NSRVCS Newsletter - July 22, 2021

Help shape the central river valley’s future
The river valley is a place people have been drawn to and gathered at since time immemorial. The City of Edmonton is exploring ways to improve access to the central river valley with the Touch the Water Promenade project. The project will include opportunities to celebrate heritage, encourage recreation and connect people with nature.

The Touch the Water Promenade project in the Rossdale Area will be moving forward with the next phase of design work. If you live, visit, move through or simply enjoy this area of the river valley, the city wants to hear from you.

Help shape the preliminary design for the Rossdale Area from July 19 to August 3, by engaging in the information and participating in an online survey at
https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/parks_recreation/north-shore-promenade?utm_source=virtualaddress&utm_campaign=touchthewater

New camp in river valley to serve Edmonton’s homeless
For the third time, non-profit organization Peace Camp YEG has launched a camp to serve Edmonton’s homeless population.

Officially launched on July 10, Peace Camp 3 is intended to be a safe space for those experiencing homelessness and offers shelter, food, and access to harm reduction supplies.

The camp is located at the city’s Indigenous Art Park along Queen Elizabeth Park Road. Volunteers say the camp has returned since Edmonton is still experiencing a shortage of housing programs. Learn more at https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/peace-camp-yeg-launches-new-camp-in-river-valley-to-serve-edmonton-s-homeless-1.5513631

Beavers making a comeback as climate champions
Beavers used to be a prevalent species worldwide, ranging from Scotland to Spain, Syria to Russia, and Canada to Mexico. The fur trade of the 1500s to 1800s saw the creatures hunted to almost extinction, but a recent resurgence of research and lobbying by conservationists has seen their numbers climb again. One study estimates global numbers to be around 10 million, still a far cry from times when they numbered 100 million in North America alone.

The animals are best known for their skill at building dams in rivers, which create wetlands and standing ponds. These changes in the watershed contribute to several improvements in the environment, including better stream quality leading to healthier fish populations, carbon capture via the shallow ponds which hold back silt and sequester the gas, increasing resistance against wildfires, and providing a habitat for other animals.

All this contributes to their status as a keystone species, essentially defined as an animal that multiple other species rely on within an ecosystem. As the world heats up and extreme weather becomes more frequent, scientists have been rushing to reintegrate beavers into struggling ecosystems and dry landscapes. Learn more at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210713-the-beavers-returning-to-the-desert

Should Edmonton build on its flood plain
Marie writes “TransAlta will release water from Bighorn Dam starting July 22. The river flow will increase over several days, will be higher than seasonal water flows, and like what is experienced during spring melt. Hopefully, there will be no major thunderstorms upstream from Edmonton during this time.

This sign is on a riverside path adjacent to the Rossdale water treatment plant. We’re not sure if this is a sign of the past, present or future.

River valley concern or contribution
If you have a river valley concern or question, contact us at nsrivervalley@gmail.com
Your friends and neighbours can sign up for this newsletter on our web site.
If you have a photo, information, or event about Edmonton’s river valley and think it should be in this newsletter, email it to us.

Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712

NSRVCS Newsletter - July 15, 2021

Hicks has something for everyone
Hicks Conservation Land is in the Beaver Hills UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Prairie Pothole region, which contains numerous wetlands and aspen forest, and provides critical habitat for wildlife. Edmonton & Area Land Trust jointly owns this land with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Hicks contains a diverse array of plant life and is home to species such as coyotes, elk, moose, beaver and several species of woodpecker, waterfowl, and great horned owl. Historically, the Beaver Hills region’s dense forests, open plains, and lakes offered many resources for different Indigenous Nations to replenish their stores through hunting, gathering, and fishing. It was particularly known for the abundance of beavers.

