Well it is World Habitat Awareness Month this April. That fits in well with Climate Action.
with cattails and emergent vegetation in the summer showing illegal vehicle trespass, mudding, and ruts in the spring
Autumn picture of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas supported by the non profit group Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. Please join now, like, support, share.
The Trembling Aspen is also referred to as the Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx) May 25, 2019
World Peace; International Peace
It is a theme which repeats itself. Climate change needs the habitat for humans to be conserved and preserved. Endangered species – either plant or animal- need for their habitat to be protected and conserved.
Find the action plan for the endangered species in the afforestation areas -The horned grebe and barred tiger salamander are listed as a species of special concern by the Committee On The Status Of Endangered Wildlife In Canada – an Independent Advisory Panel to the Minister Of Environment and Climate Change. The Red-necked Phalarope, Baird’s Sparrow and Grasshopper Sparrow are special concern, and Bobolink, Bank Swallow is threatened nationally under the federal Species at Risk Act SARA Schedule 1. The provincially listed small yellow lady’s slipper is another.
COVID-19 brings home the mortality of homo-sapiens, of our family, brothers sisters, cousins, grandparents, and parents. The Saskatchewan Government has set out guidelines to protect endangered plants and animals, and provides protocols for their survival, just like the Saskatchewan Government provided COVID-19 guidelines.
Further to this, to help protect endangered plants and animals, ecological assessments, or Species Detection Surveys are conducted, which may have a corrolary to the COVID testing, and phoning 811. The Rare Plant Survey Protocol which suggests that three ecological assessments or surveys be conducted to maximize the finding of the rare species. Therefore, May 15- June 20 then June 21-July 31 and again between Aug 1-Sept 15 are desireable, with one month between the date of each of the three surveys conducted. It is important to note when the plants are at the greatest opportunity for detection, and therefore the plant phenology must be consulted to aid in the accuracy of the reporting. Citizen bio-blitzes after the COVID-19 epidemic and reporting to iNaturalist will be of great assistance.
Scientists use weather patterns and yearly extremes in their endangered plant survey reporting, just as scientists use these same phenomena, temperature, humidity and latitude, to track COVID-19 outbreaks and to determine modelling scenarios and where to provide resources.
“Climate change is not just about carbon dioxide levels and melting polar ice caps. It is about our public health and protecting our Earth for future generations.”~Mike Quigley
Just as our approach to COVID-19 can also help tackle climate change, so, too can our approach in managing the greenspace in Saskatoon for the environment, humans, plants and animals. How in the world can we possibly have eco-classrooms, an increase in users to the greenspace who are actively involved in outdoor recreation to respect the urban regional park? Responsibility is the ability to respond. This article says, ” to control the coronavirus, governments have needed to mandate social distancing, ground aeroplanes and close borders. For climate change, they need to back clean technologies and end subsidies to polluting industries.” For endangered species, there are yet other protocols.
For COVID-19, the governments provided means to obtain more information, and to ask questions. Find out how to address their government in regards to climate change, and the environmental protection measures. We realize how important various measures are needed to overcome COVID-19. We took action to help us heal from COVID-19, can you take actions to help the earth heal? Keep your letter to the government short. Do your research into the topic. Ask your government official for a reply. Remember there are municipal, provincial and federal levels of government to appeal to on behalf of the environment
You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. “~ Jim Rohn
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 / e-transfers)
“Climate change is the environmental challenge of this generation, and it is imperative that we act before it’s too late.”~John Delaney
“We can’t leave everything to the free market. In fact, climate change is, I would argue, the greatest single free-market failure. This is what happens when you don’t regulate corporations and you allow them to treat the atmosphere as an open sewer.”~Naomi Klein
“…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
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
Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)
South West Off Leash Recreation Area. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Meewasin Valley Authority, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
A teeming life goes on in the forest without any of the problems that confront mankind in similar circumstances. There are no dustbins, no water-borne sewage, no town clerks or city councilors or armies of officials, with more and more rates to pay, no ever-growing burden of debt.
The forest solves its own sanitary problems by direct action while man evades them. The forest has been described as the perfect sanitarian, the supreme chemist. In its economy it perfectly combines Capitalism, Communism and Social Credit and instead of building up a burden of debt it stores up real wealth of the woods.~Richard St. Barbe Baker
Your pet may travel outdoors, and bring home ticks attached to them. If it is the beginning of the tick season, ie early spring around Easter, the ticks are small. These ticks will take a blood meal, drop off the host animal, and enlarge in size. Next time they attach to a host animal, it is probably a larger species, and again the now larger tick will take a blood meal. The tick will either stay on the host animal and breed, or drop off and begin again to find another host animal.
When a tick lays eggs, there are several thousands of eggs, which then hatch, and feed on the host animal. Or the eggs may drop off infesting the new locality.
