In addition to these two divisions, there is additionally the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan which have set up provincial projects as well. So this means that you can actually use iNaturalist anywhere in the province and still be counted in. Here is a handy link to the Saskatoon and Area BioDiverCity Challenge
“Plants and flowers taught me how to grow, by growing in secret and in silence.”
Michael Bassey Johnson.
So, at this virtual Zoom identification party, we will discover the exciting world of identifications using iNaturalist. Plants will be the focus, and if anyone has a plant related question, now would be the time to bring it forward. We are mainly focusing in on native or wild plants, and not cultivated plants for the garden or flower bed.
If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.
E. O. Wilson
The City Nature Challenge happens April 29 – May 2, and it is so exciting to have so many interested people in the CNCYXE2022! Thanks for downloading the iNaturalist app, doing some experimental observations, and looking outside in nature for wildlife. It can be any wild plant, insects, mushrooms, animal, fungi, or any other evidence of life (shells, scat, fur, tracks, feathers, nests) found in your neighborhood, home, backyard, or even through your windows. You might be surprised by how many insects thrive in the nooks and crannies around you. There are also some group meets planned as well to take advantage of.
Pollinator on dandelionThermopsis rhombifolia flowers – Buffalo Bean Nadiatalent CCx4Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CanadaCaragana Flower Blooom FRichard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK CAWhite Rose
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!
CNC YXE DNU participant / collaborator / organiser meetings held the second Tuesday of the month via zoom email for your zoom link friendsafforestation@gmail.com From there we can arrange to host iNaturalist introductory webinars for observers and identifiers or bio-blitz hints and tips.
Help put the City of Saskatoon and area on the world nature scene! Using iNaturalist take photos of plants, animals, insects and mushrooms between April 29 – May 2, 2022! Saskatoon will compete for the title of the most Biodiverse City. We need your help. YouTube Video about getting involved
From May 3-May 8 identify what was found in Saskatoon Taking part is easy!
Whether you’re an avid naturalist or a dog walker, everyone can participate: it’s easy, fun, and will encourage you to get outdoors.
If you’re new to iNaturalist, then we can help {either contact us via friendsafforestation@gmail.som or follow instructions online at https://inaturalist.ca/.}
Started in 2016 for the first-ever Citizen Science Day, the citizen science teams at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and California Academy of Sciences dreamed up the City Nature Challenge as a fun way to capitalize on their home cities’ friendly rivalry and hold a citizen science event around urban biodiversity. The first City Nature Challenge was an eight-day competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, engaging residents and visitors in documenting nature to better understand urban biodiversity. Over 20,000 observations were made by more than 1000 people in a one-week period, cataloging approximately 1600 species in each location, including new records for both areas. During the 2016 CNC, the organizers heard so much excitement and interest from people in other cities that they decided that they couldn’t keep to the fun just to themselves. In 2017 the City Nature Challenge went national, and in 2018, the CNC became an international event!
Saskatoon is now registered for the very first time ever to participate in the 2022 event – so we really need your help to highlight the City of Saskatoon area!
The Canada Wide City Nature Challenge is hosted by Canadian Wildlife Federation. The worldwide City Nature Challenge is hosted by California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
CNC YXE is run completely by volunteer organizers. If you’re part of a local stewardship or municipal group and would like to contribute to the promotion of the event, offer your skillsets, or make a donation to this city project please contact friendsafforestation@gmail.com to learn more.
Protecting the environment, taking action on climate change, conservation and restoration for species at risk, all while enjoying nature it doesn’t get better than this! Take part in the launch of “Our Forest Returns Saskatoon” – a campaign to kickstart the amazing wonders of winter in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and out at George Genereux Urban Regional Park.
What is a Saskatoon Wild Forest Angel for the Our Forest Returns Saskatoon campaign? How does becoming a steward or guardian make a difference for nature in the City of Saskatoon afforestation areas?
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
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
“The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it. ” Wangari Maathai.
“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nations saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.
The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park need you! If you would like to truly become a knowledegable biophiliac, use your time during COVID-19 to order Trees in Canada written by John Laird Farrar. This most excellent book introduces one to the 12 groupings of trees. And you may have thought there were only two – evergreens (conifers) and deciduous (broad-leaf) trees. If you would like to be able to identify the various characteristics of trees, then Farrar has provided this excellent resource. On pages 62-63, for instance the leaves, buds, twigs, seed cones, seeds, seedlings, bark, size and form are noted for the Scots Pine (Scotch pine Pinus sylvestris L.)
