Thank you is extended to all the clean up volunteers all those from the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, from SOS Trees, from Saskatoon Search and Rescue, from the members of the general public who heard about the afforestation areas or who are users of the afforestation areas.
It is true what is said that many hands make light work. The clean up began at 9:30, and before the estimated end time of 1:30 the very large Loraas dumpster was filled to the top, and another one was about 3/4 full! It is hard to believe.
But it was so rewarding to know that the fencing will go up around the greenspace which no longer has trash in it, so it will be safe for park users of all ages. It will be nice to enjoy both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and George Genereux realizing that they are a great deal safer, now that the garbage is cleared out, and the fencing is going up to mitigate more continual trash dumping!!! Wow!
So again. Thanks to the volunteers. Thanks to Regan Olson, environmental protection officer at the City of Saskatoon. Thanks to the City of Saskatoon for helping out with the landfill fees. Where an attempt was made to clean up the park truck load by truck load to the landfill, this surely went a lot easier! Thanks to the Loraas truck driver, and we had amazing weather, couldn’t have been a nicer nor more beautiful autumn day. Everyone said they were going to return and enjoy a wonderful walk, knowing what a grand contribution was made by all! Thank you.
Here is a sampling of images from the day! What an amazing birthday present for the 50th anniversary of the afforestation areas to have such amazing stewards, and folks helping out.
This is a wonderful way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of #NationalForestWeek, and the 50th anniversary of the afforestation areas!
Sept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community SceneAn “after” image of the afforestation area. After the amazing clean up of the greenspaceSept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community SceneSept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community SceneSept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community SceneSept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community SceneSept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community SceneSept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community Scene
So this is the note from Regan Olson, environmental protection officer with the City of Saskatoon;
“The George Genereux Urban Regional Park is an afforestation area located on the north side of the overpass on Highway 7 at the west end of Saskatoon. At this location, 30 cubic yard roll-off bins were filled with various waste by volunteers from the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, SOS Trees Inc., City staff and residents from nearby. This included heavy equipment such as a skidsteer and a tractor which were essential to get some of the heavy items that have been illegally dumped here over the years. These large piles included shingles and concrete. The concrete was relocated to help re-enforce present berms on site that are utilized to help block access.
A huge thank you goes out to those that donated time & equipment to make this possible!!
The bin was emptied 5 times in total with waste with an accumulated weight of 9,860 Kg’s
9 tires that were taken to A1 tire for recycling.
A small amount of syringes were clean up and properly disposed of from this site.
Also please see the link below for more information on this area:“
Can you imagine it, 5 each 30 cubic yard roll-off bins were taken away full to the top with trash placed into the forest – an urban regional park – by folks too lazy or too cheap to go to the landfill! These bins are much bigger than the 4.5 𝑚 cubed 𝑜𝑟 6 cubic 𝑦𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑙 bins behind apartment buildings to give you an idea of the size. The bins at the forest were 5 times bigger than the apartment building bins, and still five each of the 30 cubic yard size were filled up! So that is like hauling away 25 apartment sized bins from a forest, can you imagine!!??? Who would be crazy enough to dump in an urban regional park, and says to themselves well here is a gorgeous forest, so I think I’m going to dump some trash so the classrooms doing nature place based education field trips can wade through the garbage. Arrrgghghhh! How silly is that. So here we have some wonderful results from stewards of Saskatoon urban regional parks.
For those of you who like Imperial measurements, 9,860 kg is 21,737.58 pounds! That is like hauling 20 Grand Pianos out of the park or the volunteers picking up and lifting 20 American Bison out of the park. Or to put it another way, the volunteers would have had to lift 50 adult bears to get to that weight. So, a lot was accomplished, and there is just no way to say thank you often enough! So this means that on average each and every volunteer did 1/2 ton each!!! WOW WOW WOW isn’t that amazing.
Thank you so very much to volunteers from SOS Trees Inc. for helping out during the Arbor Week Celebrations with the afforestation area clean up at George Genereux Urban Regional Park.
