Events aim to clean up the Sturgeon

A veritable eco-palooza is set to sweep the Sturgeon River this weekend as St. Albert hosts a clean up, tree planting, eco-fair and an unveiling.

Hundreds are expected to sweep the Sturgeon this Sunday in St. Albert as the city kicks off its 12th annual Clean Up the Sturgeon event.

For the first time ever, the event will coincide with three other green festivities also taking place on the river.

The revitalized River's Edge Enhancement Project (REEP) will be planting trees and shrubs along the riverbank to restore its riparian zones. Environmental groups will rally near St. Albert Centre to teach people more about the river at the city's new Education Fair. Down the river at Big Lake, St. Albert's mayor and MLA will unveil a new set of binoculars for Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park.

This confluence of events is meant to help residents take ownership of the Sturgeon, says REEP co-ordinator Nicholas Batchelor. "How did all that garbage get there [in the river]? It's because people don't take ownership … they don't feel they're connected to it at all." Planting trees, picking trash, and meeting eco-groups will give people a stake in the river, he says, and get them involved in its protection.

Sweep up

The city's annual river cleanup started in 1999 after residents complained of trash piles around Big Lake, explains Miles Constable, president of the Big Lake Environment Support Society (BLESS).

"The first year or two when we started there were cars and wagons and washing machines and all sorts of crap down closer to the lake," he recalls. The situation has improved significantly since then; last year, they plucked just 100 kilograms of trash from the river, most of it in the form of snack bags and coffee cups. "We haven't had any hypodermic syringes for a long time. That's encouraging."

The cleanup runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Cleaners can register behind St. Albert Place or St. Albert Centre by the riverbank.

New this year at St. Albert Centre is the Education Fair, Batchelor says, where people can learn about the many eco-initiatives happening on the river. Groups such as Cows and Fish and the Junior Forest Wardens will be on hand to explain their efforts to care for the Sturgeon. "There's far more going on environmentally in the community than [people] may have been aware of." St. Albert Centre will hold a free barbecue nearby.

Participants should bring gloves and rubber boots for the clean up, Constable says, and might want to consider a stick with a nail on the end. Cleaners should stay out of the actual river for safety reasons, he adds.

REEP trees

Volunteers will also have a chance to plant some 500 trees and shrubs at the latest REEP site during the clean up. This year's planting is on the north shore of the river east of the St. Albert Trail bridge.

Started in 2005 with a test plot near the BLESS Summer Nature Centre, REEP is an ongoing experiment that aims to restore vegetation to the banks of the Sturgeon and attract fish and birds. This is the fourth public REEP planting.

REEP has been linked to the clean up this year to reinforce its link to the Sturgeon, Batchelor says. "We made a conscious decision this year. We want to involve the entire community."

All planters will get to place a tag with their name on it on a tree they plant, Batchelor says. Businesses and groups can also sponsor a tree if they like, he adds — a first for the event. Planters should bring their own trowel.

Squint at birds

BLESS and city officials will hold a party at the BLESS viewing platform at 2:30 p.m. to unveil their new public binoculars, Constable says.

The binoculars were installed on May 1 as a way to give people a closer look at birds on the lake. "They're a lot better than your plain eyeballs," Constable says of them, and are exceptionally rugged. They were purchased with a city grant.

For details on all these events, call community services at 780-459-1600.