There are some neat food habits of our winter bird visitor, the Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator.) This lovely red and slate-colored bird loves our Canadian forests, and frequents the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas because of the evergreens, and the bird feeders of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
The pine grosbeak wanders around five provinces of Canada, and 14 states of the USA. The winter feeding habits are quite distinct from the summer food preferences. They like seeds of conifers, seeds of birch, weeds and grass, all types of berries and buds of ash, maple and conifer trees. In the summer time, the Pine Grosbeak will turn to a greater quantity of wild berries such as those from the dogwood. The remainder of the Pine Grosbeak diet are insects such as grasshoppers, ants, spiders, caterpillars, small flies and beetles.
So it makes sense, this little colorful bird’s genus name Pinicola enucleator pinus (“ pine ”) + colō (“ to inhabit ”.) So we have as the etymology the specific meaning of pinicola which means inhabiting (living on) Pinus species, or in the pine trees. And very marvelously the species name of enucleator has an etymology or a meaning of “to remove the kernel from” which is just perfect. This little birds with the specifically adapted beak or a “gros” “beak” meaning large beak especially meant for eating the seeds from the pine cones of the Scots Pine and the Engelmann’s Spruce in the afforestation areas.
Pine Grosbeak
The PINE GROSBEAK Pinicola enucleatorat a Length of 9 inches. features some differences between males and females.
Male: Heavy bill, giving it almost the appearance of a Parrot. Above general colour strawberry-red, with some gray fleckings, deepest coloration on head and rump. Wings and tail brown ; some feathers edged with lighter brown and some with white. Below paler red, turning to grayish green on belly. Bill and feet blackish.
Female: Ash-brown, with yellowish bronze wash on rump, head, and breast.
Song .• A subdued, rattling warble broken by whistling notes.
Season: A winter visitor whose appearance is as irregular as the length of its stay.
Breeds : Far north in evergreen woods
Nest: Saddled on a branch or in a crotch. Twigs, roots, and fibre below, with a soft upper section
Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator
This winter visitor is most commonly seen in January out at the afforestation area, so this flock seen in February was a little treat.
“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”
Robert Lynd
““Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?” -– David Attenborough
While walking along the trails with your COVID bubble, take photos of as many different kinds of trees as you can find in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, the forest is an amazing Winter Wonderland! Can you find an Engelmann’s Spruce, or perhaps a Scots Pine? Maybe track the entire Trembling Aspen Grove, or find a sweet snowberry bush.
Fresh Snow in the Sun
This challenge is part of the WinterCityYXE Take It Outside Winter Staycation package! Come “Outside Safely” to the 326 acre Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
Using iNaturalist will help with the identification of the tree! On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, open the App Store On your android phone or tablet, open Google Play Browse or search for iNaturalist and download.
Check out the iNaturalist.pdf pamphlet! In your iNaturalist tree observation include the full photo of the tree, the tree bark and the end of a branch or a twig! If it is an evergreen make a note if the needle rolls easily between two finger and is round, or if when rolled the needle feels square.
We would be happy to get you acquainted with iNaturalist and how fun it is to use or if you having problems using iNaturalist, just Email friendsafforestation@gmail.com and we can certainly arrange a zoom meeting with you about using iNaturalist!
Extreme winter weather
Clouds in the sky
A bit of fog and hoar frost in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
As events cannot be planned at this time, the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. will have a lot of fun announcing a variety of winter challenges which will take place periodically over the winter months!
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
Sunrise 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
George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. NE 21-36-6 W3 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 NE 21-36-6
History of “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
133 Range Road 3063, Saskatoon, SK ( NE 21-36-6 W3)
Greenbelts were the brainchild of Ebenezer Howard, Rexford Tugwell and Benton McKaye. These greenbelts were pioneered to control urban growth.
Saskatoon had its own green belt envisioned by Bert Wellman, Saskatoon Planning Department, who literally got out of his office, and walked around Saskatoon’s perimeter in 1960 choosing high spots of land for scenic beauty according to Bill Delainey Saskatoon Historian and local history room librarian.Together with City Planner, Bill Graham, Wellman worked on parkways and planted trees for the Circle Drive Parkway at these sites purchased in 1960. The afforestation areas -Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park as well as several green spaces are a part of this concept, and have been incorporated into the Circle Drive plan as is evident around Gordie Howe Bridge completing the southern portion of Circle Drive in Saskatoon.
The City of Saskatoon Parks and Recreation Board planted 200,000 trees on 600 acres of land as a tree nursery program in 1972 as part of the Green Survival Program sponsored in North America by the Canadian Nursery Trades Association and the American Association of Nurserymen. In total 355 acres of afforestation areas were planted that year. In 1973, 355 additional acres are planted. Originally 2,300 acres were envisioned. Though, originally established as a tree nursery, George Genereux Urban Regional Park has trees too large to transplant at the current moment of time.
