River Valley News - Nov 24, 2022

Project adds hundreds of kilometres of Edmonton bike paths to Google Street View
With the help of funding from a Community-Based Budgeting Project created by two city councillors, Eugene Chen has added more than 500 kilometres of bike paths to Google Street View. Now he is hoping to keep the project going by enlisting the help of community groups and volunteers.

Chen received $2,000 from the budgeting project, created by Coun. Keren Tang of Karhiio and Coun. Andrew Knack of Nakota Isga, to take the photos and videos needed to add community bike paths in those wards in Google Street View. The funding helped cover the cost of the camera, but with the price of the equipment and additional expenses, he needed closer to $3,500, kicking in the balance himself to get the project off the ground.

“I’ve had the idea for a few years now but going out and spending even a grand on something that may or may not work is significant, and when I received approval of the grant, knowing that someone else in the community liked my idea and was willing to take a risk on me ... gave me enough confidence and reason to give it a really strong shot,” Chen told Taproot. “Because of the grant, I was willing to take the further risk of extra costs over the current funding.”

With the trails in Nakota Isga and Karhiio completed and already getting over a million views, Chen has plans to keep the project going. Knowing how much time it would take one person to cover the thousands of remaining bike path kilometres, he is looking for ways to involve other people in the project. Read more at https://edmonton.taproot.news/tags/maps

Grierson Hill site of major slides in 1901 and 1915
Massive slope failure at Grierson Hill damaged seven buildings in 1901, nine buildings in 1915, and caused major fracturing at the crest. Today the slide area is kept as parkland and a large wall of boulders, known as riprap, lies at the base of Louise McKinney Park to stop the undercutting action of the North Saskatchewan river.

Natural factors contributed to the severity of slides at this site and threaten the slope. The slope is steeper than many locations in the city ranging from 45 to 60 degrees and the outer radius of the river cuts away at the slope and undercuts the toe. The slope is made of bentonite, a fine clay material deposited in Glacial Lake Edmonton which becomes slippery and weak when saturated, and natural springs infuse the slope with water and saturate the soil.

Human actions did not help. In 1880, William Humberstone started burrowing into the hillside in search of coal. For 22 years he mined under 97 Street and extracted 15 million tons of coal. Dumping garbage on the hill and constructing structures on the hill crest added weight and building storm sewers to discharge storm water onto the slope further weakened the slope.

When the Edmonton Convention Centre was built in 1980, significant work went into engineering the structure so it would not move and that the slope on which the building sits would be stable. Deep foundations and retaining walls were built and steel cables extending under Jasper Avenue anchor the building to keep it from sliding down the hill. Learn more at https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5GFAR_grierson-hill-is-falling-down-falling-down?guid=3199c2bd-fee5-4414-9447-a594ae31412a

YEG river valley a natural gift, help protect it with a charitable donation
The river valley is close to the hearts of Edmontonians, who value its natural beauty. If you think of our river valley as a Ribbon of Green and as a sacred trust gifted to us to respect, honour, and conserve for future generations then we should protect it forever.

The North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society Capital Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation was created to support conservation of natural lands in the City of Edmonton. The intent and purpose of the Fund is to support land acquisition and other activities that conserve the natural ecosystems in the river valley, giving priority to maintaining the biodiversity and ecological integrity of those lands for the public benefit.

At the end of 2021, our fund had $18,794. The goal this holiday season is to increase the Fund to $25,000. The beneficiary of the Fund is the Edmonton and Area Land Trust. Give your charitable donation online at https://www.ecfoundation.org/funds/north-saskatchewan-river-valley-conservation-society-capital-fund/

Buffalo Mountain by Stewart Steinhauer at Tubby Bateman Park, 9703-88 Avenue (City of Edmonton public art collection) https://www.edmontonpublicart.ca/#!/details/22

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

River Valley News - Nov 17, 2022

Wolf Willow resident-only parking program trial ended
The vast majority of engagement participants, including a majority of those residing within the program area, were not in favour of the program. As a result, the resident-only parking program will not continue.

Resident-only parking restrictions will be lifted for the streets of Wolf Willow Crescent and Wolf Willow Point. Current parking permits will not be renewed, and in order to provide time for residents to adjust, bylaw enforcement will not ticket any vehicles displaying expired permits for the month of November.

