AAAF SPRING FORUM 2013
AGRICULTURAL FIELDMAN’S DIRECTORY
SOUTH REGION (37 members)
M.D. of Acadia Rick Niwa (AF) Ph: (403) 972-3808 Box 30, Acadia Valley Shop: (403) 972-3755 T0J 0A0 Fax: (403) 972-3833 Cell: (403) 664-7114 email [email protected]
Cardston County Rod Foggin (AF) Ph: (403) 653-4977 Box 580, Cardston Stephen Bevans (AAF) Fax: (403) 653-1126 T0K 0K0 Cell: (403) 382-8236 (Rod) Cell: (403) 634-9474 (Stephen) email: [email protected] [email protected]
Municipality of Crowsnest Pass Ph: (403)-563-8658 (Kim) Mail: Kim Lutz (AF) email: [email protected] Box 600 Crowsnest Pass, AB T0K 0E0 Office: Room 1, MDM Community Center 2802 - 222 Street Bellevue, AB
Cypress County Jason Storch (AF) 1st Vice Ph: (403) 526-2888 816 2nd Ave, Dunmore Lisa Monkman(AAF) Fax: (403) 526-8958 T1B 0K3 Cell: (403) 878-7021(Lisa) email: [email protected] [email protected]
M.D. of Foothills Jeff Porter (AF) Ph: (403) 603-5410 (Jeff) Box 5605, High River Bree Webb (AAF) Shop: (403) 652-2423 (Bree) T1V 1M7 ext 5446 Fax : (403) 603-5414 email : [email protected] [email protected]
County of Forty Mile Dave Matz (AF) Ph: (403) 867-3530 Box 160, Foremost Darrell VanArragon (AAF) Fax: (403) 867-2242 T0K 0X0 Kevin Jesske (Fieldman’s Asst.) Cell: (403) 647-8080 (Dave) email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Lethbridge County Don Bodnar (AF) Ph: (403) 328-5525 905-4th Ave. South Gary Secrist (AAF) shop: (403) 732-5333 Lethbridge T1J 4E4 Terry Mrozowich Fax: (403) 732-4328 Cell: (403) 634-0713 (Don) Cell: (403) 634-0680 (Gary) email: [email protected] [email protected]
County of Newell Todd Green (AF) Ph: (403) 362-2772 Box 130, Brooks Holly White (AAF/ Cons. Tech) Shop: (403) 362-4343 T1R 1B2 Will Schaap (Field Officer) Fax: (403) 362-8681 email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
M.D. of Pincher Creek Shane Poulsen (AF) Ph: (403) 627-4151 Box 279, Pincher Creek Lindsey Cockerill (AAF) Fax: (403) 627-3075 T0K 1W0 Cell: (403) 339-7451 Cell: (403) 339-8741 (Shane) email : [email protected]
M.D. of Ranchland Carla Bick (AF) Ph: (403) 646-3131 Box 1060, Nanton Larry Kopas (AAF) Fax: (403) 646-3141 T0L 1R0 email: [email protected]
Siksika Nation Derrick Brass (Manager) Ph: (403) 734-5240 Box 1100, Siksika Jason Spotted Eagle (Director) Fax: (403) 734-5182 T0J 3W0 email: [email protected]
Special Area 2 Curtis Beaudoin (AF) Ph: (403) 854-5628 Box 820, Hanna Nicole Viste(AAF) Fax: (403) 854-5527 T0J 1P0 Cell: (403) 854-0529 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Special Area 3 Trent Caskey (AF) Ph: (403) 664-3618 Box 30, Oyen Fax: (403) 664-3320 T0J 2J0 Cell: (403) 664-0736 email: [email protected]
Special Area 4 Ryan Buehler (AF) Ph: (403) 577-3523 Box 220, Consort Fax: (403) 577-2446 T0C 1B0 email: [email protected]
M.D. of Taber Jon Hood (AF) Shop: (403) 223-8735 4900-B 50 Street Jason Bullock (AAF) Director Cell: (403) 634-2723 Taber T1G 1T2 Cell: (403) 634-4429 Fax: (403) 223-8831 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Vulcan County Kelly Malmberg (AF) Ph: (403) 485-3103 Box 180, Vulcan Terry Olsen(AAF) Fax: (403) 485-2920 T0L 2B0 email: [email protected] [email protected]
County of Warner James Meeks (AF) Ph: (403) 642-3635 Box 90, Warner Cathy Preston (AAF) Fax: (403) 642-3631 T0K 2L0 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Wheatland County Russel Muenchrath (AF) Ph: (403) 934-3321 Hwy. #1, RR#1, Jason Regehr (AAF) Fax: (403) 934-4889 Strathmore Cell: (403) 333-6846 (Russell) T1P 1J6 Cell: (403) 333-6946 (Jason) email: [email protected] [email protected]
M.D. of Willow Creek Ron MacKay (AF) Ph: (403) 625-3351 Box 550, Claresholm Oscar Anderson (AAF) Fax: (403) 625-3886 T01 0T0 email: [email protected] [email protected]
CENTRAL REGION (38 members)
M.D. of Bighorn Dwight Tannas (AF) Ph: (403) 673-3611 Box 310, #2 Heart William Davies (AAF) Ph: (403) 233-7678 (Calgary) Mountain Drive Fax: (403) 673-3895 Exshaw T0L 2C0 email: [email protected] [email protected] Cell: (403) 899-2416 (Dwight) Cell: (403) 996-0098 (William)
Camrose County Mark Millang (AF) Ph: (780) 672-4765 4728 - 41 Street Kevin Macdonald (AAF) Fax: (780) 672-4997 Camrose, T4V 0Z6 Greg Wilcox (Ag Foreman) email: [email protected] [email protected]
Clearwater County Matt Martinson(AF) Ph: (403) 845-4444 Box 550, Gary Lewis (AAF Land supervisor) Fax: (403) 845-7330 Rocky Mountain House Marty Winchell (AAF Ag Programs) email: [email protected] T4T 1A4 Rocky William(AAF Veg Management ) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Flagstaff County Andre Bonneau (AF) Ph: (780) 384-4100 Box 358, Sedgewick Lindsey Catherwood (AAF) Fax: (780) 384-3635 T0B 4C0 Laurie Hillaby(Ag Foreman) email: [email protected] [email protected]
Kneehill County Bowen Clausen (AF) Ph: (403) 443-5541 Box 400, Three Hills Fallon Sherlock (AAF) Cell: (403) 443-0393 (Bowen) T0M 2A0 Ph: 1-866-443-5541(Toll free) Fax: (403) 443-5115 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Lacombe County Dion Burlock (AF) Ph: (403) 782-6601 RR#3, Lacombe, AB John Hopkins (Ag. Foreman) Cell: (403) 318-4428 (Dion) T4L 2N3 Cell: (403) 358-0714 (John) Fax: (403) 782-3820 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Mountain View County Jane Fulton (AF) Director Ph: (403) 335-3311 ext 184 Bag 100, Didsbury Chris Chrenek(AAF) Fax: (403) 335-9207 T0M 1W0 Cell: (403) 559-7311 (Jane) Cell: (403) 559-7007 (Chris) email: [email protected] [email protected]
County of Paintearth No.18 Jeff Cosens (AF) Ph: (403) 882-3211 Box 509, Castor Trevor Kerr (AAF) Fax: (403) 882-3560 T0C 0X0 Cell: (403) 740-9183 (Jeff) Cell: (403) 740 -9182 (Trevor) email: [email protected] [email protected]
Ponoka County Shayne Steffen (AF) Ph: (403) 783-3333 4205 Highway 2A Justin Babcock (AAF) Fax: (403) 783-6965 Ponoka, T4J 1V9 Cell: (403) 783-1030 (Shayne) Cell: (403) 506-8832 (Justin) email: [email protected] [email protected]
