In case you missed it, here is the Fall 2018 Newsletter from SER-WC, with an introduction below from Board Chair Darcy Henderson.

 

Hello my fellow SER-WC members. This fall has been quite unusual, with a colder than normal September and then a warm and sunny October, and I suspect that has affected many of the projects on which you are working.

 

After spending most of my life in the Prairies and being accustomed to fall as the harvest time, I’m now learning in BC that fall is focused on the salmon runs. In both cases, people reap the gifts nature provides to us, in preparation for the winter ahead. The red bodies of sockeye salmon swimming upstream are the same striking red colours of Prairie sunsets during fall harvests. That beauty also reminds me why it is important to protect and restore our soils for carbon sequestration benefits and food productivity. Similarly, protecting and restoring these salmon streams and populations is essential for everyone, and has been for Indigenous peoples here for millennia, as a means to connect with the wonders of the world around us. How lucky we are to live in Western Canada.

 

In September, we had an amazing AGM at the Water Centre in Calgary, Alberta. The City of Calgary was gracious hosts and provided speakers who profiled restoration projects in the cottonwood forests and upland fescue grasslands along the Bow River. Speakers included entrepreneurs, university researchers, engineering consultants and biologists, while students from Lakeland College made the trek down from Vermillion, Alberta.

 

We are always seeking opportunities to host events that promote ecological restoration and connect our members with new ideas and information. If you’d like an event in your region, please contact us at restorewc@gmail.com, or via Facebook or Twitter.

 

Regards,
Darcy Henderson
Chair, SER-WC