Land Acknowledgement
The afforestation areas are situated in the West Swale Yorath Island Glacial Spillway, a sacred site in Treaty 6 Territory and Homeland of the Métis. Those who entered into Treaty 6 are the Cree nêhiyawak, Saulteaux nakawē, and Nakota yanktonand yanktonaipeople.
May our relationships with the land, standing peoples, forests, and waters teach us to honour and respect the past and invite us to move forward in harmony. May we all come together as friends, to find inspiration and guidance from histories, languages, and cultures which broaden our understanding and community collaboration for the present and future.
(With thanks to Dr. Rose Roberts for advice on Land Acknowledgements)
Facts about the Afforestation Project:
• Consists of the 132-hectare (326 acres) Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and 60-hectare (148 acres) George Genereux Urban Regional Park. Both parks are now within the city limits of Saskatoon.
• Planted by City of Saskatoon in 1972-73 under a North American Green Survival Program as “forest in perpetuity” on city-owned land formerly leased to farmers.
• The species used were: American and Siberian Elm, Manitoba Maple, Green Ash, Poplar, Willow, Caragana, Colorado Blue Spruce and Scotch Pine.
• Planting occurred in a weaving pattern to create a natural forest effect.
• The plantings were in addition to natural Poplar bluffs.
• In both parks natural succession has taken place since planting.
• Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is home to about 18 km (11 miles) of shared trails of the St Barbe Winter Trails network and the 6-hectare (14.5 acre) Southwest Off Leash Recreation Area. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas have provided amenities including benches and bird feeders. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas have also provided fencing, signage and environmental protection for the two greenspace areas.
• The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas released the films; Legacy of Saskatoon’s Secret Forest (with adjunct Richard St. Barbe Baker Stories) and Wildwoods of Saskatoon (with Exploring the Wildwoods of Saskatoon: The Ecology of a Planted Forest.)
http://www.friendsareas.ca/friends/Legacy.html
http://www.friendsareas.ca/friends/Wildwoods.html
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Richard St. Barbe Baker
o 1889 – 1982
o Born in Britain, homesteaded near Beaver Creek from 1911 to 1913 and was one of the first 100 students to attend the fledgling University of Saskatchewan.
o Honoured as a University of Saskatchewan alumni who participated in World War I.
o Witnessed deforestation practices and became concerned about soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and waste of natural resources.
o Received botany diploma from Cambridge University after the war.
o From 1921 to 1928 he worked as a forester in Kenya and Nigeria and travelled extensively through Africa. In Kenya, working with the Kikuyu people, he was able to involve them in tree planting and forest protection as Watu wa Miti (Men of the Trees); an early application of social forestry.
o Officially founded Men of the Trees in 1924 (now called International Tree Foundation). At its peak it was active in up to 100 countries and now has projects focused on Africa and the United Kingdom.
o Travelled the world spreading a message of the vital importance of trees and forests for the multiple ecosystem services they provide and encouraging the planting of trees and forests to reclaim degraded land.
o Received an Honorary Doctor of Laws at the University of Saskatchewan in 1971
o Planted his last tree near the Diefenbaker Centre on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon on June 5, 1982. Is buried in Woodlawn cemetery.
• George Genereux
o Was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
o While still a student at Nutana Collegiate, he won the gold medal in the Olympic Trap at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.[2] He was, at the time, Canada's youngest Olympic champion, a record that stood until 2016.
o In 1952, he was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, and the Trapshooting Hall of Fame.
o He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan and studied medicine at McGill University. He died in Saskatoon on April 10, 1989.
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Richard St. Barbe Baker
Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan, University Archives & Special Collections, Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
Map of the Afforestation Areas
George Genereux
Courtesy: Saskatoon Public Library.
Local History Room Image b-8759
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area - 132 hectares (326 acres)
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George Genereux Urban Regional Park - 60 hectares (148 acres)
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Rest Station and Bird Feeders Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Activities
Meadowhawk - Wild licorice
1. What is Afforestation?
Reforestationrefers to planting trees to replace those removed by logging or land conversion.
Afforestationis the practice of planting trees on land that was previously used for agriculture or has become degraded. The reasons for degradation could include agricultural practices that were not in harmony with the environment or natural disasters such as flooding or extended drought. If trees were originally part of the landscape some sources1 say 50 years must have elapsed for the addition of trees to be called afforestation.
Reforestation and afforestation can take different forms. Plantation forests are usually planted with one species of tree and the commercial value of the resulting forest is the primary consideration. Shelterbelts, which are trees planted on the borders of fields and infrastructure, can also be considered afforestation projects2. The afforestation projects in Saskatoon, planted in 1972 – 73 under the Green Survival Program, were designed to imitate a natural forest as much as possible. Several species of tree were used, planted in a weaving pattern to create a natural forest effect. The species used were: American and Siberian Elm, Manitoba Maple, Green Ash, Poplar, Willow, Caragana, Colorado Blue Spruce and Scotch Pine. Natural succession has occurred since the original planting. This has changed the numbers and distribution of the trees, allowing the establishment of grasses and shrubs on the forest floor and increased biodiversity overall. These projects are officially designated “forests in perpetuity”, with no plans to alter them in the foreseeable future.
Pine tree plantation. BySoil-Science.infoonFlickr (USDANaturalResourcesConservationService)Flickr,CCBY2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6 076993
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RodneyBurton/Soilerosion,Warmwell,Dorset
Afforestation projects exist all over the world. Probably the largest of these is the Great Green Wall, a massive afforestation and reforestation project in the Sahel, an 8000 km strip of land on the south border of the Sahara Desert in Africa. This type of project was first proposed by Richard St. Barbe Baker over 70 years ago and now has been adopted by the United Nations and the African Union. It aims to use trees to restore 100 million hectares of land across 22 African countries by 2030. Countries internationally have taken on afforestation as a way of recovering forest that was lost over the generations or as a response to climate change, or both. Canada committed in 2021 to plant 2 billion trees over 10 years3. These plantings are in addition to those reforestation projects to which forestry companies are legally committed.