Red Deer County Art Preachuk (AF) Ph: (403) 350-2163 (Line1) 38106 Range Road 275 Cody McIntosh (AAF) Ph: (403) 350-2150 (Line2) Red Deer, AB T4S 2L9 Roland Krusi (Ag. Assistant) Fax: (403) 346-9840 Jordon Smith (Ag. Assistant) Cell: (403) 505-9066 (Art) Ken Lewis (Conservation Coord) email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Rocky View County Tim Dietzler (AF) Ph: (403) 520-1271 (Tim) 911-32nd Ave. NE Kim Butler (Supervisor) Ph: (403) 520-1272 (Kim) Calgary, AB T2E 6X6 Jeff Fleischer (ASO) Ph: (403) 520-1287 (Jeff) Laura Poile (ASO) Ph: (403) 520-7273 (Laura) Kendra Tippe (ASO) Ph: (403) 520-8162 (Kendra) Fax: (403) 277-5977 email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Starland County Alan Hampton (AF) Ph: (403) 772-3793 Box 294, Morrin Dara Calon (AAF) Cell: (403) 321-1287 (Alan) T0J 2B0 Cell: (403) 321-3284 (Dara) Fax: (403) 772-3807 email: [email protected] [email protected] Stettler County Quinton Beaumont (AF) Ph: (403) 742-4441 Box 1270, Stettler Jay Byer (AAF) Fax: (403) 742-1277 T0C 2L0 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Wetaskiwin County Stephen Majek (AF) Sec/Treas Ph: (780) 361-6226 Box 6960, Wetaskiwin James Albers (ASB Foreman) Fax: (780) 352-3486 T9A 2G5 email: [email protected] [email protected]
NORTHEAST REGION (24 members)
Beaver County Amy Boese (AF) Ph: (780) 663-3730 Box 140, Ryley Krista Kotylak (AAF) Fax: (780) 663-3602 T0B 4A0 Mike Bates (AAF) email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
M.D. of Bonnyville Matt Janz (AF) Ph: (780) 826-3951 Box 1010, Bonnyville Elden Kozak (AAF) Director Fax: (780) 826-5064 T9N 2J7 Kirby Clabert (PCO) email: [email protected] Mike Penner [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Lac La Biche County Kyle Beniuk (AF) Ph: (780) 623-1747 Box 1679 Lac La Biche Cell: (780) 520-0419 (Kyle) T0A 2C0 Fax: (780) 623-2039 email: [email protected]
Lamont County Terry Eleniak (AF) Ph: (780) 895-2585 Box 150, Lamont Tori Dey (AAF) Fax: (780) 895-2892 T0B 2R0 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Minburn County Darwin Ullery (AF) Ph: (780) 632-4033 Box 550, Vegreville Roger Nakonechny (AAF) Fax: (780) 632-6631 T9C 1R6 email: [email protected] [email protected]
M.D. of Provost Burt Forbes (AF) Ph: (780) 753-2368 Box 300, Provost Fax: (780) 753-6432 T0B 3S0 email: [email protected]
Smoky Lake County Kurt Holdis (AF) Ph: (780) 656-3730 Box 310, Smoky Lake Evonne Zukiwski (AAF) Fax: (780) 656-3768 T0A 3C0 email: [email protected] [email protected]
County of St. Paul Dennis Bergheim (AF) Ph: (780) 645-3301ext.207 (Dennis) 5015-49 Ave, St. Paul Keith Kornelsen (AAF) Ph: (780) 645-3006 (Keith/Jack) T0A 3A4 Jack Vanden Berge (Field Officer) Fax: (780) 645-3104 (Dennis) Fax: (780) 645-1800 (Keith/Jack) email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Two Hills County Al Ropchan (AF) Ph: (780) 657-3358 Box 490, Two Hills Kirby Huculak (AAF) Fax: (780) 657-3504 T0B 4K0 email: [email protected] [email protected]
County of Vermilion River Howie Bjorge (AF) Ph: (780) 846-2244 Box 69, Kitscoty Cal McLean (AAF) Fax: (780) 846-2716 T0B 2P0 email: [email protected]
M.D. of Wainwright James Schwindt (AF) Ph: (780) 842-4454 717 - 14 Avenue Aimee Wonsik (AAF) Fax: (780) 842-2463 Wainwright, T9W 1B3 email: [email protected] [email protected]
NORTHWEST REGION (30 members)
Athabasca County Ron Jackson (AF) Ph: (780) 675-2273 3602 - 48 Avenue Trent Keller (Prod. S.) 2nd Vice Fax: (780) 675-5512 Athabasca, T9S 1M8 email: [email protected] [email protected]
County of Barrhead Marilyn Flock (AF) Ph: (780) 674-3331 5306 - 49 Street Kyle Meunier (AAF) Fax: (780) 674-2777 Barrhead, T7N 1N5 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Brazeau County Lisa Rabel (AF) Ph: (780) 542-7777 Box 77, Drayton Valley Tara McGinn(AAF) Fax: (780) 542-7770 T7A 1R1 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Lac Ste Anne County Geoff Thompson(AF)President Ph: (780) 785-3411 Box 219, Sangudo Glen Kummer (AAF) Ph: 1-866-880-5722 (Toll free) T0E 2A0 Fax: (780) 785-2359 Cell: (780) 203-2544 (Geoff) Cell: (780) 203-2545 (Glen Kummer) email: [email protected] [email protected]
Leduc County Garett Broadbent (AF) Ph: (780) 955-6404 (Garett) 101, 1101 – 5 Street Aaron Van Beers (Ag Foreman) Ph: 1-800-379-9052 (Toll free) Nisku, T9E 2X3 Warren Abel (Ag. Foreman) Fax: (780) 955-5557 email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
MD of Lesser Slave River Russell Jassman (Director of Rural Services) Box 93, Flatbush Thomas Tarrant (AF) Ph: (780) 681-3929 T0G 0Z0 Fax: (780) 681-3936 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Parkland County Mark Cardinal (AF) Ph: (780) 968-8467 53109A SH 779 James Leskiw (AAF) Fax: (780) 968-3247 Parkland County Erin McAdam (AAF) email: [email protected] T7Z 1R1 Tanya Warren [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Strathcona County Joel Gould (AF) Ph: (780) 417-7134 (Joel) 2001 Sherwood Drive Diana Laviolette Brown(AAF) Ph: (780) 417-7136 (Diana) Sherwood Park Fax: (780) 417-7109 T8A 3W7 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Sturgeon County Vacant (AF) Ph: 9613 – 100 Street Angela Veenstra (AAF) Ph: (780) 939-8330 (Angela) Morinville, AB T8R 1T3 Ph: 1-866-939-9303 (Toll free) Fax: (780) 939-2076 emai:l [email protected] [email protected]
Thorhild County Clarence Dowhan (AF) Ph: (780) 398-3977 Box 10, Thorhild Wayne McLean(Dep. Director P.W.) Ph: 1-877-398-3777 (Toll free) T0A 3J0 Fax: (780) 398-3563 Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Westlock County Dennis Mueller (AF) Ph: (780) 349-3346 ext# 280 10336 – 106 Street Jacolyn Tigert (AAF) Director Ph: 1-877-349-5880 (Toll free) Westlock, T7P 2G1 Fax: (780) 349-2012 Cell: (780) 307-4308 email: [email protected] [email protected]
Woodlands County Dawn Fortin (AF) Ph: (780) 584-3866 Box 33, Ft Assiniboine Glen Renfert (AS Tech) Fax: (780) 584-3988 T0G 1A0 email: [email protected]
Yellowhead County Jennifer Benson (AF) Ph: (780) 325-3782 2716 – 1 Ave Sonja Pichette (AAF) Fax: (780) 325-3783 Edson, AB T7E 1N9 George Bloom (AG Services Coord) Ph: 1-800-814-3935 (Toll free) email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
PEACE REGION (21 members)
M.D. of Big Lakes Suzanne Cailliau (AF) Ph: (780) 523-5955 Box 239, High Prairie Robbie Klatt (AAF) Fax: (780) 523-4227 T0G 1E0 Cell : (780) 523-8197 (Suzanne) Cell : (780) 536-6786 (Robbie) email: [email protected](S) [email protected](Robbie)
Birch Hills County Amanda Oulette (AF) Ph: (780) 694-3793 Box 157, Wanham Fax: (780) 694-3788 T0H 3P0 Cell: (780) 814-1123 email [email protected]