Trees exhale for us so that we can inhale them to stay alive. Can we ever forget that? Let us love trees with every breath we take until we perish.”
― Munia Khan
You can take care of yourself, and do your part for social isolation during this COVID-19 pandemic, and help the forests at the same time! If you are on self-isolation, go on iNaturalist at home, and help identify the species that have already been found!
The long needles of the Scots Pine
Richard St. Barbe Baker AFforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK
Trembling Aspen Leaf with dew drops, Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA
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
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!
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“From the forest and wilderness come the tonics and bark which brace mankind…A town is saved, not more by the righteous men in it than by the woods and swamps that surround it…”
-Henry David Thoreau
“This generation may either be the last to exist in any semblance of a civilised world or that it will be the first to have the vision, the bearing and the greatness to say, ‘I will have nothing to do with this destruction of life, I will play no part in this devastation of the land, I am determined to live and work for peaceful construction for I am morally responsible for the world of today and the generations of tomorrow.’”
Richard St. Barbe Baker
How can we determine which of the roses are which in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities?
Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) the Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana) and Wood’s Rose, or Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii) are perhaps easiest to identify in mid-June when the pink blooms appear. These blooms last perhaps two weeks, giving way to the fruit or the red or reddish-orange rose hips, which again make this bush easy to identify. Whereas, all rose bushes have thorns, the Prickly Rose is abundant with weak thorns.
Rose in the Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Native Rose Bush blooming in June
Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) the Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana) and Wood’s Rose, or Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii) all grow well across Saskatchewan, in the quaking aspen parkland, and also the grasslands as well as the northern boreal forests. This bush is often found where the soil has been made acidic due to the contributions of spruce or pine, and will grow in forests comprised of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), and cottonwood (Populous spp.) all of these trees making up both the afforestation areas – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.
The rose bush, will make its appearance in places where rodents or other animals disturb the soil, loosening up the soil which then receives the rose seed (achene) in an area conducive to growth. Or, in fact, these animals may also be disturbing the rhizomatous roots which are laying below the soil. Adventitious buds form on roots near the ground surface, on damaged stems (as on the stumps of cut rose shrubs), or on old roots. These roots develop into above-ground stems and leaves. A form of budding called suckering is the reproduction or regeneration of a plant by shoots that arise from an existing root system. The rose bushes do not tolerate a closed forest canopy as they are only moderately shade tolerant.
What is the difference between scientists?
A botanist is an expert in or student of the scientific study of plants, based on the Greek root botanikos, from botanē meaning plant, and -logy from French -logie or from Greek / medieval Latin -logia meaning the study or interest in a subject. A biologist is a scientist who focuses on living organisms, including plants and animals from Greek bios ‘life’ + -logy. A naturalist, on the other hand, is a person who studies or is an expert in natural history, especially a zoologist or botanist. Historically, if one lived back in the late 14th century, the Middle English word for a “natural philosopher or scientist” was naturien instead of naturalist.
A citizen scientist is anyone who aids in the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world, and reports them to a collaborative project with professional scientists. Some wonderful ways to report data from the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest ecosystems, would be for citizen scientists to make observations and send them off on their computers or by using phone apps. iNaturalist, ebird, Bird Studies Canada, EcoSpark, eButterfly, FrogWatch, PlantWatch, Project Noah, Project BudBurst, Nature’s Notebook, LeafSnap. The Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan has a Saskatchewan Master Naturalists program. The Saskatoon Nature Society conducts regular field trips to connect people and nature. Jane’s Walks and The Wild About Saskatoon Walks in the spring month of May introduce the visitor to both the afforestation areas – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.
PlantWatch The PlantWatch program enables citizen scientists to get involved by recording flowering times for selected plant species and reporting these dates to researchers, who work to identify ecological changes that may be affecting our environment. By reporting on the PlantWatch species found in your community, you can help researchers discover how common plants are responding to climate change and track where changes are taking place in Canada, and at what rate.
