Depository Program (Remote Outhouses)

ADOPT-A-THRONE!

Mike Horembala

River Stewardship Actions by ARCA Members Win Emerald Award

Listen to mp3 of interview

Imagine floating down the river, your canoes strapped together to carry an outhouse into the wilderness. That’s school work for students at David Thompson High School in Condor, Alberta.

Their river stewardship program won them a 2008 Emerald Award for Environmental Excellence. Teacher Mike Horembala tells the story.

MIKE HOREMBALA: About eleven or twelve years ago we started going out and monitoring the North Saskatchewan River which is in our backyard. It runs through Rocky Mountain House and area. And we started doing water quality testing as well as terrestrial studies and just measuring impact of humans recreationally out in the west country. The students took all the data, they analyzed it, assessed it, and put it together and they came up with some stewardship projects that they wanted to introduce.

The first thing, the most obvious sign of human abuse is often human waste. And that was one that kind of grossed them out the most. So a lot of our projects have been trying to mitigate the impact by putting in things such as stairs or bridges out of the river and into the campsites to cut down on erosion. And we been building and carrying downstream outhouses or garden thrones as we call them.

So far the students from David Thompson High School have placed their environmenta friendly outhouses along several rivers - the North Saskatchewan, Athabasca, Red Deer and Milk Rivers.

FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY
I'M CHERYL CROUCHER

It is more apparent each year that as recreational river and land use increases, sustainable use of our wilderness becomes an issue. With this in mind, in 1995 several students and staff from David Thompson High School embarked on an ecosystem monitoring project. 

The first goal of the David Thompson High School Wilderness Studies Program was to study the impact at several highly impacted campsites and put ins on rivers in the area west and south of Rocky Mountain House. Aquatic, riparian and terrestrial assessments were undertaken. 

Three years ago, with enough data to support some kind of action the students decided to implement several stewardship projects. The plans involved going to some of the highest use recreational sites on the North Saskatchewan and Red Deer Rivers and implementing strategies that would mitigate the amount of impact that occurs in these areas. 

With financial and logistical support from ARCA four “Garden Throne” outhouses were installed on the Red Deer and North Saskatchewan rivers. The “thrones” were secured on a platform when two canoes were lashed together with 4x4 posts and plywood that later served as the walls of the outhouse. Also, a bridge was built over Dutch Creek and two sets of stairs were installed into the campsite where erosion was becoming a major issue.  In May 2005 the school dug a new pit for the existing outhouse on the Milk River at Poverty Rock.

ARCA hopes that paddling clubs, rafting companies and paddlers will reduce their human waste impacts and 'Adopt-A-Throne and place and maintain a throne at their heavily used remote riverside locations.  To place and maintain a 'Garden Throne' or 'portable toilet' in Alberta, please contact ARCA.

ARCA appreciates help from volunteers to place Garden Thrones, and where commerical pumping has not been available for existing outhouses, to also dig new holes for these existing remote outhouses.  Has your club or paddling group considered contributing to resolving this problem or adopting a throne for your favourite site?

Outhouse locations:

Placement of a remote outhouse on the North Saskatchewan River by the students of Mike Horembala of the David Thompson High School Click on image to view larger version