Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.

YouTube intro Video Eventbrite Link bit.ly/3rk33pN

“Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.”

— Jane Goodall

Discover the heritage of Saskatoon’s Secret Forests converting and transforming to Saskatoon’s Hidden Gems. The Wildwoods of Saskatoon Monday October 24 at 7:00 pm Treasure Saskatoon’s ecoheritage. Come to Nature. Come to Life. . .
bit.ly/3rk33pN Eventbrite Link

“As we progress into the twenty-first century, anyone who considers themselves a realist will have to make the environment a top priority.”

—Leonardo DiCaprio

mail friendsafforestation@gmail.com phone or text Thanks! stbarbebaker.wordpress.com

friendsareas.ca

#NatureInTheCity #NatureIsEverywhere #NatureForEveryone #NatureNerd #outdoors #nature #conservation #photography #biodiversity #wildlife #plantlife #wanderlust #naturelovers #optoutside #instagood #picoftheday #volunteer #training #parks #optingoutside #FriendsAreas #FriendsAfforestation #citizenscience #communityscience #EcologicalEmergency #naturelovers #saskatchewanbirds #yxebirds #getoutdoors #naturephotography #yxe #thegreatoutdoors #nativeprairie #grasslands #wildlife #bees #pollinators #prairiepollinators #ExploreSask #wildlifewatcher #prairielife #sasklife #nativeprairie #speciesatrisk #conservation #KeepSaskWild #socialdistance #citizenscience #wildlifephotography #beesknees #LeavetheLeaves #NoMowMay #nature4all #FriendsAreas #FriendsAfforestation @FriendsAreas #saskatoon #saskatooning #sustainability #sustainable #events #nature #forest

😃🍁🍄🥀🌼🌞🌷🌾🎋🌳🌲🐾🐀🐿🐁🐇🐇🕷🐛🦋🐞🐜🐌🐛🕷🦗🐢🐍🦇🐦🦉🦅🦆🐥🐣🐦🦇🐌🦋🦋🦄

The Non Profit Charity has a SARCAN drop and go number of 106100594 should you wish to help out with your own drop off..

Just email friendsafforestation@gmail.com phone or text Thanks!

stbarbebaker.wordpress.com

friendsareas.ca

Please help protect / conserve 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 via friendsafforestation@orgmail.com https://www.paypal.com/ca/fundraiser/…

The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. receives e-transfers via friendsafforestation@orgmail.co

Canada Helps https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charit…

Donate A Car https://donatecar.ca/org/charitypage/…

Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated.

Virtual Wildwoods of Saskatoon

Wildwoods of Saskatoon

Virtual Film YouTube or Zoom

October 24 at 7:00 pm

Eventbrite page to sign up for the film viewing

Wildwoods of Saskaton Film Pamphlet for Download for more information

This heritage documentary will feature guest speakers who speak to the rich history and heritage of the two afforestation areas the 132 ha (326 acre) Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the 60 ha (148 acre) George Genereux Urban Regional Park planted to trees in 1972 under the Green Survival Program.

Wildwoods of Saskatoon Film Commemorate Oct 24 with us. Celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the afforestation areas AND UN World Development Information Day & International Day Against Climate Change

A Tangible Legacy. History, Geology, Ecology, Ecosystem services, Sense of place, Opportunities. Protecting memories and visualizing dreams. Exploration of the symbiotic relationship of the diverse urban community being nurtured in nature at the Wildwoods of Saskatoon.

This is the 50th anniversary of both afforestation areas planted to trees in 1972! These forests, wetlands and greenspaces are semi-wilderness wildlife habitats in Saskatoon providing two amazing areas to balance environmental sustainability and conservation with social, physical, and mental benefits for health and wellness in a natural greenspace setting.

Opening up to a deeply resonant perspective on greenspace heritage and the grandeur of forests director James Hay weaves the conversation from breathtaking aerial forest scenes and archival footage in a call to consciousness.