Future residential areas were examined, and the areas for public reserve allocated. The intent was to plant these future areas of open space so that when the subdivision was developed, the Blairmore Suburban Development Area (SDA), there would be mature trees already established.
In 1972, A. L. Ligtemoet, Assistant Parks Superintendent sets before council that these
afforestation areas be kept in perpetuity ~ this is approved by city council.
George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and the third afforestation area south of Diefenbaker Park received plantings of drought resistant trees; black or balsam poplar also known as the balm of Gilead (Populus balsamifera), American Elm (Ulmus americana), Colorado blue spruce ( Picea pungens), Sibernain Elm (Ulmus pumila), Scotch Pine or Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Willow, Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo), Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), and the Siberian peashrub or caragana (Caragana arborescens) Tree planting selections recommended by the P.F.R.A. Tree nursery at Indian Head, SK
The rows were planted by weaving in and out, deviating from the centre line by as much as forty feet, producing a natural forest effect. “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,” explains Richard St. Barbe Baker. “The same thing would be valuable on the Canadian prairies where straight shelter belts cause snow to accumulate.” Star Weekly Toronto, On January 15 1972
In 1979, the parcel of land at NE 21-36-6 was named “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park – 133 Range Road 3063 and is now part of the Blairmore Suburban Development Area
The George Genereux Afforestation Area, besides providing flood mitigation control, and being an amazing carbon sink for the rising greenhouse gases, features an amazing geological history. The West Swale, is an amazing geological remnant of the Pleistocene Yorath Island Spillway. The West Swale is a low-lying depression created by repeated glaciations and the melting of the last bit of glacial ice. When the glacial lake dam failed, a huge outburst flood (GLOF) occured The dam can consist of glacier ice or a terminal moraine. Failure can happen due to erosion, a buildup of water pressure, an avalanche of rock or heavy snow, an earthquake or cryoseism, volcanic eruptions under the ice, or if a large enough portion of a glacier breaks off and massively displaces the waters in a glacial lake at its base. Peak flows as high as 15,000 cubic metres per second. The northern flow of water in the Glacial North Saskatchewan River Valley was halted by ice, creating Glacial Rice Lake settling into the lowlands west of Grandora. Glacial Rice Lake drained by channels into the South Saskatchewan Valley According to Larry Edwin Hodgins, “The Moon Lake Channel, a major spillway connecting the North Saskatchewan River basin with the South Saskatchewan, and a smaller parallel channel, Yorath Island Channel, also cross the Cory plain….but they are clearly not South Saskatchewan channels.” and the area of the South Saskatchewan may have increased by 140% and 194%
George Genereux (March 1 1935- April 10, 1989) was a seventeen year old high school student in 1952 when he won the Olympic Games Gold Medal for trap-shooting at the Summer Olympc Games held in Helsinki, Finland with 192 out of 200. This was Canada’s first gold medal at the olympics since 1932. Further to this honour, Genereux was bestowed the Lou Marsh Trophy for being Canada’s outstanding amateur athlete of the year, making him the youngest person in history to receive this honour. The City of Saskatoon declared Genereux “Citizen of the Year” in 1952. Canada honoured him as male athlete of 1952. Genereux was installed in the Canada Sports Hall of Fame (1955), Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame on October 31 of 1966, inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame 1986 and the Trapshooting Hall of Fame (1986).
Genereux went on to trap shooting events across Canada and the United States. At the age of 13 Genereux won the Midwestern International Handicap Honours, then he acquired 3 successive Manitoba – Saskatchewan junior titles. (source) Genereux won the Junior Championship of North America at the Grand American Handicap, held in Vandalia, Ohio in 1951. During this event, Genereux broke 199 clay pigeons out of 200. Genereux also placed second in the Oslo, Norway World Championships, 1952.
Genereux, attended the University of Saskatchewan to earn his Arts and Sciences degree, then he went on the McGill University to study Medicine graduated 1960. Dr. George Genereux was for years a Professor of Radiology at the Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon.
The biography submitted to City Council stated that “It is considered appropriate to select in his honour this particular tract of semi-wilderness with its favorable habitat for wildlife of many kinds.” “If you can’t help yourself, you should use your God-given talents to help others,’ spoke George Genereux
Plans Around George Genereux Urban Regional Park Area
At the current moment, plans are made for the area surrounding George Genereux Urban Regional Park. Check out the maps on these three proposals. The Saskatoon Provincial Freeway is being designed in the area west of Saskatchewan Highway 7. The city of Saskatoon long range planners are designing the Blairmore Sector within city limits to the north of George Genereux Urban Regional Park. The P4G planners are allocating land use outside city limits in the immediate vicinity of George Genereux Urban Regional Park.
