President David Soper opened the meeting with a land acknowledgement, followed by the singing of O Canada.

Chair Announcements

The Green Spaces Golf Tournament will take place on Wednesday, September 10th. Players and prizes are in place. It will be a great day.

There is still Rotary branded beer available. Ed Thompson has one flat and more are available. As of Saturday 65 flats had been sold leaving 35. Clubs outside of Winnipeg are now being invited to order. Some will be going to Kenora, and some to Steinbach.

The Westminster Housing Society is still looking for help with its work bee on September 28th. Installing and repairing fencing and weeding the gardens is required. A thank you barbeque for volunteers and community members will follow. To volunteer, or get more information, contact Bob Foster of the Winnipeg West Rotary Club.

September 30th is Orange Shirt Day. Rossbrook House has orange shirts available at $20 for children’s sizes and $25 for adult sizes (plus taxes.) They can be ordered online through Rossbrook’s website. Members are encouraged to wear an orange shirt to the club meeting on September 29th.

There will be a board meeting tomorrow at 4:30 pm via zoom. Invitations and agendas are on the way.

Committee announcements

Jack Wilson reported that the Forest Committee has heard from Welcoming Winnipeg so work on signage will move ahead. Work has started on the education area, and we are working with the city on logs for seating. Ed Thompson reported that $55,000 has been received from the Winnipeg Foundation, to be used for washrooms in the Forest.

Jim announced that volunteers for the golf tournament will receive a confirmation email tonight.

Marissa Berard of Nature Manitoba was our speaker. She is the program coordinator of the Manitoba IBA Program. (IBA is Important Bird Areas)

An IBA is an area of international significance for the conservation of birds and diversity. They are not legally protected.

Manitoba has 36 IBAs. Some are being transitioned to KBAs (Key Biodiversity Areas.)

IBA activities include:

• Monitoring, including with citizen scientists
• Bird blitzes
• Outreach
• Habitat stewardship

A species at risk is one that is in danger of disappearing. Some species are in decline, while others are recovering. Threats include:

• Habitat loss
• Pesticides
• Invasive species
• Window collisions
• Climate change.

Cats kill an estimated 100 million to 350 million birds each year in Canada. Window collisions kill an estimated 16 milllion to 42 million.

Species at risk seen in Assiniboine Park and Assiniboine Forest include the Canada Warbler, Redheaded Woodpecker, Eastern Whip-poor will, Common Nighthawk, swallows and chimney swifts.

How can you help?

• Post your observations on eBird.org
• Support bird friendly farms
• Create bird friendly windows
• Keep cats indoors
• Volunteer!

To learn more, visit https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/

There were many questions for Marissa.

Happy Bucks

• Dave M was happy that Bob Eilers dropped off 230 beer cans ($23 worth.) The group congratulated Bob on his commitment.
• Alan Roberts had a great time with his grandchildren.
• Bob took his kids and grandkids to Mexico last week.
• Lyle will celebrate an anniversary on September 22nd.

There were three fines tonight

• President David and Iain were both fined for not wearing their nametags.
• Chuck was fined for arriving late.

President David had the lucky 50/50 ticket, but no blue marble.

Next week’s speakers will be Jerry Oleschuk and Dennis Doerksen of Men’s Shed International