Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) is proud to announce the start of its 49th season on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 at 12 p.m. at the friendly confines of their regular weekly location, Country Kitchen Catering, 1715 Mayor Magrath Dr. S. (lower level of the Keg).

The lead-off speaker is Lorne Fitch, who will be presenting on the current status of fish populations in the Eastern Slopes and why it’s an issue. Other topics on the immediate schedule are: Alberta’s Power Grid, Electoral Reform, Aquaponics and the Fort McMurray wildfire.

We welcome the general public and SACPA members to attend these sessions and other upcoming SACPA events throughout the year. The session format features 30 minute each for presentation, lunch and question period staring at noon sharp. The cost is $12 including lunch or $2 including coffee/tea. No registration is necessary.

Special menu orders (gluten free, vegetarian, diabetic etc.) can be accommodated with advance notice. Please call Country Kitchen Catering Thursdays at 328-7756 before 10 a.m. to ensure your meal is perfect for you.

Please check the SACPA website www.sacpa.ca for further details as we look forward to another exciting season of provocative, educational and issue-based sessions which offer plenty of opportunity to ask important questions of the speakers.

Grandfather’s Trout - Grandkid’s Memories:

Perspectives over Time for Alberta’s Fish Populations

In the business of conservation we are often so intent on staring into the fog called tomorrow, we rarely turn around and look back at the pathway called yesterday stretching behind us. This presentation will use archival images and information to paint a picture of the slippery hordes of native fish in Alberta’s past.

The current status of fish populations in the Eastern Slopes cannot be appreciated until we acknowledge where we were, by reviewing historical abundance and distribution. Only then, will we be ready to see where we need to be. By reviewing what was, perhaps we can see what can be.

Fish populations were reduced and lost because our understanding and comprehension of aquatic systems was so rudimentary. We rarely measured, we didn’t monitor and we didn’t pay attention. If a view of the past has taught us anything, it is if we don’t pay attention, things go missing.

We do not feel the need to mourn that which we do not understand enough to miss.  A fundamentally important task is to provide perspectives on changes over time in ecosystem integrity and in biodiversity to avoid the syndrome of shifting benchmarks- like being satisfied with fewer and fewer native fish, poorer water quality and an industrialized landscape.

Speaker:  Lorne Fitch

Lorne Fitch grew up on a mixed farm in west central Alberta. He left the farm but the experience of growing up in semi-wild circumstances never left him. Lorne has been a biologist for over 40 years, working mostly in Alberta but also in other parts of Canada and internationally with the many issues related to use of land and water.

Those experiences have allowed Lorne to conclude that how we treat the land and water is a result of how we see these elements, how we value them, and what our vision is for their future. It has led him to understand how knowledge levels affect people’s environmental opinions and has caused him to become an educator because if we want a future with clean water, productive soil, fish, wildlife and space, we must make proper choices now.

Lorne is the Provincial Riparian Specialist with the Alberta Cows and Fish program. He is also an adjunct professor with the University of Calgary

Moderator:  Knud Petersen

Date: Thursday, September 8, 2016
Time: 12 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Country Kitchen Catering (Lower level of The Keg) 1715 Mayor MagrathDr. S
Cost: $12 (includes lunch) or $2 (includes coffee/tea)