Project BudBurst Project BudBurst is an app to receive data on the timing of leafing and flowering of trees and flowers Project BudBurst also offers climate change and phenology materials and tools
LeafSnap The user of the LeafSnap App needs to extract the leaf and place it in a white background and then take a picture through the app to get the leaf identified automatically.
Reporting your findings on facebook, or social media, and using the hashtags #ScienceAroundMe., #RichardStBarbeBakerAfforestationArea, #GeorgeGenereuxUrbanRegionalPark, #Saskatoon, #YXEGreenStrategy are some excellent ways to track the eco-system out at the afforestation areas.
What is taxonomy?
Botanists refer to a taxonomic key produced by a taxonomist when speaking in reports, publications or at conferences about plants.
Taxonomic Ranks, and Binomial Name Genus and Species
“Nature produces individuals, and nothing more. She produces them in such countless numbers that we are compelled to sort them into kinds in order that we may be able to carry them in our minds. This sorting is classification—taxonomy.” ~C.E. Bessey Though Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) may be regarded as the first ever naturalist, Theophrastus (371–287 B.C.), his pupil, is recognised as the father of Botany. However, the starting point for modern botanical nomenclature is Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum of 1753 which featured a key event as Linnaeus adopted the system of using binomial names for plant species. Binomial nomenclature is a two-naming system featuring the first part of the name – the generic name– identifying the genus to which the plant or organism belongs, while the second part – the specific name or specific epithet – continues on to identify the species. The classification of something, living things or organisms is the science called taxonomy. Ataxonomist groups organisms into categories. A plant taxonomist may study the origins, and the relationships between different types of roses. Taxonomists may come up with their own system of plant taxonomy or “taxonomic system
Taxonomic Chart Blank
Figure 1 Complete the Taxonomic Ranks for the Saskatchewan Wild Rose Method 1 Use the given relationships below used by botanists Method 2 Create your own Taxonomy Chart, Taxonomic Section titles, and plant names.
In Saskatchewan roses have the same taxonomy through to the genus “Rosa.” Of all the taxonomic classifications, the clade ‘Rosids’ is the most challenging taxonomic category to describe.
Kingdom: Plantae. Plantae means plants, featuring multi-cellular living things with predominantly photosynthetic cells.
Rosales Classification taxonomy key according to the USDA
Clade: Angiosperms. Angiosperms are plants with fruit. Angiosperms are land plants which produce seeds within an enclosure such as a fruiting body. Angiosperms is derived from the Greek words angeion (“case” or “casing”) and sperma (“seed”).
Clade: Eudicot. Eudicots have two seed leaves which provide nutrients to the embroyo from the Greek words eu, well or good, dio two, and kotylidon seedlobe. Eudicot as a reference first proposed that there is a pair of leaves, or cotyledons, in the embryo of the seed. Currently the classification refers to angiosperms which are not monocots.
Order: Rosales. Those rosids which are nitrogen fixing or those plants which belong to the nitrogen fixing order are given the name Rosales.
Family: Rosaceae. The subfamily of rosaceae is Rosoideae, those plants with rose hips. Rosoideae which are those genera bearing aggregate fruits that are made up of small achenes or drupelets, and often the fleshy part of the fruit is the receptacle or the stalk bearing the carpels (female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an ovary, a stigma, and usually a style). In taxonomy, that which separates the family Rosaceae from the order Rosales is that the plant ovaries and achenes (seeds) are hidden inside the round hypanthium.
Genus: Rosa. Two of the ways that the rosaceae family can be narrowed down to the genus Rosa are; if the plant features many pistils and prickly stems. chapter: genus Rosa (Part 3).
Species:R. Acicularlis Lindl., R. arkansana, R. woodsii
Biological Classification Chart
Figure 2 From the information above fill out the Biological classification Chart. What happened? Have there been changes in the Linnaean system? Why? For extra points, how many different kingdoms are there?
In the USDA classification
Kingdom Plantae refers to plants.
Sub-Kingdom Tracheobionta are vascular plants with lignified plant tissues (called vessels or trachea) for moving water and minerals around the plant.
Super-division Spermatophyta are seed plants. Seed plants are divided into two groups Gymnosperms and Angiosperms.
Division Magnoliophyta are flowering plants. Plants in Magnoliophyta were formerly classified as angiosperms.
Order Rosales feature nitrogen fixing flowers with four or five petals and the blossoms are flat or cup-shaped. They also have fleshy fruit.
