Presentation by Karen Robinson, Chair, Sandy Lake Regional Park Coalition
A Zoom Meeting, begins at 7 pm.
Register by e-mail to sackvillerivers@ns.sympatico.ca
Phone (902) 865-9238
Presentation by Karen Robinson, Chair, Sandy Lake Regional Park Coalition
A Zoom Meeting, begins at 7 pm.
Register by e-mail to sackvillerivers@ns.sympatico.ca
Phone (902) 865-9238
UPDATE Jul 8, 2021:
Join us for an afternoon at Sandy Lake Beach, we are hosting an interpretive event to commemorate the final day of the Treasured Wetlands Bioblitz 2021. All are welcome from 12:00 – 3:30 pm on Monday July 12th, 2021.
Come take a peek into our specimen collection with the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park; learn about the importance of our wetlands, species at risk, and what you can do to help!
If you’re feeling extra adventurous register for the guided hike up to Marsh Lake at 1:30pm! Register soon as spots are limited. Click the link to register and to learn more about the guided hike.
https://forms.gle/t3vHbrbBvViD92HL7
Good News!!! Yesterday, this motion was approved by the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee:
That the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee recommend that Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to adopt and implement a detailed water quality monitoring program based on Framework 1 as outlined by AECOM in their Water Quality Monitoring Policy and Program Development Report, as outlined in the Discussion section of the staff report dated May 6, 2021.
This document, the Themes and Directions Report, is the first deliverable of the Regional Plan Review. The purpose of this document is to explain the scope of the Regional Plan Review to the public, stakeholders and Regional Council, and to seek feedback. This document shares ideas about key planning issues and provides details of the work that will be completed during the review. The feedback we receive will help provide focus and direction for future work during the Review.
There will be opportunities for feedback, TBA.
View document as PDF (117 pages)
View by section under Regional Plan Review Continue reading
On Monday April 19th, Ed G and I lowered a probe to the deepest part of Sandy Lake and found that the lake had “turned over” and was well oxygenated from top to bottom. View the limnological limnological profile.
That was normal for a “dimictic” lake, but I had some concern that rising salt inputs could at some point inhibit spring turnover. So this was good news, at least for 2021.
It was approaching dusk as I prepared to leave and the call of a loon provided some further good news. Continue reading
From HRM:
Helicopter to collect water quality samples at municipal lakes
Posted: March 26, 2021 – 12:00 pm52 lakes within the Halifax Regional Municipality will be tested for water quality on Wednesday, March 31 weather pending. These water quality samples will be collected by helicopter and by boat. Residents should be advised that the helicopter will be travelling at low altitude to obtain these samples.
Testing in this method is conducted every 10 years to test for nutrients, chlorophyll a and heavy metals. This work is separate from the supervised beach water quality testing program, which is completed weekly in July and August at all municipally-supervised beaches.
For more information on water testing locations, view the list.
A couple of days ago, I had to “get away from it all” so I went to walk and just relax in my favourite hardwoods on the big drumlin on the east side of Sandy Lake.
I had expected that the lake would be ice-free, but it was still mostly covered over (although mushy) viewed from Sandy Lake Beach Park. No one will be bathing in Sandy Lake for a while, I thought.
Within minutes of climbing the drumlin, I was in a different world, free of all of the distractions of our complicated lives in Covid times. There was lots to celebrate about the natural world there. In the damp woods by the lake, hobble bush was getting ready to flower. As I walked through the hemlocks I looked for any signs of hemlock wooly adelgid (the “hemlock vampire”) and could see none, only healthy hemlocks. The ground below the hardwoods was well-lit, with leaf-out still many weeks away; evergreen Christmas ferns lay prostrate on the big mounds in this bit of Old Growth forest. Continue reading
UPDATE Mar 29, 2021: 4 lessons now available: Introduction, Watersheds, Habitat & Egg Observation, Shelter and Alevin Observation
View more at SACKVILLE RIVERS ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMVIRTUAL FISH FRIENDS/RIVER RANGERS 2021
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Original post
I just checked out the first video lesson the SRA (Sackville Rivers Association) has posted in its new online Fish Friend Series series, launched because of limitations on their hands-on programs in Covid times. It is incredibly well done.
The lessons are geared for elementary school children, but I still enjoyed and learned from this first video – especially about First Nations’ Perspectives.
In the first video (LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION)