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Adventure Traveler Garry Sowerby in his own words:
Saturday, August 21
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Environmental Initiative #12
The Valley Trail, Fredericton , NB
It was pouring rain and the rubber boots I
was wearing were chafing at my ankles. I realized the morning’s hike along a portion
of Fredericton ’s Valley Trail would be short-lived. Bill
and I had donated our sneakers to the Westmorland-Albert Solid
Waste Corporation’s ‘Reuse a Shoe’ program the
previous morning in Moncton . And now all I had were these rubber
Wellies.
There was not a soul in sight as we started across the 581-metre-long
bridge, the longest pedestrian bridge converted from railway in
the world. We were enjoying a part of the system of trails known
as the Trans Canada Trail, a cross-country network that has acquired
and improved abandoned rail corridors and re-appropriated them
for walking trails. This drizzly morning, it felt like our Mission
Green team were the only ones using the whole system.
Until Dublin appeared in the distance. Not
the city, the puppy. Dublin ’s owner, Jane Carr, had taken
the opportunity this early Saturday morning to do a little obedience
training. Jane and Dublin happily showed us what had been learned
so far.
Mission Green’s salute to this urban green space that is
the Valley Trail was cut short by the inclement weather but we
were glad we had stopped by for the great ‘dog and pony’ show,
only without the pony.
To learn more about the Rails for Trails, click on:
http://www.city.fredericton.nb.ca/eb2.asp?537
http://www.sentiernbtrail.com
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Environmental Initiative #13
Soil Savers, Grand Falls , NB
The Saint John River Valley is one of the most fertile areas in
Canada. Potatoes abound in this soil.
Used to be that the potatoes were planted in rows that were parallel
to the slope of the hill, perpendicular to the St. John River.
But come spring and during heavy rain storms, the rows upon rows
of hollows would become near-rivers that would carry away the soil
and anything else that happened to be in it.
Besides the erosion of the land and the inability of the soil
to build up its nutrients over the years, a layer of sediment was
beginning to form on the bottoms of local tributaries which was
affecting fish spawing beds. Nearby well systems were facing possible
contamination as well.
Something had to be done and that’s where
Gordon Fairchild, Soil Specialist, comes in. Gordon works for
the Eastern Canada Soil and Water Conservation Centre whose mandate
is to promote soil and water conservation practices as well as
sustainable resource management in agriculture.
Some of the practices the Centre proposed to the farmers back
in 1991 were met with strange looks and probably a few shrugs.
The Centre wanted to encourage such things as terracing, strip
cropping and crop rotation. Terracing requires the building up
of hills then planting vegetation perpendicular to the slope to
slow the energy of the run-off. The run-off is redirected to channels
which are specifically designed to transport the water at non-erosive
speeds.
This practice, in conjuntion with strip cropping, the production
of row crops in strips across the slope rather than down the slope
would stop erosion even further. Throw in some crop rotation and
the soil gets a chance to organically improve itself and become
more resistant to soil erosion.
Problem was the farmers didn’t want to
give up the 10% of land that would be required to adjust their
fields to these types of planting and growing methods and the
whole thing was quite darn expensive to start up.
Now the farmers have decided it’s a good thing. And it’s
working… up to 30,000 acres have now been protected.
Mission Greens hails the Soil Savers, the Eastern Canada Soil
and Water Conservation Centre, for their work in best management
practices for sustainable agricultural production.
Keep up the good dirt!
For more on what the ECSWCC does, visit:
http://www.ccse-swcc.nb.ca
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