A fundamental philosophy of Winker's Discovery Nature Sanctuary is education (DNS), and over 2019 the DNS board continued to put that philosophy to the forefront.

"The amazing thing is that this particular site is within 20 minutes of all the schools in the Garden Valley School Division, and not too far a drive for other school divisions," says DNS Board Chair Paul Goossen. "It's a terrific opportunity for teachers to utilize this site as an educational resource."

2019 saw over 450 students use the site in various capacities. Students at GVC helped clean up sweet clover, and the sanctuary had its first water festival last spring, where over 200 students learned about the importance of water within the environment.

Around 70 volunteers assisted in this festival, many of which were high school students.

An exciting moment for the DNS was land sales around the site will help fund future development of the sanctuary. Back in September, Winkler Mayor Martin Harder announced the money from this sale was approximately $300,000 TO $350,000.

"We've had a very productive year at the DNS, which is very gratifying," says Goossen." We've had good usage of the site, great support by the city of Winkler, and Pembina Valley Conservation District, and we're moving forward on infrastructure projects."

Other projects and moments throughout the year include the completion of the Essen Transport bridge, the addition of bike racks, highway signage thanks to the government of Manitoba, and a $60,000 Open Spaces grant from Co-op to construct an outdoor classroom.

Construction of the outdoor classroom is anticipated for this winter, pending the approval of city council the DNS's land will be expanded up to Hwy 14, and the committee will engage in a planning process to determine what their course of action will be over 2020.