The West Souris River Conservation District (WSRCD) held their annual banquet at the Pipestone Community Hall, Tuesday, April 26, 2017. The night was a success starting off with a WSRCD update by manager Dean Brooker: Growing forward 2 – Ending in 2017, $750,000.00 was shared between 18 conservation districts. Each year they received $190,000.00 since 2013. In West Souris River Conservation District the money went towards:
• Winter watering systems
• Grassed waterways
• Field Shelterbelts
• Water retention projects
• Riparian fencing
• Riparian enhancement
• Waiting on approval of 2017 applications (another $100,000.00) from Assiniboine River Water Quality Fund (City of Brandon). Since 2012 have received $50,000.00 to improve the water quality of the Assiniboine River.
• Off site watering systems
• Riparian fencing
• Shale traps
• Water retention
• Forages
The Tree Seedling order was been placed with over 60,000 tree seedlings ordered by landowners for field and yard shelterbelts since 2013. Some community tree planting efforts include:
• Tilston Orchard
• Reston Orchard
• Bede Cemetery
• Kola, Reston, and Pierson Schools
• Pipestone Cemetery
• Woodville Cemetery
• Sifton Park (East side Oak Lake)
• Cherry Point Park
• Lyleton Orchard
Manitoba Hydro was instrumental is funding these projects.
The Manitoba mixed –grass prairie bird stewardship program helps with:
• Grassland Bird Research
• Incentives for landowners
Support was given to the West Souris River Conservation District to implement Burrowing owl recovery with research and education.
1.2 Million in funding from the Manitoba Beef producers.
Education programs that the WSRCD promoted included:
• The water festival
• Oak Hammock “on the go program”
• Soil health/grazing workshop that over 100 landowners attended this year.
• Grants to local schools of $500.00 each year
• Weather Stations
The GPS survey of the RM of Two Borders’ culverts helped locate Latitude and Longitude and the elevation of the bottom of culverts.
Scott Phillips led a moment of silence for Rick Plaisier, passed Reeve of the RM of Sifton. Scott also recognized the dedication of the office staff at WSRCD of Dean Brooker, Ina Cook and Scott Hainsworth.
A delicious roast beef supper was catered and served by the Pipestone Guild and the Pipestone Lions. The Lions also worked the bar for the evening.
Door prizes were awarded before Dean introduced keynote speaker Wanda McFayden, Executive Director of the Assiniboine River Basin Initiative. Wanda spoke on the importance of water and how it is often taken for granted. “Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface. Of this only 2.5% is freshwater, the remaining 97.5% is ocean or saline water,” said McFayden. The Assiniboine River Basin Initiative (ARBI) is an organization of stakeholders who live and /or operate in the basin, from Canada and the United States, in the geographic area encompassing parts of Manitoba, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan. ARBI’s stakeholders include citizens, local governments, provincial and state governments, business, non-governmental groups (such as conservation groups, the oil and gas industry, agriculture and academia), and any other groups/stakeholders that want to help shape the future direction of the basin through cooperation and working together. ABRI’s vision “A resilient Assiniboine River Basin, where stakeholders work together to achieve basin-wide, comprehensive, integrated watershed actions that will benefit current and future generations.”
By 2025, more than half of the world’s population will be facing water-based vulnerability. And water is expected to be more valuable than oil. Over 1.4 billion people currently live in river basins where the use of water exceeds minimum recharge levels.
Water and Agriculture:
• Approximately 70% of the fresh water used by humans goes to agriculture/food production.
• On average 3000 litres of water is required to produce one person’s daily food.
• Agricultural water consumption is expected to increase by 19% by 2050.
To learn more on the Assiniboine River Basin Initiative contact: website: http://assiniboinerbi.weebly.com or join them on Facebook at Assiniboine River Basin Initiative or Twitter at arbi_qsa
Entertainment for the evening was supplied by the hilarious comedian/musician, Mark Humphries.
