River Valley News - Sept 1, 2022

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September 1, 2022

City surface temperatures 6-12C higher compared to rural areas
Last summer, Nilusha Welegedara and her family sweltered in their rented Edmonton townhouse, relying on air conditioning and fans to help make life bearable. With no trees for shade, and living next door to a sun-baked parking lot, even going outside offered little relief, the University of Alberta researcher recalls.

But then they moved to a neighbourhood filled with mature trees, located near the city’s river valley. “It’s totally different now,” says Welegedara. “We never use fans and even have to use blankets sometimes in the summer, it’s that much cooler. So it’s a big relief.”

The difference doesn’t come as a surprise to this post-doctoral fellow, whose first-hand experience mirrors her research findings that there are links between various landscapes in Edmonton and hotspots known as urban heat islands. Learn more at https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2022/08/islands-in-the-heat.html

Raise a curious, confident, nature-loving child
September spots are open for the Edmonton Forest School which runs full-day, half-day, and once-a-week program options at Gold Bar Park to support children in the development of a sense of place, an ethic of care towards nature, and an understanding of themselves as a part of the natural world.

Edmonton Forest School Society is a not-for-profit society that aims to connect Edmontonians to our incredible river valley. It is a group of parents, teachers and community members who came together to ensure our children, the next generation, become resilient, empathetic, and adventurous environmental stewards who care and protect our greatest resource, the natural world.

Programs run from September to June. Learn more at https://edmontonforestschool.com/ and email questions to instructors@edmontonforestschool.com

Showy Aster a native plant that attracts butterflies
Eurybia conspicua or Showy Aster is a tall robust native plant that looks best at the back of the border or in front of shrubs. It will grow into a nice clump, needs full sun to semi-shade, blooms late July-September, and attracts butterflies.

Showy Aster is a perennial spreading by means of underground rhizomes, forming loose clonal colonies. Each plant can produce a flat-topped array of 5-50 flower heads, each head with 12–35 blue or violet ray florets surrounding 48–55 yellow disc florets. More at https://eng.snappages.com/native-plants-e

Wasps and other insect bites can be serious
Larry writes “The mention of spiders in the article caught my attention as I just heard an interview with Arachnologist Catherine Scott who spoke of popular misinformation about spiders. The interview was full of interesting information and is well worth a listen She says that spider bites are extremely rare events, contrary to popular belief.” 8-minute interview at https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2065099843792

Mark emailed “Thanks for sharing information on insect stings. Predator and parasitoid species are fascinating and vital to our ecosystems. Many stinging species are ground-dwellers that actively protect their nests. We can avoid a painful encounter by staying on the path. River valley users know that a crushed plantain leaf relieves mosquito bites. For a wasp sting you'll need a spit poultice, where you chew the leaf for about 10 seconds before pressing it on the sting. It's important to understand that insect predators have tremendous value and are more than a potentially deadly nuisance to humans.

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

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August 26, 2022

River Valley News - Aug 25, 2022

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August 26, 2022

Wasps and other insect bites can be serious
Insect and spider bites often cause minor swelling, redness, pain, and itching. These mild reactions are common. They may last from a few hours to a few days. Home treatment is often all that is needed to relieve symptoms of a mild reaction to common stinging or biting spiders and insects, such as fleas, flies, and mosquitoes.

Some people have more severe reactions to bites or stings. Babies and children may be more affected than adults are. Problems that are more serious include a severe allergic reaction, shock that can occur if the circulatory system cannot get enough blood to the vital organs, nausea, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.

Insects most likely to cause allergic or toxic reactions include bees. A bee leaves its stinger behind and dies after stinging. A local reaction includes pain, swelling and redness around the sting but may become as serious as a severe allergic reaction for some people.

Wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets are typically more aggressive than bees and may sting more than once. Most reactions include a bump at the site of the sting. A toxic reaction can occur if a person is stung 10 or more times. Yellow jackets cause the most allergic reactions. More information at https://myhealth.alberta.ca/health/Pages/Conditions.aspx?hwid=insbt

Western Tanager a wasp eater
Seeing a male Western Tanager is like looking at a flame: an orange-red head, brilliant yellow body, and coal-black wings, back and tail. Females and immatures are a dimmer yellow-green and blackish. These birds live in open woods all over the west, particularly among evergreens, where they often stay hidden in the canopy.

While most red birds owe their redness to a variety of plant pigments known as carotenoids, the Western Tanager gets its scarlet head feathers from a rare pigment called rhodoxanthin. Unable to make this substance in their own bodies, they obtain it from insects in their diet.

This bird eats mostly insect, especially wasps, ants, termites, stinkbugs, cicadas, beetles, grasshoppers, crane flies, dragonflies, caterpillars, scale insects, and sawflies. They also eat fruit, especially during fall and winter, when it may dominate the diet

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Western Tanagers were thought to pose a significant threat to commercial fruit crops. Today, it is illegal to shoot native birds and they are safer than they were a century ago. More at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Tanager/overview

John Walter a prominent figure in early Edmonton
John Walter came to Canada in 1870 to build York boats for the Hudson's Bay Company. At the end of his HBC contract in 1875, he decided to try his hand at making a life outside of the Fort walls. With York boats still in demand, the company offered to pay John in cash for all the boats that he could turn out. Walter’s boat building business had begun.

