City Naure Challenge – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park.

Join us for the Saskatoon and Area iNaturalist City Nature Challenge 2023: Be the Voice for Nature!

Are you ready to embark on an exciting adventure to explore and document the natural world in Saskatoon and Area? The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. are thrilled to invite the general public to take part in the Saskatoon and Area iNaturalist City Nature Challenge (CNC YXE) happening from April 28 to May 1, 2023. This worldwide initiative encourages citizens, researchers, school groups, and wildlife enthusiasts to join forces in a race against the clock to observe, document, and share information about the wildlife flourishing in our local areas.

What is the City Nature Challenge, you ask? It’s a friendly competition among cities and areas to engage the public in the collection of biodiversity data. Participants will use the free and user-friendly iNaturalist smartphone app to record observations of plants, animals, insects, and more in their neighborhoods and greenspaces. It’s a chance to connect with nature, contribute to vital conservation research, and be part of a global effort to document the incredible biodiversity found in our city.

Whether you’re an expert naturalist or a first-time observer, getting involved is easy. Simply download the iNaturalist app on your smartphone, head outdoors from April 28 to May 1, and start snapping photos of the nature around you. You don’t need to be a species expert – teams of experts will review and update the information submitted, so you can learn more about what you’ve spotted later on. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn about the diverse species that call Saskatoon and Area home and contribute to our understanding of local biodiversity.

By participating in the Saskatoon and Area iNaturalist City Nature Challenge, you’ll also be helping us compete for the title of the most Biodiverse City. The challenge awards cities and areas based on three criteria: the most observations, the most species found, and the most people engaged. It’s a chance to showcase the incredible biodiversity of our region on the world stage and put Saskatoon and Area on the map as a hotspot for nature enthusiasts.

To join in the fun and be the voice for nature, visit FriendsAreas.ca to learn more about the Saskatoon and Area iNaturalist City Nature Challenge (CNC YXE) happening from April 28 to May 1, 2023. Let’s come together as a community to explore, document, and celebrate the rich wildlife diversity that surrounds us. Download the iNaturalist app, make observations, and join us in this exciting global initiative to connect with nature and contribute to conservation research. Get ready to discover the wonders of our local nature and make a difference in the world of biodiversity science! CNC YXE DNU

Planned events

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
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

Global Conservation Efforts

Earth Day. April 22. Earth Day, what does it mean to you?

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed
Mahatma Gandhi

Did you know that the City Nature Challenge is 4 days April 29 – May 2 to be inspired for nature – for biodiversity around the world?

A great Nature Watch

Download iNaturalist today

Find it

Snap it

Share it

Be the Voice For Nature

April 29 – May 2

Search snap share for the Earth, and Global Conservation Efforts.

Planet Earth, the World, is in our Hands

Business, Technology, 21st Century Culture, Planet Earth — Planet Earth, the World, is in our Hands

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

SaskPower_PoweringOurFuture_Colour_Orange and Gray_CMYK — SaskEnergy sponsor and supporter

Look Up at the Sky

What will you find, today, April 14, Look Up at the Sky Day? Take a break, and discover a whole new experience! While you are outside have a great time experiencing our Land of Living Skies in Saskatchewan, take some pictures of the geese flying overhead. Download the free iNaturalist app, and share the migratory birds you see with everyone!

Remember, also to look up at the sky between April 29 to May 2 and wonder at the songbirds, and butterflies you may see overhead. What do you think of the population count of these high fliers? This is what the City Nature Challenge will help specialist scientists around the world discover. April 29 is 16 days away, are you ready? Do you know where you are going to explore?

Are butterflies and their morphological changes on cue for the passing of the seasons? Are birds migrating at the same time as last year? Is the range of various species of songbirds shrinking or expanding? Is the number of bird species and butterfly species shrinking or expanding.

Your input to iNaturalist is important! Taking action locally can make a difference for a specialist scientist using iNaturalist to track trends and changes in our biodiversity. Become a citizen scientist helper for specialist scientists the world over.

Species at risk: Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo) butterfly depends on buckwheat host plant.

Birds learn how to fly, never knowing where the flight will take them.
Mark Nepo

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

International Plant Appreciation Day

April 13 is a marvellous day! A day to appreciate plants, and what a better time to appreciate plants than when spring comes, and the Prairie Crocus pops up, and the Spring Avens also blesses our meadows and grasslands in Saskatoon and area.

It is now 15 days from the City Nature Challenge, a fantastic 4 day International Bio Blitz to take action for global biodiversity between April 29 to May 2. Today, download the iNaturalist app, and wander outside locally and take some glorious pictures of plants as you are celebrating the outdoors. By sharing them on the free iNaturalist app, the world will know the beauty you have found in our area of the universe.

No other life is as pure as the plants. It is no wonder we cannot understand them.
Robert Black

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

Yellow Sunflower Moth Stiria rugifrons on top of Curlycup Gumweed Grindelia squarrosa — City Nature Challenge CNCYXE Saskatoon area versus YQRCNC Regina and area in a mini SK challenge

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
John Muir.

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

Big Wind Day

National Big Wind Day is observed each year on April 12. The speediest natural wind speed was recorded by Mount Washington Observatory on April 12, 1934. The winds were blowing at 3735 km per hour (231 miles per hour)!

While talking about wind, do you know about susurration? Susurration is the absolutely beautiful sound of leaves in the wind. Many people have listened to the sound of our Trembling Aspens across the prairies. Poplars which are also native trees have their own distinct song.

Thomas Hardy wrote in his book “Under the Greenwood Tree” about the various sounds made by each individual type of tree.

