A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
There is a city council follow up meeting to the Standing Policy Committee on Planning, Development and Community Services meeting of Monday August 4. The City of Saskatoon meeting will be Monday August 28, 2017. The agenda will be to continue discussion regarding the Inquiry from former Councillor Lorje (April 25, 2016) – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area [File No. CK. 4000-1 and PL. 4131-39-1 (BF 016-16)]
We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.
Max de Pree
The Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area will be considered by City Council at its Regular Business meeting to commence at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, August 28, 2017. The public may attend this meeting of City Council and, if you wish to bring forward any points relevant to the discussion write a letter providing additional information, and/or requesting to speak at the Council meeting.
Drop off a letter addressed to His Worship the Mayor and Members of City Council. c/o City Clerk’s Office, City Hall. City of Saskatoon | 222 3rd Avenue North | Saskatoon, SK S7K 0J5 by 10:00 a.m. on Monday, August 28, 2017; or submit your intent to speak for up to five minutes by the online form.
For more information on the meeting, the agenda or how to Write a Letter check the City of Saskatoon’s website prior to Monday, August 28, 2017
By eating meat we share the responsibility of climate change, the destruction of our forests, and the poisoning of our air and water. The simple act of becoming a vegetarian will make a difference in the health of our planet.
What becomes possible because of the work of the non-profit organisation ~ the Meewasin Valley Authority (MVA)?
West Swale and Richard St. Barbe Baker AFforestation Area wildlife Urban Forest Semi-Wilderness Area. Mountain Bluebird, White Tailed Deer Fawn. Barred Tiger Salamander or western tiger salamander. American Pelican, Mallard Duckling
Are you aware of the impact that the MVA has on Saskatoon, in Saskatchewan, and worldwide?
We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize. Thich Nhat Hanh
On Thursday August 17, 2017, pause and take some time to learn more about the MVA. The MVA provides stewardship along the South Saskatchewan River.
“When you open your mind, you open new doors to new possibilities for yourself and new opportunities to help others.” ― Roy T. Bennett
Richard Moriyama, architect and planner, of the 100 Year Conceptual Master Plan of the South Saskatchewan River Environment in the Rural Municipality of Corman Park and the City of Saskatoon, stated that the “first elements of that concept are a unique land and a unique people. The objective is balance. The umbrella idea, the broad concept, is health…the continuing health of the river and all its connected parts creek, coulee, ravine, slough, aquifer, land and air.”
“We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist.” Queen Victoria
“Meewasin is recognized world-wide for its leadership in conserving the natural resources of the 6,700 hectares of the Meewasin Valley.”source
If you go out and partake of activities at the Beaver Creek Conservation Area, the South Saskatchewan River Meewasin Trail, the Meewasin Northeast Swale, the Saskatoon Natural Grasslands, Cranberry Flats Conservation Area, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Cameco Meewasin Skating Rink, the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and the associated afforestation areas in the West Swale, you are appreciating the efforts of the Meewasin Valley Authority.
“It’s not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.” Kristin Armstrong
Though times have been hard, and the budget restraints imposed upon the MVA have seen a cutting of programs, it is only the interpretive centre which closed. The MVA staff and directors are still hard at work conserving sensitive environmental sites, preserving water quality in the South Saskatchewan River, linking and balancing human activity, recreation and enjoyment with a healthy eco-system.
“Take your mind off the problems for a moment, and focus on the positive possibilities. Consider how very much you are able to do.” Ralph Marston
If you like what you see, and have enjoyed the breathtaking aesthetics inherent in the river valley, consider making a donation to the Meewasin Valley Authority Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Trust Fund (MVA RSBBAA Trust Fund). Your donations will help to protect and monitor the West Swale wetlands affording a safe environment for the endangered Northern Leopard Frog. The West Swale is a unique wetlands system, following the pleistocene Yorath Island Spillway from the North Saskatchewan River valley to the South Saskatchewan River valley confluence. iThe afforestation area provides the growing city of Saskatoon the opportunity to walk in a mixed woodlands featuring deciduous and evergreen trees. Mixed forests are generally found at higher elevations, and in a parkland ecoregion, the afforestation area provides a unique setting. The afforestation area encompasses native prairie wild life, native flowers and a plethora of waterfowl and amphibians. The Saskatoon Nature Society has been actively engaged in ringing and studying birds in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and has included the site in their new book “Nature Viewing Sites in and around Saskatoon“. The West Swale and the associated afforestation areas embrace both multifacted nature viewing opportunities, as well as an amazing geological adventure into time.
“Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.”― Tim Fargo
Find out more about the Meewasin Valley Authority. Take some time and explore the “George Genereux” afforestation area, Richard St. Barbe Baker afforestation area, the southwest off leash recreation area, and the woodlands east of the off leash dog park this summer, then you will realize how your donation to the Meewasin Valley Authority Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Trust Fund (MVA RSBBAA Trust Fund) can truly make a difference!
“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
Yorath Island Channel, Moon Lake Channel, Sutherland Channel and Cory Plain Channel Pleistocene Era South Sk River Valley 2588000 to 117000 years ago Adapted from Larry Edwin Hodges
1924 Rand McNally Map close up of Tsp 36 Rge 6 W3 shewing afforestation areas overlay
Shoreline of the West Swale Wetlands and the Riparian Woodlands Edge at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CA
An Ent. Treebeard artwork by Ttthom Tom Loback CC b SA3.0 cc by 2.5
Downy Wwoodpecker Ddryobates pubescens
Photo of Richard St. Barbe Baker Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan, University Archives & Special Collections, Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
Yorkshire Terrier
Images of St. Barbe, credit
University of Saskatchewan,
University Archives & Special Collections,
Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
“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 nations 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.
Spring Sunset Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
It is nice finding that place where you can just go and relax. Moises Arias
Do you ever pop out and just relax? Do you ever just wander by the wetlands and ponder on the baby ducks? Do you ever saunter down the woodlands path listening to the red squirrel making their way up and down the trees? Do you ever take time to stop and smell the amazing woodland roses?
If you never wholly give yourself up to the chair you sit in, but always keep your leg- and body-muscles half contracted for a rise; if you breathe eighteen or nineteen instead of sixteen times a minute, and never quite breathe out at that,—what mental mood can you be in but one of inner panting and expectancy, and how can the future and its worries possibly forsake your mind? On the other hand, how can they gain admission to your mind if your brow be unruffled, your respiration calm and complete, and your muscles all relaxed? William James
Do you ever stop by the afforestation area and watch the buttefly flit to and fro? Do you ever stop silently in the woodlands and watch the deer go by? Do you ever take the time in mid footstep and contemplate the rabbit bounding away?
Stop every now and then. Just stop and enjoy. Take a deep
breath. Relax and take in the abundance of life.~Anonymous
Tuesday August 15 is your day to relax! Enjoy, and wind down, don’t worry about a thing on relaxation day. Take a spin out to the afforestation area in Saskatoon, and relax.
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
What activity can your family find to do on Parent’s day?
Parenthood
The birches that dance on the top of the hill
Are so slender and young that they cannot keep still,
They bend and they nod at each whiff of a breeze,
For you see they are still just the children of trees.
But the birches below in the valley are older,
They are calmer and straighter and taller and colder.
Perhaps when we’ve grown up as solemn and grave,
We, too, will have children who do not behave!
~John Farrar
See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence . . . We need silence to be able to touch souls. ~Mother Teresa
“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
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly. —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)
“The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” —Lady Bird Johnson
Cast adrift of the hustle and bustle of the city lights. Relax and meander in the wilderness of the forest.
The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved. Richard Rogers
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly. —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Both Deepak Chopra and Richard St. Barbe Baker agree, in this. Immerse yourself in the forest, set yourself adrift, even if just for twenty minutes each day, refresh yourself, sing with the Meadowlards. “With spirit we are all children of the cosmos; Without it we are orphaned and adrift.” Deepak Chopra “Man must resuscitate his planet with trees, his heart with faith.”~Richard St. Barbe Baker
“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 nations 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.
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, SK, CA north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 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
If you wish to support the afforestation area with your donation, write a cheque please to the “Meewasin Valley Authority Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area trust fund” (MVA RSBBAA trust fund) and mail it to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area c/o Meewasin Valley Authority, 402 Third Ave S, Saskatoon SK S7K 3G5. Thank you kindly! Twitter: St Barbe Baker
I learned early to regard the forest as a society of living things, the greatest of which is the tree. ~St. Barbe
Spring Sunset Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Spring Sunset Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Spring Sunset Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Fresh New Spring Afforestation Images
“We depend on nature not only for our physical survival. We also need nature to show us the way home, the way out of the prison of our own minds. We got lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating – lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems.” ~Eckhart Tolle
How can one possibly describe the evenings? The mild yet beautiful evenings, when the whole wide-spread scene of crystal waters, forest, and prairie illumined with almost celestial radiance. Bird songs filled the air. The prairies crowded with all the varieties of animal life in peaceful enjoyment. No sights of violence or suffering met the eye. No discordant sound fell upon the ear. All was beauty, harmony, and joy. The landscape resembled our imaginings of the world before the fall, when it came fresh from its Maker’s hands, and all the morning stars hailed its birth. The region was beautiful. There was no continuous forest, but extended, well-watered plains, interspersed with groves of a great variety of majestic trees. John Stevens Cabot Abbott would reflect on prairies thus.