Thank you kindly to members from the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. for coming out to the clean up.
We had so many folks from the community who heard of the clean up as well, and wanted to help out and learn more about the afforestation area. So, to all these people, thank you for taking time on a Saturday to help with the clean up, the afforestation area is amazing now, absolutely amazing, and so much safer, and pleasant to enjoy as an urban regional park, indeed.
The City of Saskatoon environmental protection officer Chelsey Studer was out helping with the clean up loading buckets, her truck, other trucks, and helping with hazardous waste collection and tire collection. The City of Saskatoon arranged the Loraas bins to be on-site and waived the tipping fees.
Appreciation is extended to Evan & Ila’s No Frills Westgate Plaza 2410 22 St W at Avenue W North for helping with refreshments on the hot day. As people sweltered, the bananas, juice, water and granola bar kept everyone hydrated, full of sustenance – so that was Yay!
We had some unique people out at the clean up. Two helpers from Len’s Hauling came with a truck, kept track of the volunteer bags to take them to the Loraas dumpster on-site, and they hauled so very much out of the forest. They took care of the old stove, lumber, the heavy water-sogged fibreglas insulation that was at least 8 feet wide, and rolled into 4 foot diameter rolls, and weighed a ton. The final one, was so heavy, it needed three people to get it into the bucket of the front end loader, and up into the truck. Another fiberglas roll needed to be cut in half to also get it dragged out of the forest and into the front end loader bucket.
Speaking of the front end loader, Don who lived nearby took care of a whole house that was discarded in the forest, lumber, plastic siding, eavestroughs, were in a pile, and volunteers helped load the bucket and off the front end loader went to the Loraas bin on-site. Wow! The front-end loader, and Don’s expertise driving it helped so very much and we are all grateful. The front-end loader, took care of much more than just the fibreglas insulation, he was able to scoop lumber and shingles that had decayed into the sod turf, scoop bags of garbage the volunteers had piled together, and a huge motor that was in the forest, which was much to heavy to shift by volunteers on foot. He was up at the lake enjoying our summer weather, and made a special trip back while the Loraas bins were out just to help, so that is also going above and beyond. Thanks!
Another amazing help for the clean up was Paul and his puppy dog with his skid steer. Well Paul shifted shingle piles also into the Loraas bin, piles of wood, and cement blocks. There was, for some reason more than one pile of concrete at the afforestation area. Paul also found another motor in the afforestation area which is now removed, and in the Loraas bin and taken away. While Paul did many loads of trash to the Loraas bin, he also moved the concrete and cement onto the existing built berms to help reinforce barriers to prevent more trash dumping! Yay! This was so much appreciated also!
CJWW radio broadcast the cleanup on the airwaves, and online additionally which was so very helpful. It was a tricky wicket, because to comply with COVID protocols, it was originally thought that 10 people would be the maximum outside, but then the protocols changed to 150 shortly before the clean up date, and how to change 10 people to 150 in a short time, well CJWW came to the rescue! Thank you ever so much!
Sept 19, 2020 – 9,270Kg or 9.27 tons or 10.2 US tons or 204,367 pounds removed
So on October 3, 2020 – 2,660kg’s was removed
There were additionally six cleanups in 2020 using the MVA bins, and one day with the MVA support to fill truck and trailer.
June 5, 2021 – 9,860 Kg’s removed
Between 2020 and 2021 the TOTAL is OVER 21,790 kg of trash removed from George Genereux Urban Regional Park in Saskatoon and note cement placed onto berms not included in weight
So to everyone who celebrated some very special days….
June 5 ….. Arbor Week request for city proclamation by SOS Trees Inc.!
June 5 ….. the first day of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
June 5 ….. International Trails Day.
June 5 ….. World Environment Day.
June 5 is….. Clean Green Community Scene.
Hats off to you! You are truly part of #generationrestoration
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
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 