The County of Vermilion River (CVR) hosted activities for families at the Vermilion Provincial Park on August 27, and Lindsay Evans Park on August 28. Representatives from Alberta Environment and Parks, ALUS, and the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance were also in attendance. “Today is about wetland awareness and promoting the importance of wetlands and riparian areas (the vegetation around wetlands). A lot of what we do is work with ALUS and Green Acres programs to help landowners be stewards of their land. We are enjoying the opportunity to connect with the community, and get families involved in learning about wetlands,” said CVR ALUS Coordinator, Chris Elder. “We don’t want a reservoir where people dump species that don’t belong or emit exhaust to disturb the native species. We are also promoting for people to clean, drain, and dry all of their gear,” said Paige Kuczmarki from Alberta Environment and Parks. Author of ‘Living In The Shed,’ Billie Milholland, noted that the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance works actively with the CVR and said, “People want to read about their back yard and we don’t have a lot pertaining to Western Canadian History.” Families took part in playing learning games about wetlands and went on to enjoy barbequed hotdogs. Overall, children enjoyed the evening full of learning about fish species, creating plant art, and visiting dipping stations where they had the opportunity to identify snails and water insects.
