On Tuesday December 6th, local naturalist and member of the Chestermere Historical Foundation Ray Blanchard, presented for two hours to the Grade 4/5 French Immersion class at East Lake School. Teachers Mrs. Angela Bain and Mlle. Hanene Boussaha invited Mr. Blanchard for his knowledge of nature, his profession as a pipefitter, and his youth experience in Winnipeg as one of the first children to attend a bilingual school in Manitoba. Mlle. Boussaha explained that the grade 4 students are learning about ‘Waste and Our World’; the kind of waste that may be toxic to people and to the environment. Grade 5s are learning about the ‘Wetland Ecosystems’ and are required to identify human actions that can threaten the abundance or survival of living things in this ecosystem. They need to also identify individual and group actions that can be taken to preserve and enhance wetland habitats. And this is where the topic of pipelines came in. Mr. Blanchard in his work life was a pipefitter, with much of his employment in the oil and gas industry. As the students will be writing letters to the Quebec government regarding the Energy East pipeline he explained that though pipelines can be a safe method of transport, care must be taken where a pipeline is laid because of the danger of water and other environmental effects on a pipeline when it is in touch with the components such as sulfur eating anaerobic bacteria found in wet lands where wildlife congregate. Ray had the children’s attention right away as he opened his presentation in French, speaking about his early life in a bilingual home, and followed that with two sections of his wildlife video made in Chestermere, answering questions in both French and English. The children were fascinated with the footage of magpies attacking a Swainson’s Hawk, and that same hawk buzzing Mr. Blanchard as he worked in his yard–deterred only when he wore his sombrero. This defensive action is unique to the Swainson’s hawk which is the commonest in this area. Ray left the last half hour of the presentation to talk about his work as a pipefitter, the importance of care and accuracy when building pipelines, and showed examples of weld testing for pipe–it has to be perfect. Students proudly showed him their pages of notes, lists of birds that make Chestermere their home, and facts that they will use in their letters to Quebec about the proposed Energy East Pipeline. Mr. Blanchard generously left copies of his video for the class, encouraging them to share the wonder of nature on our lakeside doorstep with friends and family and how important preserving this is to the whole of our Chestermere ecosystem. If you are curious about a wildlife video that can keep a room full of children attentive for two hours, it can be purchased at www.chestermerehistoricalfoundation.org and makes an excellent gifts. The next meeting of the Historical Foundation will be a luncheon to be held at the Calgary Yacht Club on Tuesday January 17th. Check the website for details; everyone welcome please RSVP on the website.
