Benefits of Shelterbelts – SB- Decision Support System

Eventbrite Registration for zoom link Tues Sept 21 7:00 Webinar registration Dr. Colin Laroque Shelterbelts and Agroforestry

The Shelterbelt Decision Support System [SB-DSS] – The Shelterbelt Decision Support System [SB-DSS] – how does this free tool give value to farmers and the potential for cash in pocket?

“in its latest climate change action plan, the Saskatchewan government is proposing to pay farmers for storing carbon, not just charging agricultural producers for emitting carbon into the atmosphere, “ reports U of S News. Dr. Colin Laroque from the University of Saskatchewan will present information about this free app – a tool for Saskatchewan farmers – to place a cash value on sustainable shelterbelts. The Free app is the Shelterbelt Decision Support System [SB – DSS] calculates the carbon offset value of shelterbelts, and isn’t that a fantastic way for farmers to know what their shelterbelt is worth under the $50 per tonne CO2E tax expected to roll out in 2022. This app is invaluable, as it also helps to suggest the best types of trees depending on the location in the province along with planting guidelines. Not only will farmers reap the environmental benefits, they can see the carbon offset value for the carbon pricing system.

Tues Sept 21 7:00 Webinar registration Dr. Colin Laroque Shelterbelts and Agroforestry

Dr. Colin Laroque Agroforestry and the Shelterbelt DSS App

This program for National Forest Week is brought to you by the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas an environmental non-profit charity that was created to preserve and restore the 326-acre Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the 148-acre George Genereux Urban Regional Park. Our work reinforces the 1979 City Council decision designating these afforestation areas on the western fringe of Saskatoon to “be preserved in perpetuity.” They are important habitat for wildlife as well as semi-wild public spaces for recreation and nature immersion. The larger of these two areas is named after Richard St. Barbe Baker (1889-1982), who has been called the “first global conservationist” and in recognition of this he was made the first Honorary Life Member of the World Wildlife Fund in 1969. A British forester who also homesteaded and studied in Saskatoon, he dedicated his entire life unfailingly to the preservation and planting of trees and forests.

” If you devote 22% of a quarter section, that’s 160 acres, to trees, you can double the crops.’ It’s a question of planting trees strategically. The trees reduce the speed of the wind, modify the climate, they modify the difference in temperature from day and night, and above all the trees make it possible for the earthworms to come into the land, and the earthworm casts its own weight every 24 hours. And a well-populated acre of worms casts 30 tonnes of worm castings per acre per year. That’s equal to 30 tonnes of farmyard manure on that land.” Richard St. Barbe Baker who also explains , that “We’re stabilizing the sand with a series of spiral shelters – rows of trees planted in semicircles to catch the winds and create vortices of air. The same thing would be valuable on the Canadian prairies where straight shelter belts cause snow to accumulate.”

National Forest Week The last full week of September. Maple Leaf Day the Wednesday of that week.

This is one session in a week long series of events celebrating National Forest Week with a theme – “Our Forests – Continually Giving”

Sat. Sept 18 7:00 Ryan Brook Saskatoon’s Wildlife—the real night life in Saskatoon! Saskatoon’s trail cams reveal who’s who. 

Sept 19 2:00 Nature Snapshot in Time

Sun Sep. 19 2:00 Forestry Farm Walking Tour

Canada-wide CLS environmental education program explores historical time lines Sun. Sep 19 7:00

Mon Sept 20 2:00 Flag raising Ceremony at City Hall – National Forest Week

Mon Sept 20 7:00 The Urban Forest and Climate Change

During National Forest Week enjoy the self-guided SOS Tree Tour of unique trees in our fair city!

Tues Sept 21 7:00  Dr. Colin Laroque Shelterbelts SB- Decision Support System and Agroforestry

Wed. Sept 22 Maple Leaf Day 7:00 National Healing Forests Truth and Reconciliation

Thurs Sept 23 7:00 Urban forests and greenspaces enhance Saskatoon’s quality of life.

