Community Spirit Days – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park.

End of Day 3 CNCYXE2022

It is the end of May 1, the third day of the Saskatoon City Nature Challenge April 29 to May 2. Thanks to everyone who has added observations on iNaturalist! Come out on Monday May 2, and make a difference!

It was an interesting day to follow through on the Insect Workshop. So, when you take a peek into pond water of marshes like the Chappell Marsh at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, there are bugs in the water swimming around! Here is a Pond Life video of the Caddisfly larva which was found! And following up on the Fungi including Lichen Workshop, 60 different observations have taken place for Lichen and shelf fungi are being noted at this time of the year.

Stay tuned for the follow up identification party virtual zoom workshops so you can discuss your finds during the City Nature Challenge with specialists!

And, now just a bit of a word about our Saskatoon and Area Species at Risk which were found so far…By randomly taking pictures across Saskatoon and area, it is fantastic what was discovered!

Goldenrod Gall Fly
Eurosta solidaginis

Togwoteeus biceps

Green Ash
Fraxinus pennsylvanica

American White Pelican
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

Blackbottle
Protophormia terraenovae

Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura

Louisiana Broomrape
Aphyllon ludovicianum

Prairie Violet
Viola pedatifida

Early Blue Violet
Viola palmata

So, now is the time to get involved

Observe April 29-May 2

Countdown has begun!

How many birds, bugs, feathers, lichen, plants, animals, etc can you find?

Are you coming?

Three easy steps

Find it

Snap it

Share it

Enjoy the outdoors whilst supporting vital conservation research by making observations April 29 to May

http://friendsareas.ca/

https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com/

friendsafforestation@gmail.com

City Nature Challenge CNCYXE Saskatoon area versus YQRCNC Regina and area in a mini SK challenge

Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday!

YouTube

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities

“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker

#CityNatureChallenge #iNaturalistCanada #Biodiversity Founded by @NHMLA and @CalAcademy Community Science hosted by #friendsdareas #NatureCanada #CityNatureChallenge #BioBlitz #CitSciMonth #CommunityScience #CitizenScience #UrbanNature #UrbanBiodiversity #NatureInTheCity #NatureIsEverywhere #NatureForEveryone #NatureNerd #cnc #outdoors #nature #conservation #photography #biodiversity #citizenscience #inaturalist #wildlife #plantlife #wanderlust #naturelovers #optoutside #instagood #picoftheday #volunteer #training #parks #optingoutside #CNCYXE #CNCYXE2022 #FriendsAreas #FriendsAfforestation #citizenscience #communityscience #EcologicalEmergency #naturelovers @sasktel #inaturalist #saskatchewanbirds #yxebirds #getoutdoors #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #citynaturechallenge2022 #yxe #thegreatoutdoors #citynaturechallenge2022 #citynaturechallenge #Canadacitynaturechallenge #citizenscience #Volunteering #nativeprairie #grasslands #wildlife #bees #pollinators #prairiepollinators #ExploreSask #NatureSask #wildlifewatcher #prairielife #sasklife #nativeprairie #speciesatrisk #conservation #KeepSaskWild #socialdistance #citizenscience #wildlifephotography #beesknees #LeavetheLeaves #NoMowMay #nature4all #FriendsAreas #FriendsAfforestation @FriendsAreas #saskatoon #saskatooning

In appreciation to Len’s Hauling!

Under good advice, the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. reached out to Len’s Hauling to help with a clean up when COVID protocols limited the numbers of volunteers who could come out. And the June 5 clean up of 2021 was a success! And their motto is right, they do grab all the garbage!

Then afterwards we reached out to Len’s Hauling to import compost for the trails which were no longer trails but had become oceans and were impassible for walkers. Then they had the right people and equipment to make the compost work in the trails for a much better parkspace experience.

Well Len’s Hauling were the people to call! Friendly, and helpful. Provided advice, and helped to turn the George Genereux Urban Regional Park greenspace around into a park from degraded land! Wow! They went over and above, and served the citizens of Saskatoon so very well in their contributions so that everyone could enjoy this spectacular forest which is 60 hectares (148 acres) in size.

So, long story short, if you ever need a phenomenal job done, text Len’s Hauling (306) 241-0821 they have amazing dumpsters, trucks, skidsteers, front end loaders, and truly wonderful people! Thank you kindly for your help to everyone at Len’s Hauling! What a fantastic 50th birthday present for George Genereux Park!

Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday!

YouTube

Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities

“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker

Three Days Away

Send in your cool/unusual/rare sightings! What is way interesting during the City Nature Challenge April 29- May 2? That is only three days away! Wow

For rare sightings during the City Nature Challenge CNCYXE don’t place your iNat observation on private but do protect your rare sightings with obscured! And do let us know, so that the Community Science teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County can run a press release!

In Saskatoon and area we are taking part in #CNC2022! Join us between April 29 – May 2 as we take part in this International initiative to collect information about the wildlife flourishing in Saskatoon and area.

Researchers, school groups, citizens and wildlife enthusiasts across the world will be taking part in this race against the clock to put nature on the map, submitting photos and observations of wildlife in their neighbourhoods and greenspaces through the free, easy to use iNaturalist smart phone app.

New finds! Species that haven’t been recorded in particular areas before. Important finds of rare/endangered/threatened species. Observations that have a great story that go along with them. Really cool photos. Fun finds!

Send your photos of yourself, your friends or your family taking images in nature with iNaturalist! friendsafforestation@gmail.com

Taking a photo of mushrooms (fungi) with iNat on a smart phone

Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday! We have some cool events planned coming up!

YouTube

Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities

“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker

3 Things Everyone Knows About Clean-ups That You Don’t

While you are out at the George Genereux Urban Regional Park on June 5 helping out with the Clean Green Community Scene, you are actually taking part in the first day of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration!

The UN Virtual Launch Gala will take place June 4-5. From the beginner’s guide on eco-system restoration: “This year, 5 June, World Environment Day, marks the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a 10-year push to halt and reverse the decline of the natural world. “

Did you know that to date more than 25,030 kg or 55,181.7 pounds of trash have been removed from the Saskatoon afforestation areas eco-system?

I don’t want to protect the environment. I want to create a world where the environment doesn’t need protection.
Anonymous

Can you celebrate that this may be the date of the last major afforestation area clean up?

I don’t want to protect the environment. I want to create a world where the environment doesn’t need protection.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Did you know that afforestation areas are amazing nature-based solutions to climate change?

If we pollute the air, water and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us.
David Suzuki

So, thanks for signing up on eventbrite to come out for ecosystem restoration where we will actually really really be doing restoration work, it will be appreciated.

June 5 is….. Arbor Week request for city proclamation by SOS Trees Inc.!

June 5 is….. the first day of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

June 5 is….. International Trails Day.

June 5 is….. World Environment Day.

June 5 is….. Clean Green Community Scene.

June 5 is…. George Genereux Park Clean up 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Pamphlet online

Eventbrite

Now that SK is moving into Step One which will see the cautious easing of public health measures across the province. New Changes to public health orders in Step One will include:

Limit of 150 people at public outdoor gatherings; and <—- great news for the George Genereux Park clean up on Saturday June 5, but now needs massive networking and sharing of information via email blitz, word of mouth etc. (please and thank you) The park is 147.8 acres in size about 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile square, so lots of room to socially distance, and we have trail maps! Refreshments! Extra facemasks!
Current province-wide masking mandate remains in place.
Many hands make light work

Ivan And Ila’s No Frills Store Westgate Plaza 2410 22nd St W Saskatoon

YouTube

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date! Canada Helps

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities

““Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker

George Genereux Park

George Genereux Park cleanup

On Sept. 19, the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. were impressed to see people come out to George Genereux Urban Regional Park to clean up garbage left behind by those contractors and people too lazy or too cheap to use the nearby landfill.

There are many who enjoy this forest. The Saskatoon Nature Society bands birds; dog walkers and foresters revel in the delights of the woodlands; citizen scientists record the flora and fauna on iNaturalist and mothers enjoy the scenery with their children and infants.

During these weird times, community members and businesses cooperated in preserving the environment at George Genereux Park. We were impressed with the results — more than 9,270 kilograms (204,367 pounds) was removed from the park. Just in time for National Forest Week, the forest has been loved and cared for.

Our team is very impressed to see people who are concerned about parks. These two areas were created in 1979, the same year as Chief Whitecap Park, Cranberry Flats Conservation Area and Beaver Creek.

We think that not too many residents in the City of Saskatoon know about Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (330 acres) and George Genereux Urban Regional Park (147.9 acres) in the very southwest of the city; they are Saskatoon’s best kept secrets and locations where it is easy to maintain social distancing.

It is very encouraging and uplifting that several community members are concerned enough with the forests to wish to preserve their beauty, legacy and heritage.

George Genereux Park Cleanup was featured in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix September 29, 2020. Thank you kindly

Thank you to all who helped at the George Genereux Urban Regional Park in the fall of 2020. The 148 acre greenspace allowed social distancing to keep everyone safe during COVID protocols.

