Riverhurst Communities in Bloom is being recognized by the Saskatchewan Urban Municipality Association (SUMA) and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM).
They have been named the first place recipients of the Saskatchewan Municipality Awards for their Riverhurst Wetlands Restoration Project. Rhae Anne Bromley from Communities in Bloom and project lead Penny Gustafson accepted the award at the recent SUMA convention.
“When we received word that we had won, they noted that collaboration was the real strength of our project, and so we really owe a huge debt of gratitude to a lot of people that we reached out to for help,” Bromley noted.
Bromley said the project would never have happened without the support of Ducks Unlimited, the Village of Riverhurst for donating the land, and local and regional people donating their time, expertise and materials towards the project.
The wetlands are located about three kilometres from Lake Diefenbaker and the Riverhurst Ferry Crossing. Low precipitation levels over the past few years have left the wetlands as a bed of weeds.
Work began in 2019, with more than 500 trees being planted and work is being done to maintain water levels while having adequate drainage to avoid flooding.
“Right now, we're just waiting for the spring melt to seep into the soil. We’ll be constructing wheelchair-accessible walking paths through the wetlands along with educational signage and benches so that people can come and learn about why wetlands are so important and what kinds of critters live there,” Bromley said.
Riverhurst Communities in Bloom is holding the grand opening of the wetlands on July 23 in conjunction with the village’s Bean Festival.
Through the link below, you can listen as Discover Moose Jaw's Shawn Slaght spoke with Bromley about the award, and the latest on the Riverhurst Wetland Restoration Project.
Sat, Apr 20, 8:30 AM
