Help to place Saskatoon and Area on the World Nature Stage!
This is an amazing virtual ID session to flip unknowns on iNaturalist! Have you never come across an unknown on iNaturalist? Well here is a wonderful evening of fun!
Anyone at all can help with identifications, and help flip unknowns! You don’t even have to know anything about the species. Teams of experts will be reviewing and updating the information that’s submitted, so you can log back in later and learn more about what you’ve been working on. You get out of iNaturalist what you put into it!
So it is just fine if you just stay with the larger taxon unit, and suggest that the observation looks like an elephant, deer, rhinoceros, butterfly, flowering plant, ant, spider, and just let the specialist scientists do the rest. There are extra points in Saskatchewan for anyone who discovers the elephant and rhinoceros in the Saskatchewan observations though 😉
We look forward to you coming on by! The City Nature Challenge runs between April 29 to May 2 Saskatoon and area will compete for the title of the most Biodiverse City. We need your help. The goals are to engage the public in the collection of biodiversity data, with three awards each year for the cities and areas that 1/ makes the most observations, 2/ find the most species, and 3/ engage the most people. We’re so excited to have this fun friendly competition with a chance to place Saskatoon and Area on the World Stage for the City Nature Challenge 2022! #CNCYXE People going out during their baseball games, and finding ladybugs on their iNaturalist app, or taking photos through iNaturlist of ants while watching soccer games is wonderful! What about the dog walk, what plants and animals will FIDO sniff at? With iNaturalist loaded onto your smart phone, you can find the names of these plants and animals, insects and mushrooms. Help your students and sons, and daughters discover the names of What is it?
These identification parties are wonderful tools to “find the most species.” So thanks for coming along.
iNaturalist Connect with nature for the City Nature Challenge Saskatoon and Area Défi nature urbaine hosted by the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.Camera, Photgraph your story in the forestRichard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Spring timeRichard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CA Spring time
“The City Nature Challenge is an annual, global, community science competition to document urban biodiversity. The challenge is a bioblitz that engages residents and visitors to find and document plants, animals, and other organisms living in urban areas. The goals are to engage the public in the collection of biodiversity data, with three awards each year for the cities that makes the most observations, find the most species, and engage the most people.
Participants primarily use the iNaturalist app and website to document their observations, though some areas use other platforms, such as eBird in Saskatoon. The observation period is followed by several days of identification and the final announcement of winners. Participants need not know how to identify the species; help is provided through iNaturalist’s automated species identification feature as well as the community of users on iNaturalist, including professional scientists and expert naturalists.” [source]
City Nature Challenge CNCYXE Saskatoon area versus YQRCNC Regina and area in a mini SK challengeCity Nature Challenge CNCYXE Saskatoon area versus YQRCNC Regina and area in a mini SK challengeYellow Sunflower Moth
Stiria rugifrons on top of Curlycup Gumweed Grindelia squarrosa
Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday!
CNC YXE DNU participant / collaborator / organiser meetings held the second Tuesday of the month via zoom email for your zoom link friendsafforestation@gmail.com From there we can arrange to host iNaturalist introductory webinars for observers and identifiers or bio-blitz hints and tips.
Help put the City of Saskatoon and area on the world nature scene! Using iNaturalist take photos of plants, animals, insects and mushrooms between April 29 – May 2, 2022! Saskatoon will compete for the title of the most Biodiverse City. We need your help. YouTube Video about getting involved
From May 3-May 8 identify what was found in Saskatoon Taking part is easy!
Whether you’re an avid naturalist or a dog walker, everyone can participate: it’s easy, fun, and will encourage you to get outdoors.
If you’re new to iNaturalist, then we can help {either contact us via friendsafforestation@gmail.som or follow instructions online at https://inaturalist.ca/.}
Started in 2016 for the first-ever Citizen Science Day, the citizen science teams at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and California Academy of Sciences dreamed up the City Nature Challenge as a fun way to capitalize on their home cities’ friendly rivalry and hold a citizen science event around urban biodiversity. The first City Nature Challenge was an eight-day competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, engaging residents and visitors in documenting nature to better understand urban biodiversity. Over 20,000 observations were made by more than 1000 people in a one-week period, cataloging approximately 1600 species in each location, including new records for both areas. During the 2016 CNC, the organizers heard so much excitement and interest from people in other cities that they decided that they couldn’t keep to the fun just to themselves. In 2017 the City Nature Challenge went national, and in 2018, the CNC became an international event!
