Last Thursday morning found Eva Cameron working in the North Jubilee Wetland north of Rossland Summit School.
Cameron is a member of the Rossland Society for Environmental Action (RSEA) and one of the Rossland residents who has worked to restore the city’s wetlands. She updated the Rossland News on what Rosslanders can expect to see happen at the wetlands this year.
June will be a big month for the Jubilee Wetland. With help from the City of Rossland, the RSEA will finish landscaping Jubilee. There will also be a foot bridge built over one of the main ponds, and a rope-line fence will be put in to replace the makeshift fence that was speedily erected after a child ended up in the pond last winter. The fence will not only protect the kids, but will help protect vegetation along the edge of the pond from being squashed underfoot.
Students at RSS are also building two swallow boxes for Jubilee and another group of youth are working on two bat houses. Cameron was pleased to report that Jubilee has attracted a number of Pacific Chorus Frogs, who can be heard singing in the evening. More information on the species can be found at www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frogwatch/publications/factsheets/frogs/pacific-chorus.htm. Members of the RSEA have counted a number of mosquito predators living in the ponds and regularly monitor the ponds for mosquito eggs. So far the water bodies have not become a significant breeding ground for the tiny blood suckers.
The RSEA will also work with civic works to improve drainage in the Jubilee Wetland over the summer.
The Centennial Wetland Restoration project, which is a City of Rossland project, has received funding from BC Hydro and the Columbia Basin Trust, and work on re-routing the current trail around the wetland will hopefully commence in June. The restoration of the Centennial Wetland is planned for August.