Our River Challenge

For our challenge today, we would like you to email to us at friendsafforestation@gmail.com what you think would belong in a list for the Rights of Rivers! March 14 is International Day of Action for Rivers, think of how you, personally can take action for the International Day of Action for Rivers! The theme for 2021 is celebrating the Rights of Rivers. We have a spectacular challenge for our Winter Staycation for you!

March 14 is a marvellous Sunday! And it is a day to think about the South Saskatchewan watershed! What is the South Saskatchewan watershed you say?

South Saskatchewan River Basin Shannon_1 CC4.0

This above picture shows the river basin, the catchment area, or the drainage basin for the South Saskatchewan River. This is a contemporary image of the south Saskatchewan River Basin. The image which follows shows the formation of the West Swale from the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway. The hydrological surface drainage patterns shown in the topological map above are a stark difference to the glacial spillway below which shows that the waters in the Glacial North Saskatchewan combined with Glacial Rice Lake. When the waters from the retreating glacier reached a great volume, the shoreline of Glacial Rice Lake could not contain the water anymore. and there was a sudden surge of spillwaters through the Yorath Island Channel and the Moon Lake Channel cascading in an eruption across the Cory Plains until the waters were stopped in the Glacial South Saskatchewan Lake. Yorath Island was formed from the deposited till and rubble of this Pleistocene Glacial event. Today we create river drainage maps for the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers. The glacial spillway with its huge surge of water created a momentous and catastrophic joining between the two basin areas. Because of the land topography, there are remains of the Yorath Island Channel and the Moon Lake Channel seen today on Google Satellite maps, and they show evidence of the rich and lush riparian waterway which once existed, and which is still connected through underground springs and wetlands.

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

This was a contributing factor to the formation of the South Saskatchewan River as we know it today. As you walk in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation area imagine the Pleistocene ice age mammals startled by the glacial spillway. Imagine this same ice age mammals creating new trails along the two new rivers in the Moon Lake Channel and the Yorath Island Spillway. Wonder as they wandered to the water’s edge for a drink of water. Where would the Palaeo-Indian fit into this scenario? Would they similarly follow the animal trails? Would they hunt the ancient ice age mammoths. Would the Palaeo-Indian find the two new rivers in the Moon Lake Channel and the Yorath Island Spillway handy to help them forage, and find food to eat? There were major encampments found where these channels met the Glacial South Saskatchewan Lake. As you walk in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, imagine living during the time of ice age mammoths.

Then, appreciate the semi-wilderness habitat we have in Saskatoon today. Along with the waterfowl, do we have other animals using the West Swale Wetlands named after B.T. Chappell as Chappell Marsh? Have you spotted a muskrat or any ducks, geese, herons, or terns? The West Swale is a geological treasure in the City of Saskatoon.

During this day, International Day of Action for Rivers, think of how you, personally can take action for the International Day of Action for Rivers! The theme for 2021 is celebrating the Rights of Rivers. 

Today think of geology, and geography, and the history of ancient rivers which formed today’s rivers which we appreciated so much.

For our Winter Staycation challenge today, we would like you to email to us at friendsafforestation@gmail.com what you think would belong in a list for the Rights of Rivers!

Download our International Day of Action for Rivers Pamphlet

As a further challenge for the Winter Staycation Take It Outside program, record on iNaturalist or the eBird hotspot for Chappell Marsh the wetlands birds which you have sighted. The International Day of Action for Rivers Pamphlet contains a water birds checklist as an indicator of what might be sighted. The Geese and some ducks are back already (March 11)

Perhaps some ideas for Rights of Rivers may centre around the following….(To get you started)

1. A River’s right to its own river basin and all the watersheds within the waterbasin.
2. A River’s right to retain their river bank, and lush riparian ecosystem along the shorelines
3. Freedom from pollution, destruction to live in harmony with Mother Earth.
4. A River’s right to our collective recognition of the inherent value of clean fresh water for the survival of living species on land and underwater.
5. A River’s right to flow naturally unimpeded.
6. A River’s right to guardians and stewardship.
7. A River’s right to support shoreline and wetlands flora and fauna in its biosphere.
8. …What is another great Right for Rivers? Email us today

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We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations.

David Brower

• 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

YouTubePlaylist
Pinterest richardstbarbeb
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.com
Facebook 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
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

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

“I thought how lovely and how strange a river is. A river is a river, always there, and yet the water flowing through it is never the same water and is never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move. And over time the river itself changes too.

Aiden Chambers

Life is like the river, sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere.

Emma Smith

Rivers past and present

World Rivers Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in September, which this year happens to be Sunday, 27 September 2020.

