From: D J Adamson To: Web E-mail - City Clerks Subject: Municipal Heritage Advisory. Committee and the Saskatoon afforestation areas Date: Wednesday, November 06, 2019 7:32:19 PM Attachments: Value of heritage Business Case Abstract Letter.docx Business Case for RSBBAA.pdf
Hi there A request is made to appear before the Municipal Heritage Advisory. Committee on behalf of the "Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc" This is a not for profit group formed similarly to Friends of the Gordie Howe Bowl, Friends of the Library and Friends of the Forestry Farm House etc. attached is our business case as requested by the City of Saskatoon, and as well, attached is a brief synopsis in the form of an abstract.
Thank you
Kind Regards.
Julia Adamson
ppleby Court Saskatoon Sk
--- Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com/
Saskatchewan Gen Web http://sk.canadagenweb.org
Online Historical Map Digitization https://sites.rootsweb.com/~canmaps/
The Saskatchewan Cemeteries Project http://sites.rootsweb.com/~cansacem/
Saskatchewan One Room Schoolhouse Project- http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cansk/school/index.html VALUE OF HERITAGE
September 3, 2019 Save Your Forest, The Key to an Optimal Working Solution
Bibliography: Interpretive Signs at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation
Area. Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. August 2019.
Update November 2019. Abstract: To assist the community in protecting your parcels of land that are loved by the general public. To make a difference, to feel good about saving your unique semi-wilderness hydro-riparian post-glacial natural habitat of the City of Saskatoon when biodiversity is rapidly plummeting. To instill a positive identity, the visualization of the full potential of your afforestation area. The circumstances and prevailing situations have created a milieu of deleterious land usage and other human impacts affording a negative public image of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area greenspace. Interpretive signs deepen understanding and appreciation of the rich, noteworthy human, geological, historical and natural heritage of your greenspace. Engaging students in the dynamic connections between citizen science, global environmentalists, historical social factors, and the impacts of glacial spillways provides an unsurpassed emergent learning strategy. Connecting youth with their local culture, environment and history in community place-based action inquiry-learning research projects cultivates creativity, innovation, design and systems thinking creating 21st Century Leaders. A fresh promotion and branding of your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area heritage by youth is energizing, instills pride in visitors and tourists and attracts many visitors from abroad as well as locally. It’s a contagious excitement to see students being part of a local movement, of coming together and taking real action to express their sense of wonder at the city around them, in your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and to feel deeply connected to the heritage story, the forest, wetlands, plants and animals. Understanding our civic cultural heritage begins the process, then you value it, from there it grows into caring for our culture and expands to enjoyment. With enjoyment, the desire to learn and understand grows and expands, and you are carried around and around the wheel honouring our heritage. You feel good Value of heritage
SAVE YOUR FOREST, THE KEY TO AN OPTIMAL WORKING SOLUTION
CITY OF SASKATOON STRATEGIC GOALS | one A case can be made that interpretive signs at your greenspace, the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area will enhance the 7 Strategic goals which guide the City of Saskatoon into the future. A Culture of Continuous Improvement is promoted by the interpretive messages providing high quality heritage services, encouraging high standards of performance, and building a better city is reinforced and promoted by the interpretive sign investment. Social well-being, greenspace safety, heritage and culture is enriched via interpretation supporting the strategic goal of Quality of Life. Interpretive signs bring attention to the rich taxonomic diversity and help protect the eco-system sustaining and promoting the City of Saskatoon’s strategic goal of Environmental Leadership. Forested areas are “so much more vastly powerful than anyone ever expected,” said Thomas Crowther, a professor of environmental systems science at ETH Zurich and a co-author of the paper. “By far, it’s the top climate change solution in terms of carbon storage potential.” [source] The City of Saskatoon General Manager Environment
Page 1 Value of heritage and Utilities Trevor Bell, Director Sustainability Jeanna South, Environmental Accounting Manager Sustainability Nasha Spence and Marketing Consultant Communications and Public Engagement Leighland Hrapchak and their teams came together and looked at Saskatoon’s Adaptation Strategy and local action plan as described in the report “Climate projections and possible impacts.”They say “Saskatoon’s future outcome hinges on the actions we make today, as we attempt to save our planet from the effects of climate change.” Heritage and natural values that are commemorated and valued reinforce and strengthen the noble efforts of the City of Saskatoon which has indeed made an investment into “what matters.” Interpretive signs improve the return on the investment made by the City of Saskatoon in 1960 and the second investment made by the City of Saskatoon in the 1972 tree planting Green Survival Project, thus supporting asset and financial sustainability. As the city of Saskatoon grows, and the Blairmore Sector neighbourhoods and P4G south west employment sectors are added, interpretive signs redoubles the safety of the green space and enhanced the enjoyment of the visitor and tourist to your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and ensures that the delight and increased utilisation of your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Interpretive signs sustain and improve the health of this naturalized green space resource thereby honouring the Strategic Goal of Sustainable Growth. Interpretive signs communicate the language of the scientist, the voices of the past, and the significance of your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area greenspace as a legacy moving forward into the future. Your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area thus commemorated and valued with meanings and connections for the citizens of the Saskatoon builds and strengthens our civic image. Tourism is a wealth, job creator and one of the largest industries which supports and builds the Strategic Goal of Economic Diversity & Prosperity for the city of Saskatoon.
