On October 13, 2009, Goudreau, visited the centre to formally announce the new program and presented a $300,000 cheque and a plaque to congratulate the two societies on their “Fostering Forest Stewardship” project.

“The grant will enable our  societies to educate youth about the forest industry, the carreers it offers and ways to preserve and sustain Alberta’s forests,” said Campsall. “Over the next two years, our Fostering Forest Stewardship program will bring our hands-on interactive educational programs, materials and resources to students and communities in Northern Alberta.”

The program is funded through the Community Development Trust Fund established by the federal government in 2008 to help provinces and territories assist communities and workers impacted by the volatility in global financial and commodities markets.

Boreal Educator Cori Klassen (centre) shows Goudreau and a local grade 6 student how to measure the diameter of a tree.

“We would like to send a special thank you to everyone who helped celebrate this special event with us today,” said Campsall, “especially to our special guests, the Grade 6 students and staff from E.G. Wahlstrom school who had a chance to head out into the forest with Minister Goudreau and experience some of the great hands-on activities that are part of the Fostering Forest Stewardship program.”

Also attending the celebration were Carl McLeod, Alberta Tourism Parks and Recreation; Ed Procyshyn, Councillor, Town of Slave Lake; Drew Lamont and Robin Caird, Alberta Employment and Immigration; Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory Board members, Bob Deacon, Ronda Groom, Nelson Lutz, Cindy Snedden, Terry Kristoff and Wayne Bowles; Lesser Slave Forest Education Society Board members and staff, Chris Schishikowsky, Gordon Sanders, Nelson Lutz, Mike Snedden and MJ Kristoff; BCBC staff Cori Klassen and Charity Martin.

Cold weather didn’t seem to dampen the celebrations at the 15th Annual Songbird Festival this past weekend.

“We had a great turnout for the festival this year” said Charity Martin, information officer with the Boreal Centre, “especially from the early morning birders who filled the 6:30 a.m. boreal bird experience hike.”

The day’s activities got underway with an “Early Bird” pancake breakfast and the guided hikes.

Martin says they got a lot of positive feedback about the lab tours, the building tours and the Green Cleaning Workshop that was conducted by the Alberta Conservation Team.

Lots of fun activities for kids included face painting, bird house building and other special bird crafts.

“The bird run/walk on Sunday was a great success,” said Martin, “we couldn’t have asked for better weather, it was perfect running weather.” 

We would like to thank everyone who attended, it is great to see people enjoying our festival. Also a huge thank you to all the volunteers, without them the Songbird Festival would not be possible.”

Take in an “Early Bird” pancake breakfast and choose from a wide variety of activities at the Songbird Festival Saturday, June 5 &  Sunday, June 6, 2010.

The 16th Annual Songbird Festival will take place in Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park at the Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation, located 19 kilometres north of the Town of Slave Lake on Hwy. 88.

The festival begins on Saturday June 5th with an early-bird pancake breakfast at 6:30 a.m. with events continuing until around 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon.

Starting at 10:00 a.m., there will be a variety of special workshops including: Learn the songs on the Songbird trail,  visit with our guests from the Medicine River Wildlife Centre, tips on Nature Photography, Mysteries of the Night- the world of bats in the boreal forest,  15 years of migration monitoring at the LSLBO – what are the birds telling us?

Enjoy tea with our Aboriginal Artist in Residence, Margaret Cardinal

Take part in the special banding lab tours of the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory starting at 7:00 am or enjoy a guided birding walk down to our banding station with a local birder starting at 6:30 am, 7:30 am and 8:30 a.m.

Other activities include face painting, hands-on kid’s activities, and birdhouse building.

There is a small fee for some of the activities; all proceeds from this festival directly support the LSLBO research and education programs.

Other Sunday activities include a guided hike along the Trans Canada trail starting at 10:30 am at the Marten River Campground shower building as well as drop-in tours at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory from 8 – 11 a.m.