The current two No Parking and accessible parking stalls and the three No Stopping Zones will remain near the Wolf Willow Stairs. All other restricted parking signage will be removed in the upcoming weeks. Complete information on the date collected and its findings is now available at https://engaged.edmonton.ca/wolfwillow?

Night Out on the North Saskatchewan 2022
This online event to honour, celebrate, and deepen our understanding of the North Saskatchewan River Valley is November 23, 2022, 7:00–8:30pm and hosted by the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition. The evening will feature three speakers and attendance is by donation.

Caroline Nutter will talk about the history of saving Millcreek Ravine. In 1968, she bought a house a half block from the Mill Creek ravine. Shortly after they moved in, her family realized their entire block would be wiped out to make way for a freeway through the ravine. So, with some neighbours, they set out to disrupt those plans.

Sarah De Lano is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and has ancestral ties to River Lot 28, one lot over from where the Kinnaird/Rat Creek Ravine sits. She harvests plants and berries in the ravine with her daughter and has recently completed a community-based research project and recipe book on diversity in greenspace and urban agriculture. Sarah will speak about food and connection to land through food.

Catherine Shier is a professional biologist who works to conserve wildlife and wild places through her work with the City of Edmonton. Catherine will present on the important role our river valley has as a wildlife corridor and how the city works to protect it. She will share images from WildEdmonton, a joint wildlife monitoring project between the City of Edmonton and University of Alberta. Information and registration at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/night-out-on-the-north-saskatchewan-2022-tickets-433028669407?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete&keep_tld=1

Canada’s most prestigious science award goes to research on habitat fragmentation
Ecologist Lenore Fahrig has won Canada's most prestigious scientific award, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council's Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal which is given annually and comes with $1 million dollars in research funding. Her 40-year career has been focused on how to balance humanity's growing impact on the landscape with the need to protect and conserve biodiversity.

According to Fahrig's research, preserving many small patches of natural habitat, whether they happen to be in big cities or scattered around industrial and agricultural areas, can work as well or even better than trying to preserve a few large chunks when it comes to protecting biodiversity.

“What we know now,” said Fahrig, “is that every bit of natural habitat is important in some way for biodiversity. What we need to do is not kind of say, well, this bit of habitat is not big enough. Every bit of habitat is big enough in the sense that if you add it together with other little bits of habitat together, that makes a big difference. What that means is that efforts to save small bits of habitat are really important.”

According to Fahrig, “We have a situation in in Canada where most of our threatened and endangered species are in the southern part of the country, where we have a lot of small patches of forest and or other habitats, and not very much in the way of large patches. And we tend to put our protected areas in the far north where we can have large, protected areas, but that is not actually helping the species in the southern part of the country, which are the most threatened and endangered species in Canada.”

More at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/nov-5-socializing-between-chimps-and-gorillas-deer-and-daylight-savings-giant-asteroid-and-more-1.6639648/canada-s-most-prestigious-science-award-goes-to-research-on-habitat-fragmentation-1.6639650

JBJ McDonald Conservation Land opens to public
The JBJ McDonald Conservation Land is now open to the public. The 130-acre site is in Lac Ste. Anne County, about a 100km drive from central Edmonton. For easy access, visitors will find a parking area, pedestrian gates, and signs throughout the land for navigating the 2.7 km of natural trails.

This conservation land is the first site purchased directly by the Edmonton & Area Land Trust and was made possible by a generous donation of stock options from Joanne McDonald. Her proactive donation was the catalyst to influence other supporters and endowment funds to donate to the EALT Capital fund. JBJ McDonald is named after Joanne and her two children.

The land features a variety of habitats, from open meadows to an esker ridge, to lowlands around the Lily Lake shoreline. Vegetation includes coniferous bogs, birch stands, mixed-wood forests, and modified grassland. It is home to many species of wildlife, including moose, white-tailed deer, trumpeter swans, Canada jays, and boreal toads. Palm warblers, sandhill cranes, and many waterfowl species have been seen on the land during migration.

