The stewards of Big Lake hope to plant native seeds along the Sturgeon this year to help stop a prickly pest.
Members of the Big Lake Environment Support Society sent out a public invitation this week for their upcoming annual general meeting.
Part business and part fun, the meeting gives members of the public a chance to run for the board, change bylaws and hear more about the group’s plans for the year.
This year’s meeting will feature presentations from local nature photographer Dave Conlin, a report on the summer nature centre from Meagan Dyck, and a talk by biologist Matthew Wheatley, says BLESS treasurer Miles Constable.
“Big Lake is an important bird area,” Constable says, but it’s tough to survey due to its size. Wheatley set up a bunch of automated cameras on the lake last summer and hopes to track bird populations on it with them.
The meeting will also review the group’s accomplishments in 2014, which include the publication of a plant guide to Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park, the creation of the native plant nursery near the grain elevators, and the installation of a new floor for the nature centre cabin.
In addition to fixing the walls of the nature centre cabin and getting some signs up to point the way to Big Lake, BLESS was also looking to partner with the city this year to re-vegetate the Sturgeon River between the observation platform and Ray Gibbon Dr., Constable says.
“There’s been a heavy infestation of thistle in there. You can cut it till doomsday, but it’s really hardy stuff.”
The group hopes to reseed this area with native seeds to try and crowd the weeds out, Constable says.
The meeting is this Jan. 21 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the St. Albert Rugby Club. Visit bless.ab.ca for details.
Solar power can save you a bundle if you’re out in the middle of nowhere, suggests an upcoming talk.
The Solar Energy Society of Alberta is hosting a free talk next Wednesday on solar projects in Canada’s North. The talk is part of the group’s ongoing lecture series on renewable energy.
Solar is actually much more attractive up north than it is here despite the fact that you get less light there, says Gordon Howell, solar engineer with Howell Mayhew Engineering and a speaker at the talk.
“The prices of electricity are anywhere between five to 20 times more in the arctic than here,” he notes, which more than outweighs the higher cost of installation.
He had one client last year up north that was excited to have saved $4,000 on diesel fuel in four months after going solar.
“When your diesel fuel costs you $5 a litre, which is a $1.90 a kilowatt-hour, solar is cost effective.”
Solar is a good solution when it’s impossible or too costly to hook into the power grid, says Mikhail Ivanchikov, who has installed solar systems in the Sturgeon County region through Dandelion Renewables.
Many northern communities rely on diesel generators for power, which require expensive fuel and maintenance, Ivanchikov says. While solar can’t replace these generators – you still need them as a backup – they can greatly reduce the amount of cash you have to spend on them.
The Arctic’s extreme weather and super-short construction season can make going solar a challenge, Howell says.
“The transportation costs are very significant,” he notes, with helicopters costing about $3,500 an hour.
The talk is this Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. in MacEwan University’s CN Theatre (Room 5-142). Visit solaralberta.ca for details.
