A field exercise with a portion of the team building a phone based site inspection tool. The visit was to Riverlot 56 Natural Area‘s southeast (SE) portion.
A visit to a nearby NA (Riverlot 56) to give the University of Alberta, Computer Science 401 team a sense of how a site inspection may be undertaken. Many walkers were out with dogs despite the brochure stating: ‘Leave your pet at home’.
Inspection Report
| Question | Q## | Response |
| General Information | ||
| Date/Site/Submitter: | Q21/22/12 | 2024-01-28: Riverlot 56; Phrank P. |
| Guest Names | Q14 | Frank Books – Potter |
| SAPAA Member | Q16 | Yes |
| Over all Impression of the Site | ||
| What is the Naturalness of the Site? 4=Great, 0=Terrible | Q31 | 3 |
| How Natural?: comments | Q32 | Increasing foot traffic into the areas from nearby urban development has lowered the naturalness. |
| How was your visit to the PA? | ||
| Trip Duration | Q41 | < 1 hour |
| Why Did you Go? | Q42 | Other (see comments) |
| Visit Details | Q43 | University of Alberta Computer Science 401 field trip. We met up at 0900h. |
| What is in the Site? | ||
| Ease to Visit | Q51 | Parking lot or parking for 2 or more cars, Directional signs on Feeder roads, Entrance signs, information, etc. |
| Biological Observations | Q52 | Occasional hare (likely snowshoe but with melting snow, prints were indistinct) tracks. One distinct ungulate (likely mule or white tail deer). |
| Submissions to iNaturalist | Q53 | No, did not see anything of note |
| Geological Observations | Q54 | |
| Designation as a Protected Area | Q55 | Signage, Fencing, Fences, Stiles, Gates |
| Comments | Q56 | North fence poles still exist but barb wire removed. |
| Human Activities/Disturbances | ||
| Agricultural Activities | Q61 | None noted |
| Resource extraction | Q62 | None Noted |
| Motorized disturbances (ATV or vehicle activity). | Q63 | None Noted |
| Animal or self propelled activities | Q64 | Hiking Trails, Other (see comments) |
| Gathering and Dumping Activities | Q65 | None Noted |
| Infrastructure encroachment | Q66 | None Noted |
| Comments | Q67 | About a dozen different people including one group operating a ham radio station. |
| What Needs to be Done? | ||
| Remediation/Protection Activities Needed | Q71 | Fencing, Continued Monitoring |
| What Have you Done Recently to Help the site? | Q72 | Visit and Submitted This Report! |
| Nearby Stewards? | Q73 | |
| Comments | Q74 | A valuable resource for St. Albert and Sturgeon County. Many dog walkers despite them being discouraged. |
| Last Words | Q82 | This will be a combined trip report with the student submissions. |
SAPAA 