“Ts’ui Pe must have said once: I am withdrawing to write a book. And another time: I am withdrawing to construct a labyrinth. Every one imagined two works; to no one did it occur that the book and the maze were one and the same thing.” ~Jorge Luis Borges
And of the forest, St Barbe would write, “Has any one of us ever really seen a Tree? When we become aware of trees we may each glimpse of them to moments of spiritual vision and, identifying ourselves with the trees, become conscious of the rising of the sap; the upward thrust of life, leaf burgeoning, their consciousness of the changing seasons; we may share their passionately boisterous exuberance of life in the height of the storm, and their tranquility when at rest; with them we will enjoy the glad murmur of the ripening seed clusters when after weeks of drought the steady warm rain brings relief to thirst; and we will know that these creatures, our elder brethern, are intimately related to us in their love and hunger for life. We may even catch their enthusiasm and aspire heavenwards while still rooted in our Mother Earth and in communion with our fellow man and, tree-wise, strive to make the Earth more fruitful again.
The glorious rich, colourful, quilted covering of trees and vegetation is not there merely to feed and please us, its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life. It is the skin of the earth.
I learned early to regard the forest as a society of living things, the greatest of which is the tree.~Richard St. Barbe Baker ”
For more information:
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, SK, CA north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 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
If you wish to support the afforestation area with your donation, write a cheque please to the “Meewasin Valley Authority Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area trust fund” (MVA RSBBAA trust fund) and mail it to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area c/o Meewasin Valley Authority, 402 Third Ave S, Saskatoon SK S7K 3G5. Thank you kindly! Twitter: St Barbe Baker
“When the trees go, the rain goes, the climate deteriorates, the water table sinks, the land erodes and desert conditions soon appear” ~Richard St. Barbe Baker
Afforestation Workshop May 25, 2017 at 1:30
“What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air–soil, water and pure air are the basis of life; this is the slogan of the Chipko (Hug to the Trees) women in India–those who work with Sunderlal Bahuguna to save the forests of the Himalayas. Sunderlal is my Guru”.~Richard St. Barbe Baker
The Wild About Saskatoon 2017 NatureCity Festival theme this year is ‘We are water: explore our prairie waterscape.’ The festival takes place with a wide assortment of events May 23-28, 2017. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area joins the festivities Thursday afternoon May 25, 2017 between 1:30 and 3:15. Situated in a low lying area classified as a “wetlands”, the afforestation workshop participants will be immersed in the forest and woodlands in the southwest sector of Saskatoon. The workshop was compiled from the books and teachings of Dr. Richard St. Barbe Baker, L.L.D., O.B.E., humanitarian, author, silviculturist and forester. In this way we embrace the teachings of this Baba Wya Miti ~ loving Father of Trees.
“Omitakoyasin. The Omitakoyasin are the spirits of all of humanity’s ancestors, since always and for always. “We are all related.” It is important to realize that every single person who enters into our lives, from the passing stranger to those nearest and dearest to us, is present because we dreamed them here. We made a mutual agreement with each of them to connect in this time and space for the purpose of enriching and empowering our individual and collective evolution.~Lynette Hopkin“
Arrive at the parking lot of the South West off leash dog park for 1:30 p.m. on Thursday May 25, 2017 should you wish to partake in this workshop activities. Directions and map are included below. Though the meeting place will be the SW off leash recreation area parking lot, the Afforestation Workshop will take place in the forest east of the dog park, and not in the dog park itself.
“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 is the “Skin” of the earth, for without it there can be no water and, therefore, no life.”~Richard St. Barbe Baker
Note
There will be no actual planting or “afforestation of trees” at the location of this workshop, this afforestation workshop is so named as it takes place within an “afforestation area” – the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, SK, CA north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 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
If you wish to support the afforestation area with your donation, write a cheque please to the “Meewasin Valley Authority Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area trust fund” (MVA RSBBAA trust fund) and mail it to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area c/o Meewasin Valley Authority, 402 Third Ave S, Saskatoon SK S7K 3G5. Thank you kindly! Twitter: St Barbe Baker
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