Welcome to EcoWest News, a weekly round-up of news and resources that you can put to use in addressing environmental issues and protecting the wild in your community.

Across the West

Replenish: Bringing Back the Dillon Creek Wetland is a 23-minute video showing how Cortes Island residents brought the wetland back to life from design to construction, replanting, and monitoring. [Friends of Cortes Island]

Rocky Mountain Naturalists are working to protect western painted turtles and their habitat by providing a safe nesting site in Cranbrook. [CBC]

Accelerating Community Energy Transformation (ACET) at the University of Victoria has received federal funding to help small communities achieve clean energy goals. [University of Victoria]

A group of Saskatchewan residents are taking the province to court claiming that government action to expand gas-fired electricity generation violates Section 7 of the Charter and Rights and Freedoms. [CBC]

Tree diversity increases carbon storage and soil fertility in forests. [University of Alberta]

Across Canada

Large-scale agriculture in the shadow of solar panels would enable the production of numerous crops (from broccoli and lettuce to corn and wheat) that have been known to increase yield when covered. [The Conversation]

Researchers have developed a new mining technique which uses microbes to recover metals and store carbon in the waste produced by mining. Adopting this technique could transform the mining industry. [University of Waterloo]

Research Matters

The Road to Resilience: Policy Solutions outlines the steps the Manitoba government should take to transition buildings and road vehicles away from fossil fuels. [Climate Action Manitoba]

Urban Rewilding: the value and co-benefits of nature in urban spaces provides examples of how and when urban rewilding projects can be implemented and how they can support environmental improvement and climate resilience. [Arup]

DIY

Successful wildlife gardens are messy with patches of bare dirt, have plants that produce lots of nectar and pollen, and contain deadwood and dead plant stems. [The Conversation]

Learn to identify marshland birds and reptiles through MarshWatch’s weekly webinars, May 10-July 12, and join the Marshland Monitoring program. [Birds Canada]

Energy efficiency measures are often overlooked but can drive major emissions reductions, from better home insulation to upgraded industrial equipment. [440 Megatonnes]

Nature’s Wonders

A guide to locating and enjoying the dance of the sharp-tailed grouse. [Manitoba Cooperator]

What if we could communicate with ravens? What could we learn? What could we achieve together? These questions led Anthony Gaston to write A Raven’s Conspiracy. [Birds Canada]

Lengthening days set off a cascade of events in migratory birds that culminates in the birth of a clutch of chicks. [Scientific American]

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apmckinlay/9410560737

EcoFriendly West informs and encourages initiatives that support Western Canada’s natural environment through its online publication and the Nature Companion website/app. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Mastodon, or subscribe by email.