We have a problem

April is World Habitat Awareness Month

In “the Canadian prairie region, a reported 71 percent of wetlands have been lost, due primarily to agricultural land conversion but also due to road development and urban growth” according to Sizo et al.
For today’s climate action activities check out these online resources so that once COVID-19 has subsided then caring can begin:
drop letter puzzle
Richard St. Barbe Baker Quotation Drop Letter Puzzle
“The majority of wetland alteration is driven by, or associated with, changes to land use and land cover (LUC) resulting from human-induced surface disturbance . In recent years, urban growth and regional development have become significant drivers of LUC change, due to the direct and indirect effects of surface disturbances to wetland hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology. … Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), the assessment and integration of environmental and sustainability considerations in policy, plan, or program (PPP) development and decision making, has gained considerable momentum in recent years as a proactive and spatially appropriate framework for assessing and shaping land use policies, plans, and development actions, including urban and regional land use plans, and managing their impacts on wetlands.”[Sizo]
On page 7 of Navigating Nature-based Solutions for Managing Water Resources in Saskatchewan’s 25-Year Water Security Plan is a framework for assessing nature based solution NBSs application in the Saskatchewan Water Security Plan taking into account an eco-system based approach, eco-hydrology, eco-phyto-, and bio- remediation, green/natural infrastructure, and environmental flows.
“The environmental significance of wetlands is well recognized: wetlands provide habitat for a large  number of species, serve as flood control areas, and support ecosystems in terms of water quality maintenance, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. Despite this, wetlands are decreasing more rapidly than any other type of ecosystem.” [Sizo]

“There is no denying it. We have a problem; a problem that has
to be solved for the sake of current and future generations.”
climate change – Government of Saskatchewan -White Paper

There is indeed a problem. Time to put aside the herbicides and pesticides, and stop poisoning the earth.   There is a need to explain how to use permaculture or the treating of the soil as an eco-system to increase the carbon sequestration and yields.  Benefits of agro-forestry, and working in harmony with nature to help forest, water and grasslands will maximize soil potentials.  Yes, there needs to be more education and awareness.

you can’t expect to see change if you never do anything differently

Today is Tuesday,  April 28, and are nearly at the end of officially celebrating Earth Month. This year’s Earth Day 2020 theme is Climate Action.  It is also the proclamation for  the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020

 

Bibliography

 

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Canada Helps

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

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

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

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.~ George Bernard Shaw

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ―Mahatma Ghandi

What is taxonomy?

How can we determine which of the roses are which in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities?

Part 1

What is taxonomy? Part 1 | Rosids Part 2 | genus Rosa Part 3
| Rose Species Part 4 | Rose reproduction Part 5 | Native Rose Plant Ethnobiology Part 6 | Bibliography | New Wild Roses of Saskatchewan and How to Tell them Apart

Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) the Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana) and Wood’s Rose, or Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii) are perhaps easiest to identify in mid-June when the pink blooms appear.  These blooms last perhaps two weeks, giving way to the fruit or the red or reddish-orange rose hips, which again make this bush easy to identify. Whereas, all rose bushes have thorns, the Prickly Rose is abundant with weak thorns.

Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) the Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana)  and Wood’s Rose, or Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii) all grow well across Saskatchewan, in the quaking aspen parkland, and also the grasslands as well as the northern boreal forests.  This bush is often found where the soil has been made acidic due to the contributions of spruce or pine, and will grow in forests comprised of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), and cottonwood (Populous spp.) all of these trees making up both the afforestation areas – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.

The rose bush, will make its appearance in places where rodents or other animals disturb the soil, loosening up the soil which then receives the rose seed (achene) in an area conducive to growth. Or, in fact, these animals may also be disturbing the rhizomatous roots which are laying below the soil.  Adventitious buds form on roots near the ground surface, on damaged stems (as on the stumps of cut rose shrubs), or on old roots. These roots develop into above-ground stems and leaves. A form of budding called suckering is the reproduction or regeneration of a plant by shoots that arise from an existing root system.  The rose bushes do not tolerate a closed forest canopy as they are only moderately shade tolerant.