3,410 kg Richard-St-Barb-Baker-Afforestation-Area October 3

2,660 kg from George Genereux Urban Park October 3

9,270 kg from George Genereux Urban Park September 19

15,340 kg in TOTAL which works out to 16.9 US tons – 33,818.9 pounds – 15.1 Imperial Tons – 15.34 tonnes was removed in the fall of 2020.

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Pinterest richardstbarbeb
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.com
Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date! Canada Helps

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities

“To be standing together in a frosty field, looking up into the sky, marvelling at birds and revelling in the natural world around us, was a simple miracle. And I wondered why we were so rarely able to appreciate it.”
Lynn Thomson

“Creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace, meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty.”
-Anne Lamott

B I N G O

Monday August 24^th – Sunday 30^th Sign up for Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Backyard BioBlitz on iNaturalist, and earn prizes. Complete a row in the bingo card out at the afforestation areas and automatically be entered into the prize draw! Download iNaturalist to your smart phone, and make 30 observations at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and/or George Genereux Urban Regional Park.

There are five different themed bingo cards that you can (optionally) choose to use to help guide your bioblitz adventures! Everyone who submits a completed bingo card (a straight or diagonal line) and/or submits at least thirty observations in total at the end of the week will be entered to win a prize.

Can you do it? Good Luck!!

Grasshopper_SparrowSMALL CC2.0 dominic sheronY

Grasshopper_Sparrow CC2.0 dominic sheronY

Make A Wish Day

The Trembling Aspen is also referred to as the Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx) May 25, 2019

Fresh Snow Reveals a Nest in the Bare Branches

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SW 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Instagram: St.BarbeBaker

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Please help protect / enhance /commemorate your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers)

Canada Helps

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

Safety in the Forest

Safety in the Forests

Blue-winged mallard

Child running through the forest having a great time connecting with nature

The “Safety in the Forest” campaign from Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas is raising the necessary funds to provide wildlife friendly motorized vehicle barriers to mitigate illegal trash dumping, as part of our Great Canadian Giving Challenge campaign.

Donations will help support the work required to install Jersey Barriers with gates for legitimate motorized vehicle users, allow safe passage for users into a greenspace who appreciate an urban regional park and wetlands inside of the City of Saskatoon, and minimizing future damage.

Every $1 donated* to the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc in June earns the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc a chance to win a $20,000 donation (minimum $3 donation required) (* Every $1 donated is an automatic entry for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas to win a $20,000 donation (minimum $3 donation required).
And…That’s not all, because we are a charity and you get a charitable tax receipt, you get 53% of your donation back on your Canadian Income Taxes at tax time!!! Woo Hoo!!

Challenge begins June 1, 2020 at 9:30 p.m. Central Standard Time(midnight Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) and ends on June 30, 2020 at 1:59:59 am Central Standard Time ( 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)
Grand prize draw is on CANADA DAY, July 1, 2020 – $20,000 will be donated to the winning charity

Can you help ? Any size donation to the Great Canadian Giving Challenge is awesome!!! And this is a great opportunity to participate in a fund raising challenge for a chance to win $20,000 and build a parking lot to park the motorized vehicles!

Thanks!

White Rose National Day of Remembrance & Action on Violence Against Women

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Instagram: St.BarbeBaker

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Please help protect / enhance /commemorate your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers)

Canada Helps

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to conserve the environment so that we can bequeath our children a sustainable world that benefits all.~ Wangari Maathai

“ If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. ” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. Carl Jung

Eco-Quest COVID-19 Activity

Today, an invitation is extended to you to take part in the Genereux Park Eco-Quest GP-EQ and the Baker Area Eco-Quest BA-EQ. These two events are being done out at the afforestation areas to inventory all the living, growing, crawling, walking, leaping, plants, animals, and bugs. Well, you know that these are weird and uncertain times with the novel Coronavirus COVID-19 going around. Soooooo the Genereux Park Eco-Quest and the Baker Area Eco-Quest are not planned for a day nor a time. The Genereux Park Eco-Quest and the Baker Area Eco-Quest are not group events, and yet they are – they are virtual group events.

Northern Shoveler

Grasshopper_Sparrow CC2.0 dominic sheronY

Make A Wish Day

Make A Wish Day

The Eco-Quests work by downloading the i-Naturalist app onto your smart phone. Come out to the afforestation area individually or as a household. Use the app to take a photograph of something you see in nature. The i-Naturalist app works as your ‘field guide’ and will provide a suggestion on identification.