Saskatoon is now registered for the very first time ever to participate in the 2022 event – so we really need your help to highlight the City of Saskatoon area!
The Canada Wide City Nature Challenge is hosted by Canadian Wildlife Federation. The worldwide City Nature Challenge is hosted by California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
CNC YXE is run completely by volunteer organizers. If you’re part of a local stewardship or municipal group and would like to contribute to the promotion of the event, offer your skillsets, or make a donation to this city project please contact friendsafforestation@gmail.com to learn more.
When and Where did you see What? courtesy Presentation to Master Naturalists Sam Kieschnick
Discover the many benefits getting started in saving species with artificial intelligence. Basic techniques that work for everyone. Interesting facts and sure-fire ways to help you succeed. Now you can have the immersion in nature based solutions to climate change faster than you ever imagined. Incredibly easy method to have artificial intelligence work for all! Biodiversity photos => Data. It is as easy as snap, share, identify. Could this webinar be the definitive answer to taking part in the “big picture?” We all share and co-exist on this planet. How to change the world – participation is worth it.
National Forest Week The last full week of September. Maple Leaf Day the Wednesday of that week.
This program for National Forest Week is brought to you by the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas an environmental non-profit charity that was created to preserve and restore the 326-acre Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the 148-acre George Genereux Urban Regional Park. Our work reinforces the 1979 City Council decision designating these afforestation areas on the western fringe of Saskatoon to “be preserved in perpetuity.” They are important habitat for wildlife as well as semi-wild public spaces for recreation and nature immersion. The larger of these two areas is named after Richard St. Barbe Baker (1889-1982), who has been called the “first global conservationist” and in recognition of this he was made the first Honorary Life Member of the World Wildlife Fund in 1969. A British forester who also homesteaded and studied in Saskatoon, he dedicated his entire life unfailingly to the preservation and planting of trees and forests.
This is one session in a week long series of events celebrating National Forest Week with a theme – “Our Forests – Continually Giving”
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
So, cattails and you, and why all parts of the cattail plant are amazing for a wild spring, summer or fall harvest. “The shoots or hearts, also known as “Cossack asparagaus,” are best harvested in spring or early summer, prior to the devlopment of the flower stalk” source So after harvesting the shoots, just rinse, soak in vinegar for 15-20 minutes and then rinse. <a href="http://<!– wp:paragraph –> <p>So, cattails and you, and why all parts of the cattail plant are amazing for a wild spring, summer or fall harvest. "The shoots or hearts, also known as "Cossack asparagaus," are best harvested in spring or early summer, prior to the devlopment of the flower stalk"<a href="https://wildfoodgirl.com/2013/cold-hearted-cattail-salads/"> source</a> So after harvesting the shoots, just rinse, soak in vinegar for 15-20 minutes and then rinse. </p> Cold Cattail and Tomato Salad is a great way to start out enjoying your Cattail harvest.
Remember to harvest your cattails alone, and without your puppy dog with you, as spring is nesting time for many waterfowl and animals. Humans are not the only animals who forage on cattails. “Wherever there are cattails, there’s food. The seeds, roots and shoots attract plant-eating animals, and predators that eat the cattail’s visitors. Ducks and Canada geese sometimes eat the tiny seeds, and geese dine on the plant’s new shoots and underwater roots…. Muskrats gnaw on the roots, and use the leaves to build a shelter, called a lodge, to keep themselves safe. It’s common to see red-winged blackbirds hanging around cattails. After the male finds a mate the birds use plants including cattail leaves to build their nest.” source
As you embark on the Cold Cattail and Tomato Salad, consider the nutritional benefits from Cattails, such as Manganese, Vitamin K, Magnesium, Iron, Vitamin B6 and Sodium. According to Health Benefits of Cattail, Uses And Its Side Effects, Cattails, help with mitigation of Anaemia, preventing cancer, controlling hypertension, reducing atherosclerosis risks, controlling diabetes, and is also a natural antiseptic.
Nature is the source of human subsistence but the transformation of nature into food is a cultural process that is not independent of power relations. The colonization of America comprised the systematic repression of indigenous ways of knowing and even after the elimination of political colonialism the relationship between European cultures and the others is still one of colonial domination. The colonial repression of different knowledges also affects the culinary epistemology that informs food preparation and consumption.
