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