What is the difference between scientists?

A botanist is an expert in or student of the scientific study of plants, based on the Greek root botanikos, from botanē meaning plant, and -logy from French -logie or from Greek  / medieval Latin -logia meaning the study or interest in a subject.  A biologist is a scientist who focuses on living organisms, including plants and animals from Greek bios ‘life’ + -logy.  A naturalist, on the other hand, is a person who studies or is an expert in natural history, especially a zoologist or botanist.  Historically, if one lived back in the late 14th century, the Middle English word for a “natural philosopher or scientist” was naturien instead of naturalist.

A citizen scientist is anyone who aids in the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world, and reports them to  a collaborative project with professional scientists.  Some wonderful ways to report data from the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest ecosystems, would be for citizen scientists  to make observations and send them off on their computers or by using phone apps.  iNaturalist, ebird, Bird Studies Canada, EcoSpark, eButterfly, FrogWatch, PlantWatch, Project Noah, Project BudBurst, Nature’s Notebook, LeafSnap.  The Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan has a Saskatchewan Master Naturalists program.  The Saskatoon Nature Society conducts regular field trips to connect people and nature.  Jane’s Walks and The Wild About Saskatoon Walks in the spring month of May introduce the visitor to both the afforestation areas – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.

PlantWatch The PlantWatch program enables citizen scientists to get involved by recording flowering times for selected plant species and reporting these dates to researchers, who work to identify ecological changes that may be affecting our environment. By reporting on the PlantWatch species found in your community, you can help researchers discover how common plants are responding to climate change and track where changes are taking place in Canada, and at what rate.

Project BudBurst Project BudBurst is an app to receive data on the timing of leafing and flowering of trees and flowers Project BudBurst also offers climate change and phenology materials and tools

LeafSnap  The user of the LeafSnap App needs to extract the leaf and place it in a white background and then take a picture through the app to get the leaf identified automatically.

Reporting your findings on facebook, or social media, and using the hashtags #ScienceAroundMe., #RichardStBarbeBakerAfforestationArea, #GeorgeGenereuxUrbanRegionalPark, #Saskatoon, #YXEGreenStrategy are some excellent ways to track the eco-system out at the afforestation areas.

What is taxonomy?

Botanists refer to a taxonomic key produced by a taxonomist when speaking in reports, publications or at conferences about plants.

TaxonomicRanks
Taxonomic Ranks, and Binomial Name Genus and Species

“Nature produces individuals, and nothing more. She produces them in such countless numbers that we are compelled to sort them into kinds in order that we may be able to carry them in our minds. This sorting is classification—taxonomy.”  ~C.E. Bessey Though Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) may be regarded as the first ever naturalist, Theophrastus (371–287 B.C.), his pupil, is recognised as the father of Botany.  However, the starting point for modern botanical nomenclature is Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum of 1753 which featured a key event as Linnaeus adopted the system of using binomial names for plant species. Binomial nomenclature is a two-naming system featuring the first part of the name – the generic name– identifying the genus to which the plant or organism belongs, while the second part – the specific name or specific epithet – continues on to identify the species.  The classification of something, living things or organisms is the science called taxonomy.  A taxonomist groups organisms into categories.  A plant taxonomist may study the origins, and the relationships between different types of roses.  Taxonomists may come up with their own system of plant taxonomy or “taxonomic system

Taxonomic_rankingBLANK
Taxonomic Chart Blank

Figure 1 Complete the Taxonomic Ranks for the Saskatchewan Wild Rose Method 1 Use the given relationships below used by botanists Method 2 Create your own Taxonomy Chart, Taxonomic Section titles, and plant names.

In Saskatchewan roses have the same taxonomy through to the genus “Rosa.”  Of all the taxonomic classifications, the clade ‘Rosids’ is the most challenging taxonomic category to describe.