What Can You Do?
1. Go hug a tree! Trees are important to our overall health (see next activity). Spend some time looking at the leaves, the branches, and the bark. Observe how the roots spread from the base of the tree and how new life shoots up from the root systems. This can be done in the summer or the winter.
2. Plant a tree. Many of our urban yards are tree-poor. Trees can be chosen to minimize nuisance and maximize the enjoyment. A garden centre can help you find the tree that is best for you and your yard. Homeowners can request the City of Saskatoon to plant a tree(s) on the boulevard they front. (See City of Saskatoon Request a Tree).
3. Support local organizations. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas has installed environmental protection barriers, i.e., fencing, and created a GPS selfguided tour for the two afforestation areas, the Prairie Forest Guide (pfg.friendsareas.ca). SOS Trees Coalition works to protect the urban forest and published the booklet Saskatoon Tree Tour. The Saskatchewan Environmental Society promotes forests, trees, and green groups on social media. Elizabeth Bekolay from OneSchoolOneFarmShelterbelt Project promotes shelterbelt plantings and developed the Richard St. Barbe Baker Stories. The Saskatoon Nature Society has
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St.BarbeBakerAfforestationAreaCaragana-Tunnel CourtesyVivianAllan
listed Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area in the book, A Guide to Nature Viewing Sites in and Around Saskatoon, 3rd Ed.
4. Contact your City Councillor, Member of the Legislative Assembly, or Member of Parliament. Let them know how important the urban forest is and the need for afforestation projects in our community. Afforestation, the planting of forests and protecting existing trees are nature-based solutions for climate action. Climate action has become a pressing issue in the world today, and we can all play a crucial role in bringing about change.
(The afforestation areas are in Ward 2 in Saskatoon.)
It is inspiring to see examples of successful citizen advocacy. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. know it is important for citizens to understand the proper channels for advocacy and to follow established protocols when engaging with elected officials. By doing so, citizens can demonstrate their commitment to the issues they care about, and can ensure that their voices are heard in a respectful and productive manner. In turn, when council members and administration listen to the concerns of city residents and provide feedback or information on proper protocols and procedures for next steps, they help to build trust and foster a culture of engagement and collaboration.
By working together in this way, citizens and City Council can achieve meaningful progress on important issues, such as protecting green spaces and addressing climate change. This kind of engagement demonstrates the power of democracy and highlights the importance of civic participation.
UnitedNationsSustainableDevelopmentGoals
1Kumar, Arvind. Ecosystem-Based Adaptation. 2022. Elsevier Press.
2Grebner, Donald L. et al. Introduction to Forestry and Natural Resources. 2014. Elsevier Press.
3 Government of Canada. 2 Billion Trees Commitment. https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/2-billion-trees.html
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PoplarsSpringtimeAfforestationAreaimage Bebb'sWillowSpringtimeAfforestationAreaimage
ScotchPinecones –ScotchPinetreescanhavebothmaleorfemalepinecones.
2. Ecological Relationships in the Forest – “The Dance of the Trees”
Ecology is the systematic study of organisms and their interactions with the environment. Ecology reveals the relationships between living and nonliving parts of the environment. The key word here is relationship.
The grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees of a forest interact with each other and with animal species, like insects, birds and mammals. Bacteria, fungi and other microscopic organisms can act as pathogens or, as we are increasing becoming aware, partners in the functioning of a healthy ecosystem.
Each species has a habitat, a place within the forest that provides it with the means for survival, and a niche, its role within its habitat. For instance, the Black-Capped Chickadee is a common bird in Saskatoon. Its habitat is associated with broad-leafed and mixed forest edges1. The chickadee is omnivorous, meaning it eats both plant and animal matter to survive. Its role is to spread seeds of the berries it eats and to keep insect populations in check. The adults fall prey to owls and hawks, providing these animals with food. Crows, magpies, and small mammals will prey on eggs and chicks in the nest. As a result, chickadees can lay clutches of up to 12 eggs and will continue to lay new clutches through the season if conditions are favourable. In this way nature ensures that at least a pair of chickadees from each generation will survive to breed in the next season, maintaining the chickadee population.
To simplify what can be a complex process, biologists use food chains and food webs to illustrate ecological relationships. A food chain is the simpler of the two. It follows the energy flow; plants capture energy from the sun through photosynthesis and are called producers. Animals are consumers who rely on that energy either by feeding on the plants directly (herbivore) or by eating other animals (carnivore). Please note that everything from the smallest insect through to the largest mammals are all animals, including humans.
To draw a food chain, start with a producer, like a grass. Find out what eats the grass then, in turn, what eats that organism, until you get to the animal at the top of the chain, who is not eaten by anything else (the top consumer). A simple food chain looks like this:
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Black-capped Chickadee. Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Food chains on land (terrestrial) tend to be fairly short, no more than 4 or 5 links. That is because energy is lost at each link in the chain, since every organism uses energy to survive. This is best seen in the amount of territory each organism needs to find enough food. A single grasshopper may be able to find enough grass to eat in 1 square meter of land. The field mouse will need many square meters to find enough grasshoppers to eat. The territory of a hawk can be several square kilometers in its search for food. Any organism that preyed on hawks would spend more energy in its search for food than it got from the hawks it ate. That is why the hawk is the top consumer.