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is home to the Chappell Marsh which is a part of the West Swale. The West Swale is an ancient Pleistocene glacial spillway which was such a great natural phenomena like a huge tidal wave or flash flood which coursed over the landscape connecting the Glacial North Saskatchewan with the Glacial South Saskatchewan Lake, the precursor to the South Saskatchewan River. This event resulted in a waterway or river called the Yorath Island Spillway.

What impact did the Yorath Island Spillway have in the lives of the Palaeoindian? The Yorath Island Spillway caused such a rapid and dynamic change to the landscape similar to a avalanche or earthquake.

If one was to look at the satellite imagery on Google Maps can you find our modern Rice Lake. During the Pleistocene era Glacial Rice lake was ever so huge, it connected with the Glacial North Saskatchewan river, like a large bulge on the river. The melting glacier would melt during warmer eons contracting, and then freeze and expand during colder epochs. As the glacier melted, it retreated north east across the continent we now call North America. As the glacier melted, waters coursed down the sides of the great ice slab creating the Glacial North Saskatchewan River and Glacial South Saskatchewan Lake. The shoreline of Glacial Rice Lake could only hold so much glacial melt water in its basin. The glacier meltwaters kept coming, until Wheeush! water exploded across the plains creating a low lying land mass across the countryside currently known as the West Swale, and yet geologists refer to this great phenomenon as the Yorath Island Glacial Spillway.

How long did the river called the Yorath Island Spillway last? Long enough to create unique archeaological finds all along the banks of the spillway river. Dr. Ernie Walker in Saskatoon career started with discoveries along the West Swale, and the stories he can tell are fascinating.

Can you imagine the Palaeoindian following the animals trails while you are walking in George Genereux Urban Regional Park? There would be unique vegetation growing along the water’s edge where animals would come to feed and drink. The Palaeoindian subsisted on the buffalo even in those days, and other Pleistocene era animals and megafauna. Can you imagine the size of the Yorath Island Spillway as waterfowl are sighed on the Chappell Marsh wetlands located in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation area?

Where nowadays this great ancient river is evident on satellite maps and in geography reports as lush green heritage riverbanks still standing in testament to the great waterway, along with interconnected marshes, kames, and underground natural water springs, what must have it been like all those many years ago? What is a kame? Were the Palaeoindian and animals caught off-guard by the great bursting of the banks when the flood waters rushed out?

So on World Rivers Day, celebrate Saskatoon’s South Saskatchewan River, and discover more about our rich geological past and the Yorath Island Spillway [river].

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  Northern Shoveler

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  Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), wetlands mammal enjoys the emergent vegetation around Chappell Marsh such as cattails

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  Autumn picture of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas supported by the non profit group Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. Please join now, like, support, share.

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  Loving the Wetlands

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  White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hodges, Larry Edwin: Morphology of the South Saskatchewan River Valley Outlook to Saskatoon PhD Thesis. Department of Geography. McGill University. Montreal, Quebec. July 1971.
Theberge, John B., (1989) The Wholeness of Nature. Legacy, The Natural History of Ontario. McClelland and Stewart Inc. ISBN 0-7710-8398-X

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

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

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

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

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

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

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

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

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

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

The trees and vegetation, which cover the land surface of the Earth and delight the eye, are performing vital tasks incumbent upon the vegetable world in nature. Its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life; it it the ‘skin’ of the earth, for without it there can be no water, and therefore, no life.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

It is not a farce…”To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.” ~Terry Tempest Williams

“Clearly, human pressure is exerting a sudden and cataclysmic impact on much of this province, if viewed in the time-frame of evolution and geology to which the rhythms of ecosystems are tuned. The groundswell of environmental concern taking shape among us, its citizens, results in public pressure for new and stronger strictures on human exploitation and desecration…Such action is needed as the embodiment of an ethical responsibility to the land and living things, for our own well-being as well as for that of all other species.” Theberge, 1989. P.376

1884 Sectional Map

“I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay, small acts of kindness and love.”~ Gandalf

Plan of Township No 36 Range 6 West of the Third Meridian. Dominion Land Office April 25, 1884.

Map Surveyed by the undersigned Frank L. Blake D.L.S. August 1883
Approved and confirmed E Deville for the Surveyor General

A map expresses a perspective {that of the cartographer}. But the map itself has not a perspective. As George Graham says, “the perspective is not in the map. It must be read into the map. The mind’s Intentionality or aboutness in underived. It inheres in it or is intrinsic to it.” He looked deeply forlorn needing to settle this  decision once and for all.

