Mary Lake Community Association

06/12/2026

Hello Mary Lake Residents:

YG has just released funding for the 2026 Chip and Haul program. We will work quickly to secure a contractor to carry out the program in Mary Lake again this summer.

The Chip and Haul program provides homeowners a process for removing small trees and limbs cut down to FireSmart properties.

Residents are responsible for cutting and hauling materials to an easily accessible location on their street side. The contractor does not come on to private property.You can start organizing piles by the road (not in ditch), all butt ends in same direction.

Last year, our contractor hauled away 60,000 kgs of chipped material over 6 days between June and October.

Watch for details on dates and guidelines here and in the Mary Lake residents email.

Community centre

05/20/2026

Thursday 5 p.m. Litter Pickup - adjust parking/meeting location

Good morning all,

Thanks to the efforts of eight litter pickers last evening, we got farther than we imagined!
Plus a lone picker has started at Fireweed Drive making their way toward Wolf Creek!

Therefore, tomorrow, Thursday, please meet at 5 pm (or later), park at the intersection of the highway with Dawson Road (Wolf Creek side) and Castle Drive (Pineridge side). The burgundy pickup with buckets and bags and vests and pickers will be on the Pineridge side.

If we have a good crew on Thursday, we should be able to wrap up the whole section.
Thanks to anyone who can join us!
(Lots of crocuses in bloom still...)

05/17/2026

Hi all,

Once again, YG has agreed to a grant of $600 to the Community Association in exchange for us cleaning up litter from a section of the highway.

Okay, it’s not a very glamorous task, but it’s kind of fun if a few people come out and help, it won’t take long! (More hands = light work!)

The volunteer Community Association uses the funds to help with Firesmart BBQ's, Chip and Haul, skating parties and gas for trail upkeep and rink clearing.

This coming week we’ll be picking between Cronkhite Road and Fireweed Drive along both sides of the highway.

If you can spare an hour or two (or even a half hour!) this coming week please come out on Tuesday May 19th (meet at Cronkhite road) and/or Thursday May 21st (meet at Fireweed Drive).

Please park just off the highway – not ON the highway – please!

Your hard core (experienced) litter pickers will have supplies ready for whoever can make it, including hi-vis vest, a bucket, bags and super cool long-handled pickers. The core team will be there from 5 pm – 8 pm.

If you can’t make it for 5 pm, just park and look for the pickers!

We’d really appreciate a small but mighty crew, as the effort is so much less with a few more pickers!

05/14/2026

Happy Spring everyone,

Following on the heels of an excellent Firesmart event at the Beringia Centre at the end of April, Mary Lake is joining with Cowley Creek to take a serious look into the importance of preparing our households and our community in the event of a need to evacuate.

Based on recent devastating examples, the South Whitehorse Firebreak won't stop a wildfire, it does offer accessibility for firefighting crews, should one head our way up the Carcross valley.

Do you know what you should do to properly and safely evacuate your home in the event of an evacuation?
Do you know what you should include in your evacuation kit?
Do you know where to get reliable and accurate information?

Saturday May 23rd, Golden Horn School Gym. Doors open at 10 am, we'll wrap it up by 2 pm.

We're planning a couple of presentations (City of Whitehorse, Wildland Fire, Wildfire Awareness Society), Displays, Great (and relevant) Door Prizes, snacks, cookies, coffee...We'll set up a colouring station for kids.

The most important part is to engage as many neighbours as possible to start thinking about this and taking one step at a time toward being as ready as possible. There are many hindsight accounts of how things can go awry in the heat of the moment. Please come if you can.

Sincerely,
Your community Board

04/17/2026

ATTENTION walkers, skiers, fat bikers:

There's a patch of OPEN WATER on Mary Lake, near the beaver lodge. It's marked with crossed sticks now.

Yesterday, a skier was out on the ski trail which looked completely fine - until suddenly one of their skis broke through completely into the water - the front of the ski was supported 20 cm below the surface, but the tail of the ski went down at a sharp angle. They managed to get out using ski poles and forward momentum, but were fortunate that they didn't go in completely.

For further details, photos of the patch of open water and alternate route suggestions, please see the "Mary Lake, Cowley Creek, Golden Horn and area" page.

