We’ve just posted all of our entries to the 2011 Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve Photo Contest. Thank you to all those who submitted their pictures, they were great!

Click here to view the pictures.

For more information on the 2012 Photo Contest, please click here.

A photograph of one of the programs offered by the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve has made it into the newest edition of UNESCO’s “A World of Science” quarterly newsletter.

The newsletter, celebrating the 40th anniversary of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) program, shows students from the Parkwest School Division participating in an archaeological dig and is the issue’s only photograph from a Biosphere Reserve in Canada!

To see the article, click here.

In partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Watersheds (CSW), the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve is developing an engaging water stewardship education package for residents and users of lands adjacent to waterways in the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve area.

This project will encourage green boating, water conservation, proper septic maintenance, and habitat protection to ensure the preservation of the region’s rich and diverse water bodies. By providing specific, relevant information we hope to instil a sense of ownership that will propel residents to take positive environmental action to protect this unique area for future generations.

Click here to learn more!

It’s Back!! The “At the Farm Gate” Fall Harvest Market!!! As part of the 2011 Sonics and Sojourns Festival of Music and Learning Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve is hosting the ATFG Fall Harvest Market on Saturday September 24th, 2011 in Onanole, Manitoba from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Help us make the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve region more sustainable and known for its unique local flavour.

Fall Harvest Market Poster

Contact Valerie at rmbr@mts.net or call 204-636-2085 for more information.

Warblers to Waterfowl Weekend

May 27-29, 2011

The award recognized RMBR for fostering a culture of conservation in the Riding Mountain Region, for working with residents and schools around the park, delivering various programs workshops & international tours, and chairing the TB Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

“At the Farm Gate” is a regional virtual farmers and artisan market whereby small farm families and artisans in the Biosphere Reserve can link to folks would like to purchase locally made and grown products. We’ve been working on this project for the last year in order to promote and highlight products that are made locally and to encourage our neighbours and visitors alike to buy local and support their local farm families and artisans. “Made in Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve” means that fewer miles and less gas are needed to get the corn from the garden to your soup pot or the vivid pink crocheted hat from the artist’s needles to your child’s curl tousled head. This not only means less CO2 emissions and cleaner air but also real, honest, fresh from the farm goodness in every forkful of locally grown apple pie,  or spoonful locally picked high bush cranberry jelly, as well as pastured pork and chicken and grass fed beef  grown and raised right here in the Biosphere Reserve.

Hundreds of folks from far and near came to sample jellies and bread, try out lime scented body scrubs, sniff sweet smelling soy candles, pick out the perfect bracelet and necklace and browse the regional cookbooks. Another of the highlights of the Fall Harvest Market had to be the demonstrations and presentations. Leaning firsthand how Lorraine and Joe Poitras brought Wild Joes Jelllies to life, their successes and their trials and sampling the “fruits” of their labors brought home the need to save our wild spaces including fence rows and road allowances where remnants of a vast and rich bio-diverse wild fruit population still exist. Wes Huyghe of Little Path Farm showed off his culinary skills and knowledge of a wide variety of veggies while preparing a succulent squash bake with walnuts, raisins and maple syrup and Chef Rob Hume from the Elkhorn Resort delighted the audience with a wonderful garden burger showing how veggie burgers can be a delicious addition to anyone’s menu including die hard meat enthusiasts.  Rob added a variety of toppings including bacon, smoked garlic sausage, cheddar and blue cheese for a total taste treat.

At the Farm Gate Market  Recipes

Garden Patties – Click Here

Squash Bake – Click Here

A successful project – undoubtedly!   A successful market – most definitely!  The first of similar markets – stay tuned!

To get involved with or find out more about the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve “At the Farm Gate” project please contact Valerie at rmbr@mts.net or call 204-636-2085.

Byron and Paul French

Located near Kelwood, French’s Farm Meat provides customers with all natural pastured pork and grass-fed beef. Accredited with the Verified Beef Program, their animals live as nature intended, producing an excellent quality beef product.