Also, looking and watching for various items in nature is like a “Where’s Waldo” puzzle activity. They are fun for the whole family. People can meet online and work together via their computer, and yet be out in public with social distancing. Students can increase their science awareness of nature. Rare and uncommon habitats, plants and animals can be discovered. These Eco-quests are a great way to connect with the environment and appreciate the biodiversity which exists. Eco-quests are challenging, and encouraging to everyone to appreciate the greenspace which may be taken for granted. Eco-quests are a means to become intrigued with the beauty and wonder of the natural world around us.

With an increased footprint, are there any locales or conservation strategies needed? Are there any species which need protection? Are there any reptiles (lizards and snakes), amphibians (frogs), lichen, fungi (mushrooms) spiders, fish, mollusks (snails), mosses, mammals birds, or plants in the afforestation areas?

After you are finished comment on the following statements;

I know more plant species than bird species. Yes. No. Not applicable.
I listed only live species which I saw or heard. Yes. No. Not applicable.
I looked for new species which I never saw before. Yes. No. Not applicable.
I listed only those species for which I was sure of the name. Yes. No. Not applicable.
I focused on only the woodlands species, and not the wetlands or grasslands. Yes. No. Not applicable.
I found out the name of a new plant which I had not noticed before. Yes. No. Not applicable.

This virtual Eco-Quest is a great way for you to connect with your sports group, physical, mental and spiritual health organisation. Let your group know about this activity, and everyone can go out at the time most convenient to them. Then online you can discuss with them how they made out during their time in the afforestation area. You can compare notes, and see who found the most birds, and who found the most plants.

Getting involved in the Genereux Park Eco-Quest and the Baker Area Eco-Quest are an amazing way to spend some time outdoors. Doing an activity outdoors alleviates anxiety, mental health issues, depression, and worries about the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a win-win situation! It’s a great way to “see” what is in nature, increase your knowledge of the world around you, and inspire you to learn more!

Stimulate learning, relaxation, fun and enhance your learning ability. Only go out on your individual Eco-Quest with those from your household. Please keep social distance from anyone outside your own household.

Not only does your participation in the Eco-Quest make a huge difference in the results, but it is great fun, and enhances a beautiful walk through the forest, the grasslands or along the wetlands. It is rewarding connecting with scientists and other individuals. It is wonderful to interact with the local community, and it results in a relaxing and rewarding day interacting, observing nature, and delving into the number of birds, and wildlife habitats. You don’t even realize you are exercising until you are done, and look at how many steps you took. It is a means to great self-care, and a wonderful way to take care of your physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Rather than connecting with the stress and anxiety of COVID-19 for this moment in time, take a holiday in nature, and immerse yourself in beauty.

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Instagram: St.BarbeBaker

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Please help protect / enhance /commemorate your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers)

Canada Helps

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”—Anne Lamott

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.— Benjamin Franklin

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. Carl Jung

#EveryDayCounts
#MotivationalMonday
#MondayMotivation
#BeAwesome
#BeHappy
#createSomethingBeautiful
#HappyMonday
#MentalHealth
#SelfCare
#SmileLaughDaily
#community
#YouAreNotAlone
#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth
#FutureGenerations
#BeKind

Internal Peace

Walking is natural, and is a basic pattern recognized on your smart phones. What are your amount of steps in a day? What do steps and internal peace have to do with each other?

Child running through the forest having a great time connecting with nature

Photo by Sebastian Voortman on Pexels.com

Photo by Brynna Spencer on Pexels.com

Take your pants for a walk day! Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Walking after a meal helps your gut health. It was Hippocrates who proclaimed that all disease begins in your gut. What better way to help your gut health than by indulging in a constitutional after mealtime.

Not only that, but walking in nature will appease mental wellness, heart health and overall well being.

Fear in a life and death situation such as an avalanche, triggers an instantaneous survival mechanism- and the body’s metabolism engages the sympathetic nervous system in preparation for a fight-or-flight response. However, when the fear is from an unknown, uncertain fear such as the risks presented by COVID-19, well, then still the fight-or-flight instinct kicks in and produces an anxious state. But there is nothing to fight, there is no attack from a wild bear. There is no avalanche to run away from.

Because of the onslaught of COVID-19 protocols, lifestyle changes and information changing minute to minute you are facing uncertainty, and your body is tense. How can you bring on relaxed breathing and heart rate? By acknowledging your body’s response to the novel Coronavirus, and allowing the body to take flight.