James Young, Métis bringing indigenous greetings & perspective

Rev. Shawn Sanford Beck Greenpriest of Saskatoon and friend of our forests St. Andrew’s College

City of Saskatoon Councillor Hilary Gough

Meewasin CEO Andrea Lafond

Sylvia Konkin Assistant School Administrator

Paul Hanley biographer of Richard St. Barbe Baker Man of the Trees First Global Conservationist and environmental columnist

Robert White, BSA, MES (Env. St.) Recipient of the first Men of the Trees Prize at the U of S

Jeff O’Brien, B.A., M.A., City of Saskatoon archivist

Dr. Bill Waiser B.A., M.A., Ph.D. O.C. SOM, Distinguished history Professor Emeritus

Reagan Wildeman Community member – Triathlon, Crossfit, Fatbike

Jeff Hehn Fatlanders Fat Tire Brigade Trail Coordinator

Dr. Ernie Walker, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. O.C. SOM, Archaeology & Anthropology professor emeritus

Wildwoods of Saskatoon Virtual Film October 24 at 7:00 pm CST (12:00 am UTC)

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
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
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
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas
YouTube
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 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!
Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities
“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker

Stories, legends, and tales

Have you ever sought to track the soul of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas into its most secret places, and to make these woodlands confess its dearest sins. The forest who would stir us now by its stories, legends and tales must either give us an entirely new background, or reveal to us the soul of the wildwoods. The forest as story-teller gives a glimpse into the story that he tells us. The forest has seen marvellous things through knotholes. Its background is a woven tapestry of tales. Meet the afforestation areas, and touch the surface of their hidden stories, their secret places, their point of view.

Discover the Wildwoods of Saskatoon a live film event premiering Sunday September 18 at 2:00 pm at the Remai Modern. Register Now

At the follow up place based forest tours Sept 24 and 25 meet Forest Guide: Sam Ereke, BSc, MSc, Research Scientist who will also be leading the Saskatoon and Area BioDiversity Challenge iNaturalist tours Sept 15-18.

Sept 15 at 6:00 pm

Sept 16 at 6:00 pm

Sept 17 at 2:00 pm

Sept 18 at 6:00 pm

Sat, 24 September 2022 2:00 PM

Sun. September 25, 2022 at 2:00 pm

National Forest Week brings attention to our forests and trees from coast to coast across Canada. Our forests and trees provide habitats for wildlife, insects, polllinator species, birds and so much more! What is the ‘triple environmental emergency we are facing?

1. Loss of biodiversity
2. Climate change
3. Out of control pollution.

Out of control pollution.
Our native biodiversity needs wild spaces, food and homes such as trees and forests provide in which to thrive. Forests, tree planting, and forest conservation initiatives are nature-based solutions towards climate action. Pollution, pesticides, herbicides are escalating the extinction events. Creating safe, organic forest spaces is a large step to halt and slow down the silent sixth mass extinction event of invertebrates, the planet’s bird food on wings. Ornithologists and botanists have noticed that the songbird, and raptor populations have declined by a staggering 48%. The monitored wildlife populations are reduced by a catastrophic 68%. A loss of forests and habitats have caused over 2/3 of our animal populations to totally disappear.

Richard St. Barbe Baker said it this way, “If a person loses one third of his or her skin, the person will die; if a tree loses a third of its bark, the tree will die, and if the world loses a third of its trees, the world will die.
We live less that five minutes without air and the trees give us air we breathe. We live less than five days without water, and trees are absolutely essential in the water cycle. We live less than five weeks without food, and without the trees we could not grow food.” (Filson, Bruce K. October 7, 1982, Western People, p. 5)

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
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
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
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas
YouTube
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 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!
Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities
“Be like a tree in pursuit

Man-made Mixed-wood Forest on the Prairies

Saskatoon’s Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (325 acres) and George Genereux Urban Regional Park (148 acres) began as part of an ambitious, far-sighted afforestation greenbelt plan undertaken by the city in 1972. The plan proposed 3 categories: 1. Forest in perpetuity (660 acres), 2. Long-term planting (2200 acres), 3. Future public reserve areas (100 acres). The afforestation plan was linked with the Green Survival Program promoted by tree nurseries across North America at the time.

