Smoky conference
St. Albert air quality experts will be in Strathcona County this week for a well-timed conference on forest fire smoke.
About a hundred delegates will be at the Strathcona County Community Centre on Thursday for the second annual Alberta Capital Airshed Clean Air Forum. The forum will focus on how people can prepare for wildfire smoke, such as that which smothered St. Albert a few weeks ago.
The Alberta Capital Airshed is the non-profit that runs St. Albert's air quality monitoring station.
ACA executive director Gary Redmond said the timing of this conference was only partially coincidental – they scheduled it this week so it would fall ahead of when smoke from B.C.’s wildfires usually blows in.
About 64 per cent of Alberta’s forest fires are caused by humans, said St. Albert resident and ACA president Brent Korobanik, citing stats from Alberta Wildfire. Those fires harm our heart and our lungs, and global heating and mountain pine beetles make them more likely.
“Knowing this and experiencing the ramifications of wildfires, the more people know about the causes, the management options, and the risk mitigations ... the better everyone’s lives will be,” Korobanik said.
This forum will feature guest speakers such as University of Alberta wildland fire professor Mike Flannigan, who will explain the causes of wildfires and the health impact of their smoke, Redmond said. The conference will also discuss fire bans, cleaner air shelters, and other steps area governments could take to address the health effects of wildfire smoke.
The conference runs from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 20. Tickets are $40 or $10 for students. Visit capitalairshed.ca to register.
Green jobs, wood bike
St. Albert residents may have seen a man riding a wooden bicycle in town this week.
That was Zac Wagman, who was staying with relatives here as he bikes cross-country to promote green jobs on behalf of Project Learning Tree Canada.
Wagman runs the group’s Green Jobs program, a federally backed initiative that gives companies grants to hire youths in the parks, forestry and conservation sectors. To promote it this year, Zac and his brother Nick decided to ride a wooden bicycle across Canada interviewing people who have green jobs in what they're calling the Green Ride for Green Jobs.
Wagman said they set off from Victoria, B.C., on May 13 and decided to use a wood-frame Picolo Vélo bike to promote forestry and make the ride stand out. The wood frame is light, nimble and shock-absorbing, which has made for a very smooth ride.
Wagman said he and his brother did not have any experience with long-distance rides, but did do a lot of cycling in the gym in the last few months.
“There’s nothing that can quite prepare you for this kind of thing until you start doing it.”
Wagman said the Green Jobs program (which is still taking applicants) hopes to get about a thousand 15-to 30-year-olds into outdoor-related jobs this summer, whether that be planting trees or studying bears.
“Climate change is a big concern, and these jobs are ways we can mitigate that,” he said.
Wagman said he and his brother arrived in St. Albert this week and met with Green Job grant employees like University of Alberta conservation science student Rachael Melenka in Centennial Plaza by Edmonton’s Federal Building Thursday.
Melenka said she was planting native grasses with Ducks Unlimited to naturalize stormwater ponds in Edmonton this summer.
“Some constructed wetlands have odour and algae blooms that pose a problem” and need chemical treatments, she explained.
“With a naturalized wetland, the plants actually do the work for us.”
Melenka said green jobs are a great way to get outdoors and would be in demand in Alberta as other industries seek to address their environmental impacts.
Wagman said his next stop is Saskatoon and that he hopes to reach St. John’s, N.L., by September. Visit mygreenjob.ca to track his progress.