Aquatic food chains can be longer. Most aquatic species are cold blooded, plus the water supports their mass, so there is more energy passed on each level. Also, there are more organisms which are very small that prey on each other, before larger species get involved. For instance:
Note that the arrows in a food chain go in the direction of the energy; shrimp get energy when they eat the algae, so the arrow goes from the algae to the shrimp.
Food Webs are more complex. Food webs recognize that any one organism is not eaten by just one species, but several. Mapping the interconnections between several organisms begins to look like a spider’s web:
It is apparent that food webs can get very complex, very quickly, but they give a more accurate view of what is going on in an ecosystem. Support biodiversity-based strategies for climate action.
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What Can You Do?
1. The first activity sheet in the package is a word list. Find the definitions for each word, either from reading the articles or from the Web, to expand your knowledge of this material.
2. Complete the ecology crossword and word search in the activities section of this workbook.
3. Complete the food web assignment in the activities section of this workbook.
1The National Wildlife Federation. Black-Capped Chickadee
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Black-CappedChickadee#:~:text=Black%2Dcapped%20chickadees%20are%20found,attract%20chic kadees%20to%20suburban%20backyards.
Bohemianwaxwingwithberries(cc0),Sparrowwithgrasshopper(cc0) Red-tailedHawk(cc0)
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AfforestationAreaimagescourtesyVivianAllan
3. Trees Can Talk! Chemical Signalling Among Tree Species
If you have seen either of the two Avatar movies, you have probably heard of the “Mother Tree”. In the movies this is a tree that nurtures the natural world around it. When James Cameron was developing the concept behind the Mother Tree he used a real-life theory as its basis. For the past 50 years scientists have been discovering that trees emit chemicals into air around them when they are stressed1. In the case of insect attack, these chemicals can activate the immune systems of neighbouring trees to produce defensive compounds before they are in turn attacked.
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>,
New research has shown that communication between trees and other plants goes much further. A Canadian scientist, Suzanne Simard, has coined the term The Wood Wide Web1 to describe the network of roots and fungal rhizomes that allows
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Trembling Aspen. Gilles Douaire, CC BY-SA 2.0
via Wikimedia Commons
subterranean routes of communication for hormones and nutrients. In an interview3 she describes the results of her research.
Trees and fungi form what is called a mutualistic symbiotic relationship, where both species benefit. Trees can transfer nutrients and signaling compounds among themselves using the fungal networks while the fungi use some of the trees’ nutrients for their own growth.
The Mother Tree concept was developed by Simard when she found in forests with mature, undisturbed growth, certain trees seemed to nurture the seedlings around it. It did so by transferring nutrients, carbon and water through the fungal network to encourage growth. Her research has shown that, when there is a disturbance like logging, the forest regenerates more quickly when the Mother Trees are left intact. “We’ve found that the more mother trees we leave, the more diverse and abundant the natural regeneration is.”3. Simard is hoping that her research leads to logging practices that work both for humans and the forest in her native British Columbia and elsewhere.
What Can I Do?
1. Do research on the types of symbiosis, including mutualism, and commensalism. Can you find examples of these relationships in the afforestation areas? An example might be a bracket fungus growing on the side of a living tree.
2. Are there any mother trees in the afforestation area? Look for large trees surrounded by saplings of the same species.
3. Get on your knees and smell the earth. That is the smell of life! The odor of the soil is made from the organisms that inhabit it, including the fungi and bacteria that live there. If you are interested, the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas and the Saskatchewan Mycological Working Group have created a City Nature Challenge webinar on fungi and lichens
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or4E2ySKtfs&list=PLQ9gsiIu56d4Ysydzry9FZi trZ0V8jnGB&index=10). Why do you think that autumn is the best time of year to look for fungi?
1Kat McGowan. How Plants Secretly Talk to Each Other. Wired. 2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/, S.W., Perry, D.A., Jones, M.D., Myrold, D.D., Durall, D.M., and Molina, R. (1997). Net transfer of carbon between tree species with shared ectomycorrhizal fungi. Nature,388:579-582.
3Rowan Hooper. Suzanne Simard interview: How I uncovered the hidden language of trees. New Scientist. 2021. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25033320-900suzanne-simard-interview-how-i-uncovered-the-hidden-language-of-trees/
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4. Nature, Trees and Wellbeing1
A growing number of psychologists and ecologists are discovering links between going out into nature and our mental health and well-being. The links they are uncovering are complex, and not yet fully understood. The current thinking is that linking people with nature makes them healthier physically, encourages them to interact socially and connects people to needs that exist from a time before humans spent their lives in cities.
Taking the last point first, urbanization only arose about 6000 years ago and it is only in last few decades that a large number of people grew up with no real connection or access to rural areas. In other words, for the vast majority of human existence on Earth, we have been surrounded by grass and trees and the organisms that live in them, rather than houses, paved roads and concrete. Our brains are more hardwired to relate to natural environments rather than the artificial ones found in large cities. When people go out into nature it can be a solitary experience, but more often it is social, including walks with a friend, picnics or sporting activities. This provides physical activity, which has positive health effects. Socialising can reduce loneliness, anxiety and depression, since being part of a supportive community is good for mental health. Other positive health effects can come from the “ecological services” that natural spaces provide. These include absorbing airborne particles and gases from cars and industry that might otherwise be inhaled and absorbed by our bodies. Vegetation also helps to reduce noise pollution, which is a major cause of urban stress, both for humans and wildlife. Other services include clean water, nutrient recycling, flood
19 AfforestationAreaimagecourtesyEco-QuestSaskatoon
defence and pollination, all of which are vital for the sustainability of both the human and natural world.
The evidence of positive mental health effects of access to nature exists for things like:
• depression
• anxiety
• mood disorder
• improve sleep
• reduce stress
• increase happiness
• reduce negative emotions
• promote positive social interactions
• generate a sense of meaning to life.