The learning moment can be seized to think about what really and profoundly matters, to collectively envision a better future, and then to become practical visionaries in realizing the future. (Kagawa and Selby, 2010, p. 5)
Page 2 A safe and caring city | two Elevating the importance of Saskatoon’s heritage, and the value of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
2.1.4 Strategic Fit, the Government of Canada’s Statement of Significance for Heritage Sites as they pertain to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
2.1.6 Suggested Content for the Interpretive Program
Project Budget and Financial Information
Please indicate the estimated expenses and revenue sources for the entire project. Do not complete the shaded ‘Actual’ column. Indicate confirmed revenue with an * (asterisk); and if known, indicate expenses with an * (asterisk).
REVENUE (indicate * if confirmed) Amount Actual EcoFriendly 2016 $500.00* $ SaskEnergy 2016 $500.00* $ SaskOutdoors 2019 $500.00* $ $ EcoFriendly Sask 2019 $500.00* $ Other community donations: $617.14 $ Total Revenue $2,617.14 $ EXPENSES 4x4 pressurized posts x 10 foot ? 25x$15.54 $388.50 $ ½” 4’x9’ Plywood backing sheet $27.55 Package 100 each 1.5” screws 2x$6.78 $13.56 Pkg 2 Zinc pin hinges 12x$2.54 (boxes only) $30.48 Wood Glue (boxes only) $11.52 3-3/8 inch x 4-1/2 inch ACP sign $1.25x50 $62.50 $ 5” x 36” ACP sign 2x$13.00 $26.00 12” x 12” ACP sign 4x$15.00 $60.00 30”x 40 “ ACP sign ?x$83.00 36”x24” ACP sign 4x$60.00 $240.00 Eerie Post Hole Auger $79.99
Page 3 Value of heritage GST PST taxes on above Sub total $940.10 x 10% $94.01 Graphic Arts layout fee to ACP $22.50 $ Router Charge for ACP panels $125.00 Expenses 2016 $380.00* $ Classroom Bus Trips 3 x$146.00 each. $438.00 $ Communications and marketing $ $ Staffing volunteer $ $ Total Expenses $1999.61 $ SURPLUS OR (DEFICIT) =>Surplus $617.53 $
We should seek to request advice on the expenditure of the funds towards the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, and if there could be surplus finances spent towards ensuring that the physical interpretive signs and QR panels which reach out to internet based interpretation by the school students both meet city and MVA standards. If the funding required is higher, please advise, and we will continue to fund raise to meet the pre-requisite requirements. The MVA made a request that the RSBBAA trust fund be spent in 2019, and we are aiming towards this objective as outlined in the Business Plan.
An in-kind contribution is a gift of goods or services – typically goods or services that your organization would have to otherwise buy if they hadn’t been donated. Volunteer hours are not considered in-kind contributions..
IN-KIND ITEMS Amount Actual Plywood pieces brochure holders or touch / feel $55.10 $ interpretive boxes or peek-a-boo boxes with viewing holes or bird houses Paint 2 gallons x $40.00 $80.00 $
TOTAL IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS $135.10 $
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IT-Enabled Project Business Case
(Low risk space–based project)
Business Case Interpretive Signs at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
“Interpretation is the translation of the language of the scientist, the voices of the past, and the significance of the places to help create meanings and connections with the people of the present.” Carolyn Widner
Analysis Phase
Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
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Figure 1 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
This NPMS document template is based on the Treasury Board Business Case Template. © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the President of the Treasury Board, 2008 Catalogue No. ISBN This document is available on the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat website at http://www.tbs- sct.gc.ca. This document is also available in alternative formats on request.
