Tag: conserve

Water and Afforestation

March would not be complete without acknowledging World Water Day celebrated on March 22. The theme for 2021 is Valuing Water! #WorldWaterDay and Water2me.

So when you are out enjoying the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, know that learning about the underground natural springs, the wetlands and the formation of the West Swale via the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway is a great way to learn about the South Saskatchewan Watershed which supplies the City of Saskatoon drinking water. A valuable commodity which is supplied by a “free” ecosystem service. This service will only provide supply if we take care of our ecosystem.

The trees and vegetation, which cover the land surface of the Earth and delight the eye, are performing vital tasks incumbent upon the vegetable world in nature. Its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life; it it the ‘skin’ of the earth, for without it there can be no water, and therefore, no life.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

Water ~ critical long range planning

“Of the earth’s thirty billion acres, already nine billion acres are desert. And if a man loses a third of his skin, he dies; plastic surgeons say “He’s had it.” And if a tree loses one-third of its bark, it dies. And if the earth loses one-third of its green mantle of trees, it will die. The water table will sink beyond recall and life on this planet will become impossible. It’s being skinned alive today…” Richard St. Barbe Baker

What is your story about how you value water? Do you value the community volunteer Clean Green Community Scene trash cleanups which keep the West Swale wetlands water fresh and clean? Do you value the Chappell Marsh wetlands located in both Chappell Marsh Conservation Area and in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area which provide habitat for a number of species at risk waterfowl? Check out the iNaturalist.pdf pamphlet!

There are stories indeed about water and how the stewards and stakeholders of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestion Areas value water on a variety of levels.

Did you take part in the Government of Canada freshwater management consultation? The consultation paved the way to creating a Canada Water Agency to keep our water fresh and clean! 😉 Read the Government of Canada’s Discussion Paper “Toward the Creation of a Canada Water Agency.” The University of Saskatchewan also discusses this project.

Do you value water? Do you conserve and preserve water at home? Do you appreciate walks alongside the water’s edge and observe the blackbirds, ducks, geese and herons? Do you participate in the community cleanups to keep our wetlands fresh and healthy?

For the Take It Outside Winter Staycation challenge. Email us your wetlands photograph out at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Download our local wetlands bird checklist Pamphlet.

  • A bit of fog and hoar frost in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
  • Horned Grebe Podiceps Auritus
  • A bit of fog and hoar frost in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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

“I thought how lovely and how strange a river is. A river is a river, always there, and yet the water flowing through it is never the same water and is never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move. And over time the river itself changes too.

Aiden Chambers

Life is like the river, sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere.

Membership has it benefits!

Becoming a  member in the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. has its benefits!

  1. Securing membership of the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc., first and foremost proves to the world that the City of Saskatoon and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park 344 is serious when it comes to tackling their environmental concerns.  We have six programmes targeting the mitigation of environmental degradation and embarking on a vision for action with a sustainable approach so the natural resources, ecological health and environmental processes can be maintained and conserved.
  2. Advocate to the City of Saskatoon and its agencies, the Meewasin Valley Authority, with a united voice on public policy issues related to the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, the users, and stakeholders of this greenspace.
  3. Share information, awareness and leadership with other Friends members on current issues of priority concern.
  4. Participate in Monthly Roundtable meetings every second Wednesday of the  month focused on those issues relating to the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas from users, and stakeholders from these greenspaces.

  5. As a member you are conserving forests, wetlands, and grasslands upon which all life depends.  Every endangered species protected so it does not become extinct, every habitat protected, every naturalized acre we protect, begins with your involvement!  The power and the strength is in you!  Take action and partner with us.

    “Be soft, don’t let the world make you hard. Be gentle, don’t let the people make you difficult. Be kind, don’t let the realities of life steal your sweetness and make you heartless.” ― Nurudeen Ushawu

    2020 Green Vision

    and

    2020 Green Vision Condensed

  7. $20,000! for $1.00!  can you helps?

    Children enjoying their time collecting leaves in the autumn forest.
    His honour, W. Thomas (Tom) Molloy, O.C., S.O.M., Q.C., LL.B, LL.D. Lieutenant Govenor of Saskatchewan and Paul Hanley, author Man of the Trees. Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Conservationist. By Paul Hanley Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales Introduction by Jane Goodall,
    Richard Kerbes SOS Elms Coalition
    Parents and Child in Nature
    Public Health Nurse Presentation at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestaton Area, Saskatoon, Sk, CA 2016 Community Clean Up

    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

    Twitter: StBarbeBaker

    Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership Please and thank you!

    The trees and vegetation, which cover the land surface of the Earth and delight the eye, are performing vital tasks incumbent upon the vegetable world in nature. Its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life; it it the ‘skin’ of the earth, for without it there can be no water, and therefore, no life.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

    Most of the important things in the world
    have been accomplished by people
    who have kept on trying
    when there seemed to be no hope at all.
    – Dale Carnegie

A Tree-mendous Result!

The challenges looming on the horizon appear to be both awesome and formidable. …But, hey! What do we have to loose?

The changes taking place in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the consequent erection of barriers to forestall illegal dumping and mitigate such trespass is beginning at the Urban Regional Park. Along with this spirit of defending the urban regional park, with physical, concrete Jersey Barriers, education is a vital link.

