Please, Plant A Tree!

If you really want to do something about the rising carbon dioxide level and pollution in our atmosphere, plant a tree.  One tree will filter out 40 tonnes of pollutants and thousands of cubic meters of carbon dioxide from the air, in its lifetime!

It will also release thousands of cubic meters of pure, life giving oxygen back into the air during that time!

Trees also provide home for birds and shade on those sunny days.  Evergreens provide a winter windbreak while deciduous trees allow the winter sun to shine through. Trees hold back a tremendous amount of water, which helps prevent flooding. Trees can be harvested for wood.  Fruit trees provide apples, crab apples, pears, and a few other hardy varieties of fruit.  Maple trees (even the Manitoba Maples around here) can provide sap to make maple syrup! 

Some of Beiseker's trees are old and reaching the end of their lifespans, especially the poplars.  As they are removed from your property, buy and plant a replacement. Your descendants will thank you!

Frogs and Wetlands

A sure sign of spring is the songs of the frogs at every pond around this country.  I get a few complaints every year asking me if we couldn't fill in these tiny wetlands around Beiseker to shut the frogs up!  Short answer; no.

These tiny wetlands are very important to the ecology of this area.  They hold and slowly release a fairly large quantity of water.  They also provide home for a large variety of wildlife, including the noisy little frogs.

The most common of those frogs are Boreal Chorus Frogs - they're often called "Prairie Peepers" and they appear every spring after the water warms up a bit and releases them from the mud at the bottom of the pond.  They only have a few short weeks to define a territory, find a mate and reproduce before the pond dries up and they're forced to retreat back into the mud.  That's what all the noise is about.

I enjoy hearing the frog songs every spring from a small pond behind our home.  I know that those little critters are going to be eating mosquitoes and other bugs.  I also know that they and their tadpole offspring will provide food for other wetland critters so valuable to the prairie landscape.

They should quiet down in a little while as they continue through their cycle, so my advice is to enjoy the little songsters when you can!

Issue #5: Trees and Parks

As they reach the end of their life span, our poplar trees are slowly disappearing. Disease has claimed some of our public trees, too!

We also have some very attractive parks, green spaces and sports areas in the village which need care and attention on a year round basis.

If re-elected, I will work toward an extensive plan to replace our aging poplars with other trees AND I will work to create a separate Parks Account within Public Works. In that way we can better monitor the expenses on those public areas and apply those funds to matching grants offered by the provincial and federal governments. There are also a few private organizations out there who offer grants to plant trees!