River Valley News - June 30, 2022

How the City takes a bite out of mosquitoes
What do ponds, eavestroughs, bird baths and patio furniture have in common? According to Mike Jenkins, Pest Management Coordinator with the City of Edmonton, they’re all ground zero for one of summer’s biggest nuisances, the mosquito. The city and mosquito have a storied history.

Developed by researchers at the University of Alberta in 1974, the Mosquito Control Program was one of the first integrated programs in Canada. “Instead of targeting adult mosquitoes with clouds of DDT, researchers targeted the mosquito’s more vulnerable larval stage,” explains Jenkins.

In addition to biological controls, the pest management team is always looking for innovative ways to reduce pests. “You may have noticed an absence of mosquitoes wherever you see dragonflies or bats. This isn’t a coincidence. For example, the dragonfly is a mosquito-eating machine and can eat hundreds each day,” Jenkins explains.

The City’s plan to improve the populations of dragonflies and other mosquito predators includes preserving wetlands and increasing naturalization around Stormwater Management Facilities. Naturalization includes planting native trees and shrubs, and stopping mowing to allow native plants, birds, and other wildlife populations to re-establish themselves. More at https://transforming.edmonton.ca/how-the-city-takes-a-bite-out-of-mosquitoes-an-interview-with-pest-management-coordinator-mike-jenkins/

Eco-Indigenous gardening guide available for free
The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues has published a gardening guide which provides information needed to plant traditional Indigenous medicines and foods in your home garden at home. It also informs how you can benefit from planting, harvesting, and incorporating these foods and medicines into your diet.

Many traditional Indigenous plant foods are similar to those available in the average supermarket today. These include root vegetables, green vegetables, fruits, wild berries, seeds, nuts, grains, and mushrooms. Indigenous people have also known about nutrients available in algae, lichens, flowers, and bark or inner bark of trees.

Ojibwe people believe that health and wellbeing of the body and mind are vital aspects of wellness and that the Earth, Nimaamaa Aki, provides all the foods and medicines required to be and stay well. Access the gardening guide at https://efcl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Sustainable-Indigenous-Gardening-Guide.pdf

Lessons from Canadian cities that cherish and protect greenspace
Canadian cities are losing greenspace, a Statistics Canada report shows. A study on urban greenness measured the amount of vegetation in Canada’s 31 most-populated areas. Researchers used satellite images to find how much green vegetation exists in cities.

Areas that appeared green in colour indicating vegetation concentration were classified “green.” The rest were classified “grey,” usually indicating urban development. Research shows an average of 6.6 per cent of the area of Canada’s 31 most-populated cities changed from green to grey from 2001 to 2021.

Winnipeg, Edmonton, Kelowna, Abbotsford, and Vancouver lost the largest proportion of greenspace over the years covered by the study. Edmonton had a 30.6% decrease in proportion of greenery. More at https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/06/17/news/lessons-canadian-cities-cherish-and-protect-green-space

Best stairs in YEG’s river valley
Whether you like to run stairs, walk up them, or used them for great views, Edmonton’s river valley has a wide variety of stairs. Many of us have our favourite set of stairs, but the consensus is the following three stairs are a step above the rest.

Just off Fox Drive, Grandview Heights Stairs has the most steps, with 254 from top to bottom. While they are long, their grade is comparably gentle, making them good for beginners and endurance enthusiasts alike.

Wolf Willow Stairs, across from Fort Edmonton Park, will have you climbing roughly 200 steps. They are considered the steepest and most challenging stairs in the valley. Due to its downtown location, the 202 steps of the stairs near Royal Glenora Club may be most heavily used in the river valley.

The most frequently used steps of me and my dog are Highland Stairs. More at https://dailyhive.com/edmonton/best-places-to-run-stairs-edmonton

Lady Flower Gardens land conserved in perpetuity
Alan writes “Thanks for putting in the article about Lady Flower Gardens and the Jubilee and Evelyn's Conservation Lands. A number of us worked pretty hard to see that happen, with the creation of the Edmonton and Area Land Trust and all the lobbying and fundraising it took to convince the land trust to take it on. Not an easy ride, to say the least. But it's there now and that's a pretty special place.