Being in green environments also boosts various aspects of thinking, including attention, memory and creativity, in people both with and without depression.
In many places doctors have begun to prescribe time in nature instead of, or in addition to, traditional treatments. These can include activities such as birdwatching and beach walks to treat mental health conditions and stress, as well as physical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. In Canada a program called PaRx is a partnership between Canadian Physicians for the Environment and Parks Canada to provide park passes to patients.2 One study concluded that at least 120 minutes a week of recreational nature contact was associated with good health or well-being. Another study in Toronto, Canada, found that adding just 10 trees to a city block has a huge impact on people’s perceptions of their health and wellbeing, equivalent to the effect of earning $10,000 more per household.
The evidence is clear; we as a human species were molded by our interactions with the natural world and our well being is still tied up with being connected to the natural world.
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What Can We Do?
1. Get Outside. 120 minutes per week is a minimum value for well-being. Take a walk, sit on the grass or play in the snow. Plant a garden or walk the dog. It does matter what you do, as long as you are out of the house and under the sky.
2. Start a Journal. Log your time outside; you may be surprised by how much or how little time you actually spend. Write about your experiences, what you did, what you saw, how you felt. In time you can look back at what you wrote and see how you have changed by your connection to nature.
1summarized from an article by Kate Douglas and Joe Douglas. Green spaces aren’t just for nature – they boost our mental health, too. New Scientist Magazine, March 24, 2021.
2Victoria Forster. Canadian Physicians Can Now Prescribe Nature to Patients. Forbes Magazine Online. https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2022/02/08/canadian-
physicians-can-now-prescribe-nature-to-patients/?sh=570025a76f20
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Crown-tipped Coral Fungus
Colorado Blue Spruce saplings secondary succession
5. Does the Forest Change? What is Succession?
The Richard St. Barbe Baker and George Genereux Afforestation Areas were planted in 1972-73. The species used were: American and Siberian Elm, Manitoba Maple, Green Ash, Poplar, Willow, Caragana, Colorado Blue Spruce and Scotch Pine. These were planted among stands of existing Poplar. If you go into the areas today you will probably be able to find some patterns in the location of the trees. There is, unfortunately, no map that gives the positions of the original plantings but it is still easy to imagine that there are differences between how the afforestation areas looked over 50 years ago and what you actually find today. This is the result of a process called succession. As the years go by conditions in the forest change. Large trees crowd out smaller ones by hoarding the resources of water, nutrients and sunshine. Sometimes aggressive shrubs or thick undergrowth can prevent tree seedlings from growing so, when the tree dies, there are no new trees to replace it and the shrubs take over. If the climate changes and becomes warmer and drier, for instance, those species able to cope with less water will succeed as the expense of more water-hungry species.
There are two types of succession. Primary succession occurs over barren land, like a lava flow, landslide or, in Saskatchewan, when the glaciers retreated about 11,000 years ago. Before anything can grow, soil must first be created. Pioneer species like lichen begin the soil-forming process, followed by grasses and herbs. Eventually there is enough soil to support woody plants. The climax community is the assortment of plants and animals best adapted to the conditions of temperature, rainfall, sunshine, and drainage in the area. In most of southern Saskatchewan the climax community is short and tall grass prairie. As temperatures decrease northward mixed forest then coniferous forests dominate.
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Athabasca Glacier, Alberta, Canada. By Wpcpey - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120524241
Secondary succession occurs when an ecosystem is disturbed. Disturbances can include fire or severe drought. Man-made disturbances can include clear-cut forestry or cultivation of grassland for crops. Because of our extensive agriculture, southern Saskatchewan is one of the most disturbed areas in the world. Less than 15% of the original grassland is left uncultivated or changed in some way. When an agricultural field is left uncultivated, secondary succession begins. Because soil is already present species adapted to the area can move in quickly. The greatest danger at this stage is erosion of the soil before it can be stabilized by grasses and herbs.
What Can We Do?
1. When you go into the afforestation area look for change; trees that were not on the list of original species, or trees that were listed but are no longer present. Have trees died in an area but have not been replaced by saplings of the same species? Alongside the original native species, the following drought resistant trees were afforested to make the current forest:
• American and Siberian Elm
• Manitoba Maple
• Green Ash
• Poplar
2. Complete the Succession Worksheet.
• Willow
• Caragana
• Colorado Blue Spruce
• Scotch Pine
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Scotch Pine saplings Afforestation Area
Clearcut forest. Walter Siegmund, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
TremblingAspenscourtesyVivianAllan
6. The Urban Forest Project
The land upon which Saskatoon is built is not normally blessed with an abundance of vegetation other than several species of grasses, herbs, and low shrubs. Trees do not generally survive well in places where fire is frequent, like the Canadian Prairies. Exceptions to this rule are the coulees and other low, moist areas where aspen, Willow, Poplar and large shrubs like chokecherry and Saskatoon thrive.Settlers to Saskatchewan brought with them seeds for many types of plants, including trees. We now enjoy the fruits of those early efforts in tree planting when we walk or drive in the older neighbourhoods of Nutana, City Park or the downtown
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Western Snowberry in Trembling Aspen grove
Western Snowberry
Saskatoon riverbank. Cory Denton from Saskatoon, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
core. In the 1950s and 60s, the City of Saskatoon, through visionary city planners like Christopher Yorath, Burt Wellman and Bill Graham, spearheaded a greenbelt program to turn Saskatoon into a “Garden City. ” Users of the afforestation areas owe a debt of gratitude to these early city planners.
Homeowners in Saskatoon have continued this tradition. They, often with help from the city, have planted many species of trees and shrubs in yards and parks throughout Saskatoon. These trees and shrubs represent species from around the world.
