In This Issue:
The High Stakes of Our Headwaters: Protecting our downstream water quality from the risks of open-pit mining.
Consultation on the City Budget: How to advocate for river valley protection in Edmonton’s 2027–2030 budget.
The Gopher Surge: Why ecological imbalance and predator loss have led to a ground squirrel explosion.
Bohemian Waxwings: The science behind the synchronized winter "irruptions" of our nomadic guests.
Northwestfest 2026: Canada’s longest-running documentary film festival returns to Edmonton this May.
Photo credit: Waternotcoal and CPAWS
The High Stakes of Our Headwaters
The Water Not Coal campaign, led by Alberta country singer Corb Lund, highlights the severe environmental risks of expanding open-pit mining in the Eastern Slopes. This initiative sounds the alarm on how industrial activity at the river's source can lead to long-term contamination that flows hundreds of kilometres downstream. By advocating for a permanent ban on new coal exploration, the movement seeks to prioritize the safety of the province's primary water towers over short-term industrial gain.
The health of the North Saskatchewan River is directly threatened by selenium leaching, a toxic byproduct of mining that is notoriously difficult for municipal systems to filter. This contamination poses a risk to the drinking water of over a million people in the Edmonton area and endangers the reproductive cycles of native fish species like the Westslope Cutthroat Trout. Furthermore, removing mountaintops destroys the landscape's natural ability to regulate water flow, increasing the vulnerability of our river valley to both spring flooding and summer droughts.
To get involved, you can attend an upcoming in-person signing event during Corb Lund’s province-wide petition tour, or visit permanent signing stations at local businesses such as Earth's Refillery Coop and Replenish Zero Waste. Because Alberta law requires physical paper signatures for a formal Citizen Initiative Petition to be valid, these in-person opportunities are the only way to help the coalition reach its goal of 177,000 signatures before the June 10th deadline. You can visit waternotcoal.ca to find a full list of local signing stations, register as a volunteer canvasser, or donate to support the campaign—every signature collected brings the province one step closer to a formal vote on the future of our mountains and watersheds.
Consultation on the City Budget
The City of Edmonton has launched three ways for residents to get involved in the 2027–2030 budget deliberations ahead of this fall.
“The next four-year budget will be about trade-offs and weighing the diverse needs and perspectives of over 1.2 million Edmontonians,” the City’s website reads. “We want to know what matters to you.” Input is being accepted until May 1 through the following channels:
Mock Budget Balancing Tool: Use the City’s interactive tool to simulate budget allocations.
Priority Survey: Highlight top priorities, specifically regarding social services, construction timelines, and user fees.
Drop-in Information Sessions: Sessions will be held throughout April at schools, recreation centres, and community halls across all wards. Alternatively, residents may speak directly to their City Councillor.
The North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society encourages Edmontonians to recommend that budget priorities include the protection of our treasured river valley and ravines, as well as the acquisition of additional natural lands.
In 2007, the City of Edmonton approved a new Natural Area Systems Policy, which included a commitment to conserve, protect, and restore Edmonton’s biodiversity, and to balance ecological and environmental considerations with economic and social considerations in its decision-making. The policy was expanded on in Natural Connections, a strategic plan for the conservation and restoration of Edmonton’s natural systems and the biodiversity they contain. Natural Connections outlines an ecological network approach to protecting biodiversity, managing it for the long term, and engaging the community in this effort. This document, the City’s first Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, articulates actions through which to implement the vision, goals, and strategic directions identified in Natural Connections.
Expenditure on land acquisition is necessary to deliver on the Council’s mandatory legal duty to continue to acquire lands in the river valley (River Valley ARP). Several options include replenishing the now-depleted Natural Area Acquisition Fund (Bylaw 15164, 2009), the Parkland Purchase Reserve Account, or the Municipal Reserve. The latter fund, usually used to allocate developing lands for parks and schools, could be repositioned to explicitly support the acquisition, assembly, and stewardship of natural areas, including wetlands, woodlands, and riparian corridors. While the Council in 2009 committed a $20 million forecast to be spent until 2034, those funds are already gone.
Photo credit: Mike Sturk
The "Gopher" Surge: A Symptom of Ecological Imbalance
The massive explosion of Richardson’s ground squirrels across the Prairies is often framed as an unavoidable plague, but it is deeply tied to how we manage the land. By maintaining over-grazed pastures and mowed fields, we have created the perfect short-grass habitat that these rodents require to spot predators from a distance. Furthermore, the systematic reduction of natural "nuisance" predators—specifically coyotes, red foxes, and badgers—has stripped the ecosystem of its natural brakes, allowing ground squirrel populations to grow unchecked by the very animals that historically kept them in balance.
While the federal government has authorized the emergency use of strychnine until 2027 to address millions in crop losses, this toxic "solution" often worsens the underlying problem. Strychnine is a non-selective neurotoxin that poses a severe risk of secondary poisoning to the natural predators we should be encouraging. When hawks, owls, and eagles scavenge on poisoned carcasses, they are frequently killed as well, removing the most effective daily hunters from the landscape and ensuring that ground squirrel numbers can rebound even faster in subsequent seasons.
Restoring balance requires a shift toward habitat management rather than just reactive poisoning. Encouraging the presence of badgers, who are the primary excavators of the burrows used by other species, and supporting raptor populations by maintaining tall "headland" grasses can provide a more sustainable check on the population. Ultimately, the current crisis is a stark reminder that when we simplify the prairie landscape and remove the "top-down" pressure of predators, the ecosystem loses its ability to self-regulate, leaving us dependent on chemical interventions that threaten the broader food chain.
Photo credit: Emmanuel Pocsidio
The Winter Irruptions of the Bohemian Waxwing
Bohemian Waxwings are famous for their nomadic, winter "irruptions" where thousands of birds descend on urban areas to strip fruit trees in a matter of hours. These massive flocks are highly coordinated, often moving as a single, fluid unit between berry patches and high-perch staging areas. This rapid, synchronized flight is a highly effective defence mechanism, making it nearly impossible for a hawk or falcon to single out a specific target within the shifting mass.
Whether these displays qualify as true murmurations is often a point of debate among birders. While many reserve the term specifically for the pre-roosting aerial acrobatics of European Starlings—named for the low, audible "murmur" of their wings—waxwings exhibit a remarkably similar "scale-free correlation," where one bird’s turn triggers an instant, fluid reaction in its neighbours. While some distinguish the waxwing's directional foraging flights from the starlings' more complex, non-linear social displays, the sheer synchronization of a waxwing flock certainly blurs the line between a standard colony and a true murmuration.
Despite their winter dominance in our city, you won't find these birds nesting in your backyard this spring. Bohemians are non-breeders in the Edmonton area, typically using our urban forests as a massive winter cafeteria before migrating further north and west into the boreal forest and the subalpine regions of the Rockies. They wait until late June or July to begin their breeding season, timing the arrival of their chicks with the ripening of summer berries, meaning the large, synchronized flocks we see now will soon vanish into the wilderness to raise the next generation.
Canada's longest-running documentary film festival returns to Edmonton from May 7–17, showcasing a curated selection of provocative and inspiring non-fiction storytelling. This year's lineup features a strong focus on environmental and social justice films, providing a unique lens on the global challenges that mirror our local conservation efforts.
Comment or Contributions
Please note articles may not reflect the position of NSRVCS. River Valley News is meant to be a clearinghouse for the variety of opinions and ideas about Edmonton’s River Valley.
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