Clear Hills County Aaron Zylstra (AF) Ph: (780) 685-3925 Box 240, Worsley Audrey Bjorklund (Com. Dev. Mgr.) Fax: (780) 685-3960 T0H 3W0 Cell: (780) 834-0228 (Aaron) Cell: (780) 835-0153 (Audrey) email: [email protected] [email protected]
M.D. of Fairview Fred Sawchuk (AF) Director Ph: (780) 835-4903 Box 189, Fairview Fax: (780) 835-3131 T0H 1L0 Cell: (780) 834-7017 email: [email protected]
County of Grande Prairie Sonja Raven (AF) Ph: (780) 567-5585 th 10001- 84 Avenue Jill Henry( Rural Extension Officer) Cell: (780) 876-6936 (Sonja) Clairmont, T0H 0W0 Roland Surette(Ag Officer, Veg Mgt) Cell: (780) 876-6631 (Jill) Robert Sallis ( Ag Officer, P & D) Fax: (780) 567-5589 email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
M.D. of Greenview Dave Berry (AF) Ph: (780) 524-7658 Box 1079, Valleyview Amanda Nepstad (AAF) Ph: (780) 524-7615 (Dave) T0H 3N0 Fax: (780) 524-5237 Cell: (780) 523-8651 (Dave)
email: [email protected]
Mackenzie County Grant Smith (AF) Ph: (780) 927-3718 Box 640 Fort Vermillion Cell: (780) 841-1686 T0H1N0 Fax: (780) 927-4266 email: [email protected]
County of Northern Lights Terry Schamehorn (AF) Ph: (780) 836-3348 Box 10, Manning Fax: (780) 836-3663 T0H 2M0 email: [email protected]
Northern Sunrise County Sebastian Dutrisac (AF) Ph: (780) 322-3831 (Nampa Office) Bag 1300, Peace River Wayne Wright (AAF) Ph: (780) 624-6022 (Peace River Office) T8S 1Y9 Amanda Nepstad (AAF) Cell: (780) 617-3435 (Sebastian) Fax: (780) 322-3000 email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] M.D. of Peace Nasar Iqbal (AF) Ph: (780) 338-3845 Box 34, Berwyn Fax: (780) 338-2222 T0H 0E0 Cell : (780) 219-4534 email: [email protected]
Saddle Hills County Dave Thompson (AF) Ph: (780) 864-3760 Box 69, Spirit River Fax: (780) 864-2008 T0H 3G0 Cell: (780) 864-0053 email: [email protected]
M.D. of Smoky River Normand Boulet (AF) Ph: (780) 837-2221 ext 115 Box 210, Falher Fax: (780) 837-2453 T0H 1M0 Cell: (780) 837-0043 email: [email protected]
M.D. of Spirit River Kelly Hudson (AF) Ph: (780) 864-3500 Box 389, Spirit River Fax: (780) 864-4303 T0H 3G0 Cell: (780) 864-8059 email: [email protected]
Revised April 24th, 2013 Trent Keller Athabasca County [email protected]
SOUTH REGION
Cypress County
Hello from Cypress County! It was an exceptionally mild winter this year in Medicine Hat, all around us folks were getting snow and cold and..... winter. Yet here we were, a little bubble all on our own, no snow and really not all that cold. As we are move forward into the spring and summer months we are still being vigilant at the landfill in case any rats made it through our eradication process and the winter. So far the bait stations we are using to monitor for activity at the landfill, and in the area surrounding the landfill, haven’t been touched so we are feeling pretty positive. The Medicine Hat Environmental Utilities people have been very good to work with and they are as committed as we are to making sure the landfill is rat free. I would like to give a special thanks to our Assistant Fieldman/Pest Inspector Christina for keeping on top of this problem and putting in all the time and effort required to get the infestation dealt with. Rats pretty much ruled her life for the late summer and fall of 2012. We weren’t alone in dealing with this and I would also like to thank the Provincial Rat Patrol (thanks Ron, Cal, Kirby, and Kent), Phil Merrill and his department, and Todd Green from Newell. For those that don’t already know, our Assistant Fieldman, Christina Barrieau, is moving on. She and her family are moving to a more central location in the province. She will certainly be missed by the staff and ASB of Cypress County; it has been a pleasure working with her these last three years. I hope everyone has a good busy season and we will see you in Calgary for IST. Jason Storch
County of Newell
Hello everyone Todd is in Cuba sipping mojitos and having a good time, so once again I am stuck writing our forum article. We have finally made it to our new facility and are starting to settle in. We have been busy unpacking and getting everything ready for spring, in case it ever decides to come. We are excited to add another member from the County of Newell to the AAAF this year. Harold Forest our Agricultural Technician is now a member of the AAAF team. We are lucky to welcome back most of last year’s staff as mower operators and weed inspectors. It is always great to see people return for another summer. We are continuing to take on more and more urban spraying in all the hamlets and villages within our boundaries. We are also continuing with our partnership with the City of Brooks in order to do their weed inspecting and park spraying. This will be our second year working with the City and we look forward to an even bigger and better program. We will be hosting the 2013 ASB summer tour in our County and we have already started preparing. It will be a wonderful time and we are really looking forward to playing host to all the ASB members from all over the province. We are looking forward to the spring and summer and hope to see everyone sometime, if you are in the area stop in for a tour of the new building. Sincerely,
Holly White Assistant Fieldman
Vulcan County
All of our seasonal staff have been hired and will begin on May 1st. This year marks the first time for me hiring all new staff! I hope my patience can handle all of the re-training! Thankfully Terry is around to keep me from blowing up! Vulcan County Ag Services is busy getting ready to begin our seeding program on last year’s road construction projects. Grass seeder rentals have been brisk and it may look like we might see a spring before summer. Moisture conditions are fair but with the amount of wind we have seen this spring we will not complain if Mother Nature decides to give us some rain. Most guys are finally getting in the field to seed and seeding should really gear up for everyone in the county the first week of May. We have added two new spray trucks to our spray program and are looking forward to covering all of our roads this year. All in all it is looking like another typical season for us here in Vulcan County.