It's that time of year and the ice/snow is unpredictable.
Stay safe, keep your dogs safe.

03/27/2026

Good day everyone,

On Wednesday, March 25th the community rink clearing team did our final snow-blowing and shoveling for the season.

The City water truck came by a bit later and flooded the rink. They may flood once more (yesterday or next Monday), but they typically stop flooding by 31 March.

The ice is in excellent shape. Anyone is welcome to use the rink but PLEASE check the ice first - if it's not frozen up solid after flooding, your skate blades will wreck it.

Also, if using the nets, please move them OFF the ice after you use them - if it warms up, they will melt in, which isn't good for the ice.

There are shovels in the skate shack if it snows again. Please put them back in the shack after use.

Enjoy the rink!
Your Mary Lake Rink Team - come join us next season!

10/04/2025

Good day all,

We have arranged a day of chipping for Malamute - to replace the chipping that was meant to be done on Sept. 25th.
The new date for chipping is Thursday, October 16th.

Please DO NOT PUT OUT ANY ADDITIONAL BRUSH MATERIAL.

This is about cleaning up the piles which were set out for Sept. 25th only. (We have now exceeded the funding available through the program and are dipping into community funds to make this happen.)

We drove around the entire neighbourhood on Tuesday Sept 30th and prepared a detailed map of the subdivision showing exact locations of all piles that were on the road. We provided this map to Malamute.

They are ONLY able to chip these piles on Oct 16th. Please help us ensure that Malamute can get to all of the existing piles.

Finally, this Chip and Haul program is a community-based volunteer-driven initiative. We (Keith and Janne) are happy to respond to any inquiries about the program. Malamute would like us to be the point of contact regarding this project. If you have questions, you can use this email or facebook to inquire - we'll try to respond as quickly as possible. Please don't bypass by calling Malamute directly about this Chip and Haul program.

For anyone interested in removing more trees for firesmarting purposes, the City is offering free drop-off for firesmarting brush, trees etc. at the Landfill until October 31st.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Keith and Janne

09/29/2025

"OCTOBER 9th, Thursday!"

MARY LAKE residents - Save the date! The 2025 AGM is set for Thursday October 9, 2025.
Join us for pizza at 5:30. Meeting to start at 6:00 pm sharp.
All families of MARY LAKE are invited to attend.
This gives the community to meet the board and review the year.
Anyone interested in joining the board please reach out.
Please bring your own CHAIR and your own PLATE for pizza.
Hope to see you there!

09/28/2025

Hello neighbourhood,

For all those participating in the Chip and Haul program, our apologies for two things - the mix-up on the day of the week and also for the lack of pick-up from Malamute on Sept 25..

There has been a misunderstanding with Malamute about the September pickup and they haven't been available to figure out what happened at their end.

We hope to have a discussion with them early next week and will set up a date as soon as possible to clear the brush from the roadways.

Meanwhile, we appreciate your patience whether you have piles in your driveway or you are just driving past other piles. Again, we apologize for the mix-up.

Thanks,
Keith and Janne

09/11/2025

Mary Lake Residents:

To all those folks who didn't get their piles chipped in August, thankyou for your patience - great to see that Malamute came by yesterday and finished off the piles they couldn't get to earlier! (We were fortunate they had a bit of extra time after working in a neighbouring community.)

Due to the interest in this program, we have secured the services of Malamute for additional chipping on Monday September 25th. On this date, Malamute will be back for the full day to chip and haul your firesmart clearing. We ask that you consider the following as you prepare your material:

1. Please keep your pile to a manageable size. There were a few piles left behind after the last date of the chip and haul program. If there aren't any really big piles, the crew can remove more materials from a larger number of residences over the course of the day, therefore benefiting more of the community. (In talking with Malamute, the large piles will be left to the end, which may mean they can't get to them.)

2. Please put your piles on roadside. The crews are on a time clock. Piles which are stacked away from the roadside will be left behind for more easily accessible piles.

3. This project has really been adopted and accepted by our community. Thank you for your support and participation. We are already considering applying for funds for next year, so what you don’t clear out this year can possibly be taken care of next year.
Again, thanks very much for your support and understanding.