Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition 

Vision

kisiskâciwani sipiy will be restored and protected as a life-giving corridor from the headwaters in the Columbia Icefields to the mouth at Hudson’s Bay through relationships of respect, reciprocity, and care. 

Mission 

ERVCC works collaboratively to engage in knowledge sharing, advocacy, and stewardship using systems thinking that acknowledges the inextricable links between nature, culture, history, and spirit of the North Saskatchewan River watershed.  

River Valley Manifesto 

(a living document to be reviewed and revised over time)

1. Begin with respect, reciprocity, and care

The North Saskatchewan River Valley is a regionally significant wildlife corridor running from the Rocky Mountains to Hudson’s Bay, and the river collects the water from countless creeks and tributaries. The river’s water gives life to everyone in the watershed. This river takes care of us and sustains us, so in turn we need to care for the river, and this care must extend up the banks and to all the plants, animals, and other life through which the river flows. This includes us too; we should use the river as an ongoing reminder to respect this land, water, and each other, to honour Treaty 6, which overlays the North Saskatchewan River watershed, and to protect the river’s life-giving force for future generations. The river valley should thus be a place that we do not merely “access,” but rather one that we approach with a soft step and a mindset of respect, reciprocity, and care. 

This approach would apply to every decision we make about the river valley – regarding our plans for what belongs there and what doesn’t, how we spend time there and how we behave, and how we maintain the parks and trails. It would mean that we listen carefully to nature and to what the plants, animals, and other life need, and then respond with humility and care. It would also mean the leadership of the Indigenous Peoples here who have always understood this approach and relationship. 

This way, we could finally achieve a healthy river and river valley and hence health for ourselves, genuinely advance truth and reconciliation, and restore our city’s gift of a functional regional wildlife corridor running through its heart.  

When I think of the land as my mother or if I think of it as a familial relationship, I don’t hate my mother because she’s sick, or because she’s been abused. I don’t stop visiting her because she’s been in an abusive relationship and she has scars and bruises. If anything, you need to intensify that relationship because it’s a relationship of nurturing and caring. – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, “Dancing the World Into Being”

 Image source: https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/papaschase/

2. Commit to good governance for the river valley

Good governance ensures decision-making is based on respectful relationships and deep connections to the land that ultimately governs us. The current colonial governance of this place leaves us unable to safely drink, fish, or swim the river’s waters and leaves future generations unable to access their rights. 

This current colonial governance system leads to failure to meet even the goals of its own planning documents.

Edmonton is losing rather than gaining river valley natural areas. Wildlife depend on this river valley for movement, yet we are adding fences, roads, buildings, and other encroaching infrastructure that obstruct wildlife movement rather than removing pinch points to restore the corridor. We are building upon floodplains and setbacks (distance from the top of bank) rather than giving the river valley the space it needs to remain healthy. These are missed opportunities to respond to the climate emergency, protect biodiversity, focus on nature-based solutions, and follow the City’s Indigenous Framework. River valley degradation and colonialism are intertwined, and deep change needs to happen that addresses both problems together.

Indigenous peoples are the original stewards of this place, and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas are important for protecting Indigenous rights and biodiversity. At the same time, river valley stewardship and good governance must be a shared responsibility today. There is much to be learned from Indigenous ways of relating with each other, the land, water, air, and our more-than-human relatives (see as just one example this talk by Leroy Little Bear on Blackfoot metaphysics). Dwayne Donald defines colonialism as “sustained denial of relationships.” We thus support decolonization, restoring Indigenous rights that were ignored in settlement, incorporating the positive contributions of settlers who have worked to help conserve the river valley in the past, and upholding cultural knowledge and wisdom that are desperately needed today. 

We have to look to the past to understand where we are going in the future. Treaty 6 supersedes the city of Edmonton and the province of Alberta and is still binding on the federal government. As Lloyd Cardinal says, “We are all Treaty people. The Treaties were signed in peace and friendship and to share this land. Indigenous peoples are inclusive of all people. It is important that people hold onto their culture, like the roots of a tree, and hold onto that on this land.” We should be celebrating who we are as we gather in this river valley and learn to understand what Narcisse Blood once said, that it is important not just to recognize the land, but for the land to recognize you. 

