It is year 42 for the Meewasin Valley Authority’s 100 year plan, and the organization is meeting its mission and mandates.  That’s according to a Meewasin State of the Valley Report, which is a 5 year snapshot of Meewasin from 2013 to 2018.

Spokesperson Renny Grilz says they are on target for their goals, including trail development within the river valley.  Over 13 kilometres of new trail was establishing during the reporting period, including in Diefenbaker Park, Wanuskewin Road and the Northeast Swale. The trail is now over 90 kilometres long.

The number of people taking advantage of what Meewasin has to offer is on the rise, and Grilz notes that this report is from before the pandemic hit, which brought more appreciation and usage from the public.

With the development of McOrmond Drive and communities like Aspen Ridge and Evergreen, Grilz expected the amount of land cover in Meewasin’s conservation zones would go down more than it did, but the end result was a loss of 1 per cent.

The report also highlights that over 35,000 plantings took place as part of a horticulture restoration project. Where possible, these projects utilize native wildflowers and shrubs grown locally in Meewasin’s greenhouse. Over 900,000 invasive species plant stems were treated.

There are 26 unique species ranked as endangered, threatened or of special concern and 524 unique species were observed from over 61,000 observations from multiple agency and reviewed citizen science data sources.