Do you plan on trying to identify plants and animals while exploring? Consider helping EALT with some citizen science. There are lots of easy ways to share your finds with their conservation team and your input is greatly valued! Hicks is 149 acres, located in Strathcona County and a 40km drive from central Edmonton. Directions, parking, trails, and visitor guidelines at https://www.ealt.ca/hicks

How is your vegetable garden looking
The river valley is a lush green and vegetables are growing throughout Edmonton in farms along the river, backyards and front yards, boulevards, and containers. Will your harvest match these vegetables from Donald Ross’ 1902 garden?

The photo was taken by Charles Mathers, one of Edmonton’s remarkable pioneer photographers. He purchased the city’s first photo studio, which had opened in 1891 at 9666 Jasper Avenue, in February 1893. Mathers built his early reputation taking photos of working-class citizens, like gold miners panning on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River.

Photography and Edmonton took their early steps together, and as the days of the fur-trading fort were coming to an end, the very first cameras were arriving on the frontier. By the mid-1880s, a handful of intrepid pioneer photographers were working out of Edmonton, amassing a remarkable visual historical record of the people and the places where they lived and worked.

Learn more about Mathers and Edmonton’s other photography pioneers, Ernest Brown, and Gladys Reeves, at https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2014/08/21/edmontons-pioneer-photographers/

Tennessee Warbler a caterpillar and spruce budworm connoisseur
These are dainty, thin-billed warblers that breed in the boreal forest of Canada, including Edmonton & Area. Though they lack the brilliant colors of other warbler species, breeding males are a crisp mixture of gray head, white stripe over the eye, and green back. Females and nonbreeders can look more generally yellowish, but they always show white under the tail.

This numerous species eats mostly small caterpillars and benefits from the spruce budworm outbreaks that happen periodically in their breeding habitat. Despite breeding no closer to the state of Tennessee than northern Michigan, 600 miles away, the Tennessee Warbler was given its name by Alexander Wilson based on a bird he encountered in Tennessee during its migration.

The oldest recorded Tennessee Warbler was 4 years, 7 months old when it was recaptured and released at a banding station in the West Indies. It was originally banded in Pennsylvania. More information at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tennessee_Warbler/overview

Should Edmonton build on its flood plain
In 1825 and 1830 severe spring high water covered the flood plain around Fort Edmonton, convincing the Hudson Bay Company to move the fort from Rossdale Flats to its final location up on the riverbank, just below where the Alberta legislature buildings are today.

In June 1915, the most destructive flood in modern times inundated the flood plain. The river rose 3 metres (10 feet) in 10 hours. It demolished the river valley communities of Walterdale, Rossdale, Cloverdale and Riverdale. At least 50 homes were swept away and 500 more were partly or completely submerged. Upwards of 2,000 people were homeless and 35 blocks were under water. This all happened in one day.

There is a general perception that extreme flood risk of the North Saskatchewan River has been reduced, because of the Brazeau and Bighorn dams, upstream of Edmonton. This is not the case, for at least two reasons. First, neither dam was designed to hold back flood water. Once each dam is filled in the spring, excess water from subsequent rain events must be released, or risk comprising the dam structure.

Secondly, four major river systems; Ram, Baptiste, Clearwater, and Nordegg Rivers, plus a myriad of creeks and streams flow into the North Saskatchewan River below the dams and upstream of the City of Edmonton.

Text and information for this piece from Living in the Shed by Billie Milholland https://billiemilholland.ca/

North Saskatchewan River water
Ray writes “Some years ago, research scientists from UofA and UofSask. served on a panel with other water users, local industries that discharge into the river and the city and produced a study of the North Sask. River upstream, through the city and downstream. We learned that one of the biggest contributors to pollution was the city itself from sewers and water treatment.

But there were other serious industrial polluters. We took measurements all along the river and particularly at downstream of pollution sources. As is usual, after a one-time baseline study, the city and province never followed up with a second recommended study. You might reference this study and suggest a follow up. But I can't guide you to it.

When I was asked to serve on the committee, I discovered that there were no independent water scientists on the committee. In short, it was a bit of a setup by industry to control the outcomes and reporting. I was able to encourage the involvement of the two water scientists. And they made a huge difference as to how the study would be done.”

