Ease up on mowing and participate in No Mow May
Started in the U.K. and picking up steam in Canada, No Mow May is a call to help wild pollinators and other wildlife in the greenspaces where we live. Trying to increase your lawn’s diversity is important for urban nature because lawns are one of the largest green spaces in our cities. Canada has an estimated 6.2 million lawns.
If you imagine dozens and dozens of backyards doing things to improve habitat for native pollinators and migratory birds, this can have a big impact on nature and the quality of our urban ecosystems. By letting flowers bloom on your lawn, including dandelions, you can provide an important source of nectar and pollen for wild bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects.
Bees and butterflies are the most familiar insect pollinators, while moths, flies, beetles, and ants are lesser-known pollinators that still play an important role. In recent years, there has been a sharp decline in some pollinator populations due to climate change, habitat loss, loss of native plants, and pesticides.
A U.K. study found that changing a mowing routine and allowing plants to flower can create enough nectar for ten times more pollinators. It is suggested to mow your lawn every four weeks, which results in a higher number of flowers on your lawn. Tips on how to attract pollinators at https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/blog/archive/saving-the-bees.html#.YmmUjdrMI2x
Edmonton Paddlers Boat & Gear Swap
This event will be Saturday, May 14 from 10am to 1pm at ReMax Field Parking Lot #2, between Rosedale Rd & 104 St. There is no fee for buyers, but all purchases are cash only. Sellers need to preregister.
Items will include canoes, kayaks, and stand up paddleboards, as well as paddling and camping gear and gadgets. Proceeds to support the Edmonton Paddling Centres Association programs and facilities.
Paddlers think the only way to see the river valley is by canoe, kayak, or SUP, as it involves so little environmental disturbance. And what better way to enhance sustainability than to assist the reuse of useful paddling and camping gear. More info and sellers’ preregistration at https://ceyanacanoeclub.wildapricot.org/event-4768929
Edmonton Folk Music Festival history
With the Folk Festival returning this August, after a two-year hiatus due to covid, you may be interested in the history of how this annual music event in the river valley began. In 1980, with Alberta celebrating its 75th anniversary, an idea was hatched to hold a folk festival in Edmonton.
The province granted the fledgling organization $89,000 out of the $75 million it had set aside for anniversary celebrations. Gold Bar Park was the site of the first festival, and most acts as well as the PA system, came thanks to a concurrent anniversary folk celebration, the Travelling Goodtime Alberta Medicine Show.
The province, in the anniversary year, donated money to have a school bus full of artists like Sylvia Tyson, Connie Kaldor and Stan Rogers travel around Alberta performing. That was the nucleus of the first Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
The second year didn’t go as smoothly. Funding did not come immediately for the festival and it looked as if 1980’s celebration might be a one-time event. However, SummerFest, the board set up to fund Edmonton’s summer festivals, decided to give the festival $15,000 after first refusing to fund it.
After 1981, EFMF’s funding became more or less assured, and the festival found a permanent home in Gallagher Park. Learn more at https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2015/08/05/edmonton-folk-fest-how-did-we-get-here/
River Valley Patrol needed
Johanus writes “I love our river valley and strongly believe in preserving it as much as possible, so do not like it when people go off trail, especially when they are in protected areas.
I was running on a trail when we came across a spot where someone had chopped down a large tree and built it into a drop-off ramp for mountain biking. This was a large ramp, at least 3m long and over a metre high. They had bent back and broken several bushes to clear the way.
Further on we found where a healthy tree had been cut into pieces and placed over bushes which stop soil erosion, pushing them down so that the bushes wouldn't stick out onto the trail and interfere with quick bike travel in that area.
I wonder if there is anything that can be done about this kind of behaviour? What does the City do about it? Is there any kind of patrol that monitors this? If not, I am thinking of trying to organize a volunteer patrol.”
Photo by Lincoln Ho
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