Muskrat West Swale Wetlands. Chappell Marsh. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA
Chappell Marsh. West Swale Wetlands. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA
Red Winged Blackbird. Chappell Marsh. West Swale Wetlands. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA
Canada Geese West Swale Wetlands. Chappell Marsh. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CA
Drawing a Cattail Plant emerging from the Chappell Marsh Wetlands in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Always be careful about safety when around water . So today, is another momentous day to celebrate Tourism Week In Canada. Pop out for a visit to the afforestation areas, enjoy the delightful spring weather, and enjoy this man-made forest on the prairies.
Send in a comment on how you succeed with your foraging adventure! Stay tuned throughout tourism week for more Cattail recipes for your outdoor foraging foray.
“All of these things are food for insects, for birds, for bears, deer, elk and moose, and if we compromise that by our foraging … it won’t be long before these things are no longer here,” … Julie Walker recommends people plant some of these species in their backyard gardens — or at least stop the war on weeds and let and nature take its course. Many native species have qualities that can benefit a home garden, like requiring little to no maintenance and being drought-resistant, she added. People can also forage on public lands, as long as they learn to recognize healthy populations of wild plant species.
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
Ontario takes the preservation of this endangered species very seriously and has compiled a management plan. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources considers species at risk, natural, valued and protected, and to this end have documented ways to help the Horned Grebe. What does the Province of Saskatchewan say? The Species at Risk Act SARA, similarly has a recovery strategy. Committee On The Status Of Endangered Wildlife In Canada COSEWIC has an assessment and status report written up for the Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus. The Government of Canada has developed a species profile and action plan in its Species at Risk Act Action Plan Series.
“Mother nature has given us a strong signal through this pandemic: we must change our habits and slow down if we are going to continue living on this planet. It is a perfect time to make people realize on a global level that flattening the curve of climate change and environmental destruction is just as important as flattening the curve for COVID-19. It’s a perfect time to formulate and refine your ideas and put the planning and strategy in place to make them happen.” Marianna Muntianu UN Environment Program
The Saskatchewan Government reports; “Despite many programs focused on maintaining and enhancing wildlife populations, some species have become threatened with extinction and require special attention to help ensure their survival. The mission of the Saskatchewan species at risk program is to protect species from extirpation or extinction and to prevent new species from becoming threatened with extinction. ”
The Canadian-Saskatchewan Agreement on Species at Risk; “Species at risk protection and recovery in Saskatchewan will, to the extent possible, be designed and delivered in a manner tailored to address the ecological, social and economic circumstances of the province; Planning and actions to prevent species from becoming at risk, and to protect and recover species that have been identified as being at risk will be informed by the best available information on the biological status of a species, including scientific knowledge, community knowledge and aboriginal traditional knowledge”
So, as one can see, there are numerous plans and strategies in regards to the Horned Grebe. What exists Nationally, Provincially and Municipally for the other endangered species which exist in the afforestation area locally? Both 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. According to Chet Neufeld, Executive Director Native Plant Society referencing “the provincial rare species database, there have been occurrences of endangered Whooping Cranes observed near the area in 2017 and an occurrence of Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper (date unknown)” (email Dec 25, 2019) The Small Yellow Lady’s Slipper was indeed confirmed with another sighting by the Saskatoon Nature Society.
At Nature Saskatchewan the Stewards of Saskatchewan program are calling for people to reach out to them with species at risk sightings as the spring season begins. If you have a sighting you would like to share please call 1-800-667-4668 (HOOT) or email a program staff member.
April 19, 2020 is the cutoff date for this crowd fundraiser should you care to do your part for the environment during Earth Month. Any funding raised would help to erect motorized vehicle barriers to protect the afforestation areas, and therefore protect the wetlands from illegal motorized vehicle trespass.
Shoreline edge of the permanent wetlands in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area with cattails and emergent vegetation in the summer showing illegal vehicle trespass, mudding, and ruts in the spring
with cattails and emergent vegetation in the summer showing illegal vehicle trespass, mudding, and ruts in the spring
Thanks for comments, likes and shares on facebook. And if you care to make a donation too 😉 Not only do vehicle mitigation barriers help the Horned Grebe, but they also help school children, class field trips from being run over from illegal motorized vehicle trespass, and the semi-wilderness habitat, and the other endangered species, as well as all the users to the afforestation areas! Raising funds to erect vehicle mitigation barriers, also places stops on illegal trash dumping, which is also way cool!
