The SRA will be holding our 3rd Annual Youth Safety Bike Rodeo on Saturday May 25, 2013. This year it will be held in the parking lot of Downsview Mall behind the Esso Gas Station – 9am to 12 pm. Free BBQ and face painting for the kids. Free bike helmet giveaway and we will have a draw for two bikes care of the Boys and Girls Club of Sackville/Sackville Heights Community Center, and the Medicine Shoppe Sackville Drive. The event will be rain or shine.

See the link below for footage of gaspereau running over one of our diggerlogs at Peverills Brook earlier this spring.

Flies & Lies was started in 1995 with the objective being to get the anglers/fly tyers together over the winter months to share their “fishing experiences”, their collective knowledge of fly tying and to pass on that knowledge to those learning fly tying and fly fishing.

It was initiated by Larry Shortt, Ralph Ainslie and Walter Regan, all SRA Members. Walter approached the Calais Branch, Royal Canadian Legion and thanks to their generosity we are provided a room twice monthly to conduct Flies & Lies.

Through the years many tiers have passed through our organization from ages 8 to 80 (one of our Tyers celebrated his 80th birthday this year.

We do not conduct fly tying classes but will assist anyone who asks for advice on fly tying and fly fishing. Although we do retain a few “secrets”. I have seen beginners join our little group and in less than a year they are helping others with fly tying problems.

This is a fun evening consisting of good humour, interesting stories (AKA Lies) and wonderful friends!

Flies & Lies starts at 7:00 pm and ends when we all leave. It is held on the bottom floor of the Calais Branch, Royal Canadian Legion, 45 Sackville Cross Rd, Lower Sackville and is open to all that have an interest in angling.

We meet twice a month starting in September and stopping on the last Wednesday in April (This allows us to get out over fishing season to try our wonderful creations).

The dates for Flies & Lies are as follows:

8 & 30 Jan; 12 & 27 Feb; 12 & 27 Mar; 9 & 24 Apr – 2013

For information or questions please contact Larry Shortt via e-mail at lshortt@ns.sympatico.ca.

On Saturday, May 4, the SRA, Acadia Recreation Club, and Boys and Girls Club of Sackville held the 1st Annual Sackville Duck Race for youth and family on the Little Sackville River, including a BBQ at Acadia Hall, with the corporate race taking place on the Friday before on the main Sackville River. In total, 10 youth received ribbons, 3 families won cash prizes, and three companies won cash prizes and received trophies. Proceeds from the event went towards programs at the three hosting organizations. Thank you to all who attended! Some of the winners of the day – corporate, family, and youth winners.

Congratulations to Green Arbor Landscape for their third place win in the corporate race.

One of the family duck race winners.

More pictures soon to follow.

The results of the corporate duck race were as follows:

- 1st place – Sackville Business Association

- 2nd place – Heflers Forest Products

-3rd place – Green Arbor Landscape

The SRA would like to thank on behalf of all three organizations involved in the Spring Duck run Sackville Business Association and Green Arbor Landscape  for their kind donation of their prize winners back to the event!

Results of the Family and Youth Duck Run to follow.

Thank you to all who attended and all who sponsored the event. SRA hopes that all had a great time and we look forward to seeing you next year.

A few random pictures

On May 1st, 2013, SRA President Walter Regan presented the Volunteer of the Year Award for SRA to Art Greene at the Lake District Volunteer Recognition Dinner. Thank you to Art for all of his years of volunteer work!

This April, Myra Lucia from the Royal Bank of Canada branch in Bedford presented to Walter Regan (President of SRA) a cheque for $5,000 for the River Restoration 2013 project through the RBC Blue Water Community Action Grant. Thank you to RBC and Myra for this wonderful donation to our restoration project this summer!

From the Chronicle Herald:

A large part of crown land near Lewis Lake in Upper Sackville is slated to become a nature reserve as part of the Nova Scotia government’s plan to protect 12 per cent of all land in the province.

Walter Regan, president of the Sackville Rivers Association said he is happy to see a part of the Sackville River Watershed protected, but would like to see more.

