For our members, and the general public whom our non profit environmental charity serves, here is a recounting of the year 2020-2021 featuring some of the highlights from the past, and some indicators of the coming year as well.
Please email with your comments friendsafforestation@gmail.com You may support or provide input into our future work by coming out to virtual meetings held on zoom every second Thursday of the month. Look forward to meeting you.
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
Extraordinary legacy tour of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
As part of the City of Saskatoon’s very first Arbor Week, the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc hosted the Extraordinary legacy tour of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area with Robert White as guest speaker.
Robert White Tour: The remarkable legacy of Richard St. Barbe Baker
His presentation was a heartfelt speech of his memories and time getting to know Richard St. Barbe Baker. It was poignant, touching, and truly gave meaning to the legacy of Richard St. Barbe Baker, founder of the International Tree Foundation.
I approach God’s Creation, this beautiful Earth. The ancients believed that the Earth was a sentient being and felt the behavior of mankind upon it. As we have no proof to the contrary, it might be as well for responsible people to accept this point of view and behave accordingly.
Richard St. Barbe Baker
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.
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
“…there is nothing more sacred than the pact between humans and the land that gives them their food. Janine Benyus.” (Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti)
“journeys of … eco-municipalities towards sustainability also teach that there are no package solutions toward this goal. Each community and each actor within that community must find the particular path that fits that local terrain and situation.”Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti
Rime Ice at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. NE 21-36-6 W 3 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 NE 21-36-6
Snowfall Saturday September 22 2018 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Saskatoon, SK, CA
Fresh Snow in the Sun
Fresh Snow Reveals a Nest in the Bare Branches
“[We] do not really know what we are losing when we lose species. Some ecologists have likened the loss of biodiversity to an airplane flight during which we continually pull out rivets as the plane cruises along. How many rivets can we pull out before disaster occurs?” Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti
One of the signposts along the path include a guiding local vision. Saskatoon has undertaken its vision or journey of growth to half a million people with the YXEGreenStrategy, and Saskatoon’s Strategic Growth Plan which includes seven strategic goals.
“Eco-municipalities have educated thousands of their employees about unsustainable environmental and social trends and the reasons why new local practices are essential for helping to change these trends. These municipalities have engaged community citizens – sometimes, entire villages – in planning and revitalization initiatives toward sustainability. These community initiatives have found locally suited ways to reduce use of fossil fuels, metals and minerals, chemicals, encroachment upon nature, and to meet human and community needs fairly and efficiently.”Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti
“What you people call your natural resources, our people call our relatives” ~ Orien Lyons, faith keeper of the Onondaga.
“Many of us are aware that having open space, woodlands, babbling brooks, and singing birds nearby contributes to our quality of life. What we often forget, though, is that these aspects of nature are also our life-support system. Without enough oxygen to breathe, without enough green plants to support our food system, without enough potable water, there would be no us.” Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti
“The great biologist E.O. Wilson has said…”the question I am asked most frequently about the diversity of life [is]: if enough species are extinguished, will the ecosystems collapse, and will the extinction of most other species follow soon afterward? The only answer anyone can give is, possibly. By the time we find out, however, it might be too late. One planet, one experiment.” Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti
Please read the following long range planning reports and how they relate to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and the George Genereux Urban Regional Park.
James, Sarah and Torbjörn Lahti. The Natural Step for Communities. How Cities and Towns can change to sustainable practices. ISBN 0-86571-491-6. New Society Publishers. Gabriola Island, B.C. 2004.
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.
“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker
“Man has lost his way in the jungle of chemistry and engineering and will have to retrace his steps, however painful this may be. He will have to discover where he went wrong and make his peace with nature. In so doing, perhaps he may be able to recapture the rhythm of life and the love of the simple things of life, which will be an ever-unfolding joy to him.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and West Swale Wetlands , Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Saskatoon has a a Strategic plan which embraces the decade 2013-2023. Within the plan are seven strategic goals to accomplish the Saskatoon Community Vision. The vision identified these seven goals from community engagement, Saskatoon Speaks.
“There are no limits to the majestic future which lies before the mighty expanse of Canada with its virile, aspiring, cultured, and generous-hearted people.
– Sir Winston Churchill”
The Strategic goal of continuous improvement is proactive, innovative, and forward thinking.
The Strategic goal of asset and financial sustainability brings forward best practices, balances debt, investment, funding plans and capital improvements when managing City goals and guidelines.
The Strategic goal, quality of life, focuses on the theme of social well being, recreation, parks and community culture. Saskatoon’s neighbourhoods and communities thrive with access to natural beauty, parks, trails, options, and an active, vibrant future. Improving quality of life examines active opportunities and services for a winter city. Saskatoon’s community spirit embraces creative ways to include all citizens, and everyone is enriched with the feeling of belonging to this rich and dynamic city. Together, with open conversation, and innovative collaboration bridges are built, focusing on services important to the community and its citizens. With pro-active quality of life, the community forges ahead together enhancing future opportunities. This strategy, quality of life, reduces and prevents crime across the city while increasing community building and meeting community needs.
Environmental leadership marks another Strategic goal. The urban forest, green open space, connect with the South Saskatchewan River resulting in a healthy and strong ecosystem supporting a lush and vigorous bio-diversity of flora and fauna in the aspen parkland biome. The City of Saskatoon respect for the environment resonates and reverberates in harmony with nature – the woodlands, wetlands and grasslands.
The Strategic goal of sustainable growth, embraces both the city centre, and shaping the city growth. This plan examines the process of updating, and establishing infill corridors, and redefining existing and new neighbourhood development.
The Strategic goal of moving around examines the efficient, accessible and comprehensive flow of people and goods around Saskatoon.
Economic Diversity and Prosperity, focusing on the City’s economy is also one of the seven Strategic goals focusing on building diverse communities with positive and successful options and thriving outcomes for entrepreneurs, unique industries, and business areas.
How will the population of Saskatoon spike over the next years? The city of Saskatoon is founded on a solid base of prosperity with a rich quality of life, and an amazing environment. The citizens are thus doubly enriched that today is sustainable with wholesome opportunities, and that the city of Saskatoon has a dynamic vision and plan for the future.
“The present is full of opportunity. Never before in the history of the planet has mankind been given the privileges and opportunities that are at his disposal today. A great light has been raised and is penetrating the darkness of the world, but alas,
too many with dust blinded eyes have yet to catch the vision. Some of us have. That is our privilege and our responsibility. ” ~Richard St. Barbe Baker
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
Please help protect / enhance /commemorate 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!
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
It is not a farce.…”To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.” ~Terry Tempest Williams
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 