This article appeared in the Dec. 19, 2012 issue of the Interlake Enterprise – By Teresa Carey…
The Stonewall-based Rockwood Environmental Action Community Taskforce (REACT) won a conservation award after being nominated for it by the East Interlake Conservation District (EICD), in recognition of the organization’s outstanding work in promoting environmental responsibility in the community of Stonewall and the surrounding region.
Conservation District awards are presented through a partnership between the Conservation Districts and Manitoba Conservation Districts Association, who may choose to nominate a farm and/or farm family, a non-profit organization, or a business and/or industry. Award nominees must “exhibit, exemplify and execute good environmental stewardship practices”.
Karl Daher, REACT’s chairperson, accepted the award on behalf of the organization’s volunteers during the Manitoba Conservation Districts Association (MCDA) conference, held in Brandon this year on December 3 and 4. He was given a plaque to post somewhere in the town of Stonewall as well as a three-foot outdoor aluminum sign which he thinks may be placed at Ruby Roe Tall Grass Prairie.
Fourty-year-old Dahler has been involved with REACT for the past six years. He is one of about 50 volunteers, 12 to 15 of whom are very active on numerous projects. He first learned that the organization was selected for the award last fall.
“It’s tremendous. I was definitely taken aback by the whole thing. That we were even being considered, that was an honour,” Dahler said.
REACT was founded in 1990. However, its membership had dwindled in the early 2000s. In 2007, a group of about 25 people came together at a community meeting to decide whether or not they should disband. Dahler attended that meeting, and the next. He was quickly elected REACT’s treasurer, a position he held for four years. Since then, REACT has undertaken many projects and activities, all run by volunteers, with financial support from the local municipal governments of Rockwood, Stonewall and Teulon, and over $25,000 in environmental funding.
Over the years, REACT has initiated projects like supplying composters and cloth lunch bags to schools and distributing 3,500 cloth grocery bags to local residents. It purchased and installed four urban recycling stations, and rural recycling centres, sold rain barrels (in conjunction with the EICD) and hosted, both, an Earth Week Expo and the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store collection days.
REACT put on a number of other important annual events: Compost Awareness Week, Arbour Day Celebration, Ruby Roe Tall Grass Prairie Day, Household Hazardous Waste Roundup Days, E-waste Roundups in Stonewall & Teulon, World Water Day presentations, and took part in environmental awareness campaigns.
The organization hosted information sessions for schools and the community as a whole, provided environmental information through the South Interlake Regional Library, and established the Tall Grass Prairie adjacent to the hospital in Stonewall.
Future plans include the construction of a permanent E-Waste and household hazardous waste depot at the Winfield (South Rockwood) Waste Transfer Station and at the Teulon/Rockwood Waste Disposal Grounds.
In addition to this outstanding number of programs and activities, REACT has developed a comprehensive website filled with useful and interesting information.
The website challenges people to try to go one week without accumulating any new plastic bags. It talks about how composting is easy, cheap, and one of the best things we can all do for the environment . It gives detailed information about the risks of household hazardous waste and tips on how to deal with it. It explains in detail what happens when Malathion comes into contact with skin and how easily it is metabolized into Malaoxon, a potential carcinogen (which is 61 times more toxic than Malathion), in addition to being deadly to a wide range of insects, including bees.
REACT holds monthly meetings that are open to the public on the second Monday of each month in the Stonewall Town Council Chambers. Anyone interested may also sign up for REACT’s electronic newsletter by visiting www.reactinc.org.
There were a total of 12 conservation award winners for 2012, as follows:
East Interlake, Rockwood Environmental Action Community Taskforce (REACT), for water conservation, composting, greening, e-waste, household hazardous waste and education activities in the South Interlake region.
Whitemud Watershed, Lorne and Debbie Rossnagel of Plumas their operation of a sustainable
and environmentally friendly cattle farm.
West Souris River, Oak Lake Community School, for achieving awards as Canada’s Greenest School.
Turtle River Watershed, Alan and Lesia Jensen and family, for incorporating conservation methods in their farm. (Grassing some of their waterways helping to prevent erosion and silt buildup; practicing zero tillage, and other sustainable practises).
Turtle Mountain, CA Acres’ Gord Weidenhamer and family, for its numerous initiatives. (Installing a solar watering system and fencing for a rotational grazing system, salinity management, abandoned well sealing, portable windbreak and grassed waterway programs.) The family has also secured 320 acres of native grasslands with the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation.
Seine-Rat River, Susan and Wayne Selby, for successfully implementing a rain garden through the SRRCD Rain Garden program.
Pembina Valley, Rejean Picard, for his forward thinking and innovative ideas in agriculture and work on the community level.
Little Saskatchewan River, Clear Lake Golf Course, which, since 1993, has been implementing a holistic grounds management program.
La Salle Redboine, Fred Dun, the driving force behind the RM of Dufferin’s Wetland Tax Credit program which was implemented to help save the remaining pockets of wetlands in the RM.
Intermountain, Larry and Sheila Dudar and family, for (Forage and cereal grain rotations , winter and summer off-site watering for overall herd health, maintain water quality and to protect sensitive areas.
Open range calving to avoid using corrals or pens to enclose the animals to reduce or eliminate manure removal costs by letting the animals do the work.)
The Assiniboine Hills, Trevor McLaren, for his environmentally friendly farming practices on his farm near the head waters of the Oak Creek watershed.
Alonsa, Dave and Carol Senkowski and family, for their adoption of new production practices and conservation measures.
