Mr. Wilson --- your two photos made it to the front page of our local paper ------ CONGRATULATIONS !!!

On the last afternoon of school in 2010 we walked through the TM Trails on our way to Elizabeth Lake to see what it looks like in winter. The setting was quite different from our previous visit to the trails in November when there had been a fresh fall of snow. After two days of wet, mild weather last weekend, the snow conditions were far from perfect. However, that did not stop us from having a memorable field trip. It was exciting to walk off the trails and break through the thin crust of ice and sink into the snow beneath. At the outflow where Jim Smith Creek empties on its way towards Joseph Creek, we couldn't help but notice the pungent smell of submerged, rotting vegetation. Before returning to school, we had fun jumping off Ground Squirrel Hill, and then we dug mouse tunnels in the snow. By the time we got back to our class, we were all ready for hot chocolate.

On October 1, our class went on a tour of the Recycling Depot, the Transfer Station, the Packing Plant and the Regional Landfill organized by Loree Duczek, the Education Officer with the RDEK (Regional District of the East Kootenay). At our invitation Loree visited our class this week to talk about how we can reduce, reuse and recycle at Christmas. Afterwards we were encouraged to share what we had learned with someone and write a letter to them. Here are three examples of what we wrote. Jaycen and Carter wrote to the editor of the local newspaper, while Hailee wrote to her dad.

Dear Editor,

I think you should put this in the paper. We need to recycle. Over 30 million garbage bags go to the dump every day from December 26 to December 31. Let’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle so that ribbons can be reused on your Christmas tree next year. You can use wrapping paper to wrap presents.
So let’s reduce, reuse and recycle.

Jaycen



Dear Editor,

Here are some facts about how many plastic bags we use daily – 55 million plastic bags, and many get thrown out. Plastic bags can be RECYCLED. 30 million garbage bags get thrown out every Christmas.
So let’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Carter



Dear Dad,

In school we are talking about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle because it is getting close to Christmas. I think we can help the Earth by not throwing out bows, wrapping paper and all the stuff we can’t use. Recycle it, or use it again next year. A lot of people throw everything out. If everyone in Canada wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 (forty five thousand) hockey rinks. If each person reused two feet of ribbon this Christmas, it would save61,000 (sixty one thousand) kilometers of ribbon. Tin pie plates and foil roasting pans cannot be recycled. On Christmas Day over 30 million garbage bags are put out on sidewalks. Three quarters of each bag is full of cardboard, wrapping paper, and bows. The other part is full of left over food.
Let’s remember to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Hailee

Great pictures from your field trip! It does look a bit chilly out there, so I can see why hot chocolate would be very nice when you got back to the school!

And those are excellent letters, Jaycen, Carter and Hailee. Thank you, Mr. Wilson, for sharing them with us. My husband and I did reuse a lot of wrapping paper this year, and one of our local stores sells cloth bags made from fabric remnants - perfect for wrapping odd-shaped items!

I hope you all had a wonderful vacation - and Happy New Year!

On Christmas Eve I walked along Rotary Way in Kinsmen Park beside Joseph Creek, which was covered in ice for the most part. Despite the frigid temperature (below minus 10 Celsius), I spotted a flicker woodpecker, several robins and a group of four deer in the riparian zone.

I spotted an osprey, bald eagle and several elk on my New Year's walk, while a friend and I explored Home Farm, also known as Cranbrook's Spray Irrigation Fields, where the City's treated wastewater is stored, and used for irrigation of hayfields during the summer months. It was a surprise to see both the osprey and bald eagle in the middle of winter, but Pond 2 had open water, and we were only about one to two kilometers from the Kootenay River, which still has areas of open water.

Stewart, that's very surprising news about the osprey being there this time of year. He should have migrated south 3 months ago.
I sure hope the water stays open throughout the winter if he plans to stick around.

The bald eagle is beautiful. I have seen them around here during the winter months but usually eating roadkill along the highway.

I'm also very surprised about the osprey. I asked someone who knows why osprey who nest on the ocean in Maine need to migrate, given that the ocean generally doesn't freeze (there are exceptions - but not in recent history) - and was told that the fish either go further from shore, or at least stay away from the surface where the water is a lot colder - so for practical purposes, there's not much in the way of food for osprey.

Do they have fish in the wastewater ponds? If so, they might be creating an environment that would be attractive to an osprey. But otherwise, I do hope he/she gets going and heads for warmer climates.

I'm realizing as I type that I don't know that much about the area - I've been assuming it gets very cold, but perhaps I'm wrong about that. If some combination of factors keeps the temperature above freezing most of the winter, that could indeed change everything.

It really is amazing what I learn through the forum - often when I least expect it!

Added -
In Maine we have have a combination of eagles that migrate and those who stay through the winter - but as Judy mentioned, the eagles here don't seem to bring much fish to the nest in winter. At least one of my "local" eagle pair is still around (and I expect both are) - and we see them on their nest, which is a platform in a tidal river - but I have doubts about their catching any fish there, and suspect their presence is more about establishing their territory.