NSRVCS News - July 10, 2010

Alternative to river valley solar power plant
Renewable energy is good, but Epcor’s plan to install 45,000 solar panels on 51 acres of land within the southwest river valley adjacent to Cameron Heights is not. Industrializing a piece of our ribbon of green for power generation directly contradicts City Council’s commitment to preservation and conservation of the river valley.
 
It is surprising that the company believes building a major impact utility service to generate electrical power in the river valley is a benefit to its shareholders – the citizens of Edmonton. Epcor wants to build this facility in Edmonton’s Ribbon of Green because it is the cheapest and most convenient place for them to build this electrical generating plant.
 
Is the Epcor solar power plant industrial development so essential to the wellbeing of Edmontonians that the intent and goals of the river valley bylaw must be violated? Are there no other locations in Edmonton and Area where solar panels could be situated? Options exist!
 
This week Edmonton International Airport announced a plan to develop a solar project on 627 acres. 340,000 solar panels will be installed, generating approximately 200,000 MWh per year, or enough to power between 27,000 and 28,000 homes. See more at https://globalnews.ca/news/7149686/edmonton-airport-solar-farm/

Ants – Benefits and Pest
Ants help aerate the soil. They dig tunnels that help to carry water, oxygen, and nutrients to plant roots. Ants are good pollinators, carrying pollen from bloom to bloom looking for sweet nectar. They naturally control garden pests by eating their young or interrupting their feeding cycle. Ants speed decomposition of organic matter such as leaves, straw and even other dead insects. This helps to fertilize plants.
 
Ants do not strip vegetation leaves unlike many other garden insects. No harm to vegetables is caused by ants. They are also good indicators of an aphid problem. Since aphids secrete sweet sugar, ants will naturally be attracted to them. You can easily spot ants in the garden when aphids are tiny and sometimes hard to spot.
 
Ant can be a problem and multiply in numbers rapidly. Since they are attracted to the sweet secretions of aphids, ants will protect aphids and allow them to multiply quickly. They will help to increase other garden pest populations such as the whitefly, scale, and the mealybug. All of these produce sweet secretions making them friends to the common garden ant. Learn more, including natural ways to get rid of ants, at https://www.hiddenspringshomestead.com/get-rid-of-ants-in-garden/

Spotted Sandpiper a river valley resident
Spotted Sandpipers can be found along the shores of our river valley’s river and ravine streams. They occur across North America, are distinctive in both looks and actions, and have intriguing social lives in which females take the lead and males raise the young.
 
The female Spotted Sandpiper is the one who establishes and defends the territory. She arrives at the breeding grounds earlier than the male. The male takes the primary role in parental care, incubating the eggs and taking care of the young. One female may lay eggs for up to four different males at a time.
 
Spotted Sandpipers eat mostly small invertebrates such as midges, mayflies, flies (particularly their aquatic larvae), grasshoppers, beetles, worms, snails, and small crustaceans. They also eat small fish. Spotted Sandpipers are active foragers, in addition to probing into sand or mud with their bills, they also lunge at moving prey, pick insects off plants, or snap at airborne prey. Read more at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Spotted_Sandpiper/overview Share river valley event, job posting, or news
If you have a river valley event, job posting, or news that you would like to see published in this newsletter, please send the info to nsrivervalley@gmail.com
 
Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712
nsrivervalley@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/NSRVCS/
http://www.edmontonrivervalley.org/

NSRVCS News - July 2, 2010

Edmonton doctor paddles to work
Every spring, as soon as the North Saskatchewan River is fully thawed, Darren Markland begins paddling to work. The Edmonton emergency room doctor commutes by canoe.
 
His day begins by hitching his canoe to his road bike and making an urban portage from home to the Sir Wilfred Laurier boat launch in west Edmonton. Unloading his canoe and placing his dismantled bike inside, he paddles to downtown, where he docks and again hitches boat to bike. He then bikes to the Royal Alexandra Hospital and begins his regular 15-hour shift.
 