Kelly Malmberg Director of Agricultural Services Vulcan County 403-485-3103
Wheatland County
The biggest news for us at Wheatland is a new CAO. Alan Parkin started March 4th and comes to us from primarily an urban municipal background but is fitting in well and seems to have a genuine appreciate for agriculture. New equipment purchases this year include a couple of pickups as well as a new hydroseeder and roadside spray truck with a new midtech system. So long Gemini and good riddance. The hydroseeder we purchased is a trailer model with a pintle hitch so we will be able to pull it with our new truck and leave the spray system on it. Since we mow and spray at the same time who knows maybe we will try seeding and spraying at the same time. Two seasonal operators are back to work and we have 2 staff yet to hire still but we are still waiting on HR to get the ball rolling. Staff will be finishing up equipment repairs & some cut stump treatments and then hopefully heading out seeding if the weather co-operates. We will also be trying some Soil Guard mulch on our road construction jobs to prevent washouts as public works currently seems to think it’s easier to let the ditches erode and then fill the channels with pit- run rather than prevent the erosion in the first place. The plastic grain bag roller continues to steadily go out and will hopefully continue to if we can keep guys from wrecking it. The damage people can do to rental equipment just amazes me sometimes. We have had close to 30 users so far since we purchased it last year now if we only had a consistent recycling program in place to get rid of the nicely rolled plastic. Strychnine sales are underway with about 20 cases sold to date which is about a third less than this time last year. We also look after gopher control in our hamlets and waste transfer sites mainly using Ramik green in bait stations and it seems to work quite well. We are also trying some Zinc phosphide in bait stations and so far they are eating the Ramik and not touching the ZP. If only we could use strychnine in those bait stations I think we would have our problem solved! That’s about it and I hope everyone has a great season! Russ Muenchrath
CENTRAL REGION
Camrose County
Spring 2013 A major change happened at Camrose County last winter. Paul King left the ASB after 20+ years and went to the dark side of administration. As of December 2012, he is the Assistant CAO. He is doing a great job over there, and still pops into the ASB office once in awhile.
Mark Millang accepted the Fieldman’s position in March. Mark worked at the Cargill Animal Nutrition Plant west of Camrose for 20 years. He also farms north of Camrose, and brings a wealth of knowledge to the County.
The Cargill canola crushing plant is on track to break sod this spring. It will take a few hundred people to build the plant and take 1.5 years. When fully running, it will employ 50-60 people. County Council is excited for this project to get going.
Summer staff started on April 29th and we have 5 returning employees out of 8. Starting in May, all 4 weed inspectors will be returning, plus both mower operators will be returnees.
The County took over the Village of New Norway after it was dissolved last November. This is looking like alot of extra mowing for our Parks crew this summer. We have 5 guys dedicated to the maintenance of parks, campgrounds, transfer stations, ball diamonds, playgrounds, etc. within the County.
We are just about to get another water station up and running. This one is in the NW corner of the County and should be busy year round. We are currently working with Flagstaff County to get another water station in our east side/their west side. Water is pretty hard to find out there.
Have a safe summer.
Mark, Kevin, Greg
Flagstaff County
Andre Bonneau, Ag Fieldman Lindsey Catherwood, Asst. Ag Fieldman Laurie Hillaby, Ag Foreman
Things are just getting fired up in Flagstaff. Our summer crews are in place and we’re just waiting for the water to stop running and the grass to green up. Spring is about three weeks late in this area. We’ve been discussing our clubroot surveillance program at our ASB meetings over the winter. We’ve taken the approach of trying to find the clubroot rather than hoping we don’t find it. Avoiding the problem doesn’t help. We contract out half the county for clubroot surveys; we hire Battle River Research Group to survey the southwest half of the county. Last year we found 5 sites and expect to find more this year. We’ve increased our spray targets this year; we’re hoping to cover half the county roads, up from a third in 2012 and earlier. I’ve been hinting at going to an injection system rather than our simple one product application. I’d like the option of changing herbicides on the go and getting weed and brush control done with a single pass. We’ve been encouraged to take on Leafy Spurge in the east of the county. In the past, programs have been ad hoc and we hadn’t had much success. I’m working on a comprehensive weed control program that spends more time on short-term and achievable goals rather than “eradication”. If anyone wants to see the plan, give me a call, I’d appreciate the feedback. Lindsey has designed a shelterbelt program based on cost-share with ratepayers. The federal government has rarely changed their mind so we don’t anticipate they’ll change their mind this time. She’s put the finishing touches on the program and we’ll be taking applications this fall for delivery in the spring. Something a little different, we’re working with the Battle River Watershed Alliance to create a drought management plan for Flagstaff County. It looks at the social, economic as well as the environmental aspects of preparing for a drought. This should be an interesting exercise. I hope you all have a great summer, Andre
County of Paintearth No. 18
Believe it or not I started writing this before the emails came out with the reminders. It’s been awhile so I was feeling a little guilty. The winter has been a challenge for the County to say the least. In my 13 years here I have never seen so much blowing snow. Seemed like every day the wind blew and the roads were blow in. Guess there’s a reason we have the largest wind farm in Alberta now. These pictures were on the Chat page, but just in case you missed them. Although there is still some snow in our ditches, on the weekend we had a good wind with higher temps and the snow is leaving very quickly. Without some more warm windy days it will be awhile before the farmers will be in the fields.
My role has change somewhat with the addition of managing the rural water distribution and a park last year. The Park has benefited the ASB staff as with the loss of Shelterbelts it is one more job that can be added for spring and rainy day work. The Board added another Degelman mower to my fleet this year, so we will be running 3 units. With the extra mower a decision was made to start doing most of our back roads, so I’m expecting a lot more rocks and other things to GPS. Not sure when we will be able to start spraying as there is a lot of water in our ditches, so I foresee a lot of hand gunning for brush at the start of the year. Carillion has taken over the Ledcor contract for highway maintenance in this part of the world now and I’m not happy. They took over last August and we did not see a mower at all last fall. Had a meeting with them recently with a couple bordering County’s and they wanted us to sub contract. Let’s just say I’m not a fan of that option. Kinda how I feel about the ASB Grant discussions and that’s a good place to stop and leave for the Bash & Rant. Hope you all have a great summer! Jeff & Trevor
Ponoka County
Well here we go starting another season. Three new weed inspectors and a one-time $60,000.00 herbicide rebate (100%) program for Hawkweed Control. The challenges will be many but we will get through it. We are planning a blanket spray of our central portion of the county this year. We are going to run a third mower this year which should allow us to get 2 cuts on almost every road this year. We ran a final Strychnine distribution and only went through 23 cases. I love How Highway 9 delivered it!
We sent 2 Rev 1000’S to Ritchie and got $8500 each. Finally outfitted the Ag shop with some much needed tools and bought a locking tool box to keep the PW boys from “borrowing and not returning”. Justin did some early season blasting to take care of some beaver issues. Justin finished his Small Water and Wastewater Systems Course to open a valve at a lagoon and finished the Legislation and Administration Course. He will be doing some last minute plumbing on the spray truck so that we can fill the UTV’s from it. The 3-D fencing demo did stop the deer from jumping over but the just went under instead so we will be trying to fix this problem for keeping deer out of swath grazing. Justin is getting hitched in July and wants over a WEEK off durring spray season! What should I do? Send your vote to [email protected] Voting Closes May 1, 2013
Red Deer County
2013-04-30 Besides spring refusing to arrive we should be ready for the weeds when they get here. But first we have “Training Season,” the orientation marathon where we try and cram all our wisdom into minds that are mush from just finishing exams last wk. At least neighbouring Counties ....that I will not mention have not stolen any of our seasonals ..yet!