These efforts have not only beautified the city but have also contributed to a healthier environment and a better quality of life for Saskatoon residents. As we continue to grow and evolve as a city, we must remember the importance of preserving and enhancing our green spaces, which are the foundations of our community's well-being. Our natural spaces are also our green infrastructure for climate resilience
What Can We Do?
Walk around the afforestation area. Find 12 different types of trees or large shrubs (at least 2 m tall). For each species you are to do the following:
1. Take a picture of the entire plant. Make notes of the plant height and width.
2. Take close up pictures of the bark, and of the leaves. If flowers or fruit are present, take pictures of those, as well.
Note: Do not take samples of the plant material, as this can damage the plant. If flowers are removed it will prevent the plant from making seeds or fruit.
With these resources in hand, and using an app like Googlelens,iNaturalistor a dichotomous key, identify the tree. The original species planted in the parks included:
• American and Siberian Elm
• Manitoba Maple
• Green Ash
• Poplar
• Willow
• Caragana
• Colorado Blue Spruce
• Scotch Pine
This list should give you a start in the identification process.
For each species prepare a page or information card with the following information:
a) Common name
b) Species name
c) From what part of the world is the plant native? (What country does it come from?)
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d) Coniferous or deciduous?
e) Leaf characteristics (needles, broad leafed, colour, shape, edge, etc.)
f) Bark characteristics (smooth or rough, size and depth of ridges, colour, etc.)
g) Flower characteristics
h) Fruit characteristics
• No more than 1 full page per species.
• Point form is acceptable
• Use colour pictures that illustrate each plant and plant parts
Questions:
1. Did you find all of these species in the park? If not, which are missing?
2. Did you find any species of tree or shrub not on this list? Name the species.
3. How do you think new tree or shrub species could have arrived in the park?
Alternate Activity #1:
This could be done as a scavenger hunt. How many species in the afforestation area can you find? On the next page is a list of many trees and shrubs that are found in the area.
Alternate Activity #2:
Find trees and shrubs in your own neighbourhood or around your school. There is probably more variety in these areas, so look for at least 20 different trees and shrubs.
Tree Species Indigenous Regionally:
Manitoba Maple Acernegundo
Green ash
Balsam Poplar
White Poplar / Aspen
Cottonwood hybrid
Bebb’s Willow
Saskatoon Berry
Chokecherry
Red-osier Dogwood
Buffaloberry
Fraxinuspennsylvanica
Populusbalsamifera
Populustremuloides
Populusdeltoideshybrid
Salixbebbiana
Amelanchieralnifolia
Prunusvirginiana
Cornussericea
Shepderdiaargentia
Wolf Willow / Silverberry Elaeagnuscommutata
Snowberry
Symphoricarposaccidentalis
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Creeping Juniper Juniperushorizontalis
Roses – Prairie, Prickly, Woods Rosaarkansana,acicularis,woodsia
Currants Ribes
Tree Species Indigenous to North America:
American Elm Ulmusamericana
Colorado Blue Spruce Piceapungens
White spruce Piceaglauca
Tree Species Introduced from Eurasia:
Siberian Elm Ulmuspumila
Scotch Pine Pinussylvestris
Caragana Caraganaarborescens
Amur Maple Acerginnala
Note: be prepared to find species not on this list; seeds can be blown in by wind or carried in by birds or mammals.
Note: The City of Saskatoon when making master plans and ecological assessments refer to iNaturalist citizen science research grade observations. Saskatoon Nature Society commonly uses e-Bird. Choose from an assortment of apps to find your favourite. Ribbon Cutting by Preston. Environmental Protections by Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas
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Red-osierDogwood
One major advantage of the afforestation areas is that they provide habitat for wildlife. Animals are found in the forest that are not common on the open prairie. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park are large parks in Saskatoon, but are still small compared to the large mixed and boreal forests further north in Saskatchewan. For this reason, the bird species common in the parks are those adapted to the forest edges, rather than the deep forest.
The birds in the afforestation divide roughly into two categories, those who live there year-round and those who winter in warmer climates further south. The year-round residents are adapted to cold winter temperatures. They can fluff up their undercoats to insulate against the cold. Many birds have circulation systems to keep their exposed feet from freezing. Chickadees will stash fat rich nuts and grubs in the fall so they can find them easily when the weather turns cold.
The birds which migrate also fall into two categories, those who nest in the afforestation area and those who pass through to places further north.
What this means is that the population of birds in the afforestation areas changes with the seasons. Birders familiar with these changes visit the afforestation areas frequently to see who has moved in and who has moved out.
What Can We Do?
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7. Birds of the Urban Forest
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) Peter Waycik Public Domain
1. Gather Field Guides or Load Apps. Your school may have field guides that contain pictures and information about the birds you may find. There are several good phone apps like iNaturalistor Merlin. GoogleLenscan also work. The nice thing about these apps is that they will give you suggestions as to what bird you are looking at.
iNaturalistconnects you to a community of observers doing citizen science. Your observations can help advance science by showing how populations (not just birds) are increasing or decreasing or detecting changes in biodiversity.
Merlinis from Cornell University. Both Merlinand iNaturalistallow you to identify birds by their song, using the microphone on the phone.
Take a pair of binoculars if you have one. They help you get “closer”, without getting so close to the bird that it flies away. Some models have a cell phone mount that allow you to take close up photos and connect the photos to apps.
2. Join a group. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas host on-site BioBlitzes throughout the year, which are an intense period of biological surveying by citizen scientists to record as many species as they can within a designated area.
