Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve by John Kindrachuk

What’s Happening in the BR? REDBERRY LAKE BIOSPHERE RESERVE

MISSION DECOMMISSION

VOLUME 18 JANUARY 2012

Written By: Rachel Turnquist

Shell Canada is currently running a program called Fueling Change. This is a grant program that supports environmental projects. Funding is awarded to projects who receive the most votes online. The North Saskatchewan River Basin Council (NSRBC) has applied for $25 000 for the project: Mission Decommission. The NSRBC would like to decommission abandoned wells in our watershed to protect ground water. Abandoned wells are a pathway for ground water contamination. Wells may be contaminated by flooding, livestock, garbage etc. and that contamination will return to the underground aquifer which can impact drinking water and livestock water used by you and your neighbors. Abandoned wells also pose a safety risk. People, pets, livestock and wildlife can fall in to abandoned wells and risk serious injury or death. Vehicles and equipment can be damaged by driving over an abandoned well. Go to the website http://fuellingchange.com/main/project/243/MissionDecommission and cast your vote for Mission Decommission . Support the NSRBC in another effort to protect our water! © Heidi Hougham

GREETINGS FROM JOHN KINDRACHUK

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Attend events in the community that we are a part of. We are hosting them for every ones benefit and invite you to attend.

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Talk to us, we are more than happy to share with you, what we are doing and we encourage new ideas about how we can work together to make our Biosphere Reserve region sustainable for ourselves and future generations to come.

Written By: John Kindrachuk

The New Year is here and things have not slowed down at the office or in the biosphere area. This beautiful weather we are having, makes us wonder if it is still fall or if it is the start of spring and this means no time for a winter slow down. From what we have been doing in the past year, I have come up with a wish list for this New Year.  Understand what the Biosphere Reserve Association is about and what we are trying to achieve. We understand that we all have to make a living in the Biosphere Reserve region, but we have to try do so in a manner that insures that there will be a healthy environment here for our children and grandchildren to make a living and enjoy in the future as we are doing now.  Visit our website and learn how we are encouraging research, education and partnerships to try achieve these goals.

From the board and staff of the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve we look forward to working with you and hope everyone has a blessed and prosperous New Year

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DUCKS UNLIMITED CANADA ENCOURAGED BY RECENT SARM RESOLUTION ON DRAINAGE LEGISLATION Article Courtesy of Ducks Unlimited Canada Saskatchewan landowners continue to experience damage from non-permitted drainage activities Regina, Sask. – Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) commends the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) on the organization’s recent resolution to lobby the Saskatchewan government to enforce provincial land drainage legislation. SARM is the independent association that represents 296 rural municipalities in Saskatchewan. “Unlicensed drainage is having a profound effect on downstream landowners and infrastructure throughout Saskatchewan,” says Brent Kennedy, manager of provincial operations for DUC in Saskatchewan. “This resolution recognizes the danger and hardship drainage causes both municipalities and landowners. DUC congratulates SARM on taking this step towards ensuring unlicensed drainage stops.” Saskatchewan has one of the highest wetland loss rates in the country. Twenty-eight acres of wetlands are lost every day in southern Saskatchewan alone. This drainage reduces or eliminates a watershed’s ability to store water during peak water movement, resulting in far worse flooding as seen this last spring. Also, flooding causes significant damage to infrastructure throughout the province. In the 2011-2012 mid-year financial report released on November 28, 2011, the province estimated flooding costs to be in excess of $240 million, which is in large part due to expenses like disaster claims and emergency highway repairs. Non-permitted drainage of wetlands needs to stop. The recent SARM resolution is crucial in preserving wetlands now and into the future, and reducing the damage that is being caused throughout Saskatchewan. DUC continues to work closely with government and industry across Saskatchewan to strengthen regulations and policies to ensure wetlands are protected. Healthy wetlands are critical for clean water, biodiversity, habitat protection for species at risk, greenhouse gas reduction and flood protection. Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is a private, nonprofit organization that conserves, manages and restores wetlands and associated habitats for waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. For more information, please contact: Lori Gasper, l_gasper@ducks.ca Communications Specialist Ducks Unlimited Canada Office: (306) 665-7157 Cell: (306) 381-4535

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SENS STUDENT ENJOYS WORK WITH BR Written By: Oksana Zbyranyk

Is there an event going in in you community or area? Let us know! We’ll put it on the Community Calendar on our website!

