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