip-rap and the brook downstream from the footbridge, which is to be modified, will be redirected to follow the natural channel it cut during the rainstorm.

A "Green Team" from the Conservation Corps will be carefully adjusting this by hand, naturalizing the old stream bed and restoring the fish habitat during construction. The new planned flood plain will be planted using wetland plants to encourage utilization by shorebirds and waterfowl as well as other fauna. Deep rooted plants will be established on the steeper banks to stabilize the materials.

Ways of preventing a recurrence of this kind of damage after major rainfall events are going to be examined; the problem of dealing with the rocks and debris choking the lower reaches of the brook has been a long-standing one.

The project is being funded by the Eco-Action Plan of Environment Canada, with major in-kind donations from the Grand Concourse Authority and the University Botanical Garden.

MINI-GOLFERS OFF TO MYRTLE BEACH

On August 24th starting at 10.am. a competition will be held at the Pippy Park Mini-Golf on Nagles Place to select the best male and female mini-golfers who will be sent, all expenses paid, to compete at the U.S. Master Mini-Golf Championships at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina on Sept. 19-22. Anyone 18 years or older may enter the competition. The entry fee is $30 which includes chances on prizes and a lunch There has already been great interest and advance registrations also include practice playing at half price up to the time of the competition! For more information phone 738-1222

THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL GREAT RENNIES RIVER DUCK RACE!Sept. 29th.

Don't forget to buy your ticket and sponsor a duck for the Rennies River duck Race, one of the Quidi Vidi/Rennies River Development Foundation's major fundraisers for all the good work they do on trails and freshwater environment interpretation. The prizes this year are all hard cash1 $3,000 for !st. Prize, $2,000 for 2nd. Prize and $1,000 for 3rd. Prize. And if that wasn't enough every ticket includes coupons for a free basket of Buffalo Wings from Jungle Jim's, a free bucket of balls from Fairways and a free cup of coffee at auntie Crae's which together are worth more than the $10 cost of the ticket!! Tickets are available form members of the QV/RRDF or at the Fluvarium phone 722-DUCK..PIPPY PARK'S MYSTERY PLANT

THE LEOPARD MARSH ORCHID

In 1996 Charlie Horwood who was Environmental Surveillance Officer with the Dept. Of Works, Services & Transportation monitoring the early construction of the Outer Ring Road came across a patch of plants immediately adjacent to the road work which were unfamiliar to him. The plants had showy spikes of small pink flowers with green leaves marked with dark patches and circles like the markings on a leopard.

The plant was shown to the botanists at the University and the Botanical Garden as well as to members of the Wildflower Society. It did not match any of the known plants native to the Province, however it was quite similar to a rare terrestrial Orchid that occurs in the region of Tilt Cove on the Baie Verte Peninsula. This small group of orchids, and another colony in Timmins, Ontario were the only recorded near relatives in North America! In fact tissue samples were sent by Dr. Howard Clase of the Wldflower Society to a researcher and world expert on the Genus in Scotland, who is still trying to match it with any other identical plants worldwide. The Marsh Orchids are relatively common in southern England, Scandinavia and Northern Europe but none precisely match ours! In any event, even if they did; how did they get here? As yet there have been no other colonies reported, the only other specimens are those transplanted to the Botanical Garden. Our colony in Pippy Park, I am pleased to report, is thriving. The plant is more showy than most terrestrial orchids and it is a mystery how it got established where it is and why nobody noticed it before. The colony numbers up to 1,000 plants and must have been there for many years to multiply to that extent. It seems possible that it originated in England or Europe, got transported as seed across the Atlantic with cattle or in their fodder. Flowering takes place in mid July