Click here to see maps of the freeway route at the bottom of this story. On mobile? Click here.
Saskatoon Freeway Presentation When fully developed, the Saskatoon Freeway will provide a high speed, free flow bypass route around Saskatoon for provincial traffic, as well as allowing for another commuter route for the growing city. The key benefits of the freeway include improved safety, improved traffic flow and reduced travel times.
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!
“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
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!
“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
“We forget that we owe our existence to the presence of Trees. As far as forest cover goes, we have never been in such a vulnerable position as we are today. The only answer is to plant more Trees – to Plant Trees for Our Lives.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
“Act. Don’t react. See a need, fix it first. Worry about the details later. If you wait until you are asked you have just missed a golden opportunity. They are fleeting and rare.” Philip Wollen founder of Winsome Kindness Trust
Picture yourself in a forest where almost everything around you is food. …An edible forest garden is a perennial polyculture of multi-purpose plants. Dave Jacke, Eric Toensmeier
Focused on National Forest Week September 24 – September 30,. 2017. The Canadian Forestry Association states that the theme this year is Canada’s Forests: Our Stories, Our Future Celebrating Canada’s Forests!
What kind of stories do Saskatoon Forests tell? Do you think any of Saskatoon’s Forests are Edible Forest Gardens?
What do you know of Trembling Aspen, Colorado Blue Spruce, American Elm, Buffaloberry, Snowberry, Scots Pine, or Balsam Poplar? Would any of these stately trees and bushes ever have an edible quality to them? Historically, or in contemporary time what would be the answer examining a forest of such trees as an edible forest garden?
Edible forest gardens, indeed do readily comprise the Saskatoon berry, high bush and low bush cranberry, the pincherry, the raspberry, wild strawberry, the rosehip, and the chokecherry. But trees? The Balsam Poplar, could it ever be a part of an edible forest garden? Would anyone survive on a tree in the middle of any old forest in the dead cold of winter?
What a story might be told.. a Saskatoon Forest Story for this year’s National Forest Week embracing Canada’s Forests: Our Stories, Our Future Celebrating Canada’s Forests! Check out the local grassroots initiative!
The world is so unpredictable. Things happen suddenly, unexpectedly. We want to feel we are in control of our own existence. In some ways we are, in some ways we’re not. We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence.
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!
“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
“We forget that we owe our existence to the presence of Trees. As far as forest cover goes, we have never been in such a vulnerable position as we are today. The only answer is to plant more Trees – to Plant Trees for Our Lives.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
“Act. Don’t react. See a need, fix it first. Worry about the details later. If you wait until you are asked you have just missed a golden opportunity. They are fleeting and rare.” Philip Wollen founder of Winsome Kindness Trust
“if a man loses one-third of his skin he dies; if a tree loses one third of its bark, it too dies. If the Earth is a ‘sentient being’, would it not be reasonable to expect that if it loses one third of its trees and vegetable covering, it will also die?” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
The Bohemian waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) West Swale Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA
“if a man loses one-third of his skin he dies; if a tree loses one third of its bark, it too dies. If the Earth is a ‘sentient being’, would it not be reasonable to expect that if it loses one third of its trees and vegetable covering, it will also die?” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
Can you imagine what would happen if trees were to come alive, as did the Ents and Huorns in J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. “You must understand,… it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say. … ‘Beneath the roof of sleeping… leaves and dreams of trees untold, When woodland halls are… green… and cool, and the wind is in the west, Come back to me… Come… back… to me, And say my land is… best.’ ” sayeth Treebeard, Ent.
Ulmus americana, American elm will live with prime conditions between 200 – 300 years if it does not succumb to Dutch Elm Disease. The American Elm will produce seeds after the age of 15, and becomes fully mature in about 150 years. Dutch elm disease has shortened the life of elm trees. In contemporary times, it is very,very hard to locate an American Elm over 100 years old. Ulmus pumila, the Siberian elm, rarely reaches a lifespan in temperate climates of around 50- 60 years of age, but in its native environment may live to between 100 and 150 years and has been known to live over 250 years. Populus balsamifera, commonly called balsam poplar, on exception some trees can be found as old as 200 years. In native woodlands, the Balsam poplar may be the dominant species for about 50 years, giving way to perhaps White Spruce or other tree species. Populus tremuloides or quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen is a species which grows in “clonal colonies”, the oldest living poplar bluff is over 80,000 years old. This is a curious tree, as one stem may only “live” 50-60 years, however as the quaking aspen is part of a poplar bluff, the root system may live tens of thousands of years! Pinus sylvestris L. or the Scots pine has a lifespan usually between 150–300 years, however has been recorded at over 760 years in age. Picea pungens Colorado Blue Spruce has a usual life span as a windbreak or horticultural tree of about 40 – 60 years. After this age, the tree starts to deteriorate. The Blue Spruce has been known to live over 200 years.
