FireSmart neighbourhood preparedness underway in YEG
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services' Public Education unit recently hosted the FireSmart Canada Neighbourhood Recognition Program at the Strathcona Community League hall. Strathcona was flagged as having a wildland urban interface fire risk, but many neighbourhoods share similar characteristics, particularly communities which border the North Saskatchewan River Valley and its ravines.
Edmonton is not immune from the possibility of forest fires. It is important we know what we can do to reduce risks in our city. Preparing for the threat of wildfire is a shared responsibility. Residents, community leaders, industry and all levels of government have a responsibility to lessen the effects of wildfire. FireSmart is the implementation of both prevention and mitigation measures to reduce wildfire threat to communities while balancing the benefits of wildfire on the landscape.
All of us can benefit from learning more. This is the first time a large municipality has led a Neighbourhood Recognition Program in Canada and is the beginning of a widespread rollout in Edmonton. https://firesmartcanada.ca/programs/neighbourhood-recognition-program/
Magpie funerals not a myth, many historical accounts of this behaviour
Guy Odishaw photo
Delve into historical accounts of magpies and you will find accounts of magpie funerals. These reports state that when a magpie dies, other magpies will travel to the spot and sit over the body for a short period of time. This behavior is well documented in the literature and by respected ornithologists.
Cornell Lab All About Birds states “One of the most notable, Black-billed Magpie behaviors is the so-called funeral, when one magpie discovers a dead magpie, it begins calling loudly to attract other magpies. The gathering of raucously calling magpies, up to 40 birds have been observed, may last for 10 to 15 minutes before the birds disperse and fly off silently.”
Ornithologist Chuck Trost has put a dead magpie on the ground in a cemetery and observed magpies gathering in the trees above the dead bird, calling, then begin gliding down and gathering around the corpse itself. One tentatively pulls at the tail, and when there’s no response, backs off and simply stands there.
Trost has an explanation for this, saying “It’s probably trying to see what killed it and mostly I think is they’re trying to see who it is. Because magpies know each other, whenever there’s a dead magpie, that means there is an opening in the social system. And if you’re a submissive magpie you can move up one notch.”
One cannot help but wonder if there’s some kind of spiritual spark glowing in these complicated corvids skulls. Who is to say magpies are not contemplating the nature of life and death, like us? The City of Edmonton should make the magpie its official bird. https://blog.nature.org/2018/08/13/magpies-murder-mischief-and-myth/
Dr. Anne Anderson’s mission to preserve the Cree language
When Anne Anderson was born on a river lot farm east of St. Albert in 1906, she was so tiny and frail that her mother worried for her survival. “I was so small my mom made my bed in a shoebox lined with rabbit fur,” said Anderson at her 84th birthday party.
Anderson’s first foray into teaching came when she placed an ad in the newspaper offering to tutor people in Cree. She expected to receive only 10 responses and was blown away when 50 people expressed interest. She began teaching private lessons, and then started teaching classes in Edmonton’s public schools.
After 16 years of teaching in the public school system, Anderson was able to open the Dr. Anne Anderson Native Heritage and Cultural Centre in 1984. One of the most remarkable things about Anderson is that she only started her illustrious career in her mid-sixties.
Dr. Anne wrote almost 100 publications. The jewel in her literary crown was her dictionary. In 1975, she translated a 38,000-word English dictionary into Cree, creating Dr. Anne Anderson’s Metis Cree Dictionary, one of the most comprehensive catalogues of the language ever assembled. She continued to update this dictionary over the years, noting that new words were constantly having to be created for new inventions like microwaves and computers. https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2020/11/10/the-grand-lady-of-the-metis-dr-anne-andersons-mission-to-preserve-the-cree-language/
Flat-topped White Aster native in Canada from Alberta to Newfoundland
Doellingeria umbellata known by the common names flat-topped white aster, parasol whitetop, or tall white aster is a North American plant species native in Canada from Alberta to Newfoundland. It is a perennial up to 200cm tall, spreading by means of underground rhizomes.
It can produce as many as 300 small flower heads, each with as many as 16 white ray florets and 50 yellow disc florets. Its fruit is a dry seed with a tuft of whitish hairs to carry it off in the wind. This perennial grows in full sun or part-shade and moist or draining wet soils that are slightly acid in reaction but adapts to moderately acid or slightly alkaline reaction.
A wide variety of pollinators are attracted to the nectar and pollen of this flower. These species include long- and short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, beetles and butterflies. Larger animals like swamp sparrows, wild turkey, white-tailed deer and cottontail rabbits, also enjoy the foliage of the plant so keep it caged in the early years of establishment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doellingeria_umbellata
Calder Community Mosaic by Spacemakeplace - Rebecca Bayer & David Gregory, Calder Library
https://www.edmontonarts.ca/public-art/calder-community-mosaic
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