Contact: 204.967.2532 or frenchsfarm@hotmail.com

Little Path Farm

Wes Huyghe

A young entrepreneurial farmer who has recently woken up sleepy land  in one of the most scenic locations in the area. He  grows fresh organic veggies, free run chickens and turkeys all available to the public who are strongly encouraged to come meet him and check out what he has created. Camping on the beautiful landscape is welcome with a fee (fee will be waived and a free meal will be offered if camper helps weed the garden).

Contact: 204.868.5224 or littlepath@hotmail.com
Visit their website at www.littlepath.ca

Willowind Alpaca

Dave McFarlane and Mindy Dobreen

Offers  Alpacas ranging from $100-$10 000 and their high quality wool products (hats, mittens, yarn, teddy bears etc) in a range of colours. Come meet these docile creatures and see what it takes to produce this softer than sheep’s wool fiber.

Contact: 204.865.2412 or dmcfarla@mts.net

Secrets From The Garden

Trisha Lee

This Toronto-native moved to Inglis with the intent of getting back to the earth. Secrets From The Garden offers handcrafted Aromatherapy Soaps, Potions and Lotions from scratch, using the “old time” method with plant based /organic raw materials.  Located in a service station that is on it’s way to being completely green.

Contact: secretsfromthegarden77@yahoo.ca

Fairmount Bed & Breakfast

Susan Proven

Susan owns the beautiful Fairmount Inn, a B&B near Minnedosa. Having been in the house for almost 40 years, she has made it beautiful and offers guests lamb from her own flock or rainbow trout from around the corner. She sells jams, jellies, pickles, mint tea, dried beans, wool duvets and fresh veggies from her garden.

Contact:204.874.2165 or sproven@mts.net

Raven Creek Farm

Offers Alfalfa, wildflower honey, honeybutters, beeswax based skin care products,  and a variety of different types of candles year round. Located in the rural municipality of Park,  4 1/2 miles north of Menzie.

Contact: 204.234.5271 or ravencreekfarm@hotmail.com

Henry Oshust

Organic seasonal asparagus, raspberries, potatoes are grown a few miles west of Onanole but are offered in this convenient general store setting in Erickson. Locally made jams and jellies are also available. Calling ahead is recommended as hours are irregular, prices from $2.00.

Contact: 204.636.2730

Dale Nichols

Located two miles south of Onanole on Highway 10, he offers pencil drawings of Manitoba rodeo and ranch type scenes, available all year round range from $50-$100.

Contact: 204.848.1782 or shellynichols8@hotmail.com

Poplar Glen Organic Farm

Kate & Doug Storey

Located near Grandview, 7 km wst of Gilbert Plains this year round organic farm offers grassfed organic ground beef, organic flax and eggs from some of the happiest cage free chickens we’ve ever seen.

Contact: 204.546.2099 or kstorey@xplornet.ca. Follow Kate on Twitter!

Janet and Don Osborne Farm

Located just east of Birnie on their century farm, Don and Janet pick and process jams, jellies and pie fillings from orchard fresh apples, crab apples, apricots, cherries, grapes, plums, red, yellow and black raspberries and saskatoons. But it’s not just fruit, they also have corn, cucumbers, a variety of squash and beans available in season. Also available a variety of pickles and relishes.

Prices range from $3.50 to $8.00.

Contact: Janet and Don for more information at 204.966.3862 or email at dondo47@gmail.com .

A short 1 km loop trail, located in the town of Erickson, that starts at the Erickson Trans Canada Trail-head at the west end of Main Street (just behind the Viking Ship). This trail leads you along a wooded path dotted with elm, poplar and Manitoba maple, past an old homestead and toward a marshy meadow with a vantage of Leda Lake. The trail continues on north of town and hooks back up to the Trans Canada Trail near the Erickson Campground and allows you to walk back toward your start point along the old rail bed. The trail continues to be developed and in the future will boast a boardwalk/trail that will take visitors closer to Leda Lake to get a better view of the numerous bird species present here.