The 660 acres under the category “Forest in perpetuity” were planted in 1972 and 1973 on City-owned land that had been previously leased to farmers. The intent on inception was that these greenspaces become mature urban regional parks in future subdivisions when the city grew out in this direction.

Bare-root seedlings were obtained from the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration Tree Nursery at Indian Head, Saskatchewan. The species used were: American and Siberian elm, Manitoba maple, green ash, poplar, willow, caragana, Colorado spruce and Scotch pine.

The seedlings were planted with a tree planter in rows weaving in and out as much as 40 feet from the centre line. This produced a natural forest effect.

Afforestation Areas in Saskatoon

Now, coming on 50 years, the man-made forest provides a unique greenspace due in part to the boreal forest like feel produced by the succession to mature spruce and pine in many parts of the afforestation area. These species are continually expanding as their cones seed wider areas and successfully grow in.  To find natural areas of spruce and pine one has to travel about 100 km NE of Saskatoon where the transition to the boreal forest zone begins.

Unfortunately, the full afforestation plan was never completed and these two areas remained neglected until Saskatoon’s rapid growth spurt began in 2008. The area where these parks exist is now part of a larger sector plan still in the works.

The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas (Friends) , a non-profit charity, was established to advocate for the protection and enhancement of these laboratories of ecological succession with their unique biodiversity.

A 100 k grant from  the Department of the Environment (“Environment and Climate Change Canada” or “ECCC”)  is allowing the Friends to install protective barriers in areas where illegal vehicle entry has occurred and also to place signage. The Friends are also promoting educational environmental protection, climate action and wellness nature-based activities in these greenspaces.

Two heritage documentaries are being produced which will have an international reach. The first will celebrate the extraordinary humanitarian legacy of the forester Richard St. Barbe Baker, who has been called the first global conservationist. His lifelong work to protect forests, including the Redwood forests in California, and promote tree planting for habitat restoration, including research for and promotion of plans to reclaim the Sahara Desert is legendary. He had a deep understanding of forest ecology and was a climate change activist beginning in the 1930s. He was bestowed an honorary Doctorate of Laws at the University of Saskatchewan in 1971 by John Diefenbaker. The International Tree Foundation inaugurated by Baker in 1922 is commemorating its centenary in 2022.

The second heritage documentary film is focused on the 50^th anniversary of the original planting (1972-2022) and the visionary ideals of the City of Saskatoon in initiating this project.  During this era of climate change, it is valuable to highlight the paramount importance of nature based solutions to climate change, such as afforestation.

Hoar frost at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

These films and associated celebrations will draw public attention to these local semi-wilderness habitats which are still relatively unknown. Public awareness about Saskatoon’s man-made forest is especially important at this moment when extensive discussions are taking place to make decisions on the management of parks and ecosystems in Saskatoon. These forests tie in well with Saskatoon’s strategic goals of environmental leadership and quality of life.

Please Come to the Wildwoods of Saskatoon.

The 326 acre Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in the City of Saskatoon at GPS 52.1006191,-106.753599 [off of Cedar Villa Road – Tsp Rd 362A]

The 148 acre George Genereux Urban Regional Park is also located in the City of Saskatoon at GPS 52.1132971,-106.7861112 [near Sk Highway 7]

Wildlife Montage in the afforestation areas. Red Winged Blackbird, White Tailed Deer Fawn, Garter Snake, JackRabbit, Mallard Ducklings, Black Crowned Night Heron

https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com/ FriendsAfforestation@gmail.com

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