John settled on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River, directly across from Fort Edmonton on a location near the ford crossing the river for the Calgary-Edmonton trail. Following the 1882 land survey, Walter’s dwelling and cultivated fields became River Lot 9, which granted him 155 acres, with a 2-block frontage on the river and a depth running south to what is now University Avenue.

He developed his property by moving buildings no longer in use at the Fort and refurbishing them. His property was also shaped by his opening a blacksmith and carriage shop in 1886, his continued boat building business, ferry operation, a small coal mine in 1887, and a sawmill in 1893. Although the sawmill became John’s biggest success, he was most recognized for his ferry.

John’s businesses, particularly his lumber mill, began to suffer with the decline of the housing boom in 1912. The 1915 flood caused great damage to his business, washing away lumber stocks and sawmill, and caused great damage to the Walterdale community. To add to the losses, one of John’s trusted employees embezzled a substantial amount of money. John Walter died 5 years later without recovering his losses. Learn more at https://www.edmonton.ca/attractions_events/john_walter_museum/john-walter-bio

Aspen poplar has been used as a painkiller
This tree is essential to the Aspen Parkland, the ecoregion where Edmonton is found. It is also known as the trembling aspen because of its unusual flat petiole, or leaf stems, which cause the leaves to flutter, or quake in the slightest breeze.

Aspen photosynthesizes even with their bark. This means they provide valuable winter food for porcupine, moose, black bear, beaver, ruffed grouse, and rodents, which may eat the bark and leaves of aspen trees.

Some scientists think that an aspen grove connected by a root system may be a single organism. Aspen is known for suckering or producing new trees from their root system if adult trees are damaged. The roots stay connected, and all trees that are connected will grow leaves or lose their leaves all at the same time.

Aspen contains salicylates and has been used as a painkiller. Salicylates are also used to treat acne, warts, dandruff, and ringworm, because the acid form can remove the outer layer of human skin. It can even be used as a food preservative and as an antiseptic. Learn more at https://www.ealt.ca/species-spotlight-list/aspen-poplar

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August 19, 2022

River Valley News - Aug 18, 2022

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August 19, 2022

Council votes not to lease city land to gondola project
City Council has decided to halt the Prairie Sky Gondola project for the time being. On August 15, councillors voted 12-1 to receive the land agreement with the company proposing the gondola only as information and not to approve the lease of city land for the project.

Then, council unanimously passed a motion that Administration prepare a report to Committee that:
1. Outlines a potential governance structure that empowers Indigenous MOU partners and communities with historical and cultural connections to Rossdale to provide direct input on the implementation of the River Crossing Business plan, Touch the Water and future developments on the Rossdale flats location; and
2. Summarizes the City of Edmonton’s current approach to private development and land use on locations of special cultural, spiritual or historical significance.

Councillor Karen Principe was the lone vote against receiving the proposed Prairie Sky Gondola land agreement as information only. Prairie Sky could revisit the proposal but would need to present additional information to mitigate councillors' concerns with the project. More on the gondola vote at https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/edmonton-river-valley-gondola-project-halted-by-city-council-1.6028363

imeline of Indigenous history in Alberta
The Alberta Teachers’ Association has prepared a document to answer the question; What are the key historical events that have affected the past and current First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations living in Alberta? The events that occurred after Europeans arrived on Turtle Island have been documented in various forms and are therefore more readily accessible than the precontact history of Indigenous people.

The settler history begins with the 1452 papal letter known as the Doctrine of Discovery which was put into law by European monarchies after the Crusades in order to legitimize the colonization of non-Christian lands outside of Europe. This document was part of public discussion during the recent pastoral visit of Pope Francis to Canada in July.

The ATA document ends with the 2016 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal landmark decision on a case brought by Cindy Blackstock. The ruling states that the federal government of Canada has a longstanding practice of underfunding child and family services on First Nations’ reserves and failing to ensure that First Nations’ children can access government services on the same terms as other Canadian children. More at https://legacy.teachers.ab.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/ATA/For%20Members/ProfessionalDevelopment/Walking%20Together/PD-WT-16e%20-%20Timeline.pdf

Riverlot 56 Natural Area just outside of St. Albert
Riverlot 56 Natural Area is a 108-hectare oasis of public land located in Sturgeon County along the banks of the Sturgeon River, just outside the City of St. Albert, Alberta. It is one of the original parcels of land divided during the settlement of the region during the early 1900’s. The federal government owned and used the site for one of the first Indigenous residential schools before educational services spread to the northern districts.

Diverse habitat types are found within the Natural Area, from upland aspen forests to open and large meadows to stream bed aquatic plant communities. Patches of willow and cattails grow along the banks of the Sturgeon River. Riverlot 56 is populated with many bird species as well as mammals such as muskrat, beaver, deer and moose.

Alberta’s Natural Areas are special parcels of public land, containing natural features representing one or more aspects of the province’s biological and physical diversity. They fall in the middle range of conservation lands in Alberta, between strictly protected lands such as ecological reserves and those lands intensively developed for recreation such as provincial recreation areas. Park guide with map at https://www.albertaparks.ca/media/6496896/riverlot-56-brochure.pdf

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