These, then are the main trees which make up the native and planted trees in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. A few Green Ash, and Willows rather round out the forest along with bushes, shrubs and undergrowth. Planted in 1972, this makes the age of the forest 45 years old. What would these trees have to say, if they were Ents? What will they say in the future of their time spent living in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area?
Would the Elm ask the Saskatchewan Woodpecker to peck just a little to the left, or desire that the itch up and to the right were attended to?
Could you imagine the Scots pine giggling as the squirrels run up and down the length of its trunk and branches.
And the butterflies, it is wonderful to speak to the Monarch Butterfly and efforts to preserve this endangered species. Did you know that the Balsam Poplar is a treat for the Admiral butterfly caterpillars, and Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. The Trembling Aspen, similarly also is delicious for these same caterpillars, as well as the Mourning Cloak caterpillar. So can you imagine the Trembling Aspen, the aspen bluff being one large organism growing as a clonal colony from a single root, awakening in the spring, and sending messages over to the butterfly larva to get a move on, and come out of the chyrsalis as it will soon be time for the poplar to trees to pollinate.
Can you just see the Colorado Blue Spruce calling out to the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and the Bohemian waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) when the temperatures in the winter get a little chilly, offering these little birds shelter from the winter winds? And though the Bohemian Waxwing takes shelter in the boughs of the Colorado Blue Spruce, its cousin the Cedar Waxwing, enjoys flying around in large flocks over the summer breeding months in the afforestation area.
What would the Ents say about the neighbouring human civilization? Would the trees say of humans, as they say of orcs, “They come with fire, they come with axes… gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning! Destroyers and usurpers, curse them!”…or of Saruman! the wizard .”There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of men for this treachery”. ~Treebeard, Ent.
The trees, if they were alive as Ents, would be able to relate and regale us with stories and tales, of the harmony between woodlands and wildlife. On March 3, World Wildlife Day, and every day, consider how to preserve and conserve the environment and its rich biodiversity.
“What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air–soil, water and pure air are the basis of life.”~ Richard St. Barbe Baker the Chipko Andolan slogan
“when the trees go, the rain goes, the climate deteriorates, the water table sinks, the land erodes and desert conditions soon appear.~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
“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
Trees worked for millions of years to make it possible for man to come on this planet.
When speaking of the trees planted in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and those wooded areas with native growth, which tree is the loftiest of them all?
American Elm Ulmus americana a deciduous tree 20-25 meter (66 – 82 feet) tall.Green Ash Fraxinux pennsyvica a deciduous tree 12 m (39 feet) tall.
Balsam Poplar (Black Poplar) Populus Balsamifera deciduous tree reaching on occasion 25 m tall however usually 10-15 meters (33 – 39 feet).
Trembling Aspen Populus tremuloides a native deciduous tree usually 20 meters tall, but can reach 30 meters (98 feet) in height.
Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila. A deciduous tree. 10-20 meters (33 – 66 feet) in height.
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris L. coniferous tree up to 35 meters (115 feet) in height, though an exception may reach higher than 45 meters (148 feet).
Blue spruce, (green spruce, white spruce, Colorado spruce, or Colorado blue spruce), Picea pungens is a columnar evergreen conifer which may grow 23 meters (75 feet) in its native habitat, however when planted it usually grows to about 15 meters (49 feet) tall.
At the moment the Balsam Poplar seems to be the tree reaching lofty heights at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Though statistically, the Scots pine can extend higher in its reach, the Scots pine is a slower growing tree than the Balsam Poplar. With the canopy of the Balsam poplar, this tree also has an impressive, and grand stature in this urban regional park with its extraordinary canopy of leaves. Towering above the caragana, snowberry bushes, and roes, the Balsam Poplar is a grand sight with its yellow leaves in the autumn. The Balsam poplar attracts moose, deer,and other ungulates, and it is true that the Richard St. Barbe Baker has become a nurturing environment for White tail deer and Mule deer. Bees also hover to the Balsam poplar using the resin obtained from the buds to waterproof their hives. The eco-system at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation area, is an amazing aspen parkland system set into the West Swale with picturesque wetlands. The planted trees of the afforestation area, and the geological features of the west Swale combine to prevent the surrounding city of Saskatoon and RM of Corman Park 344 land areas from excessive flooding during years and seasons with high water tables.
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil. ~ James Allen
Trees worked for millions of years to make it possible for man to come on this planet. Yet man, who owns his presence on this Earth to trees, has been cutting, burning, greedily and recklessly. He has turned the forest into desert, until today we are faced not only with a timber famine, but with a food famine. ~ 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 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
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 
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