3. Start a Journal. Birders keep track of when and where they spotted species. That way, they have a record of what they have seen and notice patterns. Smart phone apps allow you add time, date, GPS coordinates and sound to the photos you take. As you gain more experience, try to determine the stage of life of the birds. If you find a species that does not belong, the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre records the location of invasive species in the province. iNaturalistindicates species at risk or invasive species as do the SCDC species lists.
4. Go into the Forest. Any time of year is good. If you go frequently your observations will change.
5. Dig deeper. Choose one species and find out as much as you can about its habitat and niche.
6. In-Class Activities. Complete the word search and bird identification worksheets provided
Questions
1. Compare your list of birds to the list on the following page. Did you find any species not on the list?
2. What did you notice about bird populations? Were there more of certain types of birds? Why do you think this is so?
Birds of the trees and ground in the afforestation area:
Year-Round Residents Black-capped Chickadee
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House Sparrow
Crow
Common Raven
Black-billed Magpie
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Great-horned Owl
Ruffed Grouse
Migratory Birds
Swainson’s Hawk
Red-tailed hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Veery
Killdeer
Turkey Vulture
Grey Catbird
Blue jay
American Robin
Kingbird
Dark-eyed junco
House Wren
Yellow Warbler
Northern Flicker
Merlin
European Starling
Red-winged Blackbird§
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Red-breastedNuthatch
White-breastedNuthatch
NorthernFlicker
8. Flowers Through the Year
Like birds, flowers are seasonal in the afforestation area. If you come at different times of year, you can see different flowers. Of course, this activity excludes the winter dormant season but, fortunately, unlike birds, flowers don’t fly away when you get too close. This allows for close examination of structures and easier identification.
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Flowers are how plants make seeds for the next season. A field of yellow dandelions quickly changes to clouds of fluff in the air. The fluff are seeds of the dandelion carried by the air to new areas where the plant may grow. Large numbers of seeds are produced because many seeds are eaten by animals or fall in places where they cannot grow. Large numbers mean that at least a few seeds will be able to grow and support the next generation of plants.
Most flowers have both male (stamens) and female (pistils) parts. The stamens create a substance called pollen which, when deposited on the surface of the pistil, fertilizes the flower and seeds can be created. While some flowers selfpollenate, meaning that seeds can be made when pollen falls on the pistils of the same flower, most require fertilization from another flower.
The structure of flowers is determined by how pollination happens. Grains, like wheat and oats, are fertilized by the wind. The pollen is carried in the air in the hope that some may fall on the pistils of a nearby plant. If you have pollen allergies, the pollen comes from airpollenated plants. These types of flowers have both stamens and pistils exposed to the wind to maximize the potential of fertilization. A greater proportion of flowers are fertilized by insects or animals. These flowers usually contain nectar, a sweet liquid that entices the animal to visit the flower. You are probably familiar with honeybees (imported from Europe), but solitary bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, flies and beetles also fertilize flowers. Even bats and birds can get in on the action. Often the flower and the organism that fertilizes it have evolved together so that many plants can only be fertilized by one type of animal. Think of a long flower whose nectar can only be reached by a hummingbird with a very long beak or by the tongue of a butterfly.
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Parts of a flower. Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a feeder. Paul Harrison, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by -sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
When you look at a flower think of how its shape has been formed by the needs of fertilization.
What Can We Do?
1. Gather Field Guides or Load Apps. Your school may have field guides that contain pictures and information about the plants and flowers you may find. There are several good phone apps like iNaturalist. GoogleLenscan also work. The nice thing about these apps is that they will give you suggestions as to what plant you are looking. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Area host a number of online YouTube webinars, giving hints and tips to improve your observation skills. iNaturalistconnects you to a community of observers doing citizen science. Your observations can help advance science by showing how populations are increasing or decreasing or detecting changes in biodiversity.
Take a magnifying glass! By getting close to the plant, you can see structures on the flowers and leaves that you may otherwise miss, like small insects feeding on the plant parts.
2. Start a Journal. Just like birders, you create a record of what you have seen and notice patterns.
3. Go into the Forest. Any time from the early spring to autumn is good. If you go frequently your observations will change.
4. Practice your Art Skills. Flowers and small plants make great subjects for drawings or paintings. Draw on-site (you will often see people with easels practicing their art) or take photos and do your art at home.
5. Dig deeper. Choose one species and find out as much as you can about its habitat and niche.
6. In-Class Activities. Complete the word searches and plant identification worksheets provided.
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FragrantBedstraw,MeadowAnemone
9. Keep Your Eyes on the Ground (and in the Air)! Insects and other Invertebrates
Where would we be without bugs? Less itchy? When we think of insects, we often focus on the pests like mosquitoes which are annoying and can spread disease, or grasshoppers which can destroy crops. Of the million or so known species of insects, only 2 or 3 percent are pests. Most are benign, meaning that they don’t affect us one way or another, or are beneficial, meaning that they help us in some way.
Insects, and other creepy crawlies, are a vital part of our ecosystem. Without their presence we likely would not be here, either. In addition to being fascinating creatures, insects provide many ecological services.
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Lady Bird Beetle. Jon Sullivan (PD-PDphoto.org), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
An ecological service is a benefit provided to humanity by nature. These include things like oxygen created by plants, that we need to breathe, or wetlands which filter and clean pollutants from water. The services provided by insects include pollination of plants, which produces the nuts, fruits and vegetables that we consume. They also help to control the pest species mentioned earlier and provide food for other animals. They also help to decompose waste, so we don’t get buried by our garbage. One study has placed the economic value of these services in the United States at 57 billion dollars annually1 (since the Canadian population is roughly 10% of that of the United States, the dollar value should be roughly 8 billion Canadian dollars).