The wetlands which formed in the Pleistocene Yorath Island Spillway are very evident on the above map, and are part of what is now called the “West Swale” The West Swale extends from Yorath Island in the South Saskatchewan River through to Grandora, Rice Lake and the North Saskatchewan River [To get an overview of the West Swale check out the next Map 1915 Saskatoon Sheet which includes Grandora, etc…

“Humankind’s greatest sin is anthropocentrism – where human life is valued above all other sentient life. Msirtnecoporhtna – backwards or forwards it makes no sense. If Moses could spell it, he would have put in his top 10.” Philip Wollen founder of Winsome Kindness Trust

Blairmore Sector Afforestation Areas

Legend Additions in the colour Mauve:

How would the Blairmore Sector Afforestation Areas have featured on a map of 1883?

On the west side of Saskatoon a portion of the 660 acres preserved in perpetuity in 1972 are located at:

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (City of Saskatoon Urban Regional Park) Parts Section 22 and SW 23 township 36 range 6 west of the third meridian. (East of the CN overpass on SK Highway 7) SE 22 & SW 23-36-6 W3
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of South West Off Leash Recreation Area) civic address 467 Township Road 362-A.  Only lands of SE 22 36 6 W3 under MVA conservation management
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) civic address 355 Township Road 362-A under MVA conservation
Un-named City of Saskatoon Afforestation Area. Part south of CN Chappell yards SE section 23-36-6-W3 preserved as afforestation area in perpetuity, under MVA conservation management- west of SW OLRA and east of COC.
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area civic address 241 Township Road 362-A
In 1960, part of NE 21-36-6 W3 (West of the CN overpass on SK Highway 7) was purchased by the City, planted in 1972, preserved as an afforestation area. Named in 1978-1979 George Genereux Park (Urban Regional Park), this namesake was removed at this afforestation area for use at a different city pocket park.
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area civic address 133 Range Road 3063

“Each person walks a journey unique to himself or herself. Live your own journey and run your own race.”  Winsome Campbell-Green

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

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

For more information:

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

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

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

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

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

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

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

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

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!

Paypal

Payment Options

Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

 

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

“We forget that we owe our existence to the presence of Trees. As far as forest cover goes, we have never been in such a vulnerable position as we are today. The only answer is to plant more Trees – to Plant Trees for Our Lives.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker

“Act. Don’t react. See a need, fix it first. Worry about the details later. If you wait until you are asked you have just missed a golden opportunity. They are fleeting and rare.” Philip Wollen founder of Winsome Kindness Trust

What is the West Swale?

Geological formation during The Pleistocene Era

Geology of the Yorath Island Spillway After the Flood.

The geological formation of the West Swale occurred during the Pleistocene era from waters cascading out of the glacial l North Saskatchewan River valley, which is quite different from the formation of the North East Swale, which was formed from glacial ice waters in the South Saskatchewan River Valley subsidence.

The West Swale earth science features include glaciofluvial Iandforms created by meltwater channels during Pleistocene glacial drainage. The afforestation area formerly known as George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, the Chappell Marsh Conservation Area and Maple Grove at the West Swale Confluence are all provincially significant examples of a landscape typifying fluvioglacial erosion.

Meltwater channels are unique and significant as they possess characteristics which distinguish them from conventional river valleys. The low lying area of the West Swale does, indeed, display a fascinating geological record of the last stages of the Great Ice Age. On a walk in the Richard St. Barb Baker Afforestation Area, or the Urban Regional Park formerly named George Genereux park, and spend an absolutely unforgettable day 2.6 million years in the making.

The West Swale lands are of imperative value to surrounding rural agricultural lands at the present moment, but the lands also provide flood relief in the South West sector in Saskatoon. There are notable and significant geological features providing scientific, educational, historical and aesthetic landscape importance to the city of Saskatoon, the province of Saskatchewan, the nation of Canada.

What happened during the Pleistocene era?

2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago

“During the Quaternary period, between 2 and 3 million years ago, the prairies were covered by a glacier, the Laurentide ice sheet.

Northern hemisphere glaciation during the last ice ages. The accumulation of 3 to 4 kilometers (1.9 to 2.5 mi) thick ice sheets caused a sea level lowering of about 120 meters (390 ft)

It was 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) thick which advanced and receded several times across the prairies. There were multiple glaciations affecting the Saskatchewan area during the Pre-Illinoian, Illinioan, and Wisconsin stages of the last Ice Age.” ^Geology These were the major glaciations, there were other glaciations summarized as follows.

Glacial Lake Agassiz A glacial lake is a lake with origins in a melted glacier. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land, and then melts, filling the hole or space that it has created. Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to retreat. A retreating glacier often left behind large deposits of ice in hollows between drumlins or hills. As the ice age ended, these melted to create lakes.