There is a reason why each one of us is here and cares about this river valley. Identity is key to the work we do in working to preserve the river valley, and we have a lot of relearning to do. We need to remember that the land does not belong to the people; the people belong to the land.

We support governance that is accountable, transparent, and inclusive, non-hierarchical, and encourages responsibility amongst all people. We all have a responsibility to advocate for the trees, the plants, the animals, and the water, and to think ahead seven generations in all that we do. We support an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) model, or a co-governance model. This would involve federal funding and support.

A River Valley National Urban Park could potentially further support wider public education on healthy relationship with the river valley and each other.

There is a pattern to the universe and everything in it, and there are knowledge systems and traditions that follow this pattern to maintain balance, to keep the temptations of narcissism in check. But recent traditions have emerged that break down creation systems like a virus, infecting complex patterns with artificial simplicity, exercising a civilizing control over what some see as chaos. The Sumerians started it. The Romans perfected it. The Anglosphere inherited it. The world is now mired in it.

The war between good and evil is in reality an imposition of stupidity and simplicity over wisdom and complexity. – Tyson Yunkaporta: Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

Image source: https://bqcl.org/treaty-6-acknowledgement/

3. Emphasize education and knowledge sharing

We as a city would benefit from prioritizing funding for Indigenous-led public education that embraces spirit in fostering awareness and understanding of the river valley as a regional wildlife corridor, the river valley’s natural riches, seasonal cycles, and the fact the river valley has been home to Indigenous peoples since time immemorial. This public education should promote a relationship of respect, reciprocity, and care for the river valley amongst Edmontonians of all ages and backgrounds. Indigenous-led stewardship should include Indigenous place names throughout the river valley. For too long, conservation has been complicit in the erasure of Indigenous peoples.

We should be discerning about using signs (as Blackfoot phenology teacher Ryan First Diver says, “Beware the Rectangles”!) and make use of social media to encourage education from and about the river valley in respectful, relational ways. How many people know the river valley is the only wildlife corridor through the city? How many people know the value of trees, including dead snags? How many people know that the river valley provides habitat for threatened species, and which ones? Imagine a river valley in which all people understand the value of our more-than-human kin and relate with them with respect, reciprocity, and care. 

We should also encourage arts and cultural events that celebrate and respect the history and beauty of the river valley through festivals, exhibits, and community events – rather than holding events in the river valley that overwhelm and damage it.

Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

4. Act in ways that foster healthy relationships among all living beings

All of our actions, including related to use and what the City calls operations, should foster healthy relationships in the river valley.

We have a responsibility to ensure that wildlife feel at home and are able to move freely in the river valley. This means we need a wide consistent wildlife corridor, free of fencing or with wildlife-friendly fencing, tranquility, and dark night skies, and a river valley and water free of pollution.

Services beyond basic washrooms, water fountains, picnic tables, occasional shelters etc. should be located above the top of bank rather than in the river valley itself, to serve the people who visit the river valley without destroying what people are there to experience.

Furthermore, the City should respect the historical mandate to keep views open so that the river valley is available for everyone to see, without houses or other buildings blocking the view. 

The river valley has been a gathering place since time immemorial. It should still be an inclusive, open environment that welcomes people from all walks of life and all financial means. It should remain public rather than private.

There should be a riverside tents-only campground for people to experience nature overnight, and this campground should be carefully stewarded to ensure deep respect for the place. Currently, people who canoe the river do not have a place to camp in Edmonton.

We support the pilot of at least one dedicated, serviced camping area for people who are unhoused, with support for these people. The reality is that making temporary shelters completely illegal puts lives at risk. Designating an area, or a few areas, would enable management of them.

We must respect Treaty rights for Indigenous peoples to camp next to waterways and on crown land.

River valley stewardship work should be organized through a therapeutic river valley work program so that work is undertaken by people employed to do gentle work by hand, rather than by machines. 

Are all uses appropriate in the river valley? Or do we have a responsibility to focus on listening to the place? We should rethink activities that promote the idea that entertainment is needed in the river valley rather than paying attention to nature. All uses should begin with respect, reciprocity, and care for the river valley, rather than using the river valley as simply a background for recreation.