Fri Sept Sep 24 at 7:00 pm When and Where did you see What?!?

Sat Sept 25 7:00 PaRx in Saskatchewan, PaRx, Canada’s First National Prescription Program has officially arrived in Saskatchewan!

Sunday Sunday Sep 26 at 2:00 Forest connections and guided walk

Sunday Sep 26, 2021 at 7:00 pm Our Forests.  Are They Alive?

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 )

Donate your old vehicle, here’s how!  

Support using Canada Helps

Support via a recycling bottle donation

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

Share this:

Contemplating the Future

“But what neither Yeats nor Einstein could envisage as they stared into their personal crystal balls for intimations of the future is that a biological breakdown of the entire planet was possible; that was beyond even their imaginations.  When contemplating the future, they thought in social and economic terms and of the possibilities of nuclear war, but fundamental changes to the planet’s biomass or the biochemistry of the atmosphere just wasn’t on their radar.~Clive Doucet.

“In the 21st century, you don’t need to be a great physicist, poet or novelist to anticipate a different and more profound danger to humanity in your personal crystal ball; being a city councillor will suffice.”~Clive Doucet.

What do afforestation areas provide in an era of climate change?

 

Snowfall Saturday September 22 2018 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Saskatoon, SK, CA

Branta canadensis Canada Goose

Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE, Hon. LL.D. F.I.A.L., For.Dip.Cantab., ACF (9 October 1889 – 9 June 1982)

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Northern Leopard Frog

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Bumblebee on rose

How does one explain extinction? “Like a child descending a playground slide, a point is passed in the descent when the acceleration becomes so swift that the final transformative moments occur with unstoppable finality.  In the case of the biosphere, the final transformation is more likely to be exactly this kind of sudden transition, not a predictable, gentle last step down a biological staircase.  ..there would be no final warning at all; that it would happen from one season to the next and by definition in a way that no one expected.”~Clive Doucet.

People are generally aware of the build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and climate change.  Similarly, folks are aware of the ozone layer thinning, allowing heat to escape.  “During the day, the temperature on the earth’s surface rockets up and then at night diminishes very quickly; these sharp temperature differentials cause hurricanes and form new deserts because fewer plants can survive to conserve water and create the transpiration cycle that the atmosphere needs to continue a balanced, regenerative behavior.”~Clive Doucet.

“In Europe right now, it takes years for the vegetation to recover from a severe summer heat wave and drought.  The year following a heat wave has less plants, less transpiration, less cooling oxygen, less reduction of carbon dioxide.”~Clive Doucet.

“Planting and growing increasing quantities of trees is the scientific solution to Earth’s environmental dilemma.” –Richard St. Barbe-Baker

What do George Genereux Urban Regional park, and the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area provide to you?

These two afforestation areas are not park spaces with money allocated for their upkeep, maintenance or forest management.  George Genereux Urban Regional park, and the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area are not municipal reserves or naturalized area reserves.  These two afforestation areas belong to land bank, the city department in charge of buying and selling land.

The responsibility is not shouldered by our governments alone, nor solely by our city councillors.  Democracy is a word which comes from two Greek words; dēmos “common people,” and kratos “rule, strength.”

So, our government, our city councillors depend on the voice of the common people.  As a matter of fact, Saskatoon started an initiative called Saskatoon Speaks. Email your city and your mayor and your councillor.  Ask questions, learn, and get answers.  Your mayor and your city councillor are hired with your tax dollars, they work for you.  You are the employer, speak up.

The Saskatchewan provincial motto is Multis e gentibus vires: from many peoples, strength.

“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

Bibliography

Doucet, Clive.  Urban Meltdown Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual.  ISBN 1-800-567-6772. New Society Publishing. Gabriola Island, B.C. 2007.

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

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

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!

Paypal

Payment Options

Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

 

“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.