Walking is a very easy way to take flight from worry, anxiety, and fear. Take a break and look after both your physical and mental health with a walk in nature. Your body has released adrenaline, and changed the metabolism for the ‘fight or flight’ response. Now allow the fight or flight response to expend itself in a healthy direction.

A walk in the woods, forest bathing or Shinrin-Yoku has amazing health benefits. Enjoy, and immerse yourself in the experience of being in nature.

Breathing relaxes. The heart rate calms down. The body readjusts and one by one the parasympathetic nervous systems return the body back into balance. It is a good feeling.

Further, the body functions are influenced by fresh air, by being out in the sun, and by the earth’s magnetic field. The fresh forest air is what we breathe when out in nature at the afforestation areas.

“Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air…but only for one second without hope.” ― Hal Lindsey

Pick up your water bottle, come out to the afforestation areas, and take flight by indulging in active transportation. Breathe in. Breathe out. Indulge in the oxygen rich forest air. Please do maintain social distancing protocols, and at the same time heal your physical and mental body. Recharge your immune system. Drink water. Breathe in. Breathe out. Give your sympathetic nervous system a break today. Sleep better. Take care of yourself, and feel the benefits of relaxing and activating the parasympathetic nervous system.

What can you smile at today, perhaps it is the Black-capped chickadee tweeting its territory call. Breathe in. Breathe out. Perhaps it is the robin looking for its lunch, walking on the ground in front of your feet as it searches and feels for the worms below the earth. It is a sign that spring is here, and the seasons change in a timely and ordered fashion. Is the buffalo bean blooming yet? This bright yellow flower signalled the time when the great herds of bison would begin their migration to their summer grasslands.

Richard St. Barbe Baker himself reminds us to live according to the prayer of Gandhi;
” We thank Thee God! for thy Trees,
Thou comest very near to us through thy Trees.
From them we have beauty, wisdom, love,
The air we breathe, the water we drink,
the food we eat and the strength.
Help us, Oh God!
to give our best to life
and leave the world
a little more beautiful and worthy
for having lived in it.
Prosper thou our planting
and establish thy kingdom of love
and understanding on the Earth.

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Canada Helps

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

Canada Helps

Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.

— Pema Chodron

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh

May is Mental Health Awareness Month
#EveryDayCounts
#MotivationalMonday
#MondayMotivation
#BeAwesome
#BeHappy
#createSomethingBeautiful
#HappyMonday
#MentalHealth
#SelfCare
#SmileLaughDaily
#community
#YouAreNotAlone
#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth
#FutureGenerations
#BeKind

Vitamin N (Nature)

It is true we are calmer, and much more relaxed after spending some time in nature. How can one measure the benefits of improved mental health. During these uncertain times, it is easy to feel stressed and feel anxiety, irritable, and have related ailments like indigestion, insomnia, headaches. There are layoffs, insecurities about health and wellness, finances, education, new changes to lifestyle.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Make A Wish Day

Puppies. Puppy Day March 23.

National Sweater Day First Thursday of February

Anxious thoughts give rise to panic attacks where our innate natural instinct is “fight of flight.” Because our body is taking action to react to the emergency by fleeing or fighting for it’s survival, our rational thinking mind suppresses our instinct to live in a civilized society.
An amazing relief can be found be indulging in “flight.” Just taking off for a walk, bicycle ride or jog in nature will help your body acknowledge that the its survival instinct is no longer needed, and that it is safe, and you can relax now.
Of course, one must appease the thinking mind as well as the body. If the conventions are followed for COVID-10 when out in nature, and 6 feet (2 meters) are maintained for social distancing, both mind and body can relax so that worries, and stress are alleviated.
Focusing on nature brings about a change, and for panic attacks, a change is as good as a rest.
As you wander about watching spring change into summer, be happy. Listen to the meadowlark singing. Laugh at the red squirrels chattering away. From a distance, smile and wave at the next walker passing by.
Take care of yourself today. Watch as the elm trees burst into flower, and it is truly a good day. Though everyone must social isolate to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, remember you are not alone.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Canada Helps

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

Canada Helps

Trust yourself. You’ve survived a lot, and you’ll survive whatever is coming.

– Robert Tew

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.”
—Anonymous proverb

#EveryDayCounts
#MotivationalMonday
#MondayMotivation
#BeAwesome
#BeHappy
#CreateSomethingBeautiful
#HappyMonday
#MentalHealth
#SelfCare
#SmileLaughDaily
#Community
#YouAreNotAlone
#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth
#FutureGenerations
#BeKind

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