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Figure 2 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
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Business Case Interpretive Signs at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 3 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
"Interpretation is the helping of the visitor to feel something that the interpreter feels - a sensitivity to beauty, complexity, variety, interrelatedness of the environment; a sense of wonder; a desire to know. It should help the visitor feel at home in the environment. It should help the visitor develop perception." (Wallin, 1965)
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Business Case Interpretive Signs at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Revision History
Version Date Description Author Number Modified
Figure 4 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
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Business Case Interpretive Signs at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 5 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
The National Association for Interpretation (NAI) defines interpretation as a “communication process that forges emotional and intellectual connections between the interests of the audience and the meanings inherent in the resource.” (Brochu and Merriman, 2002)
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Business Case Interpretive Signs at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
1 Executive Summary ...... 1 2 Phase 1: The Strategic Context ...... 2 2.1 Societal Needs and Desired Outcomes ...... 2 2.1.1 Strategic Environment ...... 5 2.1.2 Current activities and services, key stakeholders and clients ...... 10 2.1.3 Business or General Public Need ...... 12 2.1.4 Strategic Fit ...... 31 Statement of Significance ...... 33 Description of Historic Place ...... 33 Heritage Value ...... 33 Character-Defining Elements ...... 35 2.1.5 Place Based Learning and community collaboration ...... 36 Interpretive Master Plan ...... 47 Ecosystem Preservation ...... 48 Advancement of Education ...... 49 2.1.6 Detailed Description of Public - Business Need ...... 49 Suggested Content for the Interpretive Programms: ...... 49 2.1.7 Scope ...... 55 3 Phase 2: Analysis and Recommendation ...... 57 3.1 Preliminary Options Analysis ...... 57 3.1.1 Evaluation Criteria ...... 57 3.1.2 List the Possible Options ...... 58 3.1.3 Alignment ...... 62 3.1.4 Strategic Alignment ...... 62 3.1.5 Costs ...... 65 3.1.6 Project Budget and Financial Information ...... 65 3.1.7 Volunteer hours ...... 67 3.1.8 Cost-Benefit Analysis ...... 67 3.1.9 Impact ...... 67 3.1.10 Risk ...... 68 3.1.11 Advantages and Disadvantages ...... 68 4. Conclusion ...... 85 Appendix 1 - References ...... 88 Appendix 2 - Glossary of Acronyms and Terms ...... 92 Appendix 3 - Sign Survey Forms ...... 94
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Business Case Interpretive Signs at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
1 Executive Summary
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” Baba Dioum The erection of interpretive signs provides residents and visitors alike, the story of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, to increase the awareness of the mosaic of unique natural, cultural, geological and historic features. Signs are a simple, cost effective, year-round communication devices to instill pride in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area [RSBBAA] to inform, interest and educate the viewer.
The new sign strategy recognizes that the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. [FSAA] can not work alone. To promote this active tourism, the volunteers must work co-operatively with other partners of the community.
Travelling in the Afforestation Area, key locations tell the local story of the land, the people, geology, the history, the significance of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and how all these elements come together to shape the future of the community. Interpretive signs become a marketing campaign and immersion experience which does not feel like a business commercial campaign. The project highlights respect for the land, the place, the people and the culture. Enriching the existing experience of natural, heritage, geological and cultural resources which already exist. Creating as little disturbance as possible to reclaim the story, and share the culture, history and beauty of the Afforestation areas with local visitors and tourists.
The City of Saskatoon [CoS] are owners of the land, and the Meewasin Valley Authority [MVA] would like to ensure that the style of the interpretive signs adheres to the continuity of the existing signs along the South Saskatchewan River Valley corridor. Other green groups have come forward to offer their support to this greenspace named Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and as such, there are finances which exist in the MVA Richard St. Barbe Baker Trust Fund which are left over from the fund-raising efforts done for the July 2016 community clean up. Those donors have been contacted to see if they wished the funds returned to them, or if they would be amenable to the funds put towards the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area in the means of either signs or vehicle restriction barriers, to which they have replied in the affirmative. As a follow up to a CoS, MVA and Stewards and Stakeholders of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (now the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. hereinafter referred to as “FSSA”) meeting, in which community support was provided to your RSBBAA “plan.” At this time further supporters came forward with money to support your RSBBAA, and the proposed plan for interpretive signs.
