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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLands.Newsletter.Dec2022.finalDecember 14, 2022 Tsúūt'ínà LAND ADMINISTRATION NEWSLETTER CONTENTS UPDATES Admin Updates Agriculture/Buffalo Paddocks Conservation L.E.R.D. GIS/Mapping New Lands SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST Buffalo Round Up New Lands Guidelines Hunting Information Land Use Planning Update August 2022 Open House Map of New Lands 11 Land & Environment Principles Water Needs Assessment Update Aquatic Habitat Restoration Project Update Land Use Planning Update Lands/Governance Open House 2 3 TEAM: Clayton Whitney—Buffalo Paddock & Agriculture Manager Trenton Heavenfire—Buffalo Paddock & Agriculture Labourer Brennen Starlight—Buffalo Paddock Labourer Tiffani Whitney—Buffalo Paddock & Agriculture EA Tsúūt'ínà Buffalo Paddock (Xāní-tīī Mōnìstsīyk’í) The following are updates from the Buffalo Paddocks team, as of November 2022: • July 2022—Buffalo Crew expanded and repaired the corrals over the summer, had moved the herd over the summer pastures. • August 2022—The Crew moved the herd to different pastures to help maintain the grass health. • September 2022—Manager, Clayton Whit- ney met with the Montana National Buffalo Range. This helped Clayton get a better understanding on expanding, tourism, and some history. Also some good in-depth in- formation on practices the crew can do. • October 2022—The hear had their first Vet- erinary visit, the was to take a closer look at possible pink eye infections due to the flies. As well as this would ensure the right medication can be given for the round up. • November 2022— Round Up 2022 had taken place November 14-18, 2022 and it was a great success, our head is no ap- proximately 370 head. The Round Up con- sists of the team tagging calves, vaccinat- ing the whole herd and doing observational health checks for each buffalo. We thank all our crew, our volunteers and our Elders for their hard work and prayer. • December 2022: December our team will be getting a break, we are look forward to the New Year. Nation members can expect buffalo at the end of January. Check Out : https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/bison -herd-tsuutina-nation-annual-roundup- 1.6660432 Agricultural Lands (Nìsk’ā Nágūst’īn-ná) Updates as of November 2022: • All Nations band field have been harvested and produced great crops this year. • The Paddock team will be upkeeping the fences and repairing damages done from livestock and wild horses. • The Paddock team has also placed surveil- lance on the Nation Band field • There are new dormant lands that have been turned into farming fields. • The Agriculture Program has put in great work this harvest session and used all equipment purchased to the fullest. CONSERVATION TEAM Shad Manwyounds, Conservation Manager Kathleen Dodginghorse, Conservation EA Virgil Jacobs, Range Patrol Tim Crowchild, Range Patrol Lenny Eagletail, Range Patrol Toas Onespot, New Lands Coordinator Trevor Manywounds, New Lands Coordinator Note: Congrats to Tyson Heavenfire, Range Pa- trol who is a newly Elected Minor Chief CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT NEW LANDS UPDATE • Open for Nation Citizens 7 days a week from 8 am to sundown (weather permit- ting). • Day Use Recreation zone is red (no shooting/hunting) • Hunting Zone in yellow • Trails opened, marked and groomed for safety • Security posted at the gate to keep track of visitors, track animals harvested, look out for lost visitors and provide guidance when requested. MAP AVAILABLE ON Page 22 TRESPASSING CONCERNS? Any trespassers spotted, please call Tosguna com- plaint line at: 403-271-3777 6 • Fencing: Boundary repair and horse containment • Wild Horses: Round up on the overpop- ulated and problem herds. • Clean Up: Illegal dump clean-up • Hunting: Safety Checklist. Chronic Wast- ing Disease https://albertaregulations.ca/huntingregs/ NEW LANDS OPENING CEREMONY The New Lands Opening Ceremony took place on September 21, 2022]. In the morning there was a pipe ceremony and feast that took place in a tipi at a beautiful location the new access road guided too. By lunch hour there was approximately 150 Community Members who came up to visit the New Lands, enjoyed an Indian Taco and had a chance to win many of the great door prizes. There was also quad tours that took place and many community members visited with each other. Since the grand opening of the New Lands there has been 21 registered visitors: 7 8 Tsuut’ina New Lands Access Entry Regulations Team: Alison Heavenfire, Director Jim TwoGuns, Lands Manager Peter Crane, GIS/Mapping Manager Carrie-Joy BigPlume—Permit Clerk Yolanda Jacobs - Executive Assistant Tatiyana Eagletaill, Environmental Technician Hannah Big Plume - Generalist Krissy Meguinis—LUP Assistant The Lands and Environment Research Department (LERD) is committed to Environmental Research through Education and Training, Planning for Land Sustainability, Ecological, Document Development and Community Engagement. The Connection to Mother Earth and the responsibility to the protection of lands, ecological habitats and biodiversity is key and will shared through the 3 P’s (Protocol. Planning and Policy) within the Tsuut’ina Nation Lands. 10 The L.E.R.D Department has had a very busy year this year and have expanded our team. We would like to welcome Tatiyana Eagletail in the position of the Environmental Technician and Kristen Meguinis in the position of Land Use Planning Assistant. We would also like to thank our Summer Student Asayda Big Crow for all the hard work she did this past summer. L.E.R.D. is continuing to move forward in many of our projects and work plans. One project we have priori- tized is our Lands Information and Records Data Man- agement. We are currently updating our land pro- cesses, records and files and have implemented the software system for Laserfiche working in consultation with the IT dept. We are also working in collaboration with the Legisla- tive Procedures Technical Services department on our policy development, the following have been priori- tized by Chief and Council and are currently in Part 1 of the Legislative Process: • Custom Land Holding Policy • Small Business Permits on Non-Designated Lands • Agricultural Policies • Hunting Law We have many more citizen engagement activities planned for the upcoming new year, and encourage all Citizens to participate. Please stay tuned in our Com- munications for further updates. LANDS AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH DEPARTMENT (L.E.R.D.) Employee Training Update The L.E.R.D. team and the other Lands Department have taken numerous training over the past year and various have completed the following: • Environmental Monitoring and Management • Land Use Planning • Climate Change Adaptation • Treaty - First Nations Law Group • Riparian Health Assessments • Advance Drone Pilot License Course • TULSA—Impact Assessment: Laws & Approach- es • NALMA - First Nations Law Policy Development • Approaching Different Behaviors • Laserfiche Software Do you need to request a Nation Map? If you require a map of the Nation for business reasons, please contact Peter Crane, GIS/Mapping Manager at Peter.Crane@tsuutina.com and state your request and pur- pose for map. The Tsuut’ina word for Beaver is “Michadikodi” AQUATIC HABITAT RESTORATION (AHR) PROGRAM 11 . Tsuut’ina AHR team has been busy this year with training and awareness sessions for staff, meeting with Elders, Community Engagement activities such as Open House booth, and getting to know the Wolf Creek (AKA Fish Creek) Watershed. Training for the team came from experts at Cows and Fish who pro- vided in the riparian area (along the creeks edge) provide stability to the soil on the banks , provide food for fish and wildlife and offer an important buffer in times of flood or drought. The team learned about invasive plant species that put our native vegetation at risk and impact local plant biodiversity. Cows and Fish spent time along the creek docu- menting the various plant species found on Tsuut’ina land and we are currently waiting for a detailed report that we can use to compare how the creek on our land compares to the creek upstream and downstream from Tsu- ut’ina. Over time culverts and beaver activity can cause blockages that impact road safety and fish movement. Our team in working with the infrastructure department to monitor the effec- tiveness of water crossings around the land base and notify when problems arise. Some community members live in areas that are surrounded by wetlands where beaver make their home. Did you know that Tsuut’ina are “people of the Beaver?” While most of our community knows this it is important to remind our youth. Re- mind kids to look at the beaver damn shape of the administration building and how our Chief and Council Veterans Hall (Chambers) reflect a beaver dam. Our community is learning how to live with the beaver, but we need to balance the challenges they pose to our roads, driveways and homes when flooding occurs. When meeting with the Elder’s to share infor- mation about our AHR program, they remind- ed us that Elders love to tell stories in the win- ter. Be sure to ask your Elders to share sto- ries about Beaver and Fish. Tsuut’ina Nation aims to spend another year working on aquatic habitat restoration projects with additional funding from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). 12 WATER NEEDS ASSESSMENT Water well sampling has been completed at many rural homes (residences) over the past 2 years by the Lands & Environment Team and consultants. Did you know that water quality that fails to meet the Canadian Drinking Quality Guide- lines or exceed the maximum allowable con- centration (MAC) are listed as Do Not Con- sume (DNC)? The DNC designation applies to the well, but you can still drink the water and bath safely if you get a proper filtration system in place. This makes the water safe to drink. Rural homes with DNC on the well are being prioritized for new filtration systems so Citizens can drink the water. I If you have any questions or concerns related to you water quality or want to know if you are eligible for a filtration system, you can contact Hannah Big Plume at 403-281-0754 or email: Hannah.BigPlume@tsuut’ina.com