Author: Paul Berry

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Friday September 14th, 2018: Sackville Rivers Association dinner & auction

“Dear Friend:

“Last year, community contributions to the Sackville Rivers Association’s (SRA) Annual Dinner and Auction helped us raise over $8,000 for the improvement and conservation of the Sackville River and surrounding watershed.

“The SRA continues our mandate of conservation, including in-stream habitat improvements at various locations throughout the watershed, fish stocking, and river clean-ups by volunteers of all ages. We have continued improvements to our Bedford-Sackville Connector Greenway trail that now stretches from Bedford Basin to Lower Sackville and is used by thousands of walkers, cyclists and runners and are currently constructing phases 2 and 3 of Section B of the Sackville Greenway from Glendale Drive to Sackville Drive along the Little Sackville River.
Continue reading “Friday September 14th, 2018: Sackville Rivers Association dinner & auction”

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Question called, and Motion passes!! The Halifax Green Network Plan has been passed at Council!!!

A festive group greeted Councillors this am
including Lisa Blackburn
(Middle/Upper Sackville, Beaverbank, Lucasville,
3rd pic down)
& Lindell Smith (Halifax Peninsula North, 4th pic)

So reads a final Tweet from this morning from Our HRM Alliance.

View Council eagerly approves Halifax Green Network Plan by Yvette D’Entremont in the StarMetro Halifax (Aug 14, 2018) for more details and comments by Walter Regan of the Sackville Rivers Association.

The sequence of Tweets from @OurHRMAlliance:

@OurHRMAlliance
56m56 minutes ago
More
HRM Planner Ben Sivak is here to present the final draft of the Plan and to introduce the background. “There has been 3 rounds of public engagement, the State of the Landscape Report, and this is the first time we’ve been able to look at HRM as an entire landscape.”

@OurHRMAlliance
54m54 minutes ago
More
Sivak – “The Halifax Region has incredible assets in wilderness and recreation. The intent of this Plan is to build on these assets and protect what we have here.”

Continue reading “Question called, and Motion passes!! The Halifax Green Network Plan has been passed at Council!!!”

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Tues Aug 14, 2018: Rally to support the Green Network Plan

Our HRM Alliance Photo
From OurHRM Alliance:

“Join us on Tuesday, August 14th at 9:00 (ish) to show your support for the Halifax Green Network Plan!

“The Green Network Plan will FINALLY be going to Council that day at 10:00AM. We want to be there with signs, smiles, and support to ask the 16 Councillors to vote YES to pass this incredible plan. The Councillors typically begin arriving around 9:00, so pop by while you can during that hour, or come and stay the whole time!

“We’ll be having a sign-making party the night before at Ecology Action Centre. Either make your own sign, or borrow one of ours for the day!

“There will also be a crew of people attending the Council meeting to watch the presentation and debate and show our support. Feel free to join for this as well, if you’re interested. Want some more info about the Green Network Plan? Check out http://ourhrmalliance.ca/halifax-green-network/”

View Facebook Event Page

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Halifax Green Network Plan goes to CPED today

Map 9 in the Halifax Green Network Plan
Click on map to enlarge
The Halifax Green Network Plan, under development since 2014, was released on June 21, 2018 and today goes to the Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee (see Agenda).

WRWEO/The Bluff Trail has been actively involved in development of the plan as a member of Our HRM Alliance. We have written a letter supporting the plan, with emphasis on two areas: landscape connectivity, and the need to provide more trails in HRM.

View
– Halifax Green Network Plan
(Attached to CPED Item #151, June 21, 2018)
– Our HRM Press Release
–  WRWEO Letter

ADDENDUM 7 p.m.: “HGNP passes with flying colours. They noted how many letters of support they’d received.” – Walter Regan (Sackville Rivers Association)

SUMMARY OF THE WRWEO LETTER
Continue reading “Halifax Green Network Plan goes to CPED today”

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New study of Woodens Watershed now available

Students at NSCC examined samples from several areas in the Woodens River Watershed and examined the link between microplastics and macroinvertebrates (animals that lack a spine and can be seen with the naked eye, e.g. bugs).

Their study hypothesises that the more microplastics detected then the fewer will be the macroinvertebrates that are not of the heartiest sort.