Key concepts within this program will include accuracy, balance, diversity, flexibility and representativeness. Communications from the interpretive purview must provide a pleasurable visitor experience. In addition to site significance safety criteria is taken into account. The preparation, participation, and management of the project will provide the program frame-work. The purpose of the interpretive signs, locations, site relationships, sign manufacture, replacement and site maintenance costs will all need to be considered. Quality of the interpretive undertaking sees value added when the big picture or action plan is relevant to the lives and experiences of the visitor. Messages of prohibitions and restrictions are replaced and complemented with solutions, viable options, visitor experience opportunities and welcoming greetings. “Visual storytelling combines the narrative text of a story with creative elements to augment and enhance the traditional storytelling process. By design, it is a co-creative process resulting in an intimate, interpretive, expressive technique.” Debbie Millman
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Within the framework, direction is given on what program parameters are needed, and how to provide image continuity, and effective message delivery to assist visitors ascertain the significance of your RSBBAA, the background of Richard St. Barbe Baker as the namesake, and the processes of the history behind your RSBBAA. Natural and cultural heritage, historic stories, geological information, points of interest stimulate the visitor intellectually, emotionally, and physically. The types of signs being used would be accessible, with an ease of readability. A comprehensive program logic is spelled out for the first time. Site inspection and maintenance principles have been developed in response to the need for Fabricated Aluminum Composite Panels [ACP] are rigid boards which provide an affordable graphic panel. ACP provide high quality digital print images with Ultra-Violet [UV] overlaminate which are applied to the panel proffering an 8-10-year life-span. The interpretive signs would convey an accurate, balanced and representative story promoting your RSBBAA’s diversified natural, historic, geological and cultural heritage.”
2 Phase 1: The Strategic Context
Probably the most common error in creating interpretive matter of all kinds derives from the fact that the writer has in mind the question: What is it I wish to say? It is of no importance whatever, as yet, what I wish to say. I have not reached that point. The important thing is: What would the prospective reader wish to read? And what can I say in brief, inspiring, and luring terms about this area in language that he will readily comprehend?” ~ Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage
2.1 Societal Needs and Desired Outcomes
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
“Interpretation is part education, part inspiration, part entertainment. It is a sharing of knowledge, enthusiasm, appreciation, and wonder. It is a profession; it is an art.” DPR
✓ The interpretive signs and programme introduced into the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area will be appropriate in accordance with the approval of City Council’s recommendation that the area should be “preserved in perpetuity.” ✓ Interpretive improvements to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation area will be a continued emphasis on those programs and events which bring people to the afforestation area to enjoy the environment and eco- system. ✓ There is a demonstrated need to improve the Saskatoon Afforestation Area public image and to create information, orientation, and awareness of the Richard St. Barbe Baker interpretive features and resources. ✓ Interpretive signs are worthwhile if they enrich the visitor’s experience by providing information which they may ponder, consider, remember and further explore. ✓ The objectives are to give users and visitors an awareness for and an appreciation of the taxonomic diversity, cultural, historical, geological, human geographical features that make up the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. ✓ To provide representative interpretive stories, messages, facts which inform, stimulate public awareness, and provoke an interest in the rich mosaic of cultural, historical, geological, human geographical features at suitable locations and enhance existing locations and those appropriate areas ✓ To inform and educate Saskatoon residents, RSBBAA users and visitors about the need to preserve the integrity of your RSBBAA. ✓ To initiate and provide a cost effective and complete framework for the coordination, site selection, development and maintenance of the interpretive signs throughout your RSBBAA. ✓ To present a consistent public image which commemorates and values the full range of RSBBAA interpretive theme opportunities, and the unique and distinctive characteristics which encourages pride, respectful and safe use and encourages visitors to explore and visit the greenspace that is your RSBBAA ✓ To orient the visitors, and users to points of interest along the various travel corridors which exist in your RSBBAA. “Through interpretation, understanding; through understanding, appreciation; through appreciation, protection.” Freeman Tilden, Father of Interpretation
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 7 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Interpretive signs bring new things to light, and spur curiosity. The information passes on knowledge, changing a green space into a notable area in the course of contemporary history. Thought provoking information illuminates the power and significance of the place. A biography of the internationally famous Richard St. Barbe Baker inspires visitors to change behavior, and to respect the forest. Community pride is instilled in their local heritage, and a feeling of stewardship is fostered in site visitors. The awareness of cultural and natural resources is enhanced and the interpretive signs provide a high-quality interpretive experience, and are available at all hours. By telling the story of your RSBBAA, the visitor’s attention is drawn to the unique history and identity of the place. The interpretive signs become spots along a treasure map of a destination to discover. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou
2.1.1 Strategic Environment
2.1.1.1 Organizational Overview
Mission to preserve the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas in Perpetuity.