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
The Trembling Aspen is also referred to as the Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx) May 25, 2019
The long needles of the Scots Pine
Elm Leaves
Today’s little project involves some writing.
You can write letters or emails.
Jot a note off to companies ask them to create products which are greener.
If it can’t be reduced, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production. – Peter Seeger
Send a letter to you member of the legislative assembly asking that the upcoming amendments to the wildlife act include provisions for protecting plant life.
Check with your member of the legislative assembly for the action plan to protect the Saskatchewan provincial endangered small yellow lady’s slipper found in the afforestation area.
Write a letter to your local green environmental group asking for suggestions on how to take action on climate change.
For your second activity today, how many words, or anagrams can you make from “appreciation?”
“It’s coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so. It’s not just climate change; it’s sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now.” ~David Attenborough
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)
“Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species that we will never know — that our children will never see because they have been lost forever. The great majority become extinct for reasons related to human activity. Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.”
– Pope Francis
“He that plants a tree, loves others besides himself.” ~Thomas Fuller
“We share this world with millions of other species, and engage directly with many thousands of these – for food, shelter, medicines, aesthetic pleasure, and sometime just because we need to stay out of their way. At least at a few stages removed, all of the affect us to some extent, and we in turn affect them. If we seek to exploit trees, or to conserve them or simply to admire and appreciate them as they so richly deserve, we need first and foremost to know who’s who.”~ Colin Tudge, page 21
“two massive …. trees growing next to each other. He points up at their skeletal winter crowns, which appear careful not to encroach into each other’s space. “These two are old friends,” he says. “They are very considerate in sharing the sunlight, and their root systems are closely connected. In cases like this, when one dies, the other usually dies soon afterward, because they are dependent on each other.” Peter Wohlleben, a German forester and author, a kind of tree whisperer.
Bibliography.
Read more Tudge, Colin. The Tree. A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter. Crown Publishers. New York. ISBN 13:978-1-4000-5036-9 ISBN 10:1-4000-5036-7 2006.
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
The Species: R. Acicularlis Lindl., R. arkansana,R. woodsii
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?
Distinguishing between the three Saskatchewan wild roses to determine the species
Making observations of the plant structure, the leaf structure, and the flower structure.
How to describe the species; learning botanical terms.
Native Rose Bush blooming in June
Rose in the Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Native Rose Bush blooming in June
Bumblebee on rose
Wood’s Rose, or Common Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii) may also form thickets of clones from rhizomatous roots. The rose shrubbery may grow as high as 30 to 240 centimeters (1 to 8 feet high.) These thickets of rose bushes provide nesting sites for birds, as well as thermal and feeding cover for deer and other small mammals. The flowers may be either solitary or corymbose. Blooms are short-pedicelled AKA the stalk of an individual flower is short.
Flowers are usually a deep pink about 5 cm (2 inches) across. Flowers can be set on rose bush in clusters of one to five at the end of a branch less commonly are they seen solitary. The inflorescence is distinctly saucer shape, and the petals are not flat across.
The sepals provide a covering around the rose bud during the formation period before the inflorescence blooms. The sepals are lanceolate, which is a botanical term meaning shaped like a lance or a spear head. Looking closely, the sepals can be located under the rose bloom, supporting the petals, and the sepals will be broad in the lower half close to the stem, and tapering to a point near the tip similar to a lance or a spear. Tomentose is another apt botanical description for the sepals meaning that they are densely covered with short matted downy filaments or hairs, they are rather fuzzy looking. The Wood’s Rose sepals are persistent on the fruit (rose hip), and each rose hip may have 15 – 35 seeds. Persistent in botanical terminology means that the sepals do not fall off, and will still be seen on the rose hip in the winter months.
