Afforestation Areas as Sacred Places

The afforestation areas have a unique sense of place. Place and the sacredness of place is something that indigenous people feel are being lost in this day of truth and reconciliation.

Places are embodied with the aura of that which is sacred or holy and can be dedicated as sacred places as can be objects, artifacts, or organisms.

In the afforestation areas is a species at risk, an endangered species which means that it is of minute and scarce quantity in danger of disappearing entirely. This species at risk is sacred to indigenous people and to other cultures as its very name bears homage to that which is holy.

It is with heavy heart that a desecration occurred with a great disrespect to indigenous cultures, and to the community of the afforestation areas. The population and afforestation area community are stewards and guardians of the afforestation area, and respect the gift of greenspace afforded to them to be in the great out of doors. There is a diverse community of users who have pride in the afforestation areas, and consider it special. It is with sorrow to say that there are those who do not honour and respect the gift which the community has in this urban regional park. It is with great disrespect, when a species at risk has been so vandalized and desecrated in the afforestation areas.

There is much loss and anguish for the extirpation of the bison from the plains historically. In this day of age with Traditional Ecological Ways of Knowing, and western scientific knowledge shared through Species at Risk Act SARA, The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre that extirpation of species is seeing history repeating itself. Why would anyone wish to wilfully and maliciously extirpate a species at risk? Why would anyone wish to despoil, wreck, raze, devastate a species at risk which is accorded a high honour within our indigenous community, as well as in other cultures globally? Why would anyone wish the bison to disappear from the plains?

If anyone has any clues or reports to be made in protection of the afforestation areas, please call the Provincial Government TIPP hotline for illegal forest harvesting. or call the City of Saskatoon Parks department 306-975-2476 or the Meewasin Valley Authority 306-665-6887 Please help protect these places which so many have come to honour and appreciate for a variety of reasons. What is the difference between walking, cycling and skiing in a parking lot and in a forest?

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.comFacebook 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

We have a problem

April is World Habitat Awareness Month

In “the Canadian prairie region, a reported 71 percent of wetlands have been lost, due primarily to agricultural land conversion but also due to road development and urban growth” according to Sizo et al.

For today’s climate action activities check out these online resources so that once COVID-19 has subsided then caring can begin:

drop letter puzzle
Richard St. Barbe Baker Quotation Drop Letter Puzzle

“The majority of wetland alteration is driven by, or associated with, changes to land use and land cover (LUC) resulting from human-induced surface disturbance . In recent years, urban growth and regional development have become significant drivers of LUC change, due to the direct and indirect effects of surface disturbances to wetland hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology. … Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), the assessment and integration of environmental and sustainability considerations in policy, plan, or program (PPP) development and decision making, has gained considerable momentum in recent years as a proactive and spatially appropriate framework for assessing and shaping land use policies, plans, and development actions, including urban and regional land use plans, and managing their impacts on wetlands.”[Sizo]
On page 7 of Navigating Nature-based Solutions for Managing Water Resources in Saskatchewan’s 25-Year Water Security Plan is a framework for assessing nature based solution NBSs application in the Saskatchewan Water Security Plan taking into account an eco-system based approach, eco-hydrology, eco-phyto-, and bio- remediation, green/natural infrastructure, and environmental flows.
“The environmental significance of wetlands is well recognized: wetlands provide habitat for a large  number of species, serve as flood control areas, and support ecosystems in terms of water quality maintenance, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. Despite this, wetlands are decreasing more rapidly than any other type of ecosystem.” [Sizo]

“There is no denying it. We have a problem; a problem that has
to be solved for the sake of current and future generations.”
climate change – Government of Saskatchewan -White Paper

There is indeed a problem. Time to put aside the herbicides and pesticides, and stop poisoning the earth.   There is a need to explain how to use permaculture or the treating of the soil as an eco-system to increase the carbon sequestration and yields.  Benefits of agro-forestry, and working in harmony with nature to help forest, water and grasslands will maximize soil potentials.  Yes, there needs to be more education and awareness.

you can’t expect to see change if you never do anything differently

Today is Tuesday,  April 28, and are nearly at the end of officially celebrating Earth Month. This year’s Earth Day 2020 theme is Climate Action.  It is also the proclamation for  the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020

 

Bibliography

 

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:

Canada Helps

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

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

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.~ George Bernard Shaw

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ―Mahatma Ghandi
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