Fishing
Karin says “Please don't promote fishing. Fishing is another form of hunting and in this case worse because people shouldn't consume the animals they catch. Fishing for sport is essentially torturing animals for a pass time and teaches children to disregard the feelings of others and disregard animal suffering for the sake of a leisure activity. Pulling a fish out of water is like holding our head under water, it is suffocation and causes great distress.”

The $24 million river valley funicular closed during the heat wave and will stay closed whenever the temperature is 30C or higher. Extreme weather on both sides of the spectrum closes the funicular. It did not operate during Edmonton’s cold snap in January 2020 either.

River valley concern or contribution
If you have a river valley concern or question, contact us at nsrivervalley@gmail.com
Your friends and neighbours can sign up for this newsletter on our web site.
If you have a photo, information, or event about Edmonton’s river valley and think it should be in this newsletter, email it to us.

Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712

NSRVCS Newsletter - July 8, 2021

Province wants input on North Saskatchewan River water
Alberta’s minister of environment and parks, Jason Nixon, wants public input into a new framework for the North Saskatchewan River. The river is a critical natural resource serving many Alberta communities, as well as those at the Saskatchewan border and beyond. “Its clean and reliable flows are the source of drinking water for well over one million Albertans,” said Nixon.

The North Saskatchewan offers a healthy aquatic ecosystem, that is home to more than 25 fish species, which is almost half of all the native fish species in Alberta. Part of a larger regulatory system, Nixon says the framework will help manage development activity and protect water quality. You can give your feedback until September 17 at https://www.alberta.ca/north-saskatchewan-region-surface-water-quality-management-engagement.aspx

Native flowers can beat the heat
During this heat wave have you been fretting about your plants? Native plants do not need much in the way of care because they have evolved to manage our extreme climate. They are also good for local wildlife which has evolved side-by-side with native plants to develop mutually beneficial relationships.

Here is a list of 10 plants native to the greater Edmonton area, as well as a radio interview with CBC Edmonton's summer garden columnist Tanara McLean https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/native-flowers-can-beat-the-heat-in-your-edmonton-area-garden-1.6088610

Fishing in the river valley
Fly fishing expert Philip Rowley says there is lots of fishing opportunities in Edmonton on the North Saskatchewan, which he says is "very underutilized, and has lots of shoreline access spots along the bridges that cross it."

"I call it box of chocolates fishing because there's walleye, pike, sauger, which is like a smaller walleye a little more with some different markings on it. You've got goldeye, mooneye, you've even got lake Sturgeon.”

Health Canada sets fish consumption guidelines based on the concentration of mercury in fish tissue and the human body's ability to eliminate mercury at a slow rate. The mercury in many areas of the province, including the North Saskatchewan River, is likely from natural sources.

You should not eat fish from the North Saskatchewan River more than once a week, and do not eat the liver or other organs. Pregnant women, women of child-bearing age, and children under the age of 15 should not consume the fish at all. More information at https://www.edmonton.ca/activities_parks_recreation/parks_rivervalley/fishing

Noxious Weeds
Kevin says “Further to your comment about the city not referring to noxious weeds, when you click on the link you provided for the top 10 weeds and then click on any of the individual weeds you will see the provincial designation of noxious or prohibited noxious as per the Alberta Weed Control Act which is incorrectly hyperlinked and leads to a dead end.

The correct links to find noxious weeds are:
Provincially regulated weeds https://www.alberta.ca/provincially-regulated-weeds.aspx
Weed control act https://open.alberta.ca/publications/w05p1 “

Photo by Lu Carbyn

River valley concern or contribution
If you have a river valley concern or question, contact us at nsrivervalley@gmail.com
Your friends and neighbours can sign up for this newsletter on our web site.
If you have a photo, information, or event about Edmonton’s river valley and think it should be in this newsletter, email it to us.

Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712