Recreation that wrecks creation leads to a dazed stupor that isn’t fun for anyone. – Rita Wong, Beholden: A Poem as Long as the River.

Trees should never be cut, almost ever, and they should be deeply respected not only as “canopy” but as individual beings.

Damaged and unnecessarily mowed areas should be rewilded with diverse native species, while allowing for pioneer species to do their work preparing the soil for the native species that eventually replace them.

Trails should be maintained in the least intrusive way possible, with paved trails perhaps replaced by permeable crushed gravel, and dirt trails maintained only by foot traffic and wildlife to prevent erosion and protect biodiversity. 

Pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and road salt should not be used in the river valley (or anywhere in our city). Soil health is vital to living systems. Many soil contaminants are from historic industrial land use. Bioremediation projects should be undertaken throughout the river valley. Currently, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and road salt end up in the storm sewers and in the river.

Golf courses should be rewilded, so that they are first and foremost habitat, using genetically diverse native vegetation, a robust grass combination on greens, and organic compost, as well as incorporating rain gardens with native vegetation to naturally filter the water and attract dragonflies and frogs. Tee signs should be educational rather than used for advertising.  

Policies related to dogs in the river valley should prioritize protection of wildlife. The Dogs in Open Spaces Strategy notes that the City should “ideally locate Off Leash Areas away from areas of environmental sensitivity, such as natural areas, wildlife corridors, or other important ecological areas.” This means dogs should be welcomed throughout the river valley on-leash (except in areas of particular ecological sensitivity) and allowed off-leash only in dedicated enclosed areas, in order to minimize conflict with wildlife, including riparian wildlife such as ducklings that depend on shoreline areas for cover from hawks and other predators.

Litter and pollution from all sources should be minimized. Naturalization in parks would lessen the need for mowing, and hence carbon and noise pollution. City operations should use blades for clearing snow rather than salt and plastic bristle brushes, which cause chemical and plastic pollution that ends up in the river and oceans. They should also use rakes and brooms rather than leaf-blowers.

Public washrooms and water fountains should be installed in all parks to serve citizens, keep parks clean, and discourage single-use water bottles. Covered garbage cans and recycle bins should be placed throughout city parks and next to bridges with signage reminding people that the river valley is important habitat. There should be a National Parks-like strategy to educate people to keep our river valley clean. Collective responsibility should be encouraged. Until we reach zero litter, clean-up should be a local job creator rather than a volunteer-led process. Manual jobs in the river valley can provide meaningful work, including as part of a wraparound support for people who are recently housed.

Noise pollution from recreation needs to be avoided as well. Only non-motorized vehicles should be allowed in the river valley as well as on the river, as loud noises can disturb water birds, fish, and mammals, as well as disrupt the peace for people. This would mean no electric vehicles on dirt paths, no drones, no motorboats, etc. Fireworks should not be allowed in the river valley, and only soundless fireworks used elsewhere. Noise fireworks can scare wildlife and cause deaths. Banff National Park and the City of Calgary have recently banned noise fireworks; Edmonton should do the same.

Light pollution should also be minimized. Many plants and animals depend upon a dark night sky. The ability to see the stars is also culturally important and a human right. We have a responsibility to ensure that lighting of river valley parks and trails is minimized. Dark skies can help keep people mentally healthy and thus lower crime. There should be a public education campaign on light pollution and free public stargazing events so that people understand the need for, and appreciate, dark skies.

It is also critical to keep the river itself free of pollution. Water is life. The North Saskatchewan River must be protected and kept clean. The fishing community should be engaged to ensure they pick up all fishing line and also clean up along the river’s edge. We also have a responsibility to protect all waters feeding into the river within the city’s boundaries, as well as protect riparian habitat. We must ensure continued evolution of wastewater management practices and conservation of water.

We think we don’t want to sacrifice, but sacrifice is exactly what we’re doing by perpetuating problems that only get worse; we’re sacrificing our money, and sacrificing what is big and permanent, to prolong what is small, temporary, and harmful. We’re sacrificing animals, peace, and children to retain wastefulness while enriching those who disdain us. ­– Carl Safina, “The Moral Climate”