Laura Struthers and Logan Hunter wrote the report and kindly gave us permission to put it up on our web site: SEDIMENT ANALYSIS OF THE WOODENS RIVER WATERSHED: Microplastic Pollution and Macroinvertebrate Health 

 

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April 12, 2018: Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes Regional Park Citizen’s Meeting

“All are invited to a public meeting on April 12th for updates and information on park progress. We will also explore interest in forming a citizen’s group, such as a “Friends of Blue Mountain” group, to speak up for creation of the promised park and collaborate with the municipality and other levels of government.
Please come to St. Peter’s Anglican Church Hall from 7-9pm on Thursday, April 12th.
There will be a formal presentation at 7:15, and opportunity for questions and public comments at 8pm.”
Read More

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WRWEO’s 2018 AGM – March 29, 2018, Invite and Documents

Hello WRWEO members and friends ,

You are cordially invited to our 2018 annual general meeting.  It will be held in the BMO community room on the second floor of the Halifax Central Library on March 29th, 2018. Registration will begin at 5:30pm, the meeting starts at 6:00pm and will conclude at 8:30pm.

 

Our theme this year is “It Takes a Village to Steward a Forest,” so along with electing this year’s board and doing an overview of WRWEO’s activities we will also be covering the highlights of the Bluff Trail Stewardship Program. You will notice we chose to say “Forest” instead of “Trail,” at WRWEO we aim to create a sustainable balance between community and ecology. With that in mind a major focus of the BTSP is to reduce the human impacts on the forest ecology so that we, the community, can continue to enjoy the Bluff trail for generations.

 

The BTSP still has a ways to go before it is a self sustaining program so if you would like to know more come on out the the AGM.

 

We also advise that you eat dinner first but not dessert because there will be snacks!

 

AGM 2018 DRAFT Agenda

AGM 2017 Minutes to be approved

Full Bluff Trail Stewardship Report, 2017

2018 AGM Co-Chair’s report

WRWEO Financial Statements 2017

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Bluff Trail Stewardship Program work day and training – Sunday Feb 25, 2018 at 9:30 AM

On Sunday, February 25th we will be hosting our monthly Volunteer Work Day and Trail Steward Training Session.

Would you like to learn how to give back to the trail and to reduce your ecological impact whilst using it? If so, you should consider becoming a designated Bluff Trail Steward. The trail needs your help!

…

We invite you to attend this volunteer work day and training session to become a designated Bluff Trail Steward or to contribute to our trail infrastructure and impact reduction work on the trail.

At the core of the Bluff Trail Stewardship Program are the volunteer ‘Bluff Trail Stewards’; those who have been equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to help advise other trail users in aspects of best-practice trail stewardship and to work on the trail to re-mediate human harms.

To learn more about the Bluff Trail Stewardship Program follow this link: https://wrweo.ca/…/the…/the-bluff-trail-stewardship-program/

As you may have heard, WRWEO has teamed up with the St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association to create “The Bluff Trail Stewardship Program”! In our second year of the program, we will work even harder to look after the trail our goals of reducing the harmful human impacts that are currently affecting the trail at an unsustainable rate. This goal will largely be achieved through user engagement and education through volunteer Trail Stewards.

If you are interested in becoming a Bluff Trail Steward then contact info@wrweo.ca.

Or check out our event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/190126415071585/?active_tab=discussion

See you on-trail!

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Richmond Campbell & Sue Sherwin: the state of our forests impacts health and environment

In a submission to the Independent Review of Forestry Practices in Nova Scotia, Richmond Campbell and Sue Sherwin suggest that three key policy documents – (1) Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act (EGSPA, 2007, amended 2012), (2) A Natural Balance (2010), and (3) A New Regulatory Framework for Low-Impact/High-Value Aquaculture in Nova Scotia (2014) – lay out a sound moral foundation for Nova Scotia to follow in developing policy for managing our natural resources in ways that are likely to benefit Nova Scotians for many decades to come.

The text for the dedication of The Bluff Trail written by Richmond Campbell in 2005
In 1995, with Susan’s encouragement, Richmond co-founded the Woodens River Watershed Environmental Organization that, among other projects, built The Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail that opened in 2005. They are both retired members of the Philosophy Department at Dalhousie.
Continue reading “Richmond Campbell & Sue Sherwin: the state of our forests impacts health and environment”