I have been busy getting our equipment ready. Setting up the boat and going through the process to get it registered, Installing wifi modems, working on a new orientation procedure and literature for our seasonal staff, repairs on rental equipment, building an atv rental sprayer, new hardware for our roadside spray software, lots of reorganizing of the shop and stored records. ( Roland)
Well I've been up to repairing/preparing equipment to be ready for the time seasonals arrive. I've also put together the weed booklet, “The Weeds of Red Deer County.” with some help from several people. I got my certified applicators certificate, pre-inspected some water wells to be plugged and kept up on preparing ideas for Ranching Opps.. So far this is what I've been up to in a nutshell. (Jordan)
Our Off the Creek Program has evolved into Conservation Partners. It will still provide assistance with on the ground Riparian Projects but will also allow for third party sponsorship. Ken has also negotiated a memo of understanding with ALUS, Alternative Land Use Services. So we are the third in the Province following Vermillion and Parkland. The focus here is support for our producers who take care of our riparian areas. Both programs have full support of our ASB and Council with 3 councilors stepping up as our first Conservation Partners Sponsors. We welcome Ken’s new assistant Aimee Delaney, (formerly from Clearwater!)
The Clubroot plan is ready to go this year we will be doing a total inventory again. This will give us 3yrs data that will easily show crop rotations.
Flowering Rush Still a problem without a solution, we have tried to get a special use permit to spray and find it will probably take 3 years!
Invasive Species--- we have talked to our lake communities and will be signing and providing literature at all launches. Can’t wait for the Prov. roll out in …June?
A new Jon Boat was in the budget this year…just waiting on the jet leg for the motor. Between the Red Deer Little Red and Medicine we have a bit of shore line to cover.
That’s it for now; see you at IST, if not sooner!! Art P
Rocky View County
Well I guess this is it! My last Forum report! Officially my last day is June 28th! But being the great guy that I am I have allowed them to talk me into staying for the summer as a Roadside Mower operator. Well really I could not turn down a new JD tractor, but don’t tell them that! haha Any of you who have been doing this for a while know that being a Fieldman is the greatest job there is! Working with and for the landowners of our Counties is awesome! The problem is all of the people at your office you have to work with. Really no one understands what an Agricultural Fieldman is! Well except your HR Dept. They know everything! I hope to see you all at IST next fall. I am looking forward to becoming and Honorary Life Member and getting a nice watch. God know I will get shit from Rocky View! Haha
Enough of that. Winter workshops were a success and Jeff, Laura and Kendra are geared up and ready to go! Our Summer staff starting today as I type this. Do I have to say anymore about that! Ag. Services is taking back the Roadside Mowing program after giving it to Public Works about 30 years ago. In about the last 15 years it was getting contracted out and the quality of the work being done got to the point of being unacceptable. Guess who was talking when he should have been listening? Good old Kim, you got it! But I am looking forward to getting that program going again. We are going with two Degelman Side arms and two Wood Ditch Cut Mowers for the elevator grader roads. Also we will continue to cut Municipal Reserves with our JD Mower! I am sure you are all curious about my successor! At this point it is looking like Jeff will slide into the job. We actually have had a succession plan in place for this to happen for about 8 years. But when you are working with HR you are never sure of anything so until you actually get an e-mail telling you Jeff is the Supervisor………..you know what I mean! Haha Also at this time it is looking like we will be replacing Jeff’s position too. So keep your eyes and ears open for that advertisement if you are interested. Tim is busy planning a trip to Spain in the fall. He showed us some mountain side trail he plans to hike; I guess you can call it that. Most of the video I watched there is no trail. Maybe Tim has turned into a Daredevil in is older years. You will all have to ask him about that. I hope you all have a great summer and your programs all go the way you want. See you later!
Kim, Laura, Kendra, Jeff and Tim
Starland County
This year the County had to say goodbye to Jared Malanksy, (who went on to a new career) and hired me on as the new Assistant Ag Fieldman. I was extremely happy to get the job, as I grew up in Starland and worked here previously with the Recreation Crew. We hosted a few workshops this winter, including a Surface Rights workshop and Water Well workshop, both being well attended. Having started work in February I’ve yet to experience a season with the ASB crew, but am excited to get out there. Things are starting to pick up around here, and I’m finally getting out of the office. The strychnine has started moving pretty quick, and the gophers are starting to come out now that most of the snow has finally melted. We’ve also been busy setting up pipe and pumping sloughs; it was a bit of a swamp here this spring. Right now we are in the process of hiring one more summer worker, and I think we will have a good crew for this season. I also made a Starland County twitter page, and I currently have 12 followers…I know, it’s pretty pathetic. So, if anyone wants to make me feel better you can follow @StarlandCounty. Hope everyone has a good season! Dara Calon & Alan Hampton
The crocuses are finally out!
Wetaskiwin County
Look out, here comes spring! Well, eventually, it hope, if it ever quits snowing… When spring finally does arrive, I’m sure it will be a busy one, same as everyone else. Our department used to consist of Ag, Parks, and Building Maintenance. Last fall, we were relieved of the Parks duties during some restructuring in upper management. While there was some sadness in losing the Parks, there was also some joy; and hopefully there would be some extra time to do a better job in the other two areas we oversee. Well, to make a long story short: the new Parks Foreman was let go 2 days before the start of May and the beginning of the Parks ‘Silly Season’ = looks like we are back on Parks for the summer. So much for that extra time! Also, after the passing of our beaver trapper/blaster last spring, it looks like Steve will be doing the beaver dam blasting again this summer, until a suitable replacement can be found (not sure how hard Steve is looking, I think he likes blowing stuff up!). I was hoping to get to tag along some days, but with the unexpected parks duties, that doesn’t look promising. We hired a new Sustainable Ag. Coordinator again this year (shared with Leduc). Hopefully she might stick around for longer than just a couple years. Welcome to Kim Barkwell, I’m sure she’s going to be a great addition to the team. We finally have modernized our spray equipment around here and will be trying out our new GPS/GIS system. On top of figuring out the new system, I need to train a new sprayer, as the one we had moved to be closer to family. It might be interesting training a new sprayer on a system that I don’t even know how to run myself. Hopefully the gong won’t be ringing too much around here. Thank goodness that we have a few returning staff to help keep us all sane! I could go on, but, one way or another, weeds will get sprayed, dams blown up, grass mowed, fields inspected, workshops held, as well as the usual hundred other little jobs that come along. Good luck to all this season! Jamie and Steve
NORTH EAST REGION
Beaver County
And so it continues….the County is still using our brand new Ag shop for its administration offices and it doesn’t appear that we will be using the building for the upcoming season.
Interior of the ‘New’ County Office Building near the Main Entrance – as you can see it really isn’t ready for public access like hoped.
It might be ready just in time to park the trucks away for the winter (sigh!). On the bright side we were able to squeeze a new tractor for the mowing program and a new pickup into the budget for this year so that is a bonus.
We are gearing up for a very busy year as we are increasing our number of surveys for clubroot and Bertha Army worms. With our first case of clubroot confirmed last year we have spent time this winter answering people’s questions and reviewing our policy and survey procedures. Also since we have discovered Himalayan Balsam on a beaver dam our Landflood Control Officer has become an important part of the weed inspecting team. We will be keeping our eyes open for new occurrences of weeds within the municipality.
The towns and villages within the County have asked for some assistance with weed and pest inspecting and so once again we are entering into a joint authority with them. In the past we have completed weed inspecting duties for them but we will be trying out pest related duties as a pilot project.
Feel free to stop by for a visit if you’re ever travelling through this area.
Aimee, Krista and Mike
Md. of Bonnyville
Well it’s the 30th of April and temperatures are below freezing and we had snow most of the day yesterday, icy roads and wind, hopefully this summer turns out better than winter or spring has been. Mike and Kirby are busy trapping Beavers and getting ready for another busy blasting season, as we have water running everywhere. Matt and I are busy working on the “Summer Tour” and getting ready for summer staff to start next week. This summer is going to be crazy busy for us.
