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Canadian Pasture and Shelter-Belt Program to Wind Down (Co-operator,April 19) (Letter)
On the chopping block to save money, but not a murmur about the gold-plated Pension Plan that the MP’s have saved for themselves. Well, it's apparent that Gerry Ritz, born in 1951, never had to deal with the dry and wind years of the 1930’s, when never-ending dust clouds, grasshoppers, and no rain settled on the prairies. The settlers of those years knew if they were to survive, changes had to be taken in their farming methods and stop their land base from being blown away. The tree and shrub belts were a beginning, but also a challenge, as the scarcity of water, even for themselves and livestock, resulted in many failures and setbacks. But eventually, conditions improved and the trees and shelter belts began to flourish. And they were successful. For not only to help prevent the loss of precious topsoil, shelter belts became a refuge and a haven for wildlife, a nesting area and food for birds. Yes, with modern farming methods and large machinery, the
Will the Rural Municipality of Shell River Brush Aside Better Technology in Favour of Another Sewage Lagoon?
by Larry Powell Is Council Withholding Crucial Information? Shell River surrounds the Village of Roblin, in west-central Manitoba. It's where my wife and I live, on a peaceful, rural acreage. In mid-March, the RM quietly sent in a drill truck to test the soil less than a mile upwind of half-a-dozen rural acreages, including our own, with a view to building a new sewage lagoon. (Read earlier story, with photos, here.) Test results, we were told, would be known in a couple of weeks. So, on April 13th, almost a month later, my wife and I appeared before Council. Well, no, we were told, we couldn't have the test results yet because, according to Deputy Reeve Joe Senderewich, who chaired the meeting, "They were not yet official!" We weren't sure if that meant they didn't know, or weren't telling us! Now, after another 10 days and at least one "in-camera" meeting, we understand via the grapevine, that Council may make those res
Stop the Mass Death of Bees! Tell EPA & USDA to Ban Bayer's "Neonic" Insecticides!
Organic Consumers Asn. PLT photo Commercial beekeepers have filed an emergency legal petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend use of a pesticide that is linked to massive honey bee deaths. The legal petition, which specifies Bayer's neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin, is backed by over one million citizen petition signatures. Click "Go!" to add your voice. Take Action Now! PLT: An open challenge to Canadian beekeepers....how about similar action here?
Canadian Researchers Open a Door to Saving Threatened Bats
Bat Conservation International. Dear supporters, A research team led by the University of Winnipeg in Canada recently confirmed that the Geomyces Courtesy of "Bats About Our Town." destructans fungus that causes White-nose Syndrome in North America originated in Europe, where it is still found but does not cause mass deaths of bats. This suggests that European bats may have faced WNS sometime in the past and the bats that survived evolved to have immunological or behavioral resistance to the disease. This research also demonstrates that the WNS fungus was almost certainly carried, inadvertently, by humans from an infected European cave to North America. Since it was first reported on the muzzles of little brown bats in New York’s Howes Cave, WNS has killed more than 5.7 million bats, according to federal biologists. This new evidence that humans can carry and spread the fungus reinforces the need for targeted closures of caves used by bats, as we
Harperites Chop Trees in Latest Austerity Revelations!
By: Jennifer Graham, CP SASKATOON - Canada's agriculture minister is defending the government's decision to put a pasture program and a shelterbelt tree program on the chopping block to save money. Details here. PLT shelterbelt photo. PLT: Trees are the latest declared "enemies" of the Harperites. What's next? Motherhood?