St. Albert’s Riverlot 56 group is turning 30, and its stewards hope city residents will turn out for their birthday bash.
The Riverlot 56 Natural Area Society is holding its 30th anniversary next week. The group, which is the official steward of the Riverlot 56 Natural Area, was officially established on Dec. 5, 1983, about a year after the province created the natural area.
The group is inviting all residents to come to the Kingswood Park ski shelter this Sept. 22 for a free guided tour of the natural area, said society member and tour guide Dan Stoker. “I’m going to be putting out over 30 pictures of Alberta wildlife,” he said, and participants will have to spot and identify them in the bush. “It’ll be like hide and seek.” There will also be a display of pamphlets and maps.
Riverlot 56 dates back to the early days of St. Albert’s settlement, said society member Georges Binette, and is the only intact river lot from that time that spans both sides of the Sturgeon River. Home to an aboriginal residential school from 1924 to 1968, the land was turned over to the province around 1965.
The province initially planned to put Athabasca University on the river lot, but dropped the idea in 1971. At the time, local residents had started using it for walking and skiing.
The river lot was some two kilometres from the edge of St. Albert at that point, Binette said, but the city was growing. “We knew eventually that it would become a housing development.”
Wanting to preserve the lot, Binette and about six other residents representing the St. Albert Archers, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, St. Albert Nordic Ski Club (STANSKI) and the Catholic and Protestant school boards got together to lobby on behalf of the area.
The province designated the lot as a natural area in 1982, with the river lot society becoming its official stewards in 1983. The city held a grand opening on May 11, 1987, Binette recalled, using its brand new city buses to truck guests out to it for a tour.
The group’s kept a low profile since then, said Binette, who is the only founding member still with the group. “We didn’t really want to advertise,” he said, and their goal was to preserve, not promote, the region. “Not a lot of people know about it.”
The group developed trails in the lot as it grew more popular, and added interpretive signs in 1999 and 2002. STANSKI groomed ski trails in the lot for all but one of the last 30-some years. The exception was 2009-2010, where a dispute with the river lot society over tree removal and site access led both groups to suspend trail-making. City officials stepped in to negotiate a compromise.
The river lot is now is now home to many animals, Stoker said, including moose, deer, porcupines, chipmunks, squirrels and great horned owls. “You feel like you’re out in the middle of nowhere when you get into it.”
But it also faces challenges in the form of encroaching development and the soon-to-be realigned 127 Street, Binette said, both of which could bring noise to the river lot and cut through migration routes for moose and deer. The society is also working with the city, Sturgeon County and Poundmaker’s Lodge to reforest the region and stamp out invasive plants such as field scabious.
Riverlot 56 is a treasured part of St. Albert, said Mayor Nolan Crouse, and it’s critical to preserve such places in the face of urban sprawl. “They become your Stanley Park of the next century.”
The anniversary runs from 1 to 3 p.m. this Sept. 22. The walk starts at 1:30. Visit riverlot56.ca for details.