On Sunday June 6th, there will be the 6th Annual Bird 5/10k walk/run departing from the Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation and heading out onto the Trans-Canada Trail.

• Click here for Bird 5/10k walk/run registration and more information.
• Click here for 16th Annual Songbird Festival Poster

Sunday, June 6, 2010 is the “6th Annual 5 or 10 km Bird Run/Walk” at the Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation.

For a $10 fee, you can run/walk on the beautiful trail that follows the shoreline of Lesser Slave Lake. The run will start at the Boreal Centre at 10:00 a.m. and you can pre-register for this annual event by clicking on registration form Bird Run/Walk.

The Bird Run/walk is held as part of the “Song Bird Festival.” On Saturday, June 5, the first day of the 16th Annual Festival, activities are planned to help celebrate the wonder of spring migration.

Face Painting and Crafts, Banding Lab Tours, Birding Hikes, Workshops and Building Tours of the eco-friendly building are some of the activities planned for the festive weekend.

Click here for Bird run poster

Beginning Watercolor, over 2 days, Friday, March 27, from 6 pm to 9 pm and Saturday, March 28, 10 am to 4 pm, will teach the basics of painting with watercolour. This class is offered in response to the many requests for an in-depth beginner watercolour course. Fee: $180 for the 2 day workshop covers a full set of professional materials which are yours to take home.  Register by March 16.

Saturday, April 4,  you can create your very own ‘Collage Forest’ using acrylics, an assortment of papers from around the globe and other bits of collage materials. All supplies will be provided for you to make a boreal work of art. 

‘Floral Watercolour‘ is offered Sunday, April 26 . You can explore the luscious world of watercolour by painting flowers of your choice. Arrangements will be set up for you to use, allowing you to choose your favourite combinations.

May 9 and May 16, make ‘Papier Mache Masks‘ using traditional materials mixed  with modern techniques and create your very own mask wall hanging. This 2 day workshop will explore various styles from gothic to romantic to the styles from the northwest coast cultures. Fee: $120 for 2 day workshop includes supplies.

One day art classes will be held from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and your fee  of $75 will include all supplies. Lunch is not included

It looks like the New Year is upon us and the cold weather is behind us, so I was thinking it would be a great time to go for another hike! With the amount of snow we have now, the snowshoeing is excellent, and it is a great opportunity to check out some of the places that are hard to reach during the summer. So I would like to propose a hike around Lily Creek. There are some great beaver dams along the creek as well as some really interesting features.

Walk – Saturday, January 17th, 2009 (weather permitting)
Meet – Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation
Time – 1:00 pm

When will we finish – Between 3-4 pm,

What to bring/wear – Pack water (or a warm drink), snacks for the hike, wear warm comfortable clothing and have layers, warm jacket, snowpants, Warm winter boots, snowshoes (If you don’t have a pair, feel free to use the ones at the boreal centre)

What’s the route – We will be snowshoeing north off the songbird trail over to Lily Creek, then following the creek out to Lesser Slave Lake and back to the Boreal Centre.

Chris Dodds

Visitor Services Supervisor

Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation/Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park

Phone: 780 849-8236

Cell: 780 805-4686

Fax: 780 849-8239

Great weather for a hike on Saturday

Great weather for a hike on Saturday

Meet at the Boreal Centre at 8:30 am. If you just want to call in the birds that day at your feeder, call Patti at 780 849-8240.

Count those birds!  The Boreal Centre is looking forward to hearing from people watching their feeders.

“Participants were divided into two skill levels with the more experienced attempting a Santa,” said Ronda, “while the newbies were looking for a wood spirit in their poplar bark blanks.”

According to Ronda, “the results were amazing and the participants were very satisfied.”

To sign up for the next Bark Carving Course, call the BCBC at 780 849-8240

A ‘Park Hike’ was also held at the Centre this past weekend. The Saturday outing, led by Chris Dodds, the VHS for parks, started at the Northshore and the group hiked past the golf course, the Buffalo Ranch and then down to the lake for a winters walk on the beach. 