The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is a naturalized mixed woods greenspace which features a permanent wetland. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Parts south of the CNR train station at Section 22 and SW 23 township 36 range 6 west of the third meridian SE section 23-36-6-W3. (East of the CN overpass on SK highway 7) This location straddles an ancient river which had its confluence at Yorath Island in the South Saskatchewan River. The Yorath Island Channel, is still evident in the West Swale wetlands. Other great rivers have indeed shaped and defined civilization, so too, this great Pleistocene River defined early prehistoric culture along this route. As the urban greyscape of the City of Saskatoon grows, citizens are eager to reconnect to green spaces which shape the area around Saskatoon. The historical, cultural, geological and natural resources are treasured as the importance of this features are realized.
Figure 8 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Strategic vision, goals, and service objectives
There is increased potential for Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to become an interpretive hub for geology, archaeology, culture and ecology for the West Swale, George Genereux Urban Regional Park, the P4G Green Network Study Area, Chappell Marsh Conservation Area, Maple Grove [Leisureland] Green Space, and also Yorath Island situated at the confluence of the West Swale.
Interpretive signs enhance educational values, and widen knowledge, provide instruction, and advance education about plant and animal species, phenology and the eco-system as a whole. Additionally, interpretive signs bring forth the “Active” and the “passive” areas within the afforestation area, and the rationale, and criteria for these recommendations.
Honoring the water of Chappell Marsh wetlands recognizes the sacredness at this spiritual site where water represents the common ground for truth and reconciliation;
Those visions and principles highlighted in the interpretive messages celebrate, recognize and commemorate the unique culture and heritage of the afforestation greenspace, create a safe and accessible park for the general public, support greenspace, and public amenity use and maintenance, protect the natural environment and wetlands, encourage sustainable activities within the afforestation area. The vision supports the character of the Afforestation Areas which visitors and users know and love. Enhancing the public visitor’s knowledge and appreciation of the history and cultural integrity by growing and cultivating the user educational experience. The Saskatoon Afforestation Areas situated in the West Swale are relevant to the visitor experience, local history and cultural heritage values as well as being appropriate to the greenspace. The stories are there to foster an awareness of City of Saskatoon’s values alongside those of the purpose of the FSAA, sponsors, and the MVA. The Saskatoon Afforestation Areas have great value for recreation combined with eco-tourism. These greenspaces are used for recreational activities, walking, dog-walking, bicycling, bird watching and winter city as well as year-round tourism enjoyment. A sense of place is derived from positive cultural eco-system services which define the resources available, providing a sense of place. Authentic human attachment to this place is a public benefit to the community as a whole rather than focusing on the interests of a narrowly defined group. A mixed woodlands greenspace nurturing wetlands and ribbons of native grasslands is indeed a site of particular beauty reaching out to the aesthetic values of users and visitors. Historical cultural resources raise the knowledge of the community, the history of afforestation in Saskatoon, Saskatoon Commissioner and long-range planners embracing of the “Garden City and City Beautiful” campaigns along with Saskatoon’s involvement with the “Green Survival” initiative which gave roots to the afforestation project in Saskatoon in 1972.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Creating a safe, comfortable green space serves as an enjoyable meeting point with friends. As the city grows and expands the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas will come to view a new employment sector and new neighbourhoods next door, it is with foresight and great intuition to have a warm and welcoming ecosystem which fosters an extraordinary place for employees to meet over the lunch break, where families can connect with nature and where the city population can come together in a flat, easy to traverse greenspace.
The notable heritage significance and value of your RSBBAA is powerful and through interpretation can have a memorable impact. The broader scenic, pastoral and heritage landscapes come to light. Natural flora and fauna, objects, events, people and places come alive with a rich and priceless legacy and inheritance.