Cougars and black bears frequent the land throughout the year, and livestock may be at large. Information and visiting guidelines at https://www.ealt.ca/jbj-mcdonald

Turbulent by Jill Anholt (City of Edmonton public art collection) https://www.edmontonpublicart.ca/#!/details/216 Photo by Doyle C. Marko.

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

River Valley News - Nov 10, 2022

Presbyterian minister earned the military’s highest honour

Lieutenant George Burdon McKean earned the Victoria Cross, the military’s highest honour, while serving with the 14th Infantry Battalion near Gavrelle, France on April 27-28, 1918. The medal is awarded for the most conspicuous bravery, a daring or pre-eminent act of valour, or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.

McKean lived in Canada for only 12 years before WWI, having emigrated as an orphan in 1902 from England. He worked on a cattle ranch before studying at Robertson College in Strathcona, then part of the University of Alberta, to enter the Presbyterian ministry. He became a pastor’s assistant at Robertson Presbyterian Church, now Robertson-Wesley United Church in Oliver.

When the war hit, the 27-year-old enlisted in Edmonton as a private. The Victoria Cross was not his only military honour. In 1917, McKean was awarded the Military Medal. And for outflanking 100 German soldiers in September 1918 and forcing them to surrender, all while severely wounded by shrapnel in his right leg, he was awarded the Military Cross.

McKean did not return to Canada after the peace armistice in November 1918. He married a local woman while still in England. Eight years after the war ended, McKean was killed in a freak sawmill accident in 1926 at the age of 38. He was struck in the head when a circular saw he was operating malfunctioned and flew apart. Read more at https://edmontonjournal.com/news/insight/hometown-hero-victoria-cross-winner-from-edmonton-honoured-a-century-later

Smith Crossing pedestrian bridge replacement work begins

The Smith Crossing pedestrian bridge, located along 23 Avenue, provides access to the MacTaggart and Larch Sanctuaries in Edmonton’s river valley system. The existing bridge was built in the early 1900s and has reached the end of its service life. The City of Edmonton is replacing the bridge, with construction anticipated to begin this month. The new bridge is expected to open in fall 2023.

The work zone will be closed to the public during construction, including the parking lot on the south side of 23 Avenue. Walking trails outside the construction zone will remain open. Access restrictions will be in place during construction. More information can be found in the project’s construction bulletin at https://www.edmonton.ca/sites/default/files/public-files/Construction-Bulletin-Smith-Crossing-Pedestrian-Bridge-Oct2022.pdf?cb=1666639002

Buildings that reflect YEG’s early years designated as historic resources

The Stone House and Summer Kitchen built around 1929 on the Keillor Farmstead, in an area now partially occupied by the Whitemud Equine Centre, have been granted designation as Municipal Historic Resources by Edmonton City Council. Dr. Fred Keillor, a city coroner and two-term Alderman, believed in the benefits of outdoor recreation and opened his property to the public for recreational uses as well as access to the river.

The Stone House and Summer Kitchen are unique in that they are built of stone rather than log, unlike the original 1918 Keillor Cabin, which sits immediately to the north of the buildings. This sort of construction is known as “parkitecture” and is common in National Parks in both Canada and the United States. The buildings are owned by the City of Edmonton and are leased by the Whitemud Equine Centre Association.

The other two buildings designated are the Figg Residence, a one-and-a-half storey house located in Bonnie Doon, and the Stein Residence built in 1912 in the Westmount neighbourhood. More about these buildings at

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-Release---Four-historic-buildings-that-reflect-Edmonton-s-early-years-designated-as-historic-resources.html?soid=1127191170163&aid=NNvHNQZ9Cs8

Former railway bridge upstream of Hwy 15 bridge

Rod writes “Thanks to Geoff for his comments and suggestions about how to provide habitat for endangered Barn and Bank Swallows in the River Valley. In addition to a physical place to live, these birds need sustenance, which is mosquitoes, lots of mosquitoes! To support dwindling populations of these birds, concerned Edmontonians need to lobby their City Councillors to support efforts to reduce the use of Bti to control mosquito populations, especially where Bank and Barn Swallows may congregate. With plans to declare Edmonton's River Valley a new National Park all mosquito spraying should be prohibited within planned National Park Boundaries. Edmonton should look to Germany as an example, where the control of mosquitoes with Bti is banned in all Conservation Areas.”

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