We have an excellent agenda planned for the Summer Tour which is July 8-11, starting off like the Oilers summer with a golf tournament and a boat tour around Moose Lake. Days 2 and 3 will be filled with interesting stops throughout the Md, including a tour at CFB Cold Lake which should be a treat for everyone. Evening events include a Barbeque at our Ski Hill and Chalet with excellent entertainment, as well as a banquet and opening reception with a little flare of local entertainment.
Time to go shovel snow!!! Hope everyone has a great summer, see you in July for the Tour, bring the sunshine with you.
Elden, Kirby, Mike and Matt
County of Lamont
Here in Lamont we are preparing for the arrival of our summer staff. We also switching some equipment around, as we bought a new Kubota side by side and New Holland tractor. We will be doing some dam removal, due to water levels becoming too high around bridges and some roads. Lamont County finally got a safety coordinator so much of the winter was spent revamping our ASB safety programs and procedures. We also hosted a Water Drainage on Private Land Info Session in partnership with surrounding counties. It was actually a good turn out and the people took the information presented by Alberta Environment quite well. We will also be launching a WANTED program for weeds to increase weed education and awareness.
Looking forward to some warmer weather!
Terry & Tori
Smoky Lake County
It seems a bit ridiculous working on a spring forum at the end of April when there is a fresh 4 inches of snow of the ground. I think that this point we should maybe try to get the groundhog on the Pest Control Act.
The winter months (which I’m not sure if they are over yet) were filled with developing and changing program plans for 2013 and some winter workshops.
This year we are fortunate to have summer staff that have 3 years of experience with the Ag Department under their belt returning, along with the same mower operators as last year.
This summer will be full of weed spraying, beaver dam blasting, insect surveying and much more, along with our annual Farmers and Ranchers Appreciation Day BBQ.
Now we play the waiting game, for the snow to melt and the water to dry up.
Wishing everyone a summer season,
Kurt and Evonne
County of Two Hills
Here at the County of Two Hills, spring is “hopefully” around the corner. It has been a long winter and everyone is ready for the snow to leave and the green to arrive. Along with a few feet of snow this past winter, we also had some major wind storms that blew drifts across our county roads blocking people from going anywhere for days. Drifts were noted to be almost 12 feet high in places. Our Public Works department was busy for over a week opening roads with graders, cats, loaders and buggies. Being the middle of April, there are still drifts in the fields in ditches that are up to 4 feet high. If we do not get any warm weather soon, this snow may stick around till July. Farmers in the county are starting to get restless. Usually this time of year their equipment is field ready, however some are still digging their equipment out of the snow. There still is a lot of snow on the fields, along with water as we are going to need some double digit temperatures to dry up these fields. Anyone thinking of breaking any ground within the next two weeks will definitely have to rethink what they are putting in the ground. We have hired one summer staff back on April 15 and he is busy pulling in our rental equipment to get it all ready for the season. We have a busy year planned again this year with spraying and roadside seeding. Fusarium Graminearum continues to be found throughout the county. We have been busy working with farmers to set up a game plan to ensure that the spread is stopped. We will be starting stubble sampling from any positive fields to see how far the disease has made it within the field. So far most samples have been found at the seed plants as our seed plants demand testing before any grain goes through their plants. All in all, it has been a long winter and everyone here cannot wait for spring and summer to arrive.
Al Ropchan and Kirby Lopaschuk
County of Vermilion River
The County of Vermilion River has operated the usual winter programs but for longer this year.
On the Pest Control file we have had strong demand for skunk and magpie traps like many other ASB’s have had. We also photographed 3 racoons on a trail cam at one problem site.
We worked with our 4 seed cleaning plants to provide as much public information as possible on fusarium and clubroot.
Owen Nelsen delivers our Environmental Program in cooperation with Minburn County and has had a busy winter wrapping grain bags with a machine owned jointly with Counties of Minburn and Two Hills.
With the best-before-date on all our spring plans having long since passed we are going to get help from our May 1st summer staff hires to finish off our winter programs.
Howie Bjorge Agricultural Fieldman (780) 205-5380
Cal McLean Assistant Agricultural Fieldman (780) 205-6665
MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF WAINWRIGHT NO. 61
Here is a quick update of what has been and is happening in the M.D, of Wainwright. (Sorry, no fancy pictures, Aimee is not here to dress the article up.)
We have all of our staff in place and they will be ready for the season. We have upgraded our three Spray Trucks with new motor and pump systems as well as new Intelli-Spray remote hose reels. (for all of our toadflax spraying). Our herbicide has been ordered and spray maps prepared for the year, so we should be all ready for the season.
Our roadside mowing contract (1700 linear miles) has been awarded, but we have seen a good size increase in the cost this year.
We continue to distribute strychnine to our landowners. Because winter has not wanted to let go, our sales are fairly slow so far but we expect them to pick-up as son as the snow leaves us.
With this being the final year of the Shelterbelt Program we are expecting about 42,000 trees which I think is approximately 2-3 times more trees than we normally get. Our trees are not coming until April 15th, so it will be a challenge to find the time for planting as the farmers will just be getting started in the fields around then.
We hope that everyone has a great spring and a productive summer season.
James & Aimee M.D. of Wainwright.
NORTH WEST REGION
Athabasca County
Spring 2013 Forum, April 30th 2013 We are enjoying about 6 inches of snow this morning, glare ice on the highways and apparently highway 63 is a parking lot north of Atmore on the way to Fort McMurray. Other than that we are looking forward to the arrival of our summer staff May 1st and getting the ball rolling for another year of finding and killing lots of stuff, Woolly Burdock for sure . With the last ASB meeting came the suggestion that we look into a weed control agreement with landowners that would have us spraying private lands for noxious weeds. This is something that had been done a number of years ago here but was so heavily sought after that some of the properties were never completed. With the additional staff and equipment it may be something we could manage better. We will look at it with caution. With the addition of Clubroot in the Municipality last year we are looking into scouting and recordkeeping plans for this year and hope to have more information on the spread of the disease within the County by fall. We have 9 agricultural water systems now, placed throughout the county and will be monitoring use and wellbeing of the site. These sites have been a target for vandalism in the past, so we keep a close eye on them and have kept our carpentry, electrical, and plumbing skills up as a result. Looking forward to GREEN grass no matter what side of the fence and a quiet spring in regards to fires, we have experience a couple small ones to date. We wish you all a great summer and I especially look forward to spending a little time with my 1st grandson, due anytime.
Trent, Ron
County of Barrhead
Spring already? If it’s indeed spring, someone please tell me why it’s snowing outside, with a windchill of -7 degrees. This seems to be the year of the “Buy Local” initiative. We hosted a couple workshops on how to promote your home grown products and the benefits of buying food when it’s fresh. The uptake has been very encouraging from the ratepayers and we’re excited to see where we go from here. In conjunction with this initiative, we’ve partnered up with our conservation group (H2C), FCSS, and Alberta Human Resources to start work on a community garden. We’ve received sponsorship and donations from local businesses in the forms of cash, labour, and equipment. So it seems as though everyone is on board with this project, now to wait and see about how many people we get to sign up for it. Keeping my fingers crossed. The spring run-off is extreme and we’ve plenty of flooding, so much in fact, that we’ve already begun our beaver dam blasting program. Almost 3 weeks earlier than usual. I foresee a busy year. I would discuss our weed program, but I’m in a good mood, and talking about weeds brings me down. Have a great summer. Marilyn Flock and Kyle Meunier
Brazeau County
With a month and half under my belt, I feel certain this is going to be a fast paced summer. Preparation for summer staff has been ongoing – interviews, organizing training and task lists. GPS systems are being installed with the new CalAMPs from Gemini. The CalAMP is replacing the PLM units, hopefully alleviating the amount of cords shoved in every nook and cranny of our spray truck…. Whatever you do, remind Gemini to send ALL OF THE CORDS. What an exercise in patience J Lisa had a successful event mid-April appropriately titled “Growing into the Future.” The one day event covered a range of topics such as: oil industry and famers; beef and grains outlook; locally grown foods and food sustainability; and rural farm safety. Overall, an educational and informative day! Soil sampling, summer student training, shelterbelt trees, park clean up, etc will take care of May. After that, full bore ahead with weed inspections, roadside spraying & mowing and park maintenance which will take care of the season. Have an incredible summer!