“It was a really nice first hike,” said Chris, “there was snow on the trees, we saw some buffalo and it was a really nice warm day.” Four deer were also spotted during the hike. 

The next ‘Park Hike’ will be organized for January.  Call Chris Dodds at the BCBC  780 849-8240

This coming weekend at the Boreal centre, Christmas in the Park on Saturday December 13 and The Annual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday December 14

December 13, 2008 – Christmas in the Park Time: 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Head out to the centre for a wonderful family afternoon of roasting hot dogs by the fire, tasty hot chocolate, crafts for the kids, snow-shoeing, winter survival demonstrations with Kelly Harlton and much more. This year, we have added a winter birding session as well as a family snow sculpture contest (cross your fingers for more snow!) Once again, we will have some local artists displaying their wares for that special Christmas gift. And of course, we are hoping that a special some-one will drop by and visit with the kids during the afternoon. This annual “back to nature” event has become a Slave Lake Christmas classic and we hope to see you there.

Note from Chris: If you are interested in volunteering with this event, please call 780-849-8236 or email the centre. We are looking for help with the children’s crafts, snowshoe sign out as well as the fire and wiener roast down at the Nest. It is always a fun time.

December 14th, 2008 – Christmas Bird Count

Meet at the BCBC at 8:30 a.m.

Novice and expert birders alike will be meeting at the Boreal Centre for the Annual Slave Lake Christmas Bird Count. Over the Christmas season, groups all across the continent will be providing a census of North American winter birding populations. We will be meeting at the centre for early morning coffee and munchies. Then we will be heading out to scour the area for birds. When you head back to the BCBC to drop off your tally sheets, there will be a hot lunch waiting. Last year, we recorded 1129 birds hanging out near Slave Lake that day representing 25 different species. Cool sightings included a pygmy owl, great grey owl, and a northern shrike. Cost to participate is $5.00 which goes to Bird Studies Canada. To register, contact the BCBC at 780-849-8240.

The BCBC held it’s first Spooky Saturday on November 1st, 2008 and it was a resounding success! Thirty-nine people showed up for a day of family fun at the centre. There was a tasty weiner roast to kick things off. Then the kids took part in a Scavenger hunt and checked out our haunted trail complete with spooky scarecrows and music. To finish off the afternoon, Chris Dodds (BCBC Education Team Leader) demonstrated his famous flaming pumpkin and the families had the chance to try out some cool science experiments down in the science lab including making their own gooey slime. Chris already has plans for a bigger and better event next year. Thank you to Chris and Richard for hosting such a wonderful family event. (Below are some of the participants checking out the haunted trail with Chris)

We still have a few openings for the following art classes at the Boreal Centre, including a great bark carving class this weekend with Pat and Ronda. They are lots of fun and we are always amazed at their creations.

Bark Carving Classes:

Carve your Own Lighthouse – Friday evening Nov 14th, (6-9 pm) and Saturday, Nov 15th (9 am – 4 pm) (THIS WEEKEND): Carvers will have the chance to learn a new lighthouse design. No experience required and you will be supplied with all the materials, plus a set of carving tools that you can take home. Cost: $100.00

Carve your own Wood Spirit – Friday evening, Dec 5th (6-9 pm) and Saturday, Dec 6th (9 am – 4 pm) This classical design is always a hit with the carvers, but as a special treat, advanced students will get the chance to learn how to make a Santa Carving. Cost: $100.00

Art Classes:

Winter Watercolour Card Art Class – Saturday, November 29th (10 am – 3 pm) Come and paint your own watercolor greeting cards just in time for the holidays. All supplies are provided and each participant will take home a set of 10 cards. Cost: $60.00

To register or to find out more information on any of these classes, you can phone or email the centre.

Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation
(780) 849 8240
info@borealbirdcentre.ca