My name is Oksana Zbyranyk. I am a Master of Environment and Sustainability (MES) candidate at the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) at the University of Saskatchewan. Originally from Ukraine, I completed my Bachelor degree in Cyprus, Turkey. When I heard about this new interdisciplinary program of the University of Saskatchewan I decided to change my academic home to Canada. SENS is one of the first programs in Canada tackling various environmental issues and emphasizing sustainability dimension of it. From the very beginning of my studies at the School, I was fascinated by the concept of biosphere reserves and wanted to do my masters thesis in this field. The close collaboration between the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve and SENS happened to be perfect for me to study and to understand how researchers and practitioners can work together effectively in order to achieve the objectives of conservation and sustainable development. I spent some days in the Hafford area to interview people involved in different projects initiated within the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve area. I was able to analyze and synthesize my findings with a hope to produce an informative work at the end of this process. I am truly grateful to all who participated and spent their time to give me their insights. For us students it is so important to sometimes leave the books behind and get an idea of how things work in reality!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A BIRD NERD? Written By: Rachel Turnquist We are all familiar with the sound of a spring morning in Saskatchewan. Whether you are camping out at the lake or just happen to live by an area hosting wetlands you know that sound, a plethora of song and wetland birds sending out their communicative calls to their families and friends. But what bird species are we hearing? Bird Studies Canada claims that there are 383 different bird species in Saskatchewan; Grouse, Ducks, Geese, Loons, Grebes, Hawks, Falcons, Song Birds and Shore Birds, and many more! Wetland loss has happened in our province over the last 150 years, and so bird habitat has been lost. Yet there is an information deficiency on what effect this loss has had on birds. In 2007, the Prairie and Parkland Marsh Monitoring Program was established. The PPMMP’s ambition is to find associations between waterbird species occurrence and habitat characteristics in different areas, by conducting surveys. The information identified by the program will be important for conservation efforts and habitat management of our wetland birds. For the surveys, birds are recorded at a wetland site for 15 minutes at 6 to 8 different survey stations at least 3 times in between May 20th and June 31st. Those participants involved must be able to identify approximately 60 birds by sight and sound. Do you have what it takes? Would you like to network with others interested in birding? Would you like to learn and volunteer for these surveys? Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve will be taking part in the surveys in Spring 2012. If you are interested in volunteering for the surveys, training on bird sight and sounds will be offered in the winter months. Please contact © R Turnquist Rachel at (306) 549-4060 or (306) 549–7473.

NEW FACES: GERMAN VOLUNTEERS Written By: Thomas and Susanne Abe

RHOEN BIOSPHERE RESERVE: CANADA PARTNERS WITH GERMANY Written By: Susanne Abe

Building capacity and exchanging strategies on sustainable development. These are the ideas of this (inter)national partnership between the three Canadian Biosphere Reserves Redberry Lake, Charlevoix (Que.) and Georgian Bay (Ont.) and the German Rhoen Biosphere Reserve.

Hi, our names are Thomas and Susanne Abe. We are from Germany volunteering with the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve. We arrived here in Hafford on October 5 and have had a great time working on several projects: Revising the biosphere reserves website (www.redberrylake.ca) and caring for the Facebook page. We also accompanied Rachel , the AEGP Technician, to several farm calls and have had the opportunity to learn more about efficient and environment-friendly farming in the workshops the biosphere reserve offers.

Known among hikers as the “Land Of Open Vistas” this biosphere reserve is located in the Rhoen mountain range in the heart of Germany. For both visitors and the people living in the area the Rhoen stands for local grown and home-styled food, local manufactured products as well as for the “Rhoen sheep”. These black-headed sheep are one of the Rhoen’s trademarks and play an important role in the conservation of the characteristic landscape.

We really appreciate the friendliness of the people here and we love going to local events. That gives us the chance to get more in touch with your culture and way of living. And yes, we are going to spend the winter here! End of January we will head out west to complete our one-year adventure in Canada before we have to fly back to Germany in March.

NEW FACE: WWW.REDBERRYLAKE.CA The Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve’s website got a complete makeover! Go to www.redberrylake.ca and see for yourself!

Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve Association Box 221, Hafford, Sk. S0J 1A0 Tel: (306) 549-4060 Fax: (306) 549-4061 Email: info@redberrylake.ca

REDBERRY LAKE BIOSPHERE RESERVE

Box 221 Hafford SK, S0J 1A0 Phone: 306 549-4060 Fax: 306 549-4061 Email: info@redberrylake.ca Printed by POWERPRINT 171-22nd Street, Battleford, SK 306-937-3396

Government of Saskatchewan

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER OR PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE AN ARTICLE. PLEASE CONTACT REDBERRY LAKE BIOSPHERE RESERVE AT (306) 549-4060, OR EMAIL RTURNQUIST@REDBERRYLAKE.CA