City of Saskatoon Public Engagement Survey on the Blaimore Sector Plan Amendment
The 132 hectare (326 acre) Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (within which is the South West Off Leash Recreation Area and the 60 hectare (148 acre) George Genereux Urban Regional Park might become part of the Blairmore Sector Plan. Find out what that means for these areas! What are the implications?
With your input into the questionnaire the afforestation areas could be added into the Blairmore Sector – hence the name Blairmore Sector Plan Amendment.
Included in the Natural Areas Screening reporting section is a Natural Area Screening report which gives a report- a real time snapshot in time- on the plants, the animals, as well as insects of woodlands and wetlands. There are photos, and information about what makes the natural area of the forest function, along with suggestions and recommendations from EDI Environmental Dynamics Inc. who have a specialist team that focus on the living things around us and their habitat.
There is information about the background of sector plans looking at neighbourhoods and where 70,000 people can live in new areas of Saskatoon.
In the engage section there is the opportunity for you to write out what you think about Blairmore Sector Plan Amendment. NOTE and REMEMBER This webpage link will only by online until Friday July 8, so the time is now to check it out!
NOTE: There is a short amount of time to engage and complete the online survey to provide concerns and suggestions to the City of Saskatoon Blairmore Sector Plan Amendment! The deadline is Friday July 8. Remember, this is your opportunity to make your voice count to add the afforestation areas to the Blairmore Sector Plan. When you take the time to provide feedback then there may be additional opportunities for another time to provide concerns and suggestions. The City of Saskatoon may consider the opportunity to continue the dialogue with the general public and make another public engagement offer after the summer.
What is your level of interest in two urban regional parks as the City of Saskatoon expands opening its doors to another 70,000 residents? What do you think about the expansion of the Blairmore Sector Plan? What is your level of interest in two semi-wilderness areas homes to species at risk? What do you think about Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park? Do you think that these two afforestation areas should be added to the Blaimore Sector? Do you like the recommendations? Do you have more suggestions? What do you see for opportunities and potential?
What is your level of interest as the deadline is Friday July 8?
SmartPhone nature Photo using the free iNaturalist appLoving Winter Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area in Saskatoon Another exploration opportunity exists at George Genereux Urban Regional Park in SaskatooniNaturalist Connect with natureRanked S2 by SCDC
Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoidesImage taken by high school student Shweetha Gopinath, eco-photographer Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) Winter wonderland post card excursion of explorationTours, heritage and nature learning opportunitiesCurriculum and youth groups in these Laboratories of Ecological Succession
There are a number of things to consider during this environmental day. One is the effect of COVID-19 and how it is affecting the environment and the World Population.
The other thing to consider is the population growth and shifts in the local city population, and projections for the City of Saskatoon.
The other consideration is the protection afforded to the city during times of population growth as trees and forests act as carbon sinks.
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
“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
There is a new meeting, Come and Grow 2019, being hosted by the City of Saskatoon on Thursday January 31, 2019 between 3 and 8 pm at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 1838 College Drive. Perhaps you have questions about how the City of Saskatoon will welcome 250,000 new residents. The last census was taken in 2016 however the City of Saskatoon estimated the city population on July 1, 2018 to be 278,500.
The planning studies of the P4G includes Corman Park, Saskatoon, Warman, Martensville and Osler, includes the area around Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and George Genereux Urban Regional Park.
Richard Kerbes SOS Elms Coalition
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)
Spring Sunset Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Specifically, this meeting will address
Corridor Planning – with a focus on the 22nd Street and 8th Street corridors. Do you walk, bus, bicycle, or drive down either of these corridors? The 22nd Street corridor extends to the Blairmore suburban area, and the new growth sector. Is this your route to arrive at either afforestation area?
Transit Villages -Confederation Suburban Centre, The Centre Mall, and University Heights Square. How are you affected by Public Transit Infrastructure? How do you arrive? The Confederation Suburban Centre Transit Village is the closest to the afforestation areas, have you ever used the Confederation Suburban Centre enroute?
Brownfield Renewal Strategy – How can abandoned, vacant, derelict, underutilized properties be re-vitalized?
University Sector Plan – This area is a bit far removed from the West Swale and the two afforestation areas, but the University Sector planning has an impact on the Northeast Swale.
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!
“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
“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 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
What is the price tag which the Saskatchewan Party places on the last
Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) photo credit William Warby
Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) Photo credit Paul Stein
Horned Grebe Podiceps Auritus
Horned Grebe Podiceps Auritus Nesting
“We believe in the innate intelligence of… the country men and the workers, that they should be allowed to manage their own affairs. We believe they will put into their work not merely their hands and their feet, but their brains and their hearts. Each can experience the transcendental joy of creation, and can earn immortality and bestow immortality.~Richard St. Barbe Baker”
At a time when there are mandates to protect threatened species, it is definitely a time that our ecosystems and habitats deserve more funding and not less funding.