“Since 1990 the province of Nova Scotia has been trying to work towards this 12 per cent figure,” Regan said from the organization’s office at the Sackville Heights Community Centre. “It’s not based on any real science, it’s just a figure. At the time, this goal was really significant, because back then, the only thing that was protected were a few federal parks.”

The government focused on crown-owned land and ecologically significant properties when determining the best properties to protect. If all of the areas slated for protection get the ‘go ahead,’ the province will be looking at 13.7 per cent protection, not 12.

Regan said this is a good ‘first step,’ but would like to see the province continue protecting more land.

“The government of Canada in 2011 signed the Tokyo Accord that they would save 17 per cent of Canada, so I think Nova Scotia should follow that example and try to go for that figure next,” he said. “13.7 per cent is a good first step, but it needs to be higher.”

“One of the last crown-owned properties on the Sackville River Watershed is what we know as the Lewis Lake block,” he said pointing to a large map of proposed protected areas. “Here’s the last chance to save and protect the last large section of crown-owned land on this watershed.”

The area covers about 600 acres and is flanked by two other large crown properties, both of which Regan thinks should become part of the reserve.

“The whole thing is crown owned,” he said while showing the Lewis Lake block. “They want this as a nature reserve, and these two areas to stay as crown.”

“The thing I like about it is here’s our last chance to save a very ecologically important area for the Sackville River, it has ground water recharge, and we have no large parks on the watershed,” he said. “This would keep a 600-acre area just for wilderness, no hunting, no ATVs.”

Regan said that approximately 65,000 people live on the Sackville River Watershed area and that one of the biggest threats to the habitat is more ‘leap-frog’ residential development, what he describes as developers building out further into the wilderness.

“As a nature reserve, we would chase the chainsaws,” he said. “Nobody is going to be able to go in there and put down a massive subdivision.”

Regan said wetlands in the area are in particular need of protection because they help to prevent flooding, something the Sackville and Bedford communities deal with on a regular basis.

“These wetlands are also contiguous to the Pockwock water reservoir, and many of us rely on that,” he said.

The presence of wild Atlantic salmon in the Sackville River is a major indicator of the watershed’s overall health, and although they are there, the population has declined from decades ago.

Regan said the biggest human pressures on the area are developers, forestry and the mining industry.

Regan strolls through the proposed protected area around Lewis Lake. The area currently has a Girl Guides Camp, which will stay if the area becomes a nature reserve.

Across the lake, homes can be seen on Sackville Drive. Regan said if this area isn’t protected, it could end up like another Springfield Lake with homes all around it.

“All I’m asking, with the Lewis Lake block, is to protect a small portion of a 150 square kilometre watershed,” he said. “I need the water slow and I need it cold.”

Although the Proposed Sackville River Nature Reserve doesn’t directly touch the river itself, Regan says the protection of the land will help with water recharge.

A public consultation process will be conducted before the proposed areas are officially protected.

Colin Chisholm
Herald Community Writer

colin.andrew.chisholm@gmail.com

This past week, SRA and various volunteers staffed a booth at the NSLC in Downsview Mall to raise awareness for EcoAction and the Nova Scotia Salmon Association Adopt a-Stream Program. Thank you to all who helped!

The SRA will be holding our 3rd Annual Youth Safety Bike Rodeo on Saturday May 25, 2013. This year it will be held in the parking lot of Downsview Mall behind the Esso Gas Station – 9am to 12 pm. Stay tuned for details.

In conjunction with Acadia Hall Recreation Club, Boys and Girls Club of Sackville and the Sackville Rivers Association will be holding their First Annual Sackville Spring Duck Run to raise funds to support their ongoing programs of community improvement, education and river restoration.

We are asking you to donate toward this great event.

It will be held on Fri May 03 at 12pm for the Corporate race and on May 04 at 12 pm for the  Youth and Family race. Call the office for details.

Corporate Ducks can be purchased for $100 each or a Quack pack for 3 for $250.
(Corporate Ducks can be individualized according to corporate logo and company colors).

Family Ducks to be $10 each or a Quack Pack for 3 for $25.

Children (under 12) can purchase individual ducks for $2 each.

Contact 865-9238 or 865-5010

Please contact if you can donate prizes or funds for this event.