To dwellers in a wood almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature. At the passing of the breeze the fir-trees sob and moan no less distinctly than they rock; the holly whistles as it battles with itself; the ash hisses amid its quiverings; the beech rustles while its flat boughs rise and fall.
Thomas Hardy

The Irish Times writes about Hardy’s Singing Shrubs and Trees.

The Daily Mail expounds upon How to talk to a tree: Phrase book reveals the different noises trees make from Poplars that shiver to Elms that sing melancholy melodies.

BBC Radio tells How trees are talking to you and how to listen to them.

During the City Nature Challenge between April 29 to May 2, come out to the afforestation areas, and hear the Trembling Aspen. Be one of the people to support and listen to the Green Ash and American Elm now on the The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN)Red List of Threatened Species. Find out how the Spruce and Pine sing in the wind. Discover the sound of the tall Poplars, the tallest deciduous trees of the afforestation areas. It is truly a magical experience. Just download the free iNaturalist app, find it, snap it, share it.

The trees would love to meet you. Come to a group meet up at the afforestation areas during the City Nature Challenge.

CITY NATURE CHALLENGE Connect with Nature Fri., 29 April 2022 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Central Standard Time

CITY NATURE CHALLENGE Connecting to Nature. Calling all Nature Lovers Sat, 30 April 2022 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM CST

CITY NATURE CHALLENGE Nature Lover Observation Party Sun, 1 May 2022 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM CST

CITY NATURE CHALLENGE George Genereux Nature Canvass Mon., 2 May 2022 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Central Standard Time

Today Tue, April 12, 2022 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM CST is the history or backgrounder for the City Nature Challenge Webinar followed by the Citizen Science Event Planning webinar Tue, April 12, 2022 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM CST

Fraxinus_pennsylvanica Green Ash Opposite leaves which are pinnately compound with 7 to 9 serrate leaflets that are elliptical to lanceolate to elliptical in shape, entire leaf is 6 to 9 inches long, green on the top of the leaflets and silky smooth to silky-pubescent and paler below. Margins of the leaflets are either smooth or coarsely saw-toothed. Each leaflet has a short stalk or may be sessile and the leaf has a much longer stem. The little leaflets at the base are the teensiest of the leaflets

Elm Leaves — Fraxinus_pennsylvanica Green Ash Opposite leaves which are pinnately compound with 7 to 9 serrate leaflets that are elliptical to lanceolate to elliptical in shape, entire leaf is 6 to 9 inches long, green on the top of the leaflets and silky smooth to silky-pubescent and paler below. Margins of the leaflets are either smooth or coarsely saw-toothed. Each leaflet has a short stalk or may be sessile and the leaf has a much longer stem. The little leaflets at the base are the teensiest of the leaflets

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

iNaturalist Citizen Science New Species Discovery.

The Journal of Orthoptera Research published an article recently: Discovering insect species based on photographs only: The case of a nameless species of the genus Scaria (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae) submitted by University of Croatia students and their professor including Niko Kasalo, Maks Deranja, Karmela Adžić, Roberto Sindaco, Josip Skejo. They were looking at iNaturalist photos, and discovered a very beautiful observation of a pygmy grasshopper (family Tetrigidae) posted near Yambrasbamba a district of Bongará Province in Peru. Where the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) does allow naming from photographs should there be sufficient reason to persude this course, in this case, the pygmy grasshopper remains as “Nameless Scaria” because it is a symbol of all those species worldwide that have not been named and discovered, and perhaps have gone extinct without even being known. By publishing this article on this new species not only delved into the problem and the usual modus operandi, but also enabled inspiration into further research. In the same area, a search was made for the genus Scaria, and three new species were found, albeit not another matching “Nameless Scaria.”

The find went viral in the scientific community. Robert Sindaco, a naturalist has interests in biogeography, and sytematics of the Palearctic reptiles and lizards of Eastern Africa has published scientific papers as a specialist scientist. It was Sindaco or @sindic who uploaded this Peruvian observation to iNaturalist.

From iNaturalist came a great discussion, and interest in the genus Scaria, and attention for the students and their professor out of the University of Croatia.

The City Nature Challenge happens April 29 to May 2 in Saskatoon. What will you discover? Download the free iNaturalist app, find a wild organism of nature, find it, snap it, share it. It is easy to take part.

There are a couple of entomology or insect discussions coming up virtually

City Nature Challenge Insect Hints and Tips Tue April 26, 2022 at 7:00 PM CST

City Nature Challenge ID Party – Insects! Help for insect IDs/questions Tue, May 3, 2022 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM CST

"Nameless Scaria" Observer Roberto Sindaco Curator. Family Tetrigidae Pygmy Grasshopper. Citizen Science discovery and naming in Journal of Orthoptera Research — “Nameless Scaria” Observer Roberto Sindaco iNaturalist Curator. Family Tetrigidae Pygmy Grasshopper. Citizen Science discovery and naming in Journal of Orthoptera Research

My dear young fellow,’ the Old-Green-Grasshopper said gently, ‘there are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven’t started wondering about yet.
Roald Dahl

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

Name Yourself Day

Today is a fun day – it is “Name Yourself Day!” Doesn’t that sound like a great spot of fun as you introduce your name to friends and families!

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
William Shakespeare

Finding out the name of things is very rewarding. “What is it?” YouTube Video delves into how to find out the name of all the various organisms of nature around you by using iNaturalist.

From today, “Name Yourself Day!” there are 19 days from April 9 until the Saskatoon City Nature Challenge when you can dive into the names of plants, animals, insects and mushrooms between April 29 to May 2. For more information about the City Nature Challenge Saskatoon and Area.

Enjoy the outdoors whilst supporting vital conservation research by making observations April 29 to May 2 on the iNaturalist app during the City Nature Challenge

BE THE REASON NATURE BELIEVES IN HUMANITY

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
Henry David Thoreau

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

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