Dawson Park Restoration Project

As ERVCC does our restoration work, we are reading this helpful document and speaking with those with deep connections to these lands. We appreciate any help you can give as we work to decolonize our approach to River Valley Relationships. Some have reminded us the land will heal by itself. What we feel is that in the meantime, acts of reciprocity in a partnered approach, will help everyone see the beauty of this area and encourage respect.

Thank you to the wonderful Naturalization team from the City of Edmonton, the city helped ERVCC with supplies and education ensuring we planted appropriate plant kin for this site. The city is also helping us with relationships and education to inform the local community about the importance of the area under restoration and the importance of entering all of the valley with a sense of wonder, respect and reciprocity.

We also thank Park People and their Cornerstone Park Program. Park People is helping us strengthen our organization and empowering us to promote better relationships with the River Valley Lands and all people of amiskwaciy-wâskahikan.

Here is how they help ERVCC

• Support ERVCC to accurately evaluate and communicate the health, well-being and social benefits of our work 

• Build the capacity of ERVCC to operate in large urban parks by providing us with direct funding, networking and mentorship

• Offering ERVCC informative workshops, research, and resources on the latest issues and best practices from cities across the country

See our Events Page if you would like to help with future aspects of this and other projects. Our work will include a short documentary movie that will be posted on this page once finalized. The movie will introduce you to the land we are learning to better honor and its deep connections to first peoples.

As part of our work we are also intending to hire people facing barriers to meaningful work or at least to encourage such a program. If you are with a first nations or metis group that can help lead us, better define our work or connect us to those needing opportunities, please reach out.

Top left to bottom right photos from first work bee on May 24 2025:

1) Scratching the soil so seed can take 2) Cleaning up and going home via the Dragon Boat trail 3) Planting native plants and more soil raking and seeding 4, 5, & 6) Seed mix and single seed sourced and supplied by City of Edmonton 7) beaked hazelnut 8) Giant Hyssop planting

Project Updates June 16, 2025

Burdock, Canada Thistle, and European Buckthorn is being removed and the area has been seeded heavily with native grasses and forbs. Shade tolerant plants have been added, including: Canada Violet, Viola Adunca, Five Star Solomon’s Seal, Philadelphia Fleabane, Giant Hysopp, Asters, and Obedient Plant. The grasses are just starting to emerge after all the rain.

It is exciting to see the fine native grasses we sowed finally popping up (last two photos).

June 20 Update

Four Trees planted today during rain (Willow photo 1 & 3, Chokecherry photo 4 & 7). Notice seed mix up a couple inches (photo 5). Sowed more seed in bare areas. Pulling more burdock and European Buckthorn and notice more long styled sweet cicely revealed (photo 8). Suspect sweet cicely will go to seed and spread now that city crews are not cutting it back since they don’t need to weedwack the burdock. Planting more Canada Violet and asters (Photos 2 and 6). We doubt pulling buckthorn and burdock will be sustainable even on a small scale like this, but it is a bit of an experiment.

June 25 Update

The seed mix is creating a faint green blush in the understory and it is so fun to watch the progress! 39 hours logged so far and planning for many more.

June 27 (Total hours logged 52 hours)

Four ERVCC volunteers spent three hours planting more willow and saskatoon (4 total). We also scratch more earth and sewed the last of the seed mix. More European Buckthorn was pulled but there are still some large mature buckthorn “trees” we need to cut. We had a plant expert ensure we could all properly ID buckthorn at all stages of growth. It’s pretty easy to ID buckthorn once it is mature (see our page on our kin for ID tips). We planted more Canada Violet and watered everything well by bringing buckets of water up from the river. Photos L to R: planted natives and seed mix sprouting, fleabane, Golden Rod, one of our buckthorn piles.

July 12 updates (a few more hours logged) . Last week, we learned more about this area from Dragon Boat Club members. Through a grant, the boat club planted willows around their dock, hoping to help with erosion. ERVCC pulled Tansy from around the willows to give them a boost. Most of the willow was eroded historically because a high water event washed them away. We are very uncertain that weed pulls are the way to go in the long run, as Tansy seems here to stay and biodiversity will flourish regardless. But since this is a small area we are experimenting. In the long run, will this be non-sustainable or can we maintain a small area to appear as if settlement is not all around us? A First Nations Beaver Bundle holder suggests we should learn from the settler plants rather than waging war on them.