In the March 30, 2017 edition of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspaper, Phil Tank, writes that, “The Saskatchewan Party government introduced changes to the legislation this week that eliminate the requirement for set annual funding for the MVA [Meewasin Valley Authority] from the provincial government and the University of Saskatchewan.” Faced with less funding in 2016, MVA had no choice but to close its Interpretive Centre on July 1, 2016. This year, the provincial budget revealed that the MVA funding would sit at 500,000 or about half the annual amount. This $409,000 funding cut is an irony as among the land which are expected to be preserved, conserved, and maintained by the MVA are Crown lands. The question arises will the Saskatchewan Provincial parks ministry then step in to maintain their own lands within the MVA conservation zone? The Provincial Parks ministry owns about 2,610 acres of the 6,400 acres which MVA manages.
More funds, NOT LESS should be dedicated to saving the COSEWIC species of special concern: Monarch Butterfly, Common Nighthawk, Loggerhead Shrike, Barn Swallow, Mountain Bluebird, Horned Grebe, Northern Leopard Frog, Short-eared Owl, Baird’s Sparrow, Yellow Rail, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Rusty Blackbird are all species within the MVA conservation zone along the South Saskatchewan River. These are just a very few of the protected species in danger of elimination in the South Saskatchewan River valley as determined by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada .
Our parks, South Saskatchewan rivershores, trails, historic sites all provide a critical and much needed wildlife habitat, ensure clean drinking water for residents of Saskatoon and all communities down stream, and offer countless and innumerable recreational activities. Visitors to Saskatoon have enjoyed visiting this river city with opportunities to hike, bicycle, or just take in the awe-inspiring beauty of numerous landmarks and breathtaking landscapes enhanced by the MVA conservation efforts since 1978. Reducing funding as the MVA comes up on their 40th anniversary would have a profound and tragic impact on the health and well-being of wildlife, landscapes and people. Any perceived short term savings would ultimately end up as gigantic economic costs in the long run. Without funding, the amazing riverbank scenes, and the wildlife habitat corridor would disintegrate. Without funding endangered species are pushed towards extinction. Without funding there would be detrimental effects on the river, waterways, drinking water, and population health. Without funding there would be a devastating effect on the civic economy. Multi-use pathways would disappear. Without adequate funding, marshlands dry up, the world’s most endangered eco-system the temperate grasslands would vanish, and rivers, streams, and swales would get destroyed.
It may be thought of as an easy win for the Saskatchewan Party to implement cuts in conservation, however, such cuts could result in profound and maybe even irreversible consequences for Saskatchewan’s wildlife, landscapes and population. Do not let our future generations mitigate nature deficit disorder and be reduced to exploring and searching out nature in parking lots and fracking wells. Wouldn’t it be much better for our grandchildren, and great grandchildren to get a healthy dose of Vitamin N from our river valleys, swales, forests and native grasslands?
Our healthy river valley and parks create many millions in tourist and economic revenue every year, and support a vibrant river city economy of thousands of jobs.
To maintain wildlife populations, recover endangered species, and restore damaged eco-systems all require financial resources. With climate change, these needs and costs are rising exponentially.
As Saskatoon’s projected growth is set to hit 250,000 by 2025 and 380,000 by 2035, the provincial important wildlife habitat will rest within the MVA conservation zone as urban sprawl takes up valuable land which sensitive species rely upon. The plight of wildlife depends on funding for wildlife conservation and natural resource protection.
It is fantastic that ranchers and industry are monitored under The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act (WHPA) and that conservation practices are being adopted in rural areas, however the MVA educates the public on conservation practices in urban areas.
Please write a letter to your elected officials urging them to provide the resources and funding needed for engagement and education services, footpaths, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. What is the cost to balance a $1.2 billion deficit? Actions have consequences, will it be the last of the Monarch Butterfly, or the extinction of the Horned Grebe? Let us hope not for goodness sakes, the Monarch Butterfly and Horned Grebe are invaluable, and should not be set at any price! In this modern technological era of progress and advancement don’t abandon the earth around us. Get out from behind your computer, set down your phone, go outside and pay attention to nature. If you wouldn’t mind, to everyone interested in paying attention to nature, write a letter to these following elected officials, speak out for the water, the land, the forests, and the myriad of creatures you see before its too late, please, and thank you. Also, please do check out the Meewasin Green Circle.
