September 2019 Meetings

[PeterSL]

All meetings start at 7:00pm at Queen Mary Park Community Hall on 117St and 108 Ave. Everyone welcome. No charge and no membership required to attend meetings. Coffee and timbits provided.

Sept 18 - Business meeting to deal with some topics from the summer and ongoing followed by a chance to reacquaint with others, share some stories, catch up on news etc. Bring a vice to tie a few if you wish. Hopefully welcome a new member or two.

The Business meeting will include the usual reports plus some spending/project possibilities (below). If you can't attend the meeting and have some thoughts on any of these topics please send them to Communications@nlft.org 

Mackenzie Creek Project – Proposed Donation of $1,500 and Volunteer help

This creek, a tributary of the McLeod just south of Robb is an important bull trout spawning stream that’s been closed to angling for 17 years. However, there are impacts to the habitat within the watershed, e.g. sedimentation, poaching, and an off-highway vehicle (OHV) trail that runs along and through the creek and its tributaries several times. AEP is proposing to re-route the trail away from the creek and restore the banks and former crossing sites as well as "rough and loose" segments of the trail to both promote ecological recovery and prevent motorized access to sensitive locations.
TUC has stepped up to take the lead (with support from Public Lands) on this project which will likely take place in phases, over 3 years. They've identified four crossings in the lower part of the watershed that could be repaired and closed immediately. Some of the stakeholders that are interested, involved, and/or are providing funding include the Alberta Off Highway Vehicle Association, West Fraser, Foothills Stream Crossing Partnership, AEP, and TUC.  
This is a significant project in trying to manage OHV impacts on public lands, outside of a Public Land Use Zone. Therefore, TUC would  like to see as many organizations as possible support this project through a donation and/or volunteer help especially in the streambank restoration work to demonstrate a wide range of support for reclamation and protection of bull trout spawning areas.  NLFF executive believes this project fits with  our aims and objectives and is proposing a contribution  from NLFF of $1,500 and a commitment to encouraging member volunteer help with stream bank restoration/willow planting etc.

 Arctic Grayling DNA analysis – Proposed Retroactive approval of cost up to $2000

Over the summer the executive with the help of Jim O’Neill and Jessica Reilly, bio with AEP, made efforts to advocate for greater protection of Arctic Grayling by the provincial Species at Risk Dept. and by the federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).We made some progress in that the provincial representative on COSEWIC agreed to present our concerns.  In the process of this work we came across some data which suggested that the Dismal Creek and Rat Creek (both in the upper Pembina) sub-populations are genetically distinct from the more northerly groups, largely because they have been isolated for decades. It also showed slight differences between the Dismal and Rat Creek sub-populations. This seemed like a good argument to further protect the Arctic Grayling which have been the focus of our Upper Pembina Grayling Project for the past few years. However, the data needed analysis and formal reporting. Fortunately, Jess had a geneticist contact at the UofA who was able and willing to do this work for no more than $2000, far less than it would normally cost.

The executive spending limit is $750 but in order to get this done in time for an upcoming meeting of COSEWIC’s Fish Committee we decided to approve it and hope for forgiveness and approval from the membership at this meeting.

 Muir Lake Signage – Proposed Approval in principle to fund sign replacement

 As member organizations of the Fisheries Enhancement Society of Alberta, Northern Lights Fly Fishers and Tyers and Trout Unlimited Edmonton, contributed to the costs of the Muir Lake Project back in 2003. As evident in the attached photos of the ‘Welcome’ sign it’s time to replace some and possibly add others, especially to the Walk of Fame. We’ve reached out to the other groups involved in FESA - Edmonton Trout Fishing Club, Edmonton Oldtimers Fishing Club and ACA – to see if they’re willing to share in costs and if they would like to add anyone to the Walk of Fame.

Discussion and approval of spending based on estimates to be provided at the meeting

Sep 25 - Info sharing/Roundtable on things learned/discovered over the summer fishing season re fish, locations, equipment, tactics, habitat, issues - whatever you found of interest or concern and think might be of interest to others. Come share, ask questions or just listen.