City staffers will build banks and dams in two local ravines this fall to stop dirt from washing into the Sturgeon River.
The City of St. Albert held an open house Thursday at St. Albert Place on its upcoming sedimentation and erosion control projects in the Grandin and Forest Lawn ravines. The projects are part of the city’s ongoing efforts to keep grit out of the Sturgeon River.
The city uses the Forest Lawn and Grandin ravines to funnel water to the Sturgeon. Grandin water flows out by the Children’s Bridge (contributing to a small island of silt), while Forest Lawn flows go to a grit interceptor by the Boudreau Bridge.
The ravines are now collecting far more stormwater than they were designed to due to urbanization, said city project manager Jon Cleland, and that’s causing erosion.
Forest Lawn has a shallow concrete channel that often overflows, for example, washing out banks and clogging grates with debris.
Grandin used to have three earth dams across it with pipes in them to control flows, Cleland continued, but big storms in recent years caused one of them to wash out. “(The pipe) is hanging in mid-air right now,” he said, and there’s about a metre of dirt missing underneath it.
Torrents of water have cut a channel in the ravine that is up to four metres wide and 2.5 metres deep, Cleland said. “The trees on the banks are starting to lean over and some have fallen over completely.”
The city plans to fix the Forest Lawn ravine by reinforcing its banks with rocks and concrete, Cleland said, and replacing some screens. This may involve some temporary trail closures.
In Grandin, crews plan to build about 25 mini-dams made of rock, logs, and native plants to create a series of steps that should slow the water down and cause grit to settle out. “The intent is for it to look like a series of vegetated areas,” Cleland said. “If it fills in as intended, you won’t even notice that there’s a dam in there.”
Construction is expected to start this September and last six weeks.
Nature fans might recognize this year’s host of the St. Albert’s summer nature centre as the co-host from last year.
St. Albert’s Bettina Breau is this year’s host of the Big Lake Environment Support Society’s Summer Nature Centre. A fourth-year environmental studies student at King’s University College, she’ll spend the next two months helping hundreds of local kids have nature-related fun.
This was a challenging year for the centre, said BLESS president Cat McDonald, as the province eliminated the Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) grant they usually use for it. BLESS got funding through the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation instead.
McDonald said Breau came highly recommended by her predecessor, Sam Morris, and had volunteered for the centre last summer. “She already knows the nature centre inside and out.”
Breau, 23, said she came back for another year due to her passion for environmental education. “I love children, and I love seeing the reaction on their face when you show them a natural artefact or you teach them a song about animals,” she said. “You see their eyes light up and you can see the connections going on in their heads.”
Breau has nine weeks of activities planned for visitors to the centre, with each week having a different theme.
New this year will be units on watersheds, weather, stewardship and energy and oil. Breau said. “We live here in Alberta and a lot of kids don’t really know what goes on up north,” she explained, so she plans to spend one week on the oil industry. Back this year are the bean-bag toss, tadpoles, crayfish and other creepy critters.
Nature is fundamental to this city’s heritage and culture, Breau said, when asked why folks should visit the centre. “We’re not only cultivating life, we’re cultivating curiosity and excitement in kids.”
The centre will be open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays from July 2 to Aug. 30. Call Breau at 780-984-7949 for details.