Ice retreated, and drainage occurred to the north, creating Glacial lakes in low lying areas. Glacial Lake Saskatoon I situated in the northern Saskatoon Lowland and lower areas of the Elstow Basin. When the northern outlet of Lake Saskatoon lowered, the South Saskatchewan River Valley began replacing Glacial Lake Saskatoon I. A broad plain called the Cory Plain was created in the area south west of Saskatoon. Cory Plain features cut off meander loops, ox-bow lakes and geological features showing the historic river braiding and travels.

The northern flow of water in the Glacial North Saskatchewan River Valley was halted by ice, creating Glacial Rice Lake settling into the lowlands west of Grandora. Glacial Rice Lake drained by channels into the South Saskatchewan Valley “The Moon Lake Channel, a major spillway connecting the North Saskatchewan River basin with the South Saskatchewan, and a smaller parallel channel, Yorath Island Channel, also cross the Cory plain….but they are clearly not South Saskatchewan channels.”

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

Then there was another advance of ice ~ Patience Lake Ice ~ creating a kame and moraine ridge near Grandora 10 miles west of Saskatoon. The ice blocked the northern flow of water creating another glacial lake; Lake Saskatoon II. As the ice wasted away, & Lake returned to river valley, there were remnants of the lake in and south of Saskatoon. Lacustrine silts and clays were deposited south and west of the city area forming the Cory Plain surface. Paraphrase from Hodges

How is it best to preserve our nation’s geologic heritage which contain evidence some of the earth’s greatest examples of geologic phenomena. From glaciers to swales, it is a true inspiration to be immersed in your personal geologic experience here in the West Swale which envelopes the Chappell Marsh Conservation Area, Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the Afforestation Area formerly known as George Genereux urban regional park. Yorath Island, an “end moraine” and a natural landmark in the South Saskatchewan River locates the confluence of the Yorath Island spillway with the glacial South Saskatchewan River Valley. The West Swale is a low-lying depression created by repeated glaciations and the melting of the last bit of glacial ice.

The West Swale, a major meltwater drainage channel, a glacial spillway and a prairie valley is a classical example of glacial spillway topography. In the West Swale are several areas and features that budding geologists can discover and study the results left behind as the “catastrophic floods of glacial meltwater and sediment washed through these valleys”, typifying the Yorath Island glacial spillway, now known as the West Swale.^{James S. Aber} Pleistocene deposits and geology show “erosional features of the underlying bedrock surface such as buried valleys, which are filled and concealed by drift, and which result in a hickening of Pleistocene deposits; erosional features of the surface of the drift, such as stream valleys, which cause a thinning of the Pleistocene deposits; and depositional features such as end moraines, drumlins, and outwash plains of glacial origin, which result in a thickening of the Pleistocene deposits.^{P.F. Karrow}

The preservation of the afforestation areas in 1972, therefore, has also preserved a segment of the invaluable historic geological landmark of the West Swale, and its Pleistocene heritage and history.  Next time you are out at the Richard St. Barb Baker Afforestation Area, or the Urban Regional Park formerly named George Genereux park, know you are spending an absolutely unforgettable day 2.6 million years in the making.

The 1884 Sectional Map and the 1915 Saskatoon Sheet both do a brilliant job showing the West Swale around the Blairmore Afforestation Areas.

Now it is time to zip on over to an adventure amid the Pleistocene Megafauna – with an online virtual tour to meet the mammoths, sabre-tooth cats, and tapirs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hodges, Larry Edwin: Morphology of the South Saskatchewan River Valley Outlook to Saskatoon PhD Thesis. Department of Geography. McGill University. Montreal, Quebec. July 1971.
Theberge, John B., (1989) The Wholeness of Nature. Legacy, The Natural History of Ontario. McClelland and Stewart Inc. ISBN 0-7710-8398-X

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

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

For more information:

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

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

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

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

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

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

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

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

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

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

Paypal

Payment Options

Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

You Tube Video Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube Video Richard St Barbe Baker presented by Paul Hanley

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

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

You Tube Video George Genereux Urban Regional Park Hoar Frost

You Tube Video George Genereux Urban Regional Park Saskatoon

You Tube Video George Genereux Urban Regional Park

 

The trees and vegetation, which cover the land surface of the Earth and delight the eye, are performing vital tasks incumbent upon the vegetable world in nature. Its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life; it it the ‘skin’ of the earth, for without it there can be no water, and therefore, no life.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

 

It is not a farce.…”To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.” ~Terry Tempest Williams

 

“Clearly, human pressure is exerting a sudden and cataclysmic impact on much of this province, if viewed in the time-frame of evolution and geology to which the rhythms of ecosystems are tuned. The groundswell of environmental concern taking shape among us, its citizens, results in public pressure for new and stronger strictures on human exploitation and desecration…Such action is needed as the embodiment of an ethical responsibility to the land and living things, for our own well-being as well as for that of all other species.” Theberge, 1989. P.376