The leaflets are single-toothed with a shape described as obovate to ovate to elliptic. Often the leaflets are cuneate or narrowed at the base and may feature straight sides converging at base, producing a ‘wedge shape’, cuneate is from the Latin root cuneus ‘wedge’ + -ate. An obovate shape would describe the leaflet as shaped like a tear-drop where the tip of the tear drop attaches to the stem near the base. An ovate leaflet shape is an egg-shaped oval, where the point tapers, and the widest portion of the leaflet is nearest the base. Whereas an elliptic shape refers to the leaflet being oval without a point, or a very rounded and subdued point. There are usually 5 to 7 leaflets making up one leaf, and may be as many as 11. The upper surface of the leaf is shiny. Stipules are prominent and united at the base of the leaf giving rise to the term adnate stipule. Adnate means joined or united by having grown together. A pair of stipules (straw, stalk) are little outgrowths on either side of the base of the leafstalk. Each leaflet has a very short or no stalk at all stalk (sessile). Sessility from sessilis meaning “sitting” or in botany “resting on the surface” having no stalk
Oddly pinnate leaf – imparipinnate Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Leaf shape or morphology OBOVATE Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Leaf shape or morphology OVALE Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Leaf shape or morphology ELLIPTIC Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Figure 1 Rose Leaf showing alternate odd-pinnate leaflets. Leaflet shapes. Draw the leaflet shape of the roses seen in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Prickles on a Wood Rose stem may be straight or curved, however generally have a curve. Infrastipular spines are commonly present, and the stems are prickly. Infrastipular means below (infra) the stipules (stipular), so the spines are commonly seen below ‘the small appendage at the base of the petiole of a leaf’ (stipule). The Common Wild Rose (Wood Rose) only has a few scattered thorns, in comparison to the Prickly Wild Rose which is covered with many small weak bristles. The Wood Rose thorns feature are broad and flattened at their base.
The stem of this rose shrub is reddish brown to gray.
The Wood Rose has a distinct style featuring calyx-lobes entire. Entire meaning not divided and featuring a smooth margin, not lobed or toothed.
The orange-red to bright red or blue-purple fruit is fleshy, globose or globose-ovoid 5-12 mm (.2 – .5 inches) wide, Glabrous (hairless and smooth) and sometimes glaucous (dull bluish-green, gray). As many as 15 to 35 nutlets (achenes) may be found within the rose hip, and the nutlets are 3-4 mm (0.1-0.16 inches) long.
Rosa arkansana, the prairie rose, dwarf prairie rose or wild prairie rose (Rosa arkansana) is also a rose bush of Saskatchewan which will reach heights of 30-60 centimeters (1 – 2 feet) tall. The flowers are unique as they are pink and may be streaked with a deeper pink. The blooms are 3 to 7 cm (1.25 to 2.5 inches) in diameter. There may be as many as 5 or more flowers, or solitary flowers on the terminal end of the stems. The inflorescences are corymbs which are a flat-topped or convex cluster of flowers derived from Latin corymbus, bunch of flowers, from Greek korumbos, head where the outermost flowers open first. The petals on the inflorescence have a top wavy edge, with a central peaked notch at the top.
The sepals are rounded at the base with a smooth outer surface.
Droughty conditions or freezing may cause the plants above the surface to totally die back each year. The roots are very hardy, and will grow deep into the soil, reaching as far as 2.4 -3.7 meters (8 – 12 feet) down in the soil. Asexual regeneration takes place from roots sprouting from the root crown.
The rose hip is almost globular, and starts out as a deep red colour. The sepals persist on the fruit. Seeds produced need a dormancy period featuring successive cold and warm moist periods, and may not germinate until the second year.
This rose bush sports many dense reddish thorns.
The leaves are also pinnately compound, and may contain as many as nine to eleven leaflets. The upper side of the leaves are smooth dark green in contrast to the lighter green hairy undersides. The hairy undersides can be called puberulent from the Latin puber, (downy, adult) + -ulent, from ulentus (abounding in). The leaves can be 8 to 10 centimeters (3-4 inches) in length with leaflets 2 – 3 cm (.75 – 1.25 inches) long. The leaflets bear 2 wing-like stipules at the base of the stem, and may have a few glands at the tip edges. The leaflets are fringed on the margin with hairs and so can be described by the botany word ciliate from the Latin root cilium: an eye lash. The leaflets have either a very short leaf stem, or none at all.
As this is a short growing rose bush, it prefers the open grasslands, however will be found in the parklands. The prairie rose thrives on the extreme continental climate which alternates between severe winters and very warm or hot summers. It was noted that the Prairie Rose thrived during the most extreme years of drought experienced during the “dirty thirties.”
Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) Acicularis has a Latin root meaning small pin or needle. The prickly rose is just that, densely prickled with straight weak thorns or bristles. The prickly rose defence of thorns prevent over-grazing by the animals in the vicinity. Prickly Rose will have no infrastipular spikes.
Each solitary flower is located at the axis of a short thin pedicel (stalk or stem). When there are more than one flower, they are featured in a corymb. At 4 – 7 cm (1.6 – 3 inches) across, the flower is fairly large. Look for blossoms at the very end of May through out June.