  • Kingdom: Plantae.  Plantae means plants, featuring multi-cellular living things with predominantly photosynthetic cells.

    Rosales Classification according to the USDA
    Rosales Classification taxonomy key according to the USDA
  • Clade: Angiosperms. Angiosperms are plants with fruit.  Angiosperms are land plants which produce seeds within an enclosure such as a fruiting body.  Angiosperms is derived from the Greek words angeion (“case” or “casing”) and sperma (“seed”).
  • Clade: Eudicot.  Eudicots have two seed leaves which provide nutrients to the embroyo from the Greek words eu, well or good, dio two, and kotylidon seedlobe. Eudicot as a reference first proposed that there is a pair of leaves, or cotyledons, in the embryo of the seed.  Currently the classification refers to angiosperms which are not monocots.
  • Clade:  Rosids. Rosids have their own chapter: Rosids (Part 2).
  • Order: Rosales. Those rosids which are nitrogen fixing or those plants which belong to the nitrogen fixing order are given the name Rosales.
  • Family:  Rosaceae. The subfamily of rosaceae is Rosoideae, those plants with rose hips.  Rosoideae which are those genera bearing aggregate fruits that are made up of small achenes or drupelets, and often the fleshy part of the fruit  is the receptacle or the stalk bearing the carpels (female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an ovary, a stigma, and usually a style).  In taxonomy, that which separates the family Rosaceae from the order Rosales is that the plant ovaries and achenes (seeds) are hidden inside the round hypanthium.
  • Genus: Rosa. Two of the ways that the rosaceae family can be narrowed down to the genus Rosa are; if the plant features many pistils and prickly stems.  chapter: genus Rosa (Part 3).
  • Species: R. Acicularlis Lindl., R. arkansana, R. woodsii
Linnaean system of classification Biological Classification Chart
Biological Classification Chart

Figure 2 From the information above fill out the Biological classification Chart.  What happened?  Have there been changes in the Linnaean system?  Why? For extra points, how many different kingdoms are there?

In the USDA classification

  • Kingdom Plantae refers to plants.
  • Sub-Kingdom Tracheobionta are vascular plants with lignified plant tissues (called vessels or trachea) for moving water and minerals around the plant.
  • Super-division Spermatophyta are seed plants.  Seed plants are divided into two groups Gymnosperms and Angiosperms.
  • Division Magnoliophyta are flowering plants.  Plants in Magnoliophyta were formerly classified as angiosperms.
  • Class Magnoliospida hold the dicot plants.
  • Sub-class Rosidae also called Rosid.
  • Order Rosales feature nitrogen fixing flowers with four or five petals and the blossoms are flat or cup-shaped. They also have fleshy fruit.

Activities and questions

  • Design, construct and evaluate the effectiveness of a taxonomic classification technique that demonstrates the scientific principles underlying the identification of plants and how to differentiate one plant from another.
  • Evaluate, compare (find the similarities) and contrast (find the differences) to weigh the effectiveness of more than one of the previously devised botanical classifications.  Debate the issue with supporting arguments pro and con.
  • What type of background in the physical sciences would a botanist or a taxonomist require?
  • Are there any biologists, or naturalists in Saskatchewan?

Bibliography

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year).  Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers  Please and thank you!  Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated.  Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

QR Code FOR PAYPAL DONATIONS to the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
Paypal
Payment Options
Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly
Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD
Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

.

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger

“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.

“In the stillness of the mighty woods, man is made aware of the divine”
Richard St Barbe Baker

Petrichor, where have you been?

“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.”
e.e. cummings

 

Petrichor

i have to write

i have to relate the delight

the rain

have you been there in the rain,

when it is a misty rain, a heavy fog, barely getting wet,

have you been there right after the rain,

the grass slowly melting and dissolving into wet shoes,

the nose awake.  Erigir, erigir, erigir.

Have you become aware

do you know Petrichor

as well as I love Petrichor?

