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You won’t make a bouquet out of them, but flowers of witch-hazel do provide some colour and interest though the fall. Witch-hazel is a common understory shrub in the oak woods of The Bluff Trail. More

It’s prime huckleberry season right now. Sometimes I have reached for what looks like a really delicious-looking cluster of huckleberries, throw them in my mouth and spit ’em out quickly. Then I look at the leaves and realize I had picked black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), not black huckleberry (Gaylussacia buccata). They often grow together and the berries are not readily distinguished. The leaves are superficially similar, but on inspection can be readily distinguished. Click on these pics to enlarge them and see how the leaves differ – those of chokeberry have distinct “teeth” on the margins while huckleberry has smooth margins. – David P.

If you’d like to help a trail, the McIntosh Run Watershed Association is inviting the community to help trim brush, Saturday, September 19th, 9:30 – 11:30 am.

We’ll be meeting at the Drysdale Road bridge, beside the Spryfield Lion’s Rink. If you have work gloves and branch-cutting tools please bring them along. No power tools please! We do have some extra tools and gloves, so please come even if you don’t have any.

 

The Woodens River Watershed Environmental Organization is seeking bids on brush cutting and deadfall removal – if you are interested in submitting a bid, please contact us at info@wrweo.ca to obtain more information and a bid submission form. References are required. Response deadline is Sept 16, 2015. The response deadline has been extended to Sept 23, 2015.

Our friends at Akoma Family Centre are looking for volunteers to help on Wednesday, Sept. 23 or Saturday, Oct. 3 at 9 AM, building a natural outdoor play area for the children. Read the flyer below and please contact Joanna Pugh at 902-434-0674 ext. 2 for more information.

Akoma playground flyer

Approx. 30 people participated in the Hike-the-Greenbelt event on The Bluff Trail wed evening. The rain stopped shortly after we set out. Tristan Cleveland lead a run, and Tristan Glen a walk with WRWEO member David Patriquin talking about the natural history of the area. View Tristan C. talking about the Hike-the-Greenbelt series and the Halifax Green Network initiative in this youtube video .

Participants in Bluff Trail run and hike Aug 12

WRWEO/The Bluff Trail wants to remind users of the Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail to carry their garbage off the trail. All garbage should be carried home to be properly sorted into the various waste, recycle, and compost streams. Please note that the garbage barrel located at the trail head will soon be removed. The volunteers who have generously emptied this garbage barrel are no longer able to maintain this service and WRWEO asks for your help to keep both the Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail and the BLT Rails to Trails free of garbage and litter. For more information about Leave No Trace principles and practice please visit: Leave No Trace Canada Outdoor Ethics http://www.leavenotrace.ca/home.

Greatly reducing inputs to the Otter Lake Landfill can go a long way towards limiting the height of the Otter Lake landfill..or even eliminate the “need” to increase the height at all. Clear bagging, which has been introduced to reduce the amount of inappropriate material going to the landfill, begins on Saturday August 1, 2015. “Clear bags for garbage will be the rule. Continue reading “Aug 1: Clear bags will reduce impacts of the Otter Lake Landfill”