Lisa and Tara
Lac Ste. Anne County
Well, its the start of a new era here at Lac Ste. Anne County…. Since the fall, first we got a new CAO, and now as of April 29th, I have a new Assistant. I would like to introduce Glen Kummer to our membership. Glen hails from a farm west of Barrhead. He comes to us with an education from Lakeland College in Environmental Sciences. We are looking forward to working with Glen and throwing him right to the fire here with summer staff starting right away. Luckily we have 4 returning summer staff and 2 new hires – that should help things roll along. The summer will be a mad scramble as usual im sure.
I have also been tasked with the role of Director of Emergency Management here at the County, so between that and my AAAF duties, there isn’t much down time - to say the least!! - Shoot me.
We are keeping an eye on the spring runoff, and the Fusarium, and the Clubroot, and the gophers, and whatever else mother nature is throwing our way. The fields at this moment are still covered with snow, and they have been since mid October – so like the rest of you, we are sick of winter around here!
Thanks again and good luck to Tara McGinn who is back at home again – working at Brazeau County.
Geoff Thompson (El Presidente) & Glen Kummer (the new Kummer)
Leduc County
We’ve got two days before the seasonal staff starts for another summer, and we’re making sure all the paperwork is in order. It’s funny looking back at past orientations and seeing how the faces change, but the paperwork stays the same.
It’s also funny looking back at photos from the past. Here I thought I was the first supervisor in Leduc County to have one of his mowing crew flip a mower, but there’s picture evidence of at least two others!
Returning staff make up about ¾ of the crew this season, which makes for a good start to the year as they know what is expected of them. One change we’ve made to the staff is we’ve extended our Utility Worker position from the start of April to the end of September to help out our Pest Control Program. The beavers have been busy and there are a lot of dams that need busting, so the Utility worker is going to add that to the Jack-of-all-Trades list of responsibilities.
There are no major equipment changes this year, but Warren is investigating spraying systems for next year’s budget. We have a mismatched spray fleet in terms of controllers, and would like to unify it to make it easier to run. So if you are happy with your spray system, let us know, and we’ll come out for a tour! Barley drinks may be available as well for tour guides!
Praying with less runoff and more seed drills,
Aaron Van Beers
MD of Lesser Slave River No. 124
April 30, 2013 Well I am 3 month into my new position and am only days away till I am off probation! So far this has been a great learning experience for me. Really enjoying the new scenery and tasks I have been appointed. We are very excited for Mother Nature to smarten up and for spring to finally arrive. Our two weed inspectors and returning pesticide applicator will be starting on the 6th of May. This summer we are planning on continuing on with our weed control partnership program which will see a rebate for landowners who control weeds on their property, as well as past year programs. We have also hired on a contractor to take on the majority of our roadside vegetation management program. He plans on being in the MD for less than a week to get what we need done. Over the past while we have also been going over all of our policies and will have three quarters of them updated. We have no confirmed Clubroot or Fusarium in our MD however both the Clubroot and Fusarium policy have seen drastic changes compared to others. Some of the other policies that have been updated are the: Beaver Management, Coyote Predation Management, Wild Boar Control and Veterinary Services Incorporated policies. We ran into some issues at the end of last year with our spray equipment and luckily we got big red (our spray truck) back up and running, however our Kubota has seen better days and will need a little TLC in the next week or so. Looking forward to my first season in this new position and all of us here are excited for warmer days and a busy summer season.
All the best this summer everyone!
Sincerely, Thomas Tarrant
Thorhild County
This year started off with County Department restructuring. ASB was moved to Public Works so I now report to the Deputy Director of P/W, Mr. Wayne MacLean, YES, my last Assistant Fieldman, hence the Warning Sign in my office stating “The Toes You Step On Today May Be Connected To The Ass You Have To Kiss Tomorrow” LOL. So this year will be a learning curve but its working out great as ASB & P/W are always working with each other. We are going over all our Policies & Procedures so I might be bending a few fellow AAAF Members ears. County of Thorhild No: 7 is now Thorhild County, even a new logo. This year has turned into a flood year as in 1997, plus 8 inches of wet snow on April 29th dint help but at least I’m getting use my Mudd- Ox. I’m still waiting for +10 and higher temperatures to stay.
Later All.
Clarence Dowhan Agricultural Fieldman
Parkland County
Hello from Parkland County! Although we are having a late start to spring we are awaiting our seasonal staff who start May 1 and the mower operators who are starting in a few weeks. We had really good response to our job posting this year and many returning staff from last season. We have hired 5 weed inspectors, 4 applicators, 1 horticulturalist, 1 crop inspector, 4 mower operators and service truck operator. We are starting off the season with 2 of 4 of our Degelman mowers being brand new so it is always nice to have new equipment. We are still inspecting for Clubroot and had 31 confirmed in 2012.We are continuing to host many workshops and just recently held our Acreage Days with our best turnout yet. We wish you all a successful and long spray and inspection season. Mark, Erin, Tanya and James
Westlock County
We survived fall and winter is not over here, I wore out 3 shovels at home keeping up with it all. Summer staff is hired, none returning, there is something to be said about small blessings! Just took our spray truck down to StoneBlue for new equipment, we are putting our Kubota to work spraying around bridge areas with Clearview. And our tree program is sold out again, we started it last year it looks like it is here to stay now that PFRA is out. Have a great summer, Kim's retirement sounds like a great time, hope to see some of you there. Jake and the Fat Man
Yellowhead County
Spring is valiantly trying to make an appearance, but I am sure you all understand that feeling. At least the sun is shining on our success so far this year. By success we mean that county residents were receptive to our educational events this year.
We hosted 2 Shelterbelt workshops and cleverly advertised it as the FINAL YEAR FOR FREE TREES!!!!!! Seems that doom and gloom actually gets people’s attention and motivates them to attend free workshops. Who knew!
We also hosted for the first time ever the “Alternative Agriculture” workshop which was a great time. We had over 30 participants (which is incredible for Wildwood!) We focused on hot topics that would appeal to a broader range of interest groups/residents. Topics include; The organic certification process, new marketing strategies and how to sell your products in the new markets, an introduction to beekeeping, the AgriStability insurance program and changes, alternative crop choices such as flax and industrial hemp, and Environmental Farm Plans. Our most notable speaker, Jan Slaski from the Alberta Innovates in Vegreville was the target of drunken harassment from an extremely inebriated individual and handled it LIKE A BOSS! We would highly recommend Jan as a speaker for any event!
We worked with various Ag Societies and solicited funding to be able to offer and Farm Safety event to high school students in the area. 28 grade 10-12 students received their Emergency First Aid and an introduction to the Green Certificate Program. This event was offered completely free to the kids and will most likely become a repeated event. We have received interest from other Ag Societies to organize a similar event in their areas!
We are selling the Earth Machine composters and have been working with the Edson Recycling Society to raise awareness of composting. Our composting workshop was held on April 23rd and had 22 people in attendance. We even supplied a composter as a door prize. The lady who won composter is pretty clueless so it looks like composting will become part of our “mandate”!
