Food Forest dam plan hits snag
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2019 (2323 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The plan to build an earthen dam at the Assiniboine Food Forest hit a snag Monday evening as Brandon City Council voted to keep the property’s conservation agreement in effect.
Dave Barnes, chairman of the food forest, first went to council on June 4 to ask the city to make a declaration in support of water conservation. This would help Barnes get a land-use permit, which is a step in convincing the province to allow a water-retention dam to go up.
The property’s conservation agreement with Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corp. limits the work that can be done on the land and protects the existing plants — even if they are invasive.
Barnes could not be reached Wednesday for comment, but he previously told The Brandon Sun the dam would be used to build a water-retention pond to collect meltwater from snow and rainstorms. This, in turn, would cause a biodiversity “explosion” on the Assiniboine Food Forest lands and create new wetlands in an otherwise grassy field. Currently, excess water runs off the property and into the Assiniboine River.
Work to build the pond would include constructing a dam at the mouth of an old creek bed and digging down slightly into the earth to create the bed of the pond.
A City of Brandon map shows the entire new wetlands would be 110 metres long and 60 metres wide. It also shows two proposed nesting islands in the middle of the new pond. It lists oak, willow, poplar and ash trees sprouting up in the field around the pond.
At the June meeting, councillors voted to send the request to administration to investigate whether the declaration would go against the agreement with MHHC.
The report that came back to council suggested that the Assiniboine Food Forest keep working with the City of Brandon and MHHC to create a plan for the area that complies with the existing agreement.
The land where Barnes wants the dam to be built was clear-cut in the early history of the city. That inflicted a serious wound to the eco-system and greatly reduced the biodiversity. If a dam was built at the mouth of the old creek, it would keep water on the land and allow the surrounding plants to take advantage of it.
At the Monday evening meeting, the city’s chief planner, Ryan Nickel, said the city would keep working with the food forest to make “positive things” happen on the property.
» dmay@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @DrewMay_