Takota Coen of Coen Farm, south of Ferintosh, AB in Camrose County, has been a longstanding leader in the rural Alberta permaculture world. His involvement in the community through various water and land stewardship groups and push towards regenerative farming has established him as an expert in the field, and Coen Farm was the recipient of the 2014 Canadian Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Award among other distinctions.
AWES staff in conjunction with Coen Farms developed a wetland restoration project entitled Earthworks for Cold Climate Water Resiliency – a project funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The workshop is targeted towards landowners looking to construct water harvesting structures on their property, which are intended to help channel water into key basins and retain water on the landscape – particularly for periods of drought. The four-workshop series will feature two fall workshops lead by Takota Coen and Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture, focusing on the construction of ponds, swales, and dams to carefully transport water to key locations from across the broader landscape. AWES staff, Takota Coen, Rob Avis and Derek Bruno from WIN Ecosciences will facilitate two spring workshops focused more on the revegetation of these water harvesting features – and the role vegetation plays in reducing erosion and slumping while water flows through the structures while touching on traditional ecological knowledge and traditional indigenous uses for the native plants used.
Landowners, in additions to local students and indigenous groups have been identified as priority participants, and the aim is to engage all three of these communities while providing a safe place for collaboration to occur. Ideally the workshop series will lead to additional connections that last far beyond the scope of the project.
We would like to thanks our funders for this project, which include PUR Projet, The Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
We would also like to thank our project partners which include Coen Farms, Verge Permaculture, Battle River Watershed Alliance, WIN Ecosciences, and Camrose County and AWES alumni Luke Wonneck.
More information for part 2 of the 4 part workshop series to come in winter 2020. Registrations available Spring 2020