“Man has lost his way in the jungle of chemistry and engineering and will have to retrace his steps, however painful this may be. In doing so, 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
BIBLIOGRAPHY Adopt a rancher. Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan
Crown Land Ecological Assessment Tool CLEAT is a computer program which puts a price tag on nature which weighs the cost of the Northern Leopard Frog against potential oil and gas development, and agricultural capability, and economic growth. What is the price tag which the Saskatchewan Party places on the last Monarch Butterfly or Baird’s Sparrow? That is what I would like to know. Has the Saskatchewan Party hereby in essence revoked the Monarch Butterfly’s passport entitling them to travel under government protection to and from foreign countries during their migration time?
“Almost everywhere in the world man has been disregarding the Divine Law and the Laws of Nature, to his own undoing. In his pride, he has rampaged over the stage of the earth, forgetting that he is only one of the players put there to play his part in harmony and oneness with all living things.~Richard St. Barbe Baker”
“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
Is this the fate of the Saskatchewan River Valley, the marshlands, the temperate grasslands, the river bank? Without the MVA and their annual spring clean up, what will the water supply look like if this tragedy is allowed to take place? Is this what a river city should become? Please help prevent this devastation.
At the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK One of the many piles of Construction Discards and Roofing Shignles Before the 2016 Community Clean Up
At the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK One of the many piles of Construction Discards and Appliances Before the 2016 Community Clean Up
At the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK Construction Discards and Hazardous Waste. Before the 2016 Community Clean Up
At the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK One of the many piles of roofing shingles Before the 2016 Community Clean Up
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
As I wandered on as in a dream, all sense of time and space lost. ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
Were you there?
The snowstorm provided atmosphere in a glance; a subtle nuance which the snow covers as if the forest possessed an iniquitous or gentle soul. Within the forest enraptured within the illusion of time, and the dance of snowflakes are never at rest; even within the narrow compass of the forest they develop a scene; growing in captivating, spell-binding wonder and beauty, the landscape continuously transformed; the trees and snow swirl together in “sync,” and ideality unites thus the blanketed forest vision with that of the humans.
For is it not on such a day that we do, indeed create our world? Wonderfully wrought, rich yet dim was the day, as if God himself had dipped his artistic brush in mist and not in reality. Time and space died that day. The mysticism of the day revealed itself in a spell-bound trance, all of nature was settled, serene, and the pattern wove a splendour of moods and tonalities.
The blizzard brought a new way of seeing, the rhythm of the wind as a cinematograph carrying the eye to a point of distraction. As the trees danced about in their newly donned snowy robes, we tread about the snow drifts as the wind blew on and on. Under the snow blanket hidden deep, the squirrels, and mice uttered not a peep. The pine boughs laden under the bevy of snow, held fast the chickadee and waxwing, for in the blizzard no song of bird across the woodlands was ever heard. So it is thus to tell the story when the pale glow of the northern Canadian sun faded behind the gathering snow.
Step by step walk now through the snow, enveloped in this seemingly endless wilderness. The day revealed snow stretching out before the travelers unbroken by track, or footprint of any living creature. The outset of the day ’twas quite impossible to look or see for a pace around, the snow fell thick and fast. The big snow caressed the earth, and upon the woodland trees fell whispering through the wind, catching on the top of the swaying spruce-tops. And such was the day, the day of the big snow that transfigured the spirit, and aligned a new rhythm within the landscape creating new perspectives.
Little snowflakes, insignificant at first, ranging themselves into complex and grand atmospheres which can transfix melodramatic eyes. The multiplicity of details now hidden create new notes of nature revealing breathtaking scenes of dramatic power, creating vivid visions of silent peace. The day has now passed, and with it, too, the sun has taken the vision.
The harmony and symphony of the blizzard, the sense of serenity has played out in the vanishing seconds down the corridor of time. And yet there is a delightful consolation captured ~ the alluring mystery hovering around the woodlands that day when the north wind danced with the woodlands Grace.
“According to ancient mythology, trees were the first living things on earth. This is borne out by scientific reasoning which shows that it is through them that the air we breathe can give life to humanity. Through countless ages trees have been drawing carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, absorbing and incorporating the carbon, assimilating it; then when they die, bequeathing to soil their carboniferous remains. The consequence has been that eventually the atmospheric oxygen was left sufficiently pure for the requirements of birds and mammals which have replaced the flying reptiles and monstrous amphibians that were able to endure the heavy air of primeval swamps and jungles.”~Richard St. Barbe Baker
One of the earliest [memories] is that of the pine forest which came up close to the house. I often sat in the sun there and in the tree tops I seemed to hear the sound of waves breaking on the sea-shore. Those pines spoke to me of distant lands and gave me my first desire to travel and see the trees of other countries. At times I would imagine that these tall pines were talking to each other as they shook or nodded their heads at the whim of the winds.~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!