Are you there, fully aware of the totality

of the Pedogenesis which is occuring?

it is so very delightful and enriching,

and one may even say invigorating as well.

have you traveled around and taken the time

perhaps to  compare the dark of the dark gray Chernozemic soil

laying beneath the grasslands with the

rich gray Luvosolic and Brunisolic soils which form

the rich forest floor?  these are perhaps my favourite.

but there is no denying that Regosolic, Gleysolic, and Vertisolic soils

are so unique and ever divergent

Or perhaps, you prefer those Solonetzic soils, where the

remnants of the prairies rich in potash from seas of bygone eras

decorate the landscape in salty white tough crusts.

On the days where i bend down and get my knees wet

in addition to my shoes, i revel in the Organic soils, and

share my time with sedges and mosses that is a time when

time stands still and you realize you are not alone,

its a time of magic when from nowhere

the mushrooms spring up in the depths

between the tree roots.

Humus embiggens, rain enriches.

Oh Petrichor, oh Petrichor, how i miss you in the winter months

And now, Phenology, be blessed, you have returned again!

Oh! over spring, summer, and autumn, and how you vary

and which is best, nay I cannot say

but thank goodness you have returned, you were truly missed

hello again Petrichor, don’t stay away so long.

Oh best beloved reader, do say, what are you connected to?

Do you also know Petrichor?

nature pine raindrops drops of water

 

They recognize that while knowledge about nature is vital; passion is the long-distance fuel for the struggle to save what is left of our natural heritage and ~ through an emerging green urbanism ~ to reconstitute lost land and water. Passion does not arrive on videotape or on a CD; passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature. Louv. 2005. p. 158

 

“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

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area,  George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and those land areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation areas and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Bibliography.

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.

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area,  George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year).  Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers  Please and thank you!  Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated.  Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

QR Code FOR PAYPAL DONATIONS to the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
Paypal
Payment Options
Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly
Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD
Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

 

“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger

 

…”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

 

The stone and the worm

World Soil Day
5 December 2018

“As long as a soil is covered with forest, its humus is maintained. The basic forest problem lies in its composition and regeneration. In the forest the process of decay and growth always balance one another. The vegetable wastes together with the by-products of the animal population form a mixture on the forest floor. As we examine this mixture from time to time we  find it remains practically constant in depth, in spite of annual additions from leaf-fall that take place. This mixture is drawn upon at an even rate by earthworms, fungi and bacteria, and the resulting humus in turn is absorbed by the soil and provides the trees and under growth with the food materials they require. Thus the forest manures itself and with the help of the earthworms and other animal distributes this manure through the upper layers of the soil. Everything is done by Nature quietly and efficiently. No artificial fertilizers, no selective weed killers, no pesticides and no machinery are needed in the household of the natural forest.~Richard St. Barbe Baker My Life My Trees

 

“The great Empires of Assyria, Babylon, Carthage and Persia were destroyed by floods and deserts let loose in the wake of forest destruction. Erosion following forest destruction and soil depletion has been one of the most powerfully destructive forces in bringing about the downfall of civilizations and wiping out human existence from large tracts of the earths surface. Erosion does not march with a blast of trumpets or the beating of drums, but its tactics are more subtle, more sinister.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker- I Planted Trees – 1944

 

“The worm is the best farm worker. Darwin told us all there was to know about the life history of the worm. But what he didn’t teach us is how to harness the worm. And this I’ve been trying to do for the past forty years. To teach people how to use the worm on their farms and in their gardens by helping them to increase the humus, aerate the soil. And on the fringe of the Sahara and in Israel where I started planting trees over fifty years ago, we put a stone or a couple of stones for every tree on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho in our plantations in the Judean hills. And if a goat knocked a stone off, the tree would die.

“The stone is there to water the tree; this is what we call stone mulching or top mulching. The stone draws down the heat and it draws up the heat from below and draws up the moisture and will protect the worm. The worm will come up and down, and enjoy a cool night under the stone in the moisture that is accumulated under the stone. And in the morning the worm goes down again.

