A Powell River resident wants the city to apply for a grant to deal with wood waste at the new resource-recovery centre.
Dan Tatham appeared before the November 3 committee of the whole meeting to outline possibilities through a grant funding agency called the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC). Tatham wants to apply for a $39,000 grant to conduct what is known as hügelkultur, which is a horticultural technique where a mound constructed from decaying wood debris and other compostable biomass plant materials is later planted as a raised bed.
Tatham said he was proposing an ecosystem restoration project. He said the site was the municipality’s incinerator site that is being converted by qathet Regional District to a resource-recovery centre to deal with solid waste.
“qathet Regional District is rapidly changing the landscape so there is an opportunity to make some ecological statements here,” said Tatham. “The vision is to build a working ecosystem planted with native species that are low maintenance.”
Tatham said he took a 10-week permaculture design course through Oregon State University and got permission to use the waste transfer site in question as his design site. He said he has submitted a concept plan for the area and was made aware of the FESBC grant. Tatham said he made the city’s planning department aware of it but he added that staff needs city council’s permission to work on a project like this.
He said there are two piles of woody debris at the waste transfer site that resulted from the cleanup that is ongoing at the site. He said the chips could be made into a hügel.
Making a hügel involves burying the woody debris and putting it under a cap of chips, then soil and then letting it be, said Tatham.
“Over time, it will break down, and while it is doing that, all of the carbon is sequestered, whereas with chips, if you spread them out, it is released into the atmosphere,” said Tatham. “There is direct carbon dioxide emissions sequestering from this process.”
Tatham said the grant application looks like a good fit for the proposed project. He said FESBC suggested there be an application from Powell River because it is a good idea, and because nobody else on the Sunshine Coast has received this grant money. The application would be for $39,000, which covers the hügel construction itself and does not cover materials for planting afterward.
Tatham said he was asking for the council’s support in consideration in approving this grant.
Mayor Dave Formosa asked if Tatham was looking for a letter of support for the grant application, or whether he was asking for money. The mayor also said there was a local group that had been looking at planting a botanical garden at the site and asked whether Tatham had been in touch with that group.
Tatham said in the plan, there is an area set aside for botanical gardens. In terms of the ask regarding the grant, he said the property in question belongs to the city and he was suggesting the city could take over this grant application. He said he was not asking for money.
Councillor Rob Southcott said the hügels involved 800 cubic metres of waste material. He asked what that equated to in the amount of carbon emissions.
Tatham said it would be 25 per cent, so that would be 200 cubic metres of carbon emissions that would be sequestered.
Southcott asked what kind of crops would be planted on the hügels. Tatham said the idea would be to sew crops to beat the weeds. He said there could be other planting that goes in over time.
Southcott asked if this could be a demonstration area and Tatham said there were educational opportunities because of the relationship with the resource-recovery centre and the Let’s Talk Trash team.
Councillor Jim Palm said he was not sure what Tatham was asking for – if it would be a grant application under his name with city endorsement or whether he was asking for the city to take on the project.
Tatham said he was asking for the city to take it on.
Palm said he likes the idea if it fits in with what the regional district is doing at the waste transfer site, but he needed to know more about it. He said he was hoping it would fit into the overall design of the area.
Tatham said there had been an intake of grant applications in mid-October. Councillor Cindy Elliott asked if there would be a future intake and Tatham said he expected there would be.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman requested a staff report on the matter.
Committee chair councillor George Doubt said it seemed like an exciting idea to mound the material up and cover it with soil. He said he’d like the parks department to look at the matter in depth as to where the piles might be, how to cover them over and what the future plans might be for the area. He said he wanted to be clear on what the $39,000 would accomplish.
Tatham said the money just deals with the woody debris and capping it.
The committee voted unanimously for a staff report to look at the grant opportunities.