Photo by Suzanne Cody

Comment or contribution
Please note that articles may not reflect the position of NSRVCS. River Valley News is meant to be a clearinghouse for the wide variety of opinions and ideas about Edmonton’s River Valley.

If you have a comment, concern, or question, contact us at nsrivervalley@gmail.com Please email us river valley photos or event information. Your friends, neighbours and colleagues can sign up for this newsletter on our web site https://www.edmontonrivervalley.org/

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

River Valley News - June 16, 2022

Lady Flower Gardens land conserved in perpetuity
Lady Flower Gardens along the North Saskatchewan River in northeast Edmonton offers Edmontonians in need a chance to connect with nature, while sharing its harvest with the food bank and community at large.

It is part of the New Jubilee and Evelyn’s Acres conservation lands which span 233 acres of forests and farmland. These treasured lands have 80 acres of native habitat and 125 acres of agricultural lands

Honouring his parent’s wishes for the land to be protected, Doug Visser worked with the Edmonton and Area Land Trust to place conservation easements on title. The easements safeguard the conservation values of the forests and farmland in perpetuity.

Video and story at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/lady-flower-gardens-doug-visser-edmonton-s-food-bank-urban-farming-1.6482182

Beaver Hills Biodiversity trail part of UNESCO designated biosphere
Stroll this historic Strathcona County trail, located in the Beaver Hills Biosphere and experience mixed-wood boreal forests, wildlife, and the immersive wetlands created by ecosystem engineers, beavers!

Located at 52535 Range Road 211, on the east side of the Strathcona Wilderness Centre, this 2 km trail features picnic areas, rest benches, lookouts and a boardwalk. The trail is designed to inspire and educate, encouraging visitors to experience biodiversity, culture, the story of the land and the vision of the Biosphere.

For part of the trail, you are also walking on a portion of the historic Edmonton to Beaver Hills trail. It is a trail that Indigenous people used for centuries, if not thousands of years. Much later, settlers came along and used it as well. It is always fun to think that your footsteps are going in the same steps of many people who walked these lands over the many, many years before us. More at https://www.travelalberta.com/ca/listings/beaver-hills-biodiversity-trail-20828/

Edmonton river valley is Vivek Shraya’s favourite place in Canada
According to the musician, writer and artist, growing up in Edmonton, one of the challenging things about living in a small city is that you sometimes feel overexposed. Some people like that small-town vibe, but for me, especially being queer and brown, sometimes I wanted spaces to be invisible in.

The North Saskatchewan River Valley was a space within the city to feel anonymous. I have such a tender spot for the River Valley because I associate it with finding my own way. It feels like a choice. I go there when I want to do something with the people I love who aren’t biological family.

This might speak to just how displaced I felt as a teenager, but there were a lot of times I was in the River Valley and I didn’t even know that I was in the River Valley. Sometimes when you’re in a space where you feel safe, it’s not that you arrive at the space and think “I feel safe now” or “I can be myself now.” Sometimes it’s about being in a space where I forget to worry about not feeling safe or acting a certain way. I can let my guard down. More at https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/vivek-shrayas-favourite-place-in-canada/

If river valley parkland is not pristine, does it have no ecological value
Proponents of development in the river valley, such as Epcor’s solar power plant and the planned Alldritt 80-storey tower, have successfully argued at City Council that the land they need is disturbed, rather than undisturbed, river valley land. They argued if parkland is not pristine, it has no ecological value.

The irony of this argument is that it ignores the history of the river valley and the original reason the river valley was preserved as parkland. Our river valley history is not of pristine, undisturbed natural lands. This bend in the North Saskatchewan River has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. Early settlers used much of the river valley for industry and as garbage dumps.

The recent history of our river valley park is citizens and councils having a vision of a ribbon of green. More than one hundred years ago the recommendation for a river valley park system was accepted and subsequent visionary councils have added land to Edmonton’s crown jewel. Now, we also understand its value as an ecological corridor for wildlife, birds, and other creatures.