The calyx-lobes (referred to on the flower as sepals) are erect on the fruit. Erect in botanical terms mean upright, more or less perpendicular to the point of attachment. The calyx lobes are lanceolate and acuminate. Acuminate is another way of saying “coming to a point” from the Latin acuminatus, past participle of acuminare (“to sharpen to a point”). The stipules are mainly broad. The fruit or rose hip can be ovoid or pear-shaped with a length of 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) The rosehips is a bright red when ripe, and can be seen orange-red across the prairies.
The leaves are pinnately divided, and the leaflets are often twice toothed or double toothed. The leaves have conspicuous winged stipules with outward turning teeth born at the base of the leaf. The winged stipules may also be termed auricle having a small ear-like projection, from Latin auricula ‘external part of the ear’, diminutive of auris ‘ear’. Leaflets may number 5 to 9, and are often glabrous or resinous so are often sticky. The leaves are pubescent on the undersides which also means the leaflets are covered with short, soft hairs. Glandular-hairy petioles and rachises would imply that the leafstalk (petiole) which joins the leaflet to the stem and the main axis or shaft (rachis) bearing the leaflets have hairs upon them mounted with glands producing secretions on the surface of a plant. The leaflets are obtuse (blunt or rounded) at the apex and rounded at the base. Leaflets are oval or oval-lanceolate. The leaves are hairy on the underside of the leaflets. Each dark green leaflet is on average 3-4 cm (0.1-0.16 inches) long.
Thorns are straight, needle like and unequal.
The shrub may be formed as clones from rhizomatous roots, or from achenes born in rose hips. The shrub of the Prickly rose will reach a height of 0.9 to 1.2 meters (3-4 feet) at full maturity, and a rose thicket has rhizomatous roots which may create a single clone as large as 10-20 square meters (12-24 yards square) in size. However, rhizome roots of the rose sprout after a fire, or other types of disturbance.
Are there any other rose species which you may see in the afforestation areas? Why or why not?
In 2013, the South West Off Leash Dog Park becomes a 14.5 acre fenced off OLRA within the afforestation area. The SW OLRA has a large number of rose bush plants. Why? Are there more or less rose bush plants inside the SW OLRA or outside the fence? What happens to rose bush roots when disturbed by digging, or human influences?
Which rose species have you seen in the afforestation areas?
How many native rose species are there in Canada? in North America? around the world?
Does the domestic rose found in a flower shop have any relation to the native rose?
What challenges to the native rose plants face in this habitat? Why do native rose plants grow very well in the grasslands areas of the afforestation areas?
Explain how geographic ecosystems, and habitat adaptations can influence the creation of a new species.
Write a report describing the native rose plant discovered. Make notes of how tall the rose plant is to a tree, or to the grass around it. Describe the position of the rose blossom by measuring how high it is from the ground.
In the habitat and environment where you found the native rose plant, does it receive enough sun? Does the plant get enough water?
Are there any young rose plants nearby?
Are there any rose plants with rose hips on them?
Draw the entire leaf, and the smaller leaflet shape of the roses seen in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park.
Which leaflet morphology is the closest to the rose seen in the afforestation area?
As you draw the leaf and leaflets by looking and observing them, try to also, touch them, smell, hear, and taste them. Does this sensory interaction, convince you to start another close up sketch or drawing?
What kind of safety procedures would you tell a person who was blind if this person were to use their senses to touch, smell, hear or taste a native rose flower leaf or leaflet? Would you communicate the safety rules to a person who was deaf in the same way?
How many leaflets does the entire leaf contain?
What is the size in length of the leaflets?
Is the underside of the leaf the same color as the top?
Would a bug find it easy or hard to walk along the top surface of the rose bush leaf?
Would an insect find it easy or hard to walk along the underneath surface of the rose bush leaf?
Are there any eggs, insect larva, etc under the rose bush leaf?
Why do some rose species have stripy rose petals? Does the shape or colour of the rose petal help a pollinating insect? Does the smell of a rose petal help the pollinator?
Does the afforestation area rose bush leaflet have a long or short leaf stem (petiole) or is it sessile? Sessility from sessilis meaning “sitting” or in botany “resting on the surface” having no stalk
When you draw the native rose plant leaves, which leaflets are seen from the top, which from the side, and from the bottom.
What color is the leaf backbone or the ‘rachis’?
