Tuesday 1 September 2015

EcoSask News, September 1, 2015

chickadee

Upcoming Events
Seed Saving Workshop & Movie, Sept. 2
Join Prairie Garden Seeds at 7 pm, Sept. 2, for a Seed Saving Workshop and Work Bee hosted by the Saskatoon Seed Library, followed by an open-air screening of the film Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds, hosted by the Saskatoon Food Council.

Renewable Energy in Remote Microgrids, Sept. 15-17
Pembina Institute is hosting a conference on the potential of renewable energy generation in remote communities from Sept. 15-17 in Yellowknife, NWT.

Tree Ring Analysis, Sept. 17
Colin Laroque will review the basics of tree-ring analysis and provide some interesting examples at the Sept. 17 meeting of the Saskatoon Nature Society (7:30 pm, Room 103, Physics Building, U of S).

Salt Cedar Survey, Sept. 30 
The Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan will be searching for invasive salt cedar near Findlater on Sept. 30. Contact NPSS to register for this event.

Field Trips 
Golden Eagles
Sept. 3, 8 am – Cranberry Flats & Beaver Creek
Sept. 10, 8 am – Bradwell Area
Sept. 17, 8 am – Petrofka Orchard & Bridge Area
Sept. 25, 9 am – Fall Migration near Radisson en route to Nature Sask Fall Meet
Retirees and partners who are interested in birds and the natural world are invited to participate in Golden Eagle field trips.

Other Saskatoon Nature Society Field Trips
Sept. 12 – Fall Bird Count
Sept. 20, 1:30-6 pm – Fall Picnic at Blackstrap Lake Park
Check the Saskatoon Nature Society’s website for full details (e.g. some trips require rubber boots, others will be cancelled if the weather is bad).

A full list of upcoming events can be found on the EcoFriendly Sask Calendar.

butterfly

News
Old Man on His Back has been designated as a nocturnal preserve by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and is the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s first nocturnal preserve where the skies can be enjoyed with minimal interference from artificial light.

Are invasive plants really the enemy? “A growing number of scientists purport that invasive plants prepare the conditions for succession. There is scientific evidence that they detoxify the soil, prevent erosion, clean the waters, restore biodiversity, and bring health back to the Earth’s ecosystems. If we take a long-term view, adopt a Gaian perspective, we could find that invasive plants are not the enemy after all, but part of a larger story of healing unfolding on the landscape.”

Cochrane high school students have built more than half a dozen renewable energy projects: “It is strictly a volunteer committee. Nobody gets credits, nobody is being paid for any of this. The beauty of it is that not only are they learning up-to-date, sustainable practices, but they are also meeting some amazing people and having some great experiences”.

EcoSask News is a weekly round-up of local news and events. Email us if you have items you would like us to include. 

You can follow EcoFriendly Sask by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, or by email (top right corner).