Instead of traffic jams and hurried pedestrians, his morning commute includes sweeping views of the river valley, singing birds and jumping fish. "I've found people who've been panning for gold and there's people out here fishing," he said. "By the time I get to work, my batteries are totally recharged. Read more at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-doctor-paddles-to-work-canoe-commute-1.5627240

Catchy sparrow song goes viral across Canada
The white-throated sparrows of British Columbia have devised a new song that has gone viral across Canada. For years, the small songbird’s traditional descending whistle featured a three-note ending. But researchers have tracked how a unique two-note-ending version of the male bird’s call has rapidly spread 3,000km eastwards from BC to western Quebec during this century.
 
According to biology professor Ken Otter, “As far as we know, it’s unprecedented. We don’t know of any other study that has ever seen this sort of spread through cultural evolution of a song type.”
 
In 2004, the data showed Alberta's sparrows were still trilling away with the triplet ending typical to the species. Ten years later, all the males in our region had shifted to a doublet ending. By 2015, it had spread to central Ontario and in 2019 it reached western Quebec. Listen to the new song at https://www.sciencealert.com/this-sparrow-song-went-viral-across-canada-and-it-s-unlike-anything-we-ve-heard-before

The beneficial roles mosquitoes play in our environment
Mosquitoes play a vital role in the food chain. Their larvae and full-grown forms provide food for several different animals and organisms. For example, dragonflies feed on mosquitoes and their larvae, as do bats. Fish often eat the larval forms and even snack on adult mosquitoes that linger too long on the surface of the water when they are laying their eggs.
 
Another positive effect that mosquitoes have is that they help pollinate certain plants, especially the aquatic or near-aquatic plants that they spend much of their lives around. By doing so, mosquitoes help perpetuate these plants, which can provide cover and shelter for other animals and organisms. Increased plant life is also helpful as plants engage in the necessary process of photosynthesis, ensuring there is enough oxygen.
 
Because of the role mosquitoes play, there are a greater number of species in the environment. For instance, chickadees, swallows, house wrens, bluebirds, warblers, vireo, and sparrows all catch flying insects while those insects are in the air, allowing the birds to consume the bugs without perching and themselves potentially falling victim to predators, thus helping to ensure the survival of different bird species. Read more at
https://sciencing.com/positive-effects-mosquitoes-8513632.html

Giant Hyssop good for hummingbirds, butterflies and tea
Giant Hyssop is a member of the mint family which makes this Alberta wild plant edible. It is one of the easiest plants to grow and blooms throughout July, August and into September. They attract bees and butterflies coming for a drink from the nectar filled flowers.
 
It is good as a fresh, cut flower and dries well for arrangements with long, sturdy stems. The flowers dry to a distinctive navy blue. You can plant directly into the garden in mid-June. Its seedlings are fast growing and can be moved to their permanent location by late summer.
 
The licorice flavoured leaves make fine herbal teas and jellies or can be included fresh in salads. Learn more about this plant, including how to make your own Giant Hyssop tea at 
http://www.naturenorth.com/summer/hyssop/Fhyssop.html Share river valley event, job posting, or news
If you have a river valley event, job posting, or news that you would like to see published in this newsletter, please send the info to nsrivervalley@gmail.com
 
Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712
nsrivervalley@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/NSRVCS/
http://www.edmontonrivervalley.org/

NSRVCS News - June 18, 2020

Snags are nature’s apartment complexes
A snag is a standing, dead or dying tree. It is often missing a top or most of the smaller branches. They provide critical habitat for many species. Their decomposing wood is soft enough for excavating species to make entrance holes and cavities.
 
Primary excavators, such as woodpeckers, create the cavities for feeding. They peck away at the snag to reveal insects to eat. These insects also break down the dead wood. Secondary users utilize existing cavities for feeding, breeding, nesting, shelter, and food storage.
 