Are there hairs on the leaflets? on the rachis?
Does the leaf have a stipule where the petiole attaches the rachis to the peduncle? leafstalk (petiole) joins the leaflet to the stem, the main leaf axis or shaft (rachis), the woody rose stem of the plant (peduncle).
Can you find the stipules? These are the little straw like outgrowths on either side of the base of the leafstalk (petiole)?
Is the stipule winged or adnate (joined together)?
Are there thorns or bristles below the stipules? These would be the infrastipular spikes.
What colour is the leaf in spring and summer?
What colour is the rose leaf in the autumn?
Are the leaflets whole, or nibbled?
Draw the flower of the native rose plant in the afforestation area.
Is the bloom solitary, or do the flowers appear in a corymb?
What colour is the blossom?
Are there any rose buds?
Can you find the sepals supporting the petals of the flower?
Can you find the sepals encasing the petals of the rose bud?
What size is the flower?
Is the flower fully open? Can you see the bottom of a blossom at the same time as looking at the top of a flower bloom? Can you observe the side of a rose flower? Are all the rose flowers in the front of the rose plant, or are some flowers tucked behind grass, surrounding plants, rose buds, other flowers, or leaves?
What is the date of first sighting a rose bud?
What is the date of first sighting a rose flower?
How does the drawing of the rose flower compare between June and August?
What is the date when the petals fall off leaving behind the rose hip?
What is the condition of the petals, did you draw any petals with holes? What caused the petal not to be whole?
As you draw the rose blossom and petals by looking and observing them, try to also, touch them, smell, hear, and taste them. Does this sensory interaction, convince you to start another close up sketch or drawing?
What kind of safety procedures would you tell a person who was blind if this person were to use their senses to touch, smell, hear or taste a native rose flower petal? Would you communicate the safety rules to a person who was deaf in the same way?
Draw a sketch of the entire native rose plant.
How high off the surface of the ground is the height of the plant?
Are there other rose plants nearby?
Is the ground or habitat in the area disturbed?
Has there been a lot of snow melt, and flooding in the spring?
Were there a lot of spring rains?
Has it been very dry, and an early year of drought so far?
Is there evidence of any insects or pollinators?
Do you think deers and rabbits affect the native rose plants? Do you think humans and offleash dogs have any impact on the native rose plants? How do the rhizomatous roots respond to disturbances by small mammals or dogs digging?
In your picture position the flowers and leaves on the plant relative to each other. Observe which leaves are in front or behind other leaves and blooms. Distinguish if a rose bud is larger or smaller than a leaflet.
Is there evidence on the plant of rose galls? (Rose galls are bulges or balls forming in the middle of the plant stem where insects have laid their eggs, and the growing larva cause the plant stem to swell into a gall.) According to Joseph Shorthouse in the report “Galls Induced by Cynipid Wasps of the Genus Diplolepis (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on the Roses of Canada’s Grasslands” Thirteen species of cynipid wasps of the genus Diplolepis induce structurally distinct galls on the three species of wild roses found on the grasslands of western Canada. Three species of Diplolepis gall the short rose, Rosa arkansana, in the Mixed Grassland and Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregions of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, and eight species gall the common prairie rose, R. woodsii, throughout the prairie grasslands. Five species of Diplolepis gall the larger rose, R. acicularis, in more shaded regions such as the Aspen Parkland Ecoregion.”
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.
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?
Binomial nomenclature is a two-naming system featuring the first part of the name – the generic name– identifies the genus to which the plant or organism belongs, while the second part – the specific name or specific epithet – identifies the species.
The plants belonging to the genus Rosa can be characteristically described by flowers, leaves, fruit, and thorns.
The flowers of most species of native roses have five petals. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink. Beneath the petals are five sepals. These sepals may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into rose hips bearing achenes. Roses are insect-pollinated in nature.
Rose in the Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Bumblebee on rose
The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species they are 5 to 15 centimetres (2.0 to 5.9 in) long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. Most roses are deciduous.
Oddly pinnate leaf – imparipinnate Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
The leaves of the wild roses of the region are alternate, and oddly pinnated. Pinnation is the arrangement of the leaflets arise on both sides of a common axis. This common axis is referred to as a rachis which is the backbone or spine of the leaf. Each petiole or the stalk attaches the leaf to the stem or peduncle of the plant. The small leaflets, themselves have little stems called petiolules. The root pinna is from the Latin meaning “feather”, and these plants can be referred to as “feather-leaved” in everyday or informal usage. Oddly pinnated leaves are also called imparipinnate, both terms meaning that the leaf bears one lone leaflet at the terminal or top of the leaf, rather than a pair of leaflets.