This spring we presented to Council the need to become more aggressive in response to noxious weeds. Council has decided to back us up and is encouraging us to aggressively “attack” noxious species. This was surprising as almost every Councilor agreed with our presentation. However, there is always one “shining star” who feels that we are being too harsh in their electoral district. We were requested to go easy and continue with the “heavy education” instead. It was surprising that the mayor made the comment that education only goes so far!
Summer staff started on Monday (thanks for the gentle reminder that the forum was due)! We look forward to working with the crew this year and hope the weather gods cooperate!
Wishing you well Jen, Sonja and George!
PEACE REGION
Clear Hills County
I’m still recovering from organizing the Clear Hills County Agricultural Trade Show on April 13th. We had record breaking numbers with more than 1700 people coming out to enjoy the day. 4 weeks of prep/clean up sometimes seems excessive for a one day show, but I think it is well worth it. We will be adding a self-loading bale carrier to our lineup of rental equipment, this year. The zero till drill we purchased last year looks like it will be busy all spring again this year. I only have 1 weed inspector hired so far this year, with less than a handful of applications it’s slim pickings. Council approved the purchase of Weed inspection tablets, so we will be integrating the new system into our weed program this year. Also, we have moved back to contract spraying for 2013. Last time the spraying was contracted out was about 10 years ago. Hiring qualified staff was the main reason for this change. Approximately 8 feet of snow this past winter has collapsed a few Quonsets in the County. It was only 4 years ago when we last saw this much so, with similar results. Hopefully we don’t see the spring flooding that we saw then.
It always seems like ‘just the usual’ until I get reviewing what’s happening and then it doesn’t seem so usual after all.
Aaron Zylstra Agricultural Fieldman Clear Hills County
County of Grande Prairie
Good Day from the alternating white or wet north! Here in Grande Prairie, we had snow for over 6 months. Although the melt has gone well, with most of the moisture ending up in the ground, we had so much that it is now starting to run, and collect in the low lying areas. Of course, being Grande Prairie, the wind is starting to blow, so I anticipate the rate of drying should be relatively fast. On May first, we welcome back our seasonal crew. Most of our staff are returnees, which will help a lot in terms of training requirements. We have a full complement of mowers, weed inspectors, sprayers and labourers, with lots of work to follow up on. Last year our labourers picked almost 19,000 pounds of mayweed between June and the end of August, and this year they hope to exceed that. This year our Biobed will be up and running, ready to dispose of the majority of our rinsate in an environmentally friendly way. We dug and lined the pit with 40 mil plastic last fall, added in the drainage tile and gravel, covered it with geotextile and added the Biobed mix. This mix consists of 50% straw, 25% topsoil and 25% compost. A white mold colony forms on the straw, and it is these organisms that digest the very diluted herbicide. The rinsate is applied via drip irrigation to the brome grass that is planted on top of the biobed mixture. We will be pouring the cement pad this spring, to allow us to rinse off our spray trucks and have any of that contaminated water applied to the biobed.
We have a number of other projects on the go as well, including our Weed Warrior Program, where we pay community groups to pick mayweed. They spend the morning learning about our weeds of concern, and then the afternoon is spent picking as much as they can. The group that picks the most by weight gets a bonus $100. The weeds are then taken to our new Firebox, where they are burned. We are very excited about this program, having 7 groups already signed up for this year. Since I’m out of space, I will wish you all a wonderful productive summer season, and see you next issue! Sonja Raven, P.Ag Ag Fieldman, County of Grande Prairie.
Mackenzie County
High Folks, they don’t call us the “Frozen North” for nothing, because we are! We still have about half of our snow and are anticipating a huge runoff. Other than that things are good. Done a lot of ditch cleanouts to make way for the water. We also went through a policy review which is a huge weight off of me. Currently we’re in the midst of organizing the first annual “Mackenzie County Ag Fair & Tradeshow” slated for August 9th & 10th. This will have a full slate of events from Horsemanship demos, Stock Dog demos, Bench Shows, Live Bands and Research Plot Tours. Should be a whole bunch of fun (and work! Lol!!!). So if any of you are up this way for sure stop in and see us. We’ll be a little late seeding this year, but we should make out okay. With our long days, high humidity and excessive heat units one can almost see the crops grow. Okay, gotta go! Thanks, see you guys at the summer tour. Grant Smith, Ag Fieldman, Mackenzie County
Northern Sunrise County
Well 2013, a year of change!
With Audrey Gall mostly retired, department heads or key personnel retiring at the Administration, the increase in demands, services, programs, seasonal staff from 12 to 15, Michelle Petluk moving away, Wayne Wright staying on now as full time instead of just a mat leave position and Amanda Nepstad enlisting herself to this madhouse, all is normal at the ASB in Northern Sunrise County.
The CAP program entertained Audrey and Michelle (prior to her move) and the regional transportation, energy and utility corridor workshop had an increase of attendance this spring with satisfying results. A new GIS/GPS and agricultural software will prove to be an interesting start off the season as management and seasonal staff will get trained simultaneously. Additional County programs we inherited is the roadside mowing, ROW vegetation management of the new water pipelines as well as the acreage spraying program still on the draft table would explain the increase staff. Notices last year went out for Blackleg and no appeal while FG notice appeals are still on the Minister’s desk waiting to be reviewed after only a little over a year. We hope to overhaul our training program this year, do a spring cleaning in our storage room with it’s up to 30 year old contents, and reorganize the whole meeting room and seasonal office. Goodness I am looking forward to the slow period ….summer! J Seasonal staff coming back with the laughing, giggling and sharing of stories of what happened this winter gave it a true high school reunion feeling. Proof that somewhere, there is always a silver lining.
Cheers my friends and we hope to see you all this summer at the ASB tour.
Sebastian Dutrisac
M.D. of Smoky River
Well I’d love to say spring has sprung, but as I write this on April 30th we’re back in the deep freeze and it quite simply doesn’t look like we’ll ever get to go put in the crop. This is looking to be one compressed season! We’ve had some major flooding here, mostly over this past weekend. Still a few Townships with a foot of snow sitting in the fields, but the majority of the snow has melted and the water has passed. If we get the +18 forecast for the weekend the rest of it will disappear in an awful hurry. On a better note, as of 5 minutes ago I hired my last seasonal employee for 2013 (hopefully) and we’re going into the summer with a full crew for the first time in a few years. I and the other Department Heads approached Council last fall to convince them we needed to do something about our wages (especially seasonal staff) if they expected to hire people to do all the work they wanted done. Mower Operator and Spray Truck Operator went from $16/hr start wage to $20/hr – still lower than most others and lower than the oil patch but I managed to fill the roster at least. Still, being as I have my staff orientation planned for tomorrow May 1st, that’s cutting it pretty darn close! The issue now will be, what the heck do I do with my staff? Can’t go pick rocks in the ditches, no roadside seeding, weed inspection or other projects that can be done! After Orientation and Safety Training they’ll be doing a fair bit of sitting around discussing what the jobs entail! Oh well, if you don’t bring them on early they’ll find jobs elsewhere. I better get to work on my To Do list. All the best for 2013, I’m already thinking about IST 2013 in Calgary. Your Ed. Committee has a fantastic educational agenda planned, and you can always count on the South Regions to be gracious hosts. Oh yeah, and I have rounded out my Karaoke collection a bit more too, finally got some Neil Diamond and Waylon Jennings, but Queen, George Thorogood and Tina Turner continue to elude me. And I am taking requests, what song didn’t I have that would have gotten you up to the mic?
Normand Boulet, CCA Agricultural Fieldman