June is Bike Month
In honour of bike month, the City has launched new cycling opportunities to celebrate it. You can join a city guided ride along or download maps of city created cycling routes and loops.
The city’s bike education street team is hosting rides across Edmonton. Rides began June 8 with a leisurely bike ride around Silver Berry and The Meadows. The last ride will be June 29 and is the Castledowns through seven neighborhoods ride. Information on and registration for all six rides at https://www.eventbrite.com/o/city-of-edmonton-bike-education-team-71772745803
The city has created cycling routes and loops from 7 to 40km. There is a route library with family focused, river valley, cultural, and south Edmonton tours. Under collections you will find nine categories of cycling choices, including community amenities, explore the river valley, family focused, historical and cultural, and next to nature. Download route descriptions and maps at https://ridewithgps.com/organizations/12527-city-of-edmonton-cycling
More information on Edmonton’s bike plan, active transportation network, and all things cycling at https://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/cycling
Jan Reimer Park restoration project public engagement underway
The City wants your input on restoration plans for Jan Reimer Park. An online survey to provide your feedback is available from June 4-23. Drop-in to meet the project team on Tuesday, June 18 from 6-9pm at Westridge Wolf Willow Country Club Community League, 505 Wolf Willow Road NW.
Previously known as Oleskiw River Valley Park, Jan Reimer Park is a 193-acre park located in the west end, south of the Fort Edmonton Footbridge and adjacent to the Edmonton Country Club. In its current form, the park includes a formal trail and informal trails, as well as various natural vegetation areas. There is currently no public vehicle entry into the park, which limits its development.
The Terwillegar Park footbridge and West End Trails projects have created a shared pathway through the park which provides users access to and through the park. Public engagement took place in 2016 and 2017 to develop a Master Plan but funding was not available for delivery of that plan. Money was identified in the 2023-2026 Capital Budget to implement the restoration component of the Master Plan.
The Master Plan identified opportunities to create a legacy unique to the surrounding neighbourhoods, while considering the park’s natural and cultural identity. The plan reflects the needs of today, while enhancing and preserving the ecological integrity of the park as part of Edmonton’s river valley park system for generations to come. To learn more about the project and engagement opportunities visit https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/parks_recreation/Jan-Reimer-Park-Restoration
Discover beneficial insects that reduce damaging garden pests
Before you squish, swat, or spray be sure you are not destroying useful insects. Improving your knowledge about beneficial insects can provide the basis for more ecologically sound solutions to insect pest problems on plants.
Adult ladybugs are well known aphid hunters. During development, each ladybug larva can consume hundreds of aphids or similar soft bodied sapsucking garden pests. Aphid-lions use their long, curved mouthparts to catch, puncture and suck dry their prey. Food items include aphids, other small soft bodied insects and mites. Aphid-lions develop into green lacewings that hunt similar prey.
Larger insect predators like some ground beetles prey on quite large caterpillars that are frequently stalked at night-time. During daylight, the same caterpillars may fall prey to yellow jacket wasps that carry them off to feed their young.
Parasitoids are a group of insects with parasite like larvae. Unlike true parasites, the larvae of parasitoids normally kill their host and then become free living insects, no longer dependent on their host. In many species of parasitoid wasps, the mother wasp inserts an egg inside the host with her needle like egg laying organ called the ovipositor. Learn more at https://www.edmonton.ca/sites/default/files/public-files/documents/PDF/backyard_beneficial_insect_guide.pdf
Caribou and Reindeer are the same species
Caribou are technically the same species as reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, but these two animals are quite different. Many of these differences stem from their relationship with humans throughout history. Reindeer in Eurasia were domesticated over 2000 years and although some animals remain in the wild, reindeer is a blanket name that includes both the domesticated and wild populations.
In Canada, we refer to them as caribou, and almost all of them are wild; the ones that are not are referred to as reindeer. Rangifer tarandus is a member of the deer family. The species is circumpolar, meaning it lives in the northern boreal and arctic regions across the world. Because of the climate of this region, they have adapted several evolutionary features to help them survive in the cold.
Both caribou and reindeer have large, wide hooves that provide traction and act as excellent snowshoes in the deep snow. They also help them dig through the snow to access food in the wintertime. Their specialized noses warm up the air they breathe before it enters their lungs. The water that condenses from this process helps to keep their mucous membranes moist.
Their fur is very thick, which traps air to keep them warm in harsh weather and buoyant when swimming. Males and females have huge antlers, the largest of any deer species in proportion to their bodies. They are the only member of the deer family where females have antlers as well. These antlers help them dig in the snow and soil to find food, attract a mate, and regulate their temperature. https://www.ealt.ca/blog/fun-facts-reindeer-vs-caribou
Immense Mode by Dawn Detarando and Brian McArthur, Southgate Transit Centre
https://www.edmontonarts.ca/public-art/immense-mode
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