CURRENT NEWS
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Manitoba Hydro's Forest Enhancement Program Awards our District Funding For Three Sites
The UARCD is pleased to announce that we have received funding for three tree planting projects within our district. The sites are located at: Rossburn Mass Grave Site at Patterson Lake; Miniota Welcome Signs; and The Birtle Playground in The Birtle Park. Applications are accepted each year from July 1 to November 1. If your group or community could benefit from some added trees next summer, apply to the Forest Enhancement Program. If you would like the CD to help, we have been successful partnering with Manitoba Hydro for many years, so if you have an idea in mind give us a call at the office. You can't get the funding if you don't ask or bring a project forward!
Annual MCDA Convention Attended and Enjoyed By All
Staff and CD board members recently participated in the annual MCDA conference. This year our keynote speaker was Dr. David Suzuki who spoke and took questions for over one hour in the Keystone Convention Hall. Excellent conference well done Shane and the MCDA executive. Many excellent thought provoking presentations were made throughout the day by CD managers and invited participants.
Dr. David Suzuki Presenting at MCDA Conference
Government of Canada Helps the Environment and Farmers' Bottom Lines
Miniota, Manitoba, February 21, 2012 - Producers will have the opportunity to increase their profits through green agriculture technologies thanks to a partnership among industry, academia, and the Government of Canada. Member of Parliament Robert Sopuck (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette), on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, announced today an investment of $160,000 to the Upper Assiniboine River Conservation District to study how agroforestry systems can increase farmers' productivity while mitigating their environmental impact. >>>>>>Link to Complete news release<<<<<<<
Getting Out With Students In Our Riparian Areas: Scallion Creek Cleanup
Students with a sample of debris cleaned from The Scallion Creek
Tackling Purple Loosestrife With sponsorship from The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup program CD staff and students from Virden Schools took to the creek and shoreline to clean up garbage as well as removing a large amount of purple loosestrife plants and seeds. For more information on purple loosestrife please check out the Invasive Species Council of Manitoba website.
Elkhorn School Tree Planting
Elkhorn School Planting Group
Elkhorn Students in action A big thank you goes out to students at the Elkhorn School for participating in a fun afternoon of planting trees on the school sports track north of the school. The UARCD provided potted tree stock from our tree nursery, and staff members to assist with planning and planting. If your school or community group would like to entertain a tree planting project please contact the UARCD office ( 204-567-3554) and we will gladly help you out. Why not entertain the idea of a tree planting project in your community????? In most cases all you have to do is ask.
Willow Buffers For Riparian Protection And Energy Production
In
2010 and 2011 and continuing again this year UARCD has decided to research the viability of willow planting as a
way to protect riparian zones as well as an alternative energy source. We
have developed three sites with the guidance of Dr. Bill Schroeder
of the Shelter Belt Centre at Indian Head, SK.
The planted areas consist of a double row of willow separated by a
2 meter buffer and another double row of willow. We are using three
varieties of willow for our trials. The project is
researching the production of willow crops, mainly on marginal
agricultural land, for processing into renewable energy. We hope in the
future to involve more land owners interested in bringing marginal land
back into use by lowering the salinity caused by clearing natural willow
stands and other woody shrubs. The benefits of projects like this are many. Nutrient interception which plays to improving water quality is very important in maintaining a healthy watershed and healthy riparian zones. Biomass production as an alternative energy source plays into renewable energy resource for heating purposes as well as helping to sequester carbon. The return of marginal land back into production also helps the farmer's pocket book. Expected harvest times are between 3-5 years. The CD is always looking for more sites, so if you have some marginal land please give us a call!
Stop by our office at Miniota to apply for our 2013/2014 programs or give us a call with any conservation project ideas you have.
Something to think about.............................
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Small
Dam Spillways Completed Two small dam projects that were left un-completed last fall have now been finished. Snow was cleared, spillways were cut and we have installed reinforced turf mat that will hopefully handle the high spring flows expected this spring. The product from Nilex P550 is an alternative to conventional rip rap. Stay tuned for updates and pictures of how it worked.
Archer Spillway
Wagstaff Spillway: Sunburn Thursday, Snowstorm Friday.
The Office Move Is Underway It's a little crazy here sorting and finding homes for everyone and everything. The last month has been.... move here so we can work here....now move your stuff here for a few days so we can demolish here. It will be nice and worth the hassle to have a brighter office space. We should have permanent phone, fax and internet lines tomorrow. It has been nice having only a single phone this week. The CD has collected a vast array of treasures that are slowly being thinned out. We hope to be fully operational and minus the carpenters, electricians, and painters within a week or two in our space anyway. The noise will continue as they work in the basement for several more weeks/ months completing the community gym and a couple more offices.