One method to keep your home and yard safer is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth (de). “Diatomaceous earth is composed of tiny organisms known as diatoms which have the ability to lacerate the exoskeletons of various types of insects and kill them through dehydration.How” “Make sure you buy food grade diatomaceous earth, NOT the pool filter grade which is heat and chemically treated and is TOXIC if ingested.Food” Food grade de is non toxic to humans and pets. One way to subvert a tick infestation in your living environment. Within 2-3 weeks the tick problem should be eradicated at your home. In this era of climate warming, and phenology changes be knowledgeable in the application of diatomaceous earth outside as it effects a number of insects. Use of diatomaceous earth outdoors is defeated with a rain storm, and a re-application is needed.
Sprinkling your shoes, socks and pants with diatomaceous earth is another way to protect yourself from ticks. Likewise sprinkling your pets will serve to be a natural tick repellent, it will dry out their skin also, so apply it in a fine layer only using an applicator such as a salt or sugar shaker filled with diatomaceous earth. “Diatomaceous Earth is very useful as a detox solution, digestive aid and colon cleanser. For dogs, use one tablespoon per day of food grade Diatomaceous Earth in his food for dogs over 55 lbs. and one teaspoon per day for small dogs and puppies.benefits For the human diet diatomaceous earth “(1) helps move things out of your intestines and (2) helps promote healthier hair, skin, bones, and joints.” The silica content in diatomaceous earth will help the body absorb calcium, and enrich skin collagen, bones, nails and hair. For pets and their owners, diatomaceous earth has been recommended for colon cleansing, parasite control, and as a form of detox.
“You should treat your dog’s bedding with diatomaceous earth twice a week, leaving it for about 3 days. Repeat this process whenever your dog spends time in the woods, tall grasses, or around rodents. Insect infestations are usually eradicted in 2-3 weeks.
One possible reason for tick population surge, is phenology. Insect life cycles react to “degree days” local daily sun and moon cycles reacting with great rapidity to climate change and milder winters. Bird life cycles rely on the amount of available sunlight seen to change in seasonal monthly and earth rotational cycles. If migrating birds arrive in the northern hemisphere too late to feast on small grubs and insect larvae. It is known that bird migratory patterns are changing, so “bird migration, breeding, and nesting are timed every spring to coincide with the peak availability of critical food sources.<a href=”Wildlife.org” Until these phenological cycles balance, the populations of insects are on the rise, and populations of birds are declining. For those who are trying to control tick populations on acreages and large land areas, the Guineafowl or poultry may come in handy.
For people walking in long grass or in woodlands, a precaution is to carry a tweezer or “tick twister” on the walk and wear light coloured clothing, tucking pants into socks, and shirts into waistbands. The light coloured clothing helps to sight ticks on their slow journey upwards. Tucking in your clothing thus keeps the ticks on top of the clothing, and not underneath on your skin. People who are not using the non-toxic natural remedy of diatomaceous earth those folks can spray with an insect repellent containing deet. When you arrive home, pop into the shower, to wash off any ticks unseen and unspotted. Throw your clothing directly into the washing machine, so any undetected ticks do not end up infesting the household. Don’t wander around “blindly”, but arm yourself with a bit of knowledge to have a safe walk with your four-legged friend.
For your pet, fill up a child’s wading pool in your yard when the weather is warmer. Then go for a walk with your dog. When you arrive back home, the sun will have warmed the chilly water from the hose. It will be easier to pop your dog into the warmer water of the wading pool outdoors, and this quick bath may rid your pet of any ticks your eyes have missed. The slicking down of the fur in the water may also help to reveal the missed ticks.
Dogs which have been out and about in a tick area should be immediately checked for ticks when leaving the site. Using tweezers or a “tick-twister” remove the tick without placing a lot of pressure on the tick body. With tweezers, secure the tweezer ends at the tick mouth where the tick has entered the skin and pull straight up and out. To keep your pet safe, walk on mowed paths, dirt, asphalt, concrete or wooden walkways. Avoiding long grass and shrubbery will help your pets not arrive home with ticks.
Pets can also be treated with any number of over the counter “tick ointments and sprays.” Many products are applied to the back of the neck with an effectiveness of about 21 days, being strongest in efficacy at the beginning, and waning towards the end of the treatment cycle. These applications may help your dog from infestation, however on personal experience, attending to ticks on your pets with a tweezer or “tick twister” is the most effective method. Relying on tick products may still reveal tick eggs and fully mature ticks burrowed into your pet even with tick applications. Tick ointments also become diluted and less effective when your pet gets wet, ie a dog shower or bath, or an outdoor swim. However, don’t reapply tick applications without your vet’s knowledge, as the dog’s immune system can usually handle one application every 21 days, as the application is mildly toxic to your pets as well as containing poisonouse substances to the tick.
If you are bitten, record the date, keep the tick on hand in a sealed bottle and take a picture of it. Watch for a “bull’s eye” rash, one of the early warning signs for Lyme disease. With early medical intervention, serious bodily reaction to the tick bite can be averted.
In Saskatoon, food grade diatomaceous earth can be purchased from a store such as Early’s seed and feed. Be safe, arm yourself with knowledge. If you walk in the grasslands or in the woods where ticks may be present, take precautions for yourself and your pet.
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
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. 