If you have a filtration system in place you can take control of your system and make sure you get your filters changed. Most filters should be changed every three, six, or twelve months. Our amazing Hannah Big Plume has been working with Clearwater, Steve Tester to organize filters for citizens. With the water needs assessment complete we are now looking at ways to protect our groundwater over the long term. A sustainable water supple is vital for our citizens, pets, and livestock. The water needs team is now evalu- ation a sustainability of our groundwater sup- ply and aim to better understand the long term needs of the community. The team (lead by Carrie Joy Big Plume) re- cently organized removal of five old water wells posing a danger to the ground water and Citizens. A professional waterwell company completed the well decommissioning while Tsuut’ina Conservation team, electricians and lands department removed waste from the wells and cleaned up the land around them. If you know of an unsafe or unused well let the Lands Department know. DID YOU KNOW? That rural water wells should be treated and shocked to maintain good function? The water needs team will be looking at possible supports to help citizens treat their wells in the spring. To learn more about rural water well management check out https://www.alberta.ca/working-well.aspx 13 LANDS/GOVERNACE OPEN HOUSE - AUG. 23 2022 REDWOOD MEADOWS POW WOW GROUNDS Congratulations to our main prize winners of $1,000 West Jet travel vouchers: Hank Simon and Cheyalla Whitney 14 GIS and Mapping Update Successes of the Year 26 New home have been setup by GIS and Pub- lic Works. This year we had the opportunity to hire 2 summer students, which enabled the younger generation to gain some knowledge and training to do GPS. The students captured the layers for residence, 911, Tosguna and Fire Department. Other Layers included was the fu- ture use of the Power Poles in different Areas on the Nation. We created new files for the updat- ed map from this year’s new home construction. Tsuut’ina GIS assisted the Aquatic Habitat Restoration project with the map area of the Nation for future projections to help enhance the river beds from erosion, we will continue to help and aid the AHRP as we move forward in the future and expand. 15 GIS has helped with Mapping Agricultures areas for Farmers Field with the Permit Clerk, Lands Manager and Agricultural Manager and have uploaded files to our new file system for our Land Data and Record Management. Data was collected through GPS and a new trail map was created for the New lands. We en- courage you to stay on the trails for your safety, as the area is still very prestige and undevel- oped. A updated UXO Land Use Map was created with the DND Department. The LERD/GIS/Conservation Departments has been working in consultation with CCI from for- estry industry and who is developing our Envi- ronment Sustainability Plan. We have created new layers, new aerial photos and new lidar da- ta for future use and will bringing these forward in future community engagement activities re- garding land use. We have found that our land base is (73,820 acres). The New Lands Range 5 is (5,335 acres) On December 1-2, 2022 the Lands Portfolio at- tended staff professional development that was fa- cilitated by our Environ- mental Consultant with MCA. We did team activities, one included understand- ing behaviors where we all participated in the ex- ercise and gained more knowledge of how we can better respect and work with each other. 18 LAND USE PLANNING UPDATE On September 30, 2022, the Nation com- pleted Phase One of the Land Use Planning and will now be moving into Phase Two of the Land Use Planning Initiative Project, which is funded by NALMA . Why is Land Use Planning Im- portant? Land Use Planning is important to ena- ble First Nations to reach their unique goals for their lands. Each First Nation must articulate a vision for their future, develop an appropriate plan, and then work towards making that plan a reality. This will allow a First Nation to: • Ensure sustainable development • Affirm rights • Establish community values on the development of their lands • Determine the future use of natural resources How do you develop a Land Use Plan? • Base it on long-range goals with multi- generational points of view • Link it to other community inititative such as: - Economic Development - Environmental Concerns - Infrastructure improvement - Community Growth - Community Social and Cultural needs • Make it transparent and easily understood • Involve the membership at each step LAND STWARDSHIP: is the practice of carefully managing land usage to ensure natural systems are maintained or enhanced for sustainability for future generation. The four guiding principles are: 1. Caring for the system as a whole 2. Resource Conservation 3. Maintaining building and enhancing stability in na- ture 4. Cultural values and ethics DATE 19 20 21 22 23 Newsletter Edited by: Alison Heavenfire, LERD Director Public Works Building 48 Bullhead Road, Tsuut’ina Nation, Alberta T2W 6H6 T: (403)281-0754 C: (403)836-1659 Email: Alison.heavenfire@tsuutina.com