Manitoba Living Snow Fence Project: Completed This Season Funding Provided From Shell Canada's Fuelling Change Program & Enbridge Pipelines Inc. The
UARCD is pleased to announce this project, a favourite patiently waiting
on the backburner, has finally coming into existence this spring. Initial
funding of $10,000 was provided by Shell Canada after the project competed
in the nation wide Fuelling Change Program. This past summer additional
proposals were circulated to other area companies and organizations and
on
Thursday March 1st Les
Scott Advisor , Community
Relations for the Central Region and Enbridge Pipelines
stopped by the UARCD office to donate $10,000.00 to the
Trans-Canada Shelterbelt project . “Enbridge
is pleased to provide sponsorship for the ‘Manitoba Living Snow Fence’
project for supporting smart, green infrastructure to ensure highway
safety for residence and visitors to Saskatchewan and Manitoba”
Les Scott Enbridge pipelines Inc. This
project will improve driver safety, reduce Highway maintenance costs and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as beautify and enhance our
stretch of the Trans-Canada as it dissects the R.M. of Wallace.
We have targeted 4 miles of highway within our region for planting in 2012; these areas have been identified as priority areas by the Highway Department staff. As the second most used portion of the trans-Canada highway in Manitoba, there is a need. The use of living shrubs will be a long-term investment, providing years of positive results that are otherwise achieved by the expenditure of time and resources annually, with a less effective result. We would like to give a heartfelt thank you to Enbridge for their support to this project. Thanks must also be given to AESB Agro Forestry Development Centre In Indian Head for providing tree stock and helping with planning of the sites. Anyone interested in learning more about the project and how they can get involved please contact the CD office at 567-3554. Assiniboine Riparian Forest: Come on Down For A Look: Arrange a Tour or Presentation For Your Class, Group or Organization!!
"Each town should have a park, or rather a primitive forest, of five hundred or a thousand acres, where a stick should never be cut for fuel, a common possession forever, for instruction and recreation........."
---Henry David Thoreau 15th October 1859
Dedication Tree: Leonard Sitko, Long time Chairman of CD and Ryan Canart, Manager This past summer on August 24, 2011 the Upper Assiniboine River Conservation District proudly opened our educational destination centre "The Assiniboine Riparian Forest". The event was well attended by over 100 local residents, staff, board members, and dignitaries. Greetings were brought from Rhonda McDougall- Manitoba Water Stewardship, Olive McKean-RM Of Miniota. Ryan Canart-CD Manager presided and summarized the site to date: "I would like to thanks the board for having the vision to support this project and believe in the benefits that this place will provide to conservation in the long term. I would like to thank all the people and businesses for their generosity from our major funders right down to individuals that donated time and knowledge to assist us in creating the site." The vision began in 2007 when the CD applied to lease the small parcel from the crown as the site was formerly a wayside picnic area. Major funders included Manitoba Hydro Forest Enhancement Program; RBC Blue Water Fund and Manitoba Special Conservation Fund. "One of our driving objectives for this site is to provide school students with a strong understanding of our natural world and how it functions, and how we as humans fit into it. All of the programs offered at the riparian forest are interactive, to provide students with a hands-on learning about natural science. In the coming years this site will flourish into a mixed forest, with open meadow and about a kilometre of walking trails which wind through the area which enable visitors to examine the over twenty different tree species planted here. Secondary benefits of the forest are obviously to be a recreational area or rest stop for travelers. This site is the first opportunity for people traveling north to stop and enjoy the sights and sounds of the impressive Assiniboine river valley, Future aspirations is for this site to be the trial head for future recreational activities which could stretch up in to the valley and some of its tributaries, This region has some very unique natural and cultural assets which are worth sharing." "We
have maintained the natural prairie as much as possible, although we got
several comments about mowing the grass in the first couple of summers we
have tried to do minimal maintenance to the grounds to preserve the wild
native species which attract pollinating insects and other native wildlife
species. Some of the species worth noting are wild onion, Canadian golden
rob, fleabane, asters and American vetch to name a few.
We hope to encourage other native species of grasses and forbs in
the coming years to enhance the educational experience.
Other management decisions we have made are to leave trees that are not
performing to park standards. As with the forest environment, things are
messy looking trees of different size and stature are present and although
this may look a little ragged it presents an opportunity to teach youth
about tree disease and their natural defence mechanisms as well as healing
processes.
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