Pileated woodpeckers create many of the cavities used by secondary nesters. In some areas, cavities created by these woodpeckers are used by 80 other species. Due to habitat loss, there are fewer areas where cavity users can find what they need to survive. Learn more at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/569ec99b841abaccb7c7e74c/t/5e6bce8c1861a329882eb980/1584123538458/Snags+-+Updated+2020.pdf

Snags are nature’s apartment complexes
A snag is a standing, dead or dying tree. It is often missing a top or most of the smaller branches. They provide critical habitat for many species. Their decomposing wood is soft enough for excavating species to make entrance holes and cavities.
 
Primary excavators, such as woodpeckers, create the cavities for feeding. They peck away at the snag to reveal insects to eat. These insects also break down the dead wood. Secondary users utilize existing cavities for feeding, breeding, nesting, shelter, and food storage.
 
Pileated woodpeckers create many of the cavities used by secondary nesters. In some areas, cavities created by these woodpeckers are used by 80 other species. Due to habitat loss, there are fewer areas where cavity users can find what they need to survive. Learn more at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/569ec99b841abaccb7c7e74c/t/5e6bce8c1861a329882eb980/1584123538458/Snags+-+Updated+2020.pdf

Species at risk in Edmonton
The planned Edmonton Energy and Technology Park includes Horsehills creek, a minor tributary to the North Saskatchewan River, and a designated protected site because of the flora and fauna located in patches of forest and wetlands.
 
The northeast industrial park’s plan states that “A few of the species that may potentially be found within the general area are protected as provincially and federally-listed species. These include the Peregrine falcon, Harriot’s sagewort, and the Northern Leopard frog.”
 
Though historically widespread, the Northern Leopard frog is a species at risk in Alberta and designated as threatened. Protection of remnant breeding areas is essential.
 
For identification and information on this frog, the Peregrine falcon, and a selected list of other species at risk in Alberta, check out the Edmonton and Area Land Trust’s guide at
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/569ec99b841abaccb7c7e74c/t/5e46d49b2bcf325aff5603ea/1581700259441/Species+at+Risk+in+Alberta+2019+Final-compressed.pdf

River Valley Archaeology
Three sites recorded because of work carried out in association with the south side of the new Walterdale Bridge provide examples of river valley archaeology heritage. The most ancient site recorded is a camp site that radiocarbon dating indicates was used 1,500 years ago. Buried two metres below the surface was a hearth feature surrounded by a dense blanket of debris left by the people that stayed there.
 
The concentration of ancient garbage consisted of 3,956 pieces of stone tool making debris, rocks for boiling water and a wide array of bison, rabbit, duck, whitefish, and other animal bones. Found within the hearth were carbonized seeds including choke cherry, pin cherry, bunchberry, and kinnikinnick. The latter is well known as a favorite smoke either on its own or mixed with tobacco.
 
Another site dates to an important time in Edmonton’s history: the fur trade era. Filled with mammal and fish bones, the pit also yielded a fragment of a white clay pipe stem. Clay pipes are commonly found at fur trade sites in Alberta. Nearby, another feature was identified from which a clay pipe bowl, lead shot, trade beads and a broken glass inset trade ring were recovered.
 
The third site dated to the early part of the last century. A photo from 1924 shows several houses at this location in the old Walterdale neighborhood, suggesting it was likely a backyard garbage pit. The glass bottles recovered from the feature contained medical treatments common at the time including Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy, Bovril, and Dr. Eno’s Fruit Salt. Read more at https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2015/04/28/historic-narratives-promotion-and-archaeology-in-edmonton/ Share river valley event, job posting, or news
If you have a river valley event, job posting, or news that you would like to see published in this newsletter, please send the info to nsrivervalley@gmail.com
 
Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712
nsrivervalley@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/NSRVCS/
http://www.edmontonrivervalley.org/