The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. The hips of most species are red. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 “seeds” (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds.
Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above
Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above
The sharp growths along a rose stem, though commonly called “thorns”, are technically prickles, outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem), unlike true thorns, which are modified stems. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa Acicularlis have densely packed straight prickles, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals. Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer.
The amazing thing about the rose bush, is that it will do the best on alluvium soils which are seasonally flooded, which works out well at the afforestation areas located as they are in the West Swale (a low-lying area caused the Pleistocene Yorath Island glacial spillway.) However, that being said, the roses have a very high drought tolerance.
American Red Squirrel Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla Garrulus Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Mule deer, snoeshow hare, coyotes, squirrels, white-tailed deer and birds such as waxwings, pine grosbeaks, and grouse will nibble on the rose hip fare provided by the rose bush. Wild rose hips are high in both Vitamin A and Vitamin C. These animals, and birds will carry the seeds (achenes) away after nibbling on the rose hips, and through the digestive process disperse the seed in new areas. The achenes do not sprout immediately, in fact, the majority will sprout on the second spring after snow melt. The seeds require this period of dormancy and require the seasonal changes of warm and cold in order to sprout. In regards to the health of the animals, the crude protein is higher in the wild rose hip while the leaves remain on the trees. The rose hips remain on the shrubbery into the winter months, providing a much-needed snack during the cold days of the year for winter foragers when snow covers the ground. The pollen during the month of June is beneficial for many pollinators.
When trying to distinguish various species of wild roses, bear in mind, that species may hybridize with one another. The next chapter will delve into the taxonomic classification for species of roses at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.
Activities and Questions:
Take a camera, ruler, pencil, and start a nature journal of your visits to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities where you record observations and measurements about the observable characteristics of native rose plants, insects and animals around these plants. Record their blooming time, and when the petals drop off, and when the leaves turn colour in the autumn. Are all plants the same? Identify the number of leaflets, and their shape, record the colour of flowers, and the height of the plant.
Would a bug find it easy or hard to walk along the top surface of the rose bush leaf?
Would an insect find it easy or hard to walk along the underneath surface of the rose bush leaf?
Are there any eggs, insect larva, etc under the rose bush leaf?
Become a citizen scientist.
Stop and smell the roses! How do your ears, eyes, nose, mouth and skin relate to native rose plants for all the senses – hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch? Do other animals need their senses to interact with native rose plants?
Compare native rose plants with other forbes, and flora in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities. Which plants bloom at the same time?
Do you think pollinator insects, dogs, birds, and deers appreciate the smell of the native rose plants?
How do you think rose bush plants get the rose seeds out of the rose hip so the seeds may germinate in the ground?
What kind of safety procedures would you need to use when observing a native rose plant? What do animals do when presented with the sticky substance on rose leaves, or with the thorns and bristles on the rose stem?
Compare the flowers, leaves, and seeds between the native rose plants, and other plants in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.
What kind of seasonal changes may occur for a native rose plant?
Why do native roses lose their leaves for the winter months?
Why would animals choose to eat rose hips in the winter? Do native rose plants support the health or harm the growth of deers, rabbits, and squirrels? Do animals help the plants? What happens when the animals disperse the seeds after digesting the rose hips which contain the rose seeds? Create a food web of animals and native rose plant interactions. What would happen if the native rose plant became extinct?
How have humans affected the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities? Analyze an issue or case study where humans have greatly affected these environments, including a cost‐benefit analysis and ethical implicaᅾons
Are the native rose plants afforested in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities, or do they grow naturally there?
Create a map which will guide others to the location of a native rose plant.
Create a set of directions from a specified location to arrive at the location of a native rose plant which you have found.
Why are there no native rose plants in the middle of a trembling aspen grove?
How can a native rose plant reproduce, if the animals eat the rose hips which contain the rose seeds?
Observe the native rose plants, and write a poem or story, paint a picture or sketch a drawing of them.
Analyze any of the native rose plants, and see what happens if there is a lot of rain, or if there is an extended dry spell.
How do the native rose plants defend themselves, if there is a large population of wildlife eating their rose hips and flowers?
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker
“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
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 