Off the Creek "hits the road"

In the last two weeks, along with Cows and Fish, we held two "Community Conversations" about riparian areas in Red Deer County.  They were held on the last two Tuesday evenings, and were well attended (though the second suffered from the latest spring snowstorm...)

The first was held with landowners living beside or near Adams Lake, a small lake in the west part of the County.  The second was with landowners who own land along Gaetz Creek or its tributaries.

The purpose of the meetings was to share ideas about the riparian areas around the lake or along the creek, and to hear what residents had to say about them and wanted to do about them.  We also established 4 clear actions to take in each community, by consensus of those in attendance. 

Some of the actions that will be pursued are:

• Riparian Health Inventories around Adams Lake
• Riparian Health Field days, in both communities
• Education / awareness campaign in the Gaetz Creek watershed.

With the communities, we'll work on taking these and the other action ideas and making them a reality.

Emerald Award Nomination: Congratulations to Off the Creek Landowners!

Red Deer County's Agricultural Services Board has nominated the Off the Creek Landowners for a 2011 Emerald Award!!

The "Landowners" are the 44 people in Red Deer County who have done a total of 55 projects to benefit riparian health.  This has all happened just since 2006, with funding support from the Alberta Conservation Association and the County. 

Info on the Emerald Awards can be found at: http://www.emeraldfoundation.ca/emerald-awards/

Stay tuned...we'll learn in the next few weeks if the Off the Creek Landowners are "shortlisted"...the award winners are announced in June.