Even without a dollar value, arthropods are cool. You are probably familiar with members of the main types:
• Insects (creatures with 6 legs)
• Arachnids (spiders and mites)
• Myriapods (centipedes and millipedes)
• Crustaceans (sow bugs are found in the forest and crayfish can be found in bodies of water like Chappell Marsh)
What Can We Do?
1. Gather Field Guides or Load Apps. Your school may have field guides that contain pictures and information about the insects and other creatures you may find. There are several good phone apps like iNaturalist. BugGuideonline or GoogleLenscan also work. The nice thing about these apps is that they will give you suggestions as to what you are looking at.
• Look on the ground – beetles, centipedes and millipedes, ants and sow bugs can be found under leaf litter. Funnel spiders with make webs in the grass.
• Look in the air – flies, bees and wasps, mosquitos and butterflies can be seen in their search for food or mates.
• Look on surfaces – bees and other creatures find flowers, grubs can be found eating leaves or burrowing into bark, insect eggs can be found under leaves or other surfaces.
• Social insects like wasps and ants are fascinating (honey bees are a European import; most bee species in North America are solitary, laying eggs in the ground or in small tree cavities). If you find an ant hill or wasp nest, sit quietly at a safe distance and watch. Can you find members of the colonies with different occupations, like guards or foragers?
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iNaturalistconnects you to a community of observers doing citizen science. Your observations can help advance science by showing how populations are increasing or decreasing or detecting changes in biodiversity. Observations can show how the ranges of insects change with time and help with rapid response to invasive species.
Take a magnifying glass. If you capture a creature to take a closer look, be gentle and make sure to release it unharmed. You may even be able to take a closeup picture for later reference or identification.
2. Start a Journal. Create a record of what you have seen and notice patterns. iNaturalistis a great tool for this, although pen and paper also work well.
3. Go into the Forest. Any time from early spring to autumn is good. If you go frequently your observations will change.
4. Practice your Art Skills. Insects, like birds and flowers, make great subjects for drawings or paintings. Take photos since the animals are mobile and can run away from you. That way you can do your art at home.
5. Dig deeper. Choose one species and find out as much as you can about its habitat and niche.
6. In-Class Activities. Complete the word searches and insect identification worksheets provided.
Remember to leave a light touch on the environment. Use your eyes and ears. Handle leaves, grass and other vegetation carefully. Observe animals from a distance. Always put back what you have moved.
1 John E. Losey, Mace Vaughan. 2006. The Economic Value of Ecological Services Provided by Insects. BioScience, Volume 56, Issue 4, April 2006, Pages 311–323, https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[311:TEVOES]2.0.CO;2
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WoodlandSkipper,Short-hornedGrasshopper-WildRose,Bumblebee-Goldenrod
Bluets,GreatPondSnail
10. Water is important, too! A close look at the wetlands
a) Water Quality
If plants are the lungs of the planet, consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen for us to breathe, wetlands are the Earth’s kidneys, filtering and purifying water for the use of animals (including us). A wetland usually occurs where a source of running water widens out, slows down and becomes shallow, often as the water enters or leaves a larger water body like a lake. Because the water is shallow the sunlight can penetrate to the bottom, allowing plants to grow. The slow-moving water means that organisms do not have to spend a lot of energy to stay in one spot so they can concentrate on feeding, raising young and avoiding predators. Often the process of creating wetlands is helped by the work of beavers through their construction projects. Their dams can create the ideal conditions for wetland creation.
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ChappellMarsh-WestSwaleWetlands-RichardSt.BarbeBaker AfforestationArea
Wetlands perform their ecological service by taking nutrients and pollutants from water and turning them into plant matter. Rivers can drain large land areas. The Saskatchewan River Basin drains land from the Rocky Mountains to Hudson Bay. The water entering rivers often has high levels of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. This can come from natural sources like rotting plant matter, animal waste or from human-made sources like fertilizer runoff or the outflow from waste treatment plants.
As the plants in marshes and wetlands grow, they consume nitrogen and phosphorus as fertilizer. In the process they can also absorb pollutants like metals and break down harmful organic compounds. If these materials were to go into lakes and other large water bodies they could trigger algae growth, which decreases the water quality and can endanger fish populations. Large scale algae growth is called an algal bloom. When the algae die it rots and reduces the oxygen content in the water, which can kill fish. Blue-green algae produce toxins that can harm or kill animals that drink the water. The existence of wetlands reduces the likelihood of these events happening, protecting wildlife and improving our enjoyment of the lakes of Saskatchewan.
What Can We Do?
1. Look at the Plants. Use field guides or apps to determine what types of plants are present in the wetland. Start a journal and make a list of what you see. Go back to the marsh through the year and see how it changes; what plants are blooming? How do their flowers and ways of life differ from the plants that live on land?
2. The Safe Drinking Water Foundation (SWDF) is an organization that encourages students to discover the importance of water quality. According to their website “We will educate the leaders of today and tomorrow about drinking water quality issues to realize our goal of safe drinking water being available to every Canadian. Operation Water Drop, Operation Water
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Cattails in a marsh. User:Bogdan, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
Pollution, and Operation Water Biology kits enable students to conduct authentic water quality analyses on their own local drinking water and other water samples. Students then compare their results to Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. Additionally, students are supported and encouraged in taking action in order to share information with others and to alleviate drinking water quality issues.”
• Kits for measuring water quality are available from the SWDF (https://www.safewater.org/). Operation Water Drop kits are available for both elementary and high school students. They can be used to measure up to 12 different parameters of water quality. These can be used in the classroom or in the field. Operation Water Pollution and Operation Water Biology kits are designed for in-class use to study how organic and inorganic pollutants can be removed from water. Teachers can order donated kits for free. Kits are also available for purchase.
3. Take the kits to the wetlands in the afforestation area and sample the water. The kits contain all the directions needed for each test. Alternatively, samples of the water can be taken back to the classroom for testing.