How will Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area find its place in Saskatoon? At the centre of the transition are great questions. How to appease a variety of contemporary stakeholders, how to honour City of Saskatoon wetlands policy and open space bylaws, and how to coalesce with the intent of the history and the city visionaries of 1960 who bought this piece of land as a “green belt” for Saskatoon, and the parks department personnel who went before city council to preserve the afforestation area in perpetuity in 1972. At the heart of the debate is succinctly this: “How will Saskatoon answer these great challenges?”

In the age of climate change and nature-deficit disorder, such experiences underscore this truth: Our relationship with nature is not only about preserving land and water, but also about preserving and growing the bonds between us. ” ~ Louv. 2011. p. 139.

This is definitely an area where Saskatoon could shine. As Maude Barlow states, ” The most important step is to be clear about the nature of the problem.”Barlow. 2005. p.271 This is an opportunity for Saskatoon to take a stand. How the civic government of Saskatoon and the parks department answer these great questions of this Afforestation Area in this time, depends on whose counsel it seeks.

If anything is going to limit the supposedly infinite possibilities of economic globalization, it will be the earth itself. Humanity has destroyed more forests, wetlands, and wild spaces in the last hundred years than in all of history. The highly regarded journal <Science reports that recent extinction rates are one hundred to one thousand times higher than before humans existed. Moreover, it says, with the exponential extinction rate now being experienced, that number could increase to between one thousand and ten thousand times by the end of the century….what is clearly needed is “Plan Rejuvenation”Barlow. 2015. p 279. 283.

The afforestation area and the West Swale wetlands, indeed has some serious problems that need to be addressed. The community and several stakeholders will take note of what the City of Saskatoon decides. “Opportunities to find the natural world are all around us, even in the densest cities. But, unless we act quickly to conserve and restore these places, and create new ones, then nearby nature will become a quaint artifact of another time.” Louv. 2011. p. 199 “But the task is not as straightforward as might first appear.” Barlow. Clarke. 2001. p. 168 “The challenges looming on the horizon appear to be both awesome and formidable.” Barlow. Clarke. 2001. p.225

A Tree-mendous achievement to placing barriers to mitigate trash dumping and illegal trespass has made taken a step forward. The project cannot begin by barricading the trash in. Or, if a farmer erects a fence to keep the fox out of the chicken yard, erects the fence, and turns around and sees the fox in the chicken yard, the fence defeats its purpose.  So, as a good example going forward, a group of environmentally conscious volunteers from a diverse array of stakeholder backgrounds came together on Saturday, October 29, 2016, for a mini-clean up.  This mini clean up lasted two hours; entailed three pick up trucks, a trailer, and eight volunteers. resulting in the removal of approximately 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) of trash that was missed in the previous clean ups of June 2015 and July 2016. To echo the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Deep thanks to all. How that great work of Love enhances Nature and thus shines Nature’s lamp in each.

“Above all, it is important to recall that the real strength and power of civil society, as distinct from governments and corporations, lies in the passion of people ~ the capacity to feel, touch, and relate to one another and thereby bring life back into this world” Maude. Clarke. 2001 p. 225

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CA
Black Capped Chickadee. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. SAskatoon, Sk, CA
Chipping Soarrow. Spizella passerina. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CA

Living fences made of dense, thorny, and sometimes poisonous bushes are used by farmers who cannot afford barbed wire. Living fences provide mulch, erosion control, land stabilization, fuel, and food;…What if, in our human habitats, we strove for biodiversity, for living fences and natural music? Louv. 2011.p. 101

“Given current corporate practices, not one wildlife reserve, wilderness or Indigenous culture will survive the global economy. We know that every natural system on the planet is disintegrating. The land, water, air, and sea have been functionally transformed from life-supporting systems into repositories for waste. There is no polite way to say that business is destroying the world.” ~ Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce,: A Declaration of Sustainability Barlow, Clarke, 2001. p. 81

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Barlow, Maude. too close for comfort. Canada’s future with Fortress North America 2005. McClelland & Stewart Ltd. The Canadian Publishers. Toronto, ON. ISBN 0-7710-1088-5.

Barlow, Maude and Tony Clarke. Global Showdown How the new activists are fighting global corporate rule. 2001. Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited. Toronto, ON. ISBN 0-7737-3264-0.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the woods. Saving our children from nature deficit disorder. 2005. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. ISBN 13: 978-1-56512-391-5. ISBN 10: 1-56512-391-3.

Louv, Richard. The Nature Principle. Human Restoration and the end of nature-deficit disorder 2011. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. North Carolina. ISBN 987-1-56512-581-0.

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 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)

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!

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1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

What was Richard St. Barbe Baker’s mission, that he imparted to the Watu Wa Miti, the very first forest scouts or forest guides?  To protect the native forest, plant ten native trees each year, and take care of trees everywhere.

“We stand in awe and wonder at the beauty of a single tree. Tall and graceful it stands, yet robust and sinewy with spreading arms decked with foliage that changes through the seasons, hour by hour, moment by moment as shadows pass or sunshine dapples the leaves. How much more deeply are we moved as we begin to appreciate the combined operations of the assembly of trees we call a forest.”~Richard St. Barbe Baker

 

 

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