“If you pick up that stone you’ll see two or three worms just underneath, all in the cool and damp. But what is not generally understood is that you can’t have superphosphate and worms. The worms don’t like the superphosphate or any of the chemicals or weed killers and things you put on the crops now, these selective killers. You have to make up your mind whether you’re going to harness the worm or you’re going to work for the chemical merchant.” Richard St. Barbe Baker

 

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area,  George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

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!

QR Code FOR PAYPAL DONATIONS to the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
Paypal
Payment Options
Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly
Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD
Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

 

  The simple act of planting a tree, which is in itself a practical deed, is also the symbol of a far reaching ideal, which is creative in the realm of the Spirit, and in turn reacts upon society, encouraging all to work for the future well being of humanity rather than for immediate gain. Richard St. Barbe Baker

The Heart of the Plains

Heredity and Environment in the Temperate Grasslands.

 

In continents and countries the anthropo-geographer looks to see not what reliefs are present, but how they are distributed. The plains, indeed, have been both source and recipient of every form of historical movement. Temperate grasslands have an innate and prevailing fitness for agriculture, trade and intercourse. They are favored regions for the final massing of a settled population.

Well-watered lowlands invite expansion, ethnic, commercial and political. In these areas the whole range of historical movements meet few obstacles beyond the waters gathering in their runnels and the forests nourished in their rich soils. The vast level plains of the earth have found their distinctive and lasting historical importance in the fact of their large and unbounded surface.

And, looking far ahead, can you hear the heart of the West Swale lowlands beating as one with the heart of the Bluegrass, and both beating as one with the heart of the world.

In the plains geography makes for fusion. Without boundary or barrier, there are no secluded corners where settlements could entrench themselves and preserve their individual identity. There is, as a point in fact, a vast melting-pot, which has succeeded in amalgamating the most diverse elements.

The more flat and featureless a prairie is, the more important become even the slightest surface irregularities which can draw faint dividing lines among the population. Here a gentle land-swell, river, lake, forest, or water-soaked wetlands serves as boundary. Especially apparent is the differentiating influence of difference of soils. Gravel and alluvium, sand and clay, limestone and more recent marine sediments, emphasize small geographical differences.

The meager rainfall of the aspen parkland ecosystem eliminates forests and restricts vegetation to aspen bluffs, grasses, sedges and those forms which can survive a prolonged summer drought and require a short period of growth.

The grasslands, the beloved Blue-grass land, known to the Saskatchewan pioneer and indigenous civilization developed historical importance only after the domestication of cattle, sheep, goats, bison, and horses. This step in progress resulted in the evolution of peoples who renounced the precarious subsistence of the chase and escaped the drudgery of agriculture, to devote themselves to pastoral life.

Historically, however, environment determined the nomadic habits of the prairie dweller. The distribution of pasture and water fixes the scope and the rate of his wandering; these in turn depend upon geographic conditions and vary with the season.

Heredity and environment act and react upon each other with the regularity and inevitability of succession of night and day. Neither tells the whole story; together they make up the sum of life; of the generations that are to come!

Heredity and environment create the make up of the geography of the eco-system, the physical biome of an area.

This process has been best described by Ellen Churchill Semple, Ellen Churchill Semple (January 8, 1863 – May 8, 1932) a geographer who focused on anthropogeography, environmentalism, and “environmental determinism”. An analysis of Semple’s works is one theory which unzips the heredity and environment of the Saskatchewan prairies, the world’s most endangered ecosystem.

The heredity and environment of the afforestation area has been examined to some extent. The afforestation areas are within the larger context of the West Swale. What is the heredity and environment of the West SwaleWhat is the West Swale?

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area,  George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part 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

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

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!

QR Code FOR PAYPAL DONATIONS to the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
Paypal
Payment Options
Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly
Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD
Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

You Tube Video Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube Video Richard St Barbe Baker presented by Paul Hanley

You Tube Video Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and West Swale wetlands

You Tube Video Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area – Saskatoon’s best kept secret.

 

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

 

%d bloggers like this: