The lake at Green Timbers Park in Surrey, BC is just a tiny little thing. It’s man-made as a result of a City plan gone sideways. Back in the early 90’s, they’d cleared the centre of a 640 acre forest to build some playing fields for soccer, track and such.
No way said the folks in the area. When they saw the clearcut in the middle of the forest, all hell broke loose. In the end, the City changed it’s mind, built a little lake, installed some trails and tables, and left the rest mostly in meadow. They stock the lake with trout on an annual basis, and there are always lots of ducks and geese. There were even some double-crested cormorants fishing in it last year. I saw a couple of guys heading home with their catch last year. I couldn’t believe the size of the fish they’d caught, so I zoomed up my phone camera for a blurry shot to record it.
It took a while, but with more and more people moving into the City’s new downtown, there are more and more people using the park. Some days, the shoreline is chock full of fisher folk, angling for trout.
People also ride and walk the trails, and attend events and programs at the little Nature House during the summer. Oh, and there are plenty of joggers too, so the City’s original plans to facilitate more athletic activity are at least partially met.
While I was out on a walk this morning, I pulled out my iPhone to take yet another shot of the lake. Obviously I was shaking, but hopefully you can see it’s frozen over. That’s the second time this winter. We’ve had a couple of weeks of cooler weather around here, and it’s stayed below freezing during the day. Nasty wind too.
In a few days it will melt, the joggers and walkers will be back, and before long, the fisher folk will be back on the banks angling for that big one.