I believe in oneness of mankind and of all living things and in the interdependence of each and all. I believe that unless we play fair to the Earth, we cannot exist physically on this planet. Unless we play fair to our neighbour, we cannot exist socially or internationally. Unless we play fair to better self, there is no individuality and no leadership. ~Richard St. Barbe Baker.
“Kind people have been expressing superlatives on my work. But I can assure you that anything which I have been able to achieve has been team work. We have a motto in the Men of the Trees. TWAHAMWE. It is an African word meaning ‘pull together’ and I pass this on to all those concerned with conservation in this country. I would like to call you to silence for a moment with the words of Mathew Arnold:
“Calm soul of all things, make it mine,
To feel amidst the City ‘s jar
That there abides a peace of thine
Men did not make and cannot mar. ”
~Richard St. Barbe Baker
Soon the bracken became shorter
“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
There is only one real reason to keep bees, and that is because they are fascinating. If you just want honey, make friends with a beekeeper.
-Australia beekeeper, Adrian the Bee Man
“As I wandered on as in a dream, all sense of time and space lost. As I continued this mysterious journey, looking up every now and then I could see shafts of light where the sunshine lit up the morning mists and made subtle shadows on the huge bracken fronds which provided a continuous canopy of bright green over me. Their pungent scent was a delight to me. Although I could see only a few yards ahead, I had no sense of being shut in. The sensation was exhilarating. I began to walk faster, buoyed up with an almost ethereal feeling of well-being, as if I had been detached from earth. I became intoxicated with the beauty around me, immersed in the joyousness and exultation of feeling part of it all.~Richard St. Barbe Baker.”
Saskatoon is changing. It’s how we manage change that is important.
As plans were being made to organise the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area clean up, the City of Saskatoon Shaping Saskatoon concept made a huge impact.
Online, the City of Saskatoon Communication Division invites feedback from the residents of Saskatoon in order that the various and several departments may make informed and wise decisions in management and design of civic services.
What is Shaping Saskatoon all about? This is where projects and discussions undertaken by the City of Saskatoon are presented for feedback from the public. “The more public input we receive the better Shaping Saskatoon can become.”~source
Projects such as the Active Transportation Plan are outlined online. The City of Saskatoon has designed unique surveys. Ongoing discussions on a wide variety of subjects come online.
The very marvelous thing is that to get involved in shaping Saskatoon, as a citizen of this fair city, there is also an invitation to email communication division and share your feedback; “Better services start with you.”source
Please take time to view the Saskatoon Speaks You Tube video inviting you to make comments about what is important to you as the City of Saskatoon grows to 1/2 million by the year 2023.
Over the next few days, the results of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area clean up will come online – how many kilograms of trash removed, how many tires were removed, were there any needles found, what else was uncovered during the clean up, what was the most interesting thing found during the clean up, what were the numbers of volunteers engaged in the clean up, and where did the volunteers come from?
A number of community associations in the south west area of the city of Saskatoon were contacted to help get the word out about the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area clean up, in addition to environmental green groups. Youth groups and churches were contacted who kindly placed the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area clean up in their newsletters and mentioned the clean up at their meetings. Sports and bicycle groups were engaged in the planning process.
What were the results of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? What was discovered and found out about the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and what will follow the clean up effort which began with the set up at 6:30 a.m., volunteers arrived at 8:00 a.m. and the clean up effort lasted until the tires were deposited for recycling at 5:30 p.m. with the last of the volunteers arriving home around 6:30 p.m. to unload the tents, banners, signs, and tables sitting down for supper at 7:00 p.m. It was a day in which the weather cooperated, and there was not a stitch of rain. Please stay posted as to what happened during this 13 hour day, and what is planned next for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
After months of planning, which began in May of 2016, to remove the trash from the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area On July 9, 2016 to celebrate the well established trees and forest of this urban regional park area what will happen next?. Following months of organising to restore the West Swale wetlands, what will be the follow up? With community engagement and feedback from community associations, hamlet residents, bicycle enthusiasts, environmental green groups for the clean up of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, what will be the results? Upon discovering that the riparian forest and West Swale wetlands are home to the uncommon Mountain Bluebird, to find out that the wetlands are a unique habitat for the Ruddy Duck, after sighting flocks of Sandhill Cranes which quite often have flying alongside them the Whooping Crane, what are the plans for this one of a kind wildlife habitat corridor?
“Saskatoon is changing. It’s how we manage change that is important.” Source Growing Forward
“Planting and growing increasing quantities of trees is the scientific solution to Earth’s environmental dilemma.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
American Pelican Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CA
Colorado Blue Spruce Cone. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CA
Chipping Soarrow. Spizella passerina. 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
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
“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.