Southern Alberta

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Reduction of Water Consumption in Homes

2010 Milk River, Alberta, Canada

Tierra Maggrah from Erle Rivers High School discuss the problem of the amount of water consumption in Canadian households; her solution achieved one of the top ranks in the 2010 Caring for our Watershed Grade 7- 9 division.

Tierra Maggrah concerned about how much water the average household uses in Canada; specifically the quantity used in her community and wanted to do something about it.

Tierra knows that most people consume water by using it to maintain a nice yard, so she proposes that
a rain barrel be placed at each home which would be used to water plants.

Her proposition of using rain barrels to obtain water as an alternative to regular tap water is a solution to reduce the consumption of water in the household.

Tierra’s implementation plan involves the purchase of 30 rain barrels, of which 3 were raffled off at the Community Stewardship Forum.

The remaining 27 rain barrels were sold at a subsidized cost at the community forum to off-set the implementation cost.

 

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Green is Great

2010 Milk River, Alberta, Canada

Sierra Harty, from Erle River High School, won first place at the 2010 Caring for Watershed (CFW)Grade 7-9 Division.
Sierra Harty noticed the deterioration of the riverbanks leading to the water at popular canoe entry sites along the Milk River. After consulting with the County, she determined that a path made up of crushed gravel and highlighted by signs would direct the flow of recreationists to stay on the path.

The path highlighted by signs directed the flow of traffic in and out of the river at two high traffic spots: Poverty Rock and Coffin Bridge. By keeping the recreationists stay on the path, it helps minimize the deterioration of the river banks, which leads to the popular canoe entry sites along the Milk River.

She created three trail signs, and worked with the County of Warner and MRWCC to develop key messages on the trail signs. Sierra also worked on the trail sign site logistics for relevant placements on the path.

 

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Student Installs Bat Boxes and Bird Houses to Save the Bow River

2010 Calgary, Alberta, Canada

 Bat-Boxes3
Cam Reed, a senior at Centennial High School in Calgary, Alberta won first place in the 2010 Caring for our Watersheds (CFW) finals. Afterwards, Nutrien donated $4,000 to implement his idea.
Bat-Boxes2Bat-Boxes
The winning idea from Reed was to install bat boxes and bird houses on golf courses in the Calgary area as a natural pest control. His proposal had a realistic budget, accurate research and a strategic timeline for implementation. By the CFW finals, Reed already had golf courses committed to the project.

Reed worked with Nutrien, 8 local golf courses and community partners such as Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Calgary Bat Society to support this project.

After selecting the boxes, Cam worked with local Boy Scouts and his High School carpentry class to paint and assemble the boxes.

The following golf courses had boxes installed: Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club, Glencoe Golf & Country Club, McKenzie Meadows Golf Club, Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club, Maple Ridge Golf Course, Bearspaw Country Club, Canada Golf (RCGA) and Pinebrook Golf &Country Club.

Reed commented, “I’ve learned that golf courses aren’t the bad guys and they are very open to ideas to protect our watershed. And, my project was another way to add to their environmental stewardship.”

In addition to improving the watershed, Reed was offered a summer job at many of the golf courses. He accepted one and is looking forward to finishing his final year in school.