The question our elected public stewards, city council, needs to address is, will they degrade or enhance Edmonton’s river valley vision? Learn why there’s no such thing as pristine nature at https://knowablemagazine.org/article/food-environment/2021/why-theres-no-such-thing-pristine-nature

Pollinators and Allergies
Joy writes “I live in a condo unit adjacent to a city park. Given the effort to increase pollinators in the urban community, please advise me as to how I can prevent bees from building a nest under my deck and wasps from building a nest in a crevice along my front walk. This is posing significant risk to those with allergies.”

Photo by Ria Busink

Comment or contribution
The newsletter will not publish next week. The next issue will be June 30.

Please note that articles may not reflect the position of NSRVCS. River Valley News is meant to be a clearinghouse for the wide variety of opinions and ideas about Edmonton’s River Valley.

If you have a comment, concern, or question, contact us at nsrivervalley@gmail.com Please email us river valley photos or event information. Your friends, neighbours and colleagues can sign up for this newsletter on our web site https://www.edmontonrivervalley.org/

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

River Valley News - June 9, 2022

North Saskatchewan River water level extremely low

Boaters using motorized craft are being told to stay off the North Saskatchewan River as water levels remain extremely low. Lower than normal precipitation rates combined with slower snowmelt upstream in the mountains have caused river levels to remain lower so far this season.

River rates around the city at this time of year are expected to be around 150 cubic metres per second. Currently it is hovering around 80, meaning the river is flowing at half the rate. For paddlers, canoers, or kayakers, that means they should expect to be out longer than before or working a lot harder to get downstream with their paddles.

Colleen Walford, an Alberta Environment and Parks river forecast specialist, said the North Saskatchewan experienced its lowest flow rate in May in the past 50 years. The mountain snowpack melt is approximately two to three weeks behind schedule this year, Walford added.

"We are just a little slow this year," she said. "It'll just take some time." The river forecaster expects water levels to normalize by July. "The melt takes up to about six weeks," Walford said. More at https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/power-boaters-asked-to-stay-off-north-saskatchewan-river-due-to-low-water-levels-1.5932794

Edmonton sewer system history

The earliest sewer system in Edmonton was built in 1880 for a population of about 200. It discharged directly into the river without treatment. The first wastewater treatment plant was built in Rossdale and treated about half the wastewater produced by the city. It was shut down in 1916 to save costs during Word War 1.

Another plant was not built until 1925, this time in Riverdale. It operated until 1956, when the Gold Bar plant opened. A second plant opened in 1930 in Queen Elizabeth Park. It treated sewage until 1955, when a new plant went into operation right beside it. This plant shut down in 1972 after a pipeline was built to move wastewater from the west end of Edmonton to the Gold Bar plant.

A treatment plant opened in 1931 in Mill Creek Ravine to deal with wastewater coming from Gainer’s Meat Packing Plant, which until then was dumped directly into Mill Creek. This plant closed in 1955.

The Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant opened in 1956. The advanced secondary processes were a first in western Canada at that time. Text from Living in the Shed by Billie Milholland, published by the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance https://archive.org/details/livinginshedalbe00milh/

Rose-breasted Grosbeak a non-winter visitor

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is one of four types of grosbeaks found in Alberta. They are stocky, medium-sized songbirds with large triangular bills. Their name comes from the Latin words gros and beccus, meaning large beaks. This name is fitting since these beautiful birds rely on their thick bills to crack open nuts and seeds.

Bursting with black, white, and rose-red, male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are like an exclamation mark at your bird feeder or in your binoculars. Females and immatures are streaked brown and white with a bold face pattern.

They are most common in regenerating woodlands and often concentrate along forest edges and in parks. During migration, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks frequent fruiting trees to help fuel their flights to Central and South America.

Attract Rose-breasted Grosbeaks to your yard with black oil sunflower seeds in a platform, hopper, or large tube feeder. Ensure that the young get a healthy start by offering a habitat filled with native plants that attracts a steady diet of insects. Learn more at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak/overview

Comment or contribution

Please note that articles may not reflect the position of NSRVCS. River Valley News is meant to be a clearinghouse for the wide variety of opinions and ideas about Edmonton’s River Valley. Email river valley photos, event information, comments, or questions to nsrivervalley@gmail.com

Sincerely yours,

Harvey Voogd

North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society

780.691.1712