n THE CARILLON STEINBACH, MAN. C6
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2025
n www.thecarillon.com
SRRWD
A group of young students enjoy “critter dipping”, catching water bugs from a stationary dock in the shallow pond at TCDC.
Old Kleefeld landfill site now an outdoor classroom
by WES KEATING T he RM of Hanover took recycling to another level when the munic- ipality permanently closed the Kleefeld landfill site on Highway 52 and had it trans- formed into the Tourond Creek Discovery Centre, which has been described as a mini version of Oak Ham- mock Marsh. The Discovery Centre host- ed the regional envirothon competition for high school students there in April. The envirothon, in its 28th year, is sponsored by the Manitoba Watershed Associ- ation, and teaches students about the environment and sees students from across the province compete regionally, then provincially, and mov- ing on to a national compe- tition in July. This was the first time the Seine Rat Roseau River Wa- tershed District hosted the East Regionals Manitoba En- virothon and the first time it was held in the Southeast. Alex Wolf, a SRRWD tech- nician in charge of activi- ties at the Discovery Centre, said nine teams from six schools competed in the re- gional competition: Gimli, Shevchenko (Vita), Shaftes- bury, Grant Park, the Lauri- ette Academy (Winnipeg) and St James Collegiate. The Envirothon regionals are designed for students to come and learn for the day. Students have the Enviro- thon experience without a large time commitment to studying resource docu- ments ahead of time. The regional teams are tested in five disciplines, including aquatic ecology, soils and land ecology, plant ecology, and wildlife, Wolf explained. Students get an hour-and-a-half of orienta- tion and training at the var- ious stations throughout the Discovery Centre before the tests. The top team from each region, South, Central, West, East and North, and the bal- ance of the 20 to advance are based on test results in all five regions. The two Shaftesbury teams were at the top of the region- al competition at Tourond and teams from Shevchen- ko School, Gimli, and Grant Park were among the top 20 province-wide to advance to the provincials at Camp Arnes. Team Terra from Shaftes- bury won the Manitoba En- virothon provincial competi-
SVJETLANA MLINAREVIC CARILLON ARCHIVES Sophia Friesen and Miguel Bouchard are members of a Shevchenko School Envrothon team they made it to the provincials from the regional competition at the Tourond Discovery Centre.
are geared to Grades Four to Six. Resource materials can be adjusted to meet curric- ulum, adding something like soil tests for high school stu- dents, for example. Educationally, Wolf, who also volunteers for AITC programs says working with kids outdoors at the TCDC is more fun than in the class- room Hands-on learning is better than just looking at pictures in the classroom, she says. The Tourond Creek Dis- covery Centre has been more than a decade in develop- ment with the first classes coming out to the outdoor classroom in 2012. The RM of Hanover re- zoned the outdoor learning environment to a park in 2013 to open the centre not only to schools but to the general public as well.
tion and will be representing Manitoba at the internation- al competition in Calgary. Alex Wolf, who is in charge of the outdoor classroom, says they hope in future to have more schools coming to Tourond Creek Discovery Centre on a regular basis. In 2024, four classes took advantage of the outdoor classroom near Kleefeld. Two elementary schools came in spring and another two in fall. This year, the South- wood School came in March, but it was a brutally cold day. The regional envirothon, unfortunately had no Ha- nover School Division high school teams, but Wolf hopes that will change in the future. “The Seine Rat Roseau River Watershed District has tried some outreach to schools, but it would be easi- er for schools to come to us.” Any grade level is welcome to spend a day at the Centre, although resource materials
See ‘Years to develop’ on 7C
WES KEATING THE CARILLON The tower overlooking the pond is one of Alex Wolf’s favorite spots at the Tourond Creek Discovery Centre.
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