Activities and questions
Design, construct and evaluate the effectiveness of a taxonomic classification technique that demonstrates the scientific principles underlying the identification of plants and how to differentiate one plant from another.
Evaluate, compare (find the similarities) and contrast (find the differences) to weigh the effectiveness of more than one of the previously devised botanical classifications. Debate the issue with supporting arguments pro and con.
What type of background in the physical sciences would a botanist or a taxonomist require?
Are there any biologists, or naturalists in Saskatchewan?
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
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!
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.
“In the stillness of the mighty woods, man is made aware of the divine”
Richard St Barbe Baker
On behalf of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the George Genereux Urban Regional Park, thank you for taking the opportunity to behold this very first ever Special Report for our afforestation area tourist. Where to begin? That is the question. How much do you know about these afforestation areas? These wilderness empires, namely our two afforestation areas have been stealing hearts with their expansive beauty and this heartfelt outpouring of love from around the world, and close to home is what will snatch them from leveling forces of development. They are likely to prove the richest, noblest heritage of our city. Here the world is at play, here are scenes ever new and that will greatly help to keep the city young.
The tourist who moves about to see and hear and open himself to all the influences of the places which condense centuries of human greatness is only a man in search of excellence.Max Lerner
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park, Saskatoon, SK A Statistical Word Cloud Report sampling
“It is as if Nature in these places had in self-defense devoted all her energies to scenery, proclaiming to the nation, ‘Here I will make playgrounds for the people. Here is nothing for commerce or industry. Here is natural beauty at its wildest and best. Elsewhere man must live by the sweat of his brow. Here let him rest and play. Here I will rule supreme for all time.'”John Dickinson Sherman
These interesting afforestation areas are becoming every day more and more the subject of inquiry and personal investigation.
Why? Well, scenery is, without doubt, one of our most valuable resources.
The climate is varied, the wetlands are extensive, the grasslands are covered in roses and wild flowers, while those studying botany the treasures abound with a varied ecology of wonder, and the woodlands tempt the eyes with sightings of deer, moose, and woodpecker. The man of science is appeased with the thrill of a rich vein of geological history. The inquisitive traveler doubtless will ascertain statistical observations as they progress throughout the green spaces.
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist see what he has come to see.G. K. Chesterton
It is our great hope and belief that they will become a marked factor in public education. Surely, these wonderlands mean much for the general welfare, and will help to develop greater men and women—to arouse enthusiasm for our native land, and for nature everywhere.
“Travel is the great
source of true wisdom.”
—Beaconsfield.
It is told that the Piute Indians recount a legend which goes like this. Just at the close of creation, woman was consulted. She called into existence the birds, the flowers, and the trees. That is the kind of a woman with whom to start a world. Our cities still need green places full of hope and beauty, with birds, flowers, and trees! With their help we may live long and happily and harmoniously upon a beautiful world.
Scenic parts of this poetic and primeval world—parts rich in loveliness and grandeur—are “preserved in perpetuity” for us. They contain splendid scenic and scientific features not elsewhere to be seen. The traveler might spend hours and hours in them without exhausting even their best attractions.
An afforestation area is an island of safety in this riotous world. Splendid forests, the wetlands that sparkle in glory, the wild flowers that charm and illuminate the earth, the wild deer of the woodland nooks and crannies, and the beauty of the birds, all have places of refuge which our afforestation areas provide.
Our afforestation areas are the fountain of life. They are without doubt a potential factor for good in our city life. They hold within their magic realm benefits that are health-giving, educational, economic; that further efficiency and ethical relations, and are inspirational. Every one needs to play, and to play out of doors. Without parks, afforestation areas and outdoor life all that is best in civilization would be smothered. To prevent our perishing, to save ourselves, to enable us to live at our best and happiest, afforestation areas are necessary. Within these areas is room—glorious room—room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.
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
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!
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
“I believe with Ruskin, that I must be just to the Earth beneath my feet, to the neighbour by my side and to the Light that comes from above and within that this wonderful world of ours may be a little more beautiful and happy from my having lived in it. “Richard St. Barbe Baker.
![IMG_8741[1]](https://stbarbebaker.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/img_87411.jpg?w=836&resize=836%2C836#038;h=836&crop=1 "IMG_8741[1]")
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 