Baydak Lake Interpretive Trail and Boardwalk

Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve joined in partnership with Parks Canada, Lake of the Prairies Conservation District, the RM of Silver Creek and the Silver Beach Lake Cottage Owners Association, and the Baydak Lake Interpretive Trail and Boardwalk Committee to help to begin to create a new trail. The Baydak Lake Interpretive Trail and Boardwalk will take you along a boardwalk over a wetland area, past productive agricultural lands, along scenic lake shores, across into Riding Mountain National Park to a beautiful rolling landscape of mixed wood forest, wetlands, moist woodlands with ostrich fern, beaver dams and to the gorgeous scenery of Baydak Lake. Listen to the haunting call of loons, take in the smell of wild roses wafting in the air and watch for a variety of woodland creatures as you walk this 5 km return trail.  The trail can be a bit wet so bring along your rubber boots!

For more information on Baydak Lake Trail please contact Lake of the Prairies Conservation District at 1-204-564-2388.

Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve, in partnership with Parks Canada and Friends of Riding Mountain Park, have teamed up with elementary schools in the Park West School Division to bring kids back to nature in the form of a three-day trip.

On the first morning of the 2nd annual grade six trip, 71 kids from schools in Park West School Division set off in the Lake Audy area to search for hidden clues pertaining to the wildlife around them.

“It’s like a treasure hunt and a race crossed with survivor,” described Britney Hamilton, a grade six student from Russell Major Pratt.

The students used GPS units from Friends and the Biosphere Reserves’ Caching Riding Mountain GPS Program who also run the annual GPS Adventure Quest, do school and community GPS workshops and rent them to park guests.

Following the programmed coordinates, students broke off into groups of three. “It’s better and more fun than sitting inside and looking at pictures of wilderness in books, I like learning this way,” says Nick Harper, a student from Birtle Elementary.

Jen Tyttle teaches a grade five and six split class in Birtle. It’s her second year attending the Park West School Division outing and she says that the students are “very proficient with the interactive technology”.  And it’s true. The kids caught on immediately, racing off to the shoreline or deep into the trees and tall grass.

She says the students really enjoy the trip to the Riding Mountain area because of the hands on learning and outdoor atmosphere. “It reaches all students. In class not all the students can seem engaged at all times, but out here they really are.”

On day two, Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve and Friends of Riding Mountain National Park set up an archaeological dig for the kids at a former “kill site” (a valley where bison would’ve been herded to be hunted more easily) near Gorge Creek.

By examining these placed “artifacts” the students learned about the people and animals that lived in the park thousands of years ago, including giant sloths who snacked on the tops of trees and beavers the size of picnic tables.

“Because it’s from the past and there are stories that go along with each object, I think it’s important to learn about archeology,” says grade six student Harry Hodgins from Shoal Lake who helped “discover” some historic blue and green glass.

The kids worked on small plots of land called units, brushing away soil and shale to uncover animal bones, glass, and pottery.

Garret Rubeniuk from Major Pratt wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, as he enthusiastically sifted through soil to find projectile points. “You’re active, doing more, it’s really like a big experiment. You get to walk through outside and touch everything instead of looking at a piece of paper. You can actually do things…you learn how people survived.”

Biodiversity Day

To celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity which was on May 22^nd , Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve enlisted the help of five students from Erickson Elementary School.

Biodiversity Day

To celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity which was on May 22^nd , Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve enlisted the help of five students from Erickson Elementary School.

On May 20^th, utilizing chalk, and artistic talent they created a 45 by 14 ft biodiversity-themed mural, which passersby can view in the driveway of the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve Office, located at 61 2nd Street NE, in Erickson, Manitoba.

The students wanted to create an art project demonstrating the diversity of plant and animal life encompassed in the only Biosphere Reserve in Manitoba.

But the project had one main requirement; that it wouldn’t harm the environment in any way and leave no lasting effect. Grade five student, Kieran McKay chose deep blues and greens to draw the Earth and that he “thought the project was cool”.

Chalk was the chosen medium, as it would wash away leaving no trace of pollution and a clean slate for the next mural.

The United Nations proclaimed May 22nd The International Day for Biological Diversity to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.  On top of this, 2010 is the United Nations’ International Year of Biodiversity.

Executive Director of Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve, Valerie Pankratz says it is important to recognize the diverse eco-systems and our own biodiversity issues within the area: “Valuing our surroundings, and taking care of them is an integral part of educating our youth, especially in our region.”

UNESCO designated Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve in 1986. Its mission is to foster and encourage a sustainable community based regional economy, with high biodiversity, landscape, and social values.