Riverbank Makeover Project
Similar to 2018, this year Calgary River Valleys is again doing a “Riverbank Makeover” project with a homeowner who backs onto the Elbow River, with funding support from City of Calgary Water Resources. This project is in alignment with the City’s recently adopted program, the Riparian Action Program, which is designed to improve and maintain the health of river-adjacent areas as well as the quality and quantity of water flowing through Calgary’s rivers and creeks.
The project this year has 3 main components:
- Research about people’s knowledge of riparian issues,
- Field work to modify an Elbow River adjacent homeowner’s riparian zone with new vegetation and monitor its success over time, and
- Educate the public about the value and function of riparian zones in our ecosystem.
Click here to learn more about this project.
Elbow River Brown Trout Redd Count
This project was supported by a Watershed Stewardship Grant, a program of the Land Stewardship Centre, as well as our own operational funds, and support from City of Calgary Water Resources. We appreciate the support provided by these partners which allows this important citizen science project to proceed.
Calgary River Valleys has been working with other groups to count Brown Trout redds or spawning nests in the lower Elbow River since 1994, and has been the main sponsor of this important project since 2009. We want to ensure this citizen science continues as an annual count in order to ensure the data collected is as accurate as it can be, that trends over time can be observed, and the location of redds can be used to ensure land use decisions don’t negatively impact Calgary’s blue-ribbon trout fishery. In 2018, we were able to include, for the first time, data collection on Brown Trout redds in the Upper Elbow on the western edge of Calgary to establish a baseline in that reach.
These counts are conducted in November after spawning by the Brown Trout has occurred, a behavior that is triggered by water temperatures becoming sufficiently cold in the late fall. You are invited to participate in the 2019 Redd Survey dates, which will likely be on Saturday November 2 or 9 (Upper Elbow Count) and Friday November 3 or 10 (Lower Elbow Count). Click here to learn more about this project, and then scroll down.
CRV on Twitter
The ten latest CRV Tweets on Twitter.
During yesterday’s public hearing Land Use approvals: • 30 units of redevelopment / 4 hours • 1000 units of greenfield development / 14 minutes We need to find a better way if we want to meet our density targets for smart growth. Retweeted by CalgaryRiverValleys
Great 2-tweet thread about need for confirming #fish species before harvesting, with a handy & clear ID chart. Help protect endangered #bulltrout #sportfish #trout #ABheadwaters @HeadwatersAB @TUCanada1 twitter.com/HeadwatersAB/s…
What species is this?
— Love Your Headwaters (@HeadwatersAB) September 10, 2019
Anglers tested in 2005-06 scored an average of only 57% on an ID test of common sport fish of #Alberta's Eastern Slopes.
If you harvest fish in #ABheadwaters, you need to tell species apart. Some, like Threatened bull trout, have a zero harvest limit. pic.twitter.com/PZureGDUT4
#Kananaskis is a vital piece of the rocky mountain puzzle. Containing the Sheep, Elbow, Pekisko, Spray & Kananaskis Rivers headwaters, it forms a big piece of the Bow & South Saskatchewan River watersheds that serve millions of people in Alta. and Sask. loveyourheadwaters.ca/kananaskis Retweeted by CalgaryRiverValleys
This is not good news at all: Alberta sees significant honey losses "worst season ... in 50 years" #bees producer.com/2019/08/albert…
Yesterday was a successful open house style tour of our Phase 1 Riverbank Makeover site, albeit cut short due to the downpour in #yyc . Thx to all who came out to learn about riparian health & function, & the role for H2O quality & quantity calgaryrivervalleys.org/news/
Insurance companies in AB definitely pay for cloud seeding: creates smaller & softer hailstones than wld otherwise form--costs them ~$3M per year & saves $100s of millions in $ from hail insurance claims. #abstorm Makes the weather better / less damage @disruptfascism twitter.com/Juleebug11/sta…
Insurance companies are changing the weather by making hail.
— OneIn37Million (@Juleebug11) August 21, 2019
Environmental groups can still talk climate change during election, says Canada's chief electoral officer ift.tt/2TQMVuh Retweeted by CalgaryRiverValleys
Any luck on the chick ID via iNaturalist @MattJacques ? twitter.com/MattJacques/st…
Good point! I use iNaturalist all the time, but hadn’t thought to use it for the chick... will do!
— Matt Jacques 🌾📸 (@MattJacques) August 19, 2019
Have you tried uploading the pic to iNaturalist - either dot org or their app? Crowd-sourcing / #citizenscience ID by member naturalists from around the world. Great site! twitter.com/MattJacques/st…
Thanks, Steve! I've been trying to get an ID on the chick for ages, but nothing definitive so far. I have a whole series with the hawk landing on a fencepost moments later, but it doesn't tear into it or treat it like a meal. Possibly a failed chick of its own?
— Matt Jacques 🌾📸 (@MattJacques) August 19, 2019
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