SOS partners with Niakwa Country Club
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This article was published 12/05/2021 (751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Seine River bridges several of our communities and is such an incredible natural asset to have in our communities.
Recently the Niakwa Country Club and non-profit organization Save our Seine (SOS) entered into a co-operative agreement to work together to protect and preserve the Seine River greenway that exists alongside the golf course.
SOS president Laurie Ringaert says the two groups have many mutual goals and the joint effort makes sense.
“Both of us value the wonderful green space and the river,” Ringaert explains. This is the first time in its 30-year existence that SOS has worked with a golf course in a formal effort.
The non-profit was approached by the golf club, which was already working towards achieving Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program (ACSP) certification. ACSP certification is provided to golf courses that implement enhanced environmental planning, animal and habitat management, chemical -use reduction, water conservation as well as other criteria.
Ringaert says many of the course’s goals align with the goals of SOS. The course wants to inventory what varieties of plants and trees exist in its greenspace, while SOS has identified noxious weeds and processes for their removal. The course wants to create a monarch butterfly preservation area while SOS aims to create pollinator-friendly spaces all along the river.
Ringaert says the new collaboration can also be a great way to educate and engage membership of both the golf course and the non-profit. Future educational events will help people understand the ecological aspects of the golf course and highlight how existing golf courses can be used to preserve and protect green spaces.
Ringaert says it is important for SOS to continue to build new partnerships in the community to make preserving the Seine River greenway more feasible and sustainable.
The Manitoba government has been a proud contributor to SOS initiatives for many years and has recently funded projects including the Seine River Greenspace Enhancement Project, which includes restoring native prairie plants in several locations along the river, adding interpretive signs, creating an education node and repairing eroding riverbank. SOS has also used funding to hire annual summer staff to help with greenway clean up and maintenance of the trails.
One of SOS’s largest and recent initiatives, which will formally launch in June, is a new accessible kayak and canoe launch at John Bruce Road which will provide an opportunity for more people, with varying mobility abilities, to access the waterway and view the Seine River greenway from a whole new perspective while on the water.
To learn more about SOS and find out about future events, visit saveourseine.com
Audrey Gordon
Southdale constituency report
Audrey Gordon is the PC MLA for Southdale.