• Compare the quality of the water to the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines.
• Sample the water at different times of the year. How has the water quality changed?
• Sample the water at different places in the wetland. The water in afforestation area flows from the northwest to the southeast, draining into the South Saskatchewan River. Does the water change the closer one gets to the river?
• If you test water samples from the afforestation areas, the Friends of Saskatoon Afforestation Areas wants to hear about it! The more information they are given about the areas, the better they will be able to protect these plants and animals for future generations.
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Barred Tiger Salamander, Chappell Marsh West Swale Wetlands, Northern Leopard Frog
NorthernShoveler(cc0)
b) Birds
The birds of the wetlands are well suited for this environment. All are migratory, as they require open water to find their food. Grebes, shovelers and mergansers all dive for their lunch of insects, mollusks and crustaceans. Mallard ducks and Canada geese are dabbling species, eating the plants and roots that grow on the marsh bottom. Teals do a little of both, eating plants mainly, but changing to insects and crustaceans during the breeding season. Plovers are also insect eaters, but generally remain on the edge of the shoreline. The list below gives species that have been seen in the wetlands of the afforestation area:
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe Canada Goose
Mallard Duck Common Merganser
American Golden Plover
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
This list contains birds that nest in the area. Other birds will use the wetland as a stopping off place to rest and eat as they make their way to nesting area further north.
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Red-necked-Grebe Courtesy: Nick-Saunders
What Can We Do?
1. Gather Field Guides or Load Apps. Your school may have field guides that contain pictures and information about the birds you may find. There are several good phone apps like iNaturalistor Merlin. GoogleLenscan also work. The nice thing about these apps is that they will give you suggestions as to what bird you are looking at.
iNaturalistconnects you to a community of observers doing citizen science. Your observations can help advance science by showing how populations (not just birds) are increasing or decreasing or detecting changes in biodiversity. Merlinis from Cornell University. Along with iNaturalist, it can identify birds by their song, using the microphone on the phone.
Take a pair of binoculars if you have one. They help you get “closer”, without getting so close to the bird that it flies away.
2. Start a Journal. Birders keep track of when and where they spotted species, and how many they have spotted. That way, they have a record of what they have seen and notice patterns.
3. Go to the Wetland. Any time of year is good. If you go frequently your observations will change.
Questions
1. Compare your list of birds to the list at the beginning of this section. Did you find any species not on the list?
2. What did you notice about bird populations? Were there more of certain types of birds? Why do you think this is so?
3. If you go in the spring, can you see any nesting behavior (please leave the birds and their nests undisturbed). What factors would affect where birds place their nests?
4. Go in the spring and fall. Has the bird population changed? Why do you think the wetland now contains birds that were not there during the summer?
5. Pick one bird and dig deeper into its lifestyle. What is its niche? Does it mate for life? Where does it go in the winter? Is it threatened by habitat loss either here or where it winters? How dangerous is its migration?
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c) Life in the Water
Marshes and wetlands are home to a large variety of species in addition to the waterfowl. We have looked at the plants, so concentrate on the animals. These include both vertebrates (animals with backbones) like fish, frogs, and salamanders and invertebrates (animals without backbones) like arthropods (insects, arachnids, myriapods and crustaceans) and mollusks (snails and clams). Some live on the water, like water striders. Some, like fish, live in the water while others live on in the mud at the bottom.
The lifestyle of wetland species differs greatly from those in the forested areas. Animals from the forest can travel to different areas in search of food, mates or shelter. Many can use the wetland as a place to drink or cool off in the summer. For many wetland species, water is life. They cannot move far from where they are born unless a water route is provided. When a wetland is drained, many of the species that call it home have nowhere to go and simply die.
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ChappellMarsh-WestSwaleWetlandsinRichardSt.BarbeBakerAfforestationAreaCourtesyVivianAllan
Water Strider. KKPCW, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by -sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Protecting wetlands is important for many reasons:
1. The animals that call it home. A wetland is a complex ecosystem that supports hundreds of species of plants and animals that deserve a place to live.
2. Migratory animals. Birds that nest further north use wetlands as an oasis to eat and rest when they migrate in the spring and fall. When wetlands disappear their chances of surviving migration diminish.
3. Resident animals. Large and small mammals and birds use the wetlands as a watering hole. It provides vital sources of water in the summer.
4. Human animals. The ecological services provided by wetlands provide massive economic value, as well as aesthetic value when we visit to watch the plants and animals interact, which allows us to connect to the natural world.
What Can We Do?
1. Visit the Wetland. If you go to the wetlands of the afforestation area and Chappell Marsh close by, take a walk around them. The Chappell Marsh Conservation Area is run by Ducks Unlimited and has extensive walking trails.
2. Look at the Water. If you can get close to the water in the spring or summer fill a jar with water. Hold it up to the light. What do you see? Likely the water will be alive with very small creatures. These small plants and animals are the base of the aquatic food chain. Inside that jar are plants, animals (herbivores) that eat the plants and other animals that prey on the herbivores, each less than 1 mm in size! Look at the jar with a magnifying glass to see more detail. If you can, take a water sample back to your class and look at the creatures under a microscope. Draw what you see. Go online and see if you can identify the organisms and learn about their lifestyle.
Be careful near the water! Look for well-graveled access points, or you may find the mud gets very deep, very quickly.
End of Part One activity workbook package. Part Two Place Based Activity Worksheets of-the Exploring the Wildwoods of Saskatoon:The Ecology of a Planted Forest posted online at ISSUU & http://www.friendsareas.ca/friends/Wildwoods.html. The Wildwoods of Saskatoon heritage documentary is available on YouTube @FriendsAreas
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