Source to Tap Community Conversations, February 27 - March 14

Water Matters, the Oldman Watershed Council, and SASCI are pleased to present Round 2 of the 'Source to Tap' Community Conversations.  

Building on the first round of local meetings in November and December 2012, these final sessions aim to generate proactive solutions and build support for necessary stewardship actions to protect the health of the Oldman River headwaters … for people and for the environment. We will discuss:

• What speci!c stewardship practices or actions are currently happening in the headwaters? What else is required? What are the opportunities?

• How can watershed stewardship activities be further fostered and supported to increase their effectiveness over the long term?

You are invited to attend any of the community conversations. Participants in this second round need not have attended an earlier session. Your voice is important!

Dates and locations of the sessions are provided below:

Wednesday, Feb 27: Springpoint Hall* 5:30 supper followed at 6:30 by dialogue session (RSVP to Pat Ness: 553-2625)

Thursday, Feb 28: Stavely Community Centre 5:30 supper followed at 6:30 by dialogue session (RSVP to jnbee"ady@gmail.com)

Friday, March 1: Lundbreck Hall* 5:30 supper followed at 6:30 by dialogue session (RSVP to Ted Smith 628-2004)

Wednesday, March 6: Pincher Creek,* Heritage Inn 7:00 PM

Thursday, March 7: Crowsnest Pass,* Country Encounters 7:00 PM

Tuesday, March 12: Lethbridge, Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre 7:00 PM

Wednesday, March 13: Cardston Seniors Centre 7:00 PM

Thursday, March 14: Picture Butte, Warren Kleeman Hall, Prairie Tractor and Engine Museum 7:00 PM

Fire Impacts and Stewardship in the Watershed, February 13th

The Oldman Watershed Council (OWC) will be hosting the annual "Holding the Reins" Landowners' Summit in Fort Macleod on Wednesday, February 13th, 2013.  An overview from the OWC website is provided below, together with a link for more information.

"The OWC Rural Team is excited to announce and invite you to the 7th Annual Holding the Reins Landowners Summit themed, Fire Impacts and Stewardship in the Watershed, to be held at the Fort Macleod & District Community Hall on February 13th, 2013.

The annual Holding the Reins Landowners Summit, sponsored in part by Alberta Beef Producers, provides basin residents an opportunity to hear about rural issues and initiatives in the Oldman watershed. Presentations are given on a wide range of rural topics and landowner stewardship groups share their expertise, experiences and stories of their efforts to protect their local watershed.

This year, the Rural Team is honored to have Glen and Kelly Hall, Stavely-area ranchers and Alberta Beef Producers' 2008 Environmental Stewardship Award recipients, as the Keynote Speakers. Glen and Kelly have contributed much of their time and effort to being the best stewards of the land that they can for the benefit of the watershed and we couldn't be more happy to have them join us for the summit.

Presentations will include the Milk River and Granum fire impacts and opportunities as well as the Lost Creek wildfire impacts in the Oldman headwaters and beyond.

The summit promises to be  inspiring and engaging with Digital Stories, presented by Norine Ambrose of Cows and Fish, and stewardship and landowner group updates."

Click here for more information and to register.

Integrating Water Innovation Forum, Camrose, August 9-10

From the event website:

"This Forum strives to bring together researchers, policy actors and representatives from specific watersheds to bring greater clarity and collaborative capacity to collectively recognizing:

(1) the multiple dynamics and functions that complicate watershed-level analyses, programming and public policy;

(2) the need to acknowledge and work within watersheds in a fashion that acknowledge integrative watershed management and planning;

(3) the need to better and more clearly address a core issue of both horizontal (across policy domains) and vertical (across levels of authority or governance) integration that is often acknowledged rheotorically, but is rarely and explicitly included in policy-making and programming in Canada."

For more information and to register, click here to visit the event website.

The event will run from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm on August 9 and 10 in Camrose, Alberta.  Registration is $47.62 per person, maximum 50 people.

Holding the Reins: Landowner Summit for the Oldman Watershed, February 7

The Oldman Watershed Council's Rural Team will be holding their 6th annual "Holding the Reins" Landowner Summit for the Oldman Watershed  on February 7, 2012 at the Fort Macleod Community Hall, from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.  The theme will be "Watershed Stewardship: where are we headed?"

For more information (including the agenda) and to register, click here.