Figure 9 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Indeed, your Saskatoon Afforestation Areas offer stimulating new thoughts, ideas and creative expression. These greenspaces are a place where the interpretation story stays fresh, and inspirational. It is a place of changing and dynamic webpages connected to the afforestation areas with QR codes for a new experience which can keep track of what visitors like the most. It’s creating touch or smell boxes. Its about creating interpretive features at different levels for both younger children and taller adults. Its about adding mystery and intrigue with viewing holes to make an interpretive display more interesting. It’s about increasing the sense of awareness in the visitor with something down by the forest floor, or mounted higher to draw attention to the tree canopy. It’s about creating a space where visitors circle around and view the information and sense the place from different view points at one site. It’s about involving the fire-fighter to the powerline worker, bringing in experts on a wide variety of topics, the historian about the Old Bone Trail, the geologist speaking about glacial spillways, an author speaking about Richard St. Barbe Baker, a botanist to explain why crows chase owls, and much more.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 10 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Creating sustainable tourism for the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas makes optimal use of the environmental resources in the green space, which is a key element in helping preserve in perpetuity the green space. Interpretive signs have the considerable potential to develop and increase the visitor and user experience, while providing insight to conserving the natural resources and biodiversity. The Saskatoon Afforestation areas fulfill a niche as a destination in all seasons by conserving the living cultural heritage, and values, while contributing to understanding, and enhancement of knowledge. By providing interpretive signs, viable and long-term economic benefits are afforded to the existing user as well as to the visitors from new employment and neighbourhood sectors. Strong leadership and education ensures wide participation, and introduces the necessary corrective measures when necessary. The opportunity arises to enhance Saskatoon as a Winter City destination with a winter interpretive area set up in the woodlands to enjoy a thermos of hot chocolate while pondering on distinguished and notable resources of the Saskatoon Afforestation Area. It’s having active fun across the winter months by walking the dog, setting out on the skating ponds, and getting out on the winter trail network.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
There is excitement in the winter bird migrations, and becoming involved in the Christmas bird count out in the afforestation areas. Birds are attracted to those trees and shrubs which retain their berries and fruit over the winter season. Having a Winter City forest is exciting as youth become detectives, learning how to track the footprints of birds, and small mammals across the freshly fallen snow. Altogether, observations can be made that there will be continuous improvement in ✓ Economic viability ✓ Community wellbeing ✓ Cultural richness ✓ Environmental leadership in biological diversity ✓ Visitor fulfillment ✓ Local control ensuring the greenspace can be appreciated by future generations ✓ Environmental purity. ✓ Increase in employment quality ✓ Sustainable tourism
Your Saskatoon Afforestation Areas become a destination choice featuring healthy and good quality ecosystems.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 11 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
2.1.2 Current activities and services, key stakeholders and clients
• Destination Based Users arrive in greenspaces such as the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to watch the birds and squirrels. • Movement Based Visitors arrive at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to run, cross country ski, hike, bicycle, or walk the dog. • Points of Interest Pursuers find their way to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to take photographs of the American Golden Plover, or the blooming Wild Prairie Rose. • Special Interest Groups such as post secondary classes, wilderness first aid groups, Saskatoon Nature Society seek the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area as their venue for activities. • Event enthusiasts take part in events such as the Wild About Saskatoon Nature City Festival, Jane’s Walk Festival and Saskatoon Nature Society which are held in the spring and summer months. • Solitude Seekers use the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to relieve stress, engage in Shinrin- Yoku, and “get away from it all.” • Citizen scientists flock to the Richard St. Barbe Baker to become aware of the semi-wilderness habitat, and to learn how to identify the flora and fauna which abounds in this unique hydro-riparian post glacial channel greenspace.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
• Tourists find the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to delve into the natural, cultural, geological and historical significance of the City of Saskatoon. • Environmental Stewards respond to the needs of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and conduct community service projects such as trash clean up events. • Students are engaged by the unique natural, historical, and cultural resources of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area on curriculum-based studies and field trips with their teachers. Chappell Marsh ~ the permanent wetlands ~ provides an opportunity for naturalists to view waterfowl, and emergent vegetation around the wetlands in an urban environment. Watersheds are homes for waterfowl and emergent vegetation, and the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area greenspace is a refuge for nature and serves as an important corridor for wildlife. Richard Louv speaks of the urban child in nature; “They recognize that while knowledge about nature is vital; passion is the long-distance fuel for the struggle to save what is left of our natural heritage and ~ through an emerging green urbanism ~ to reconstitute lost land and water. Passion does not arrive on videotape or on a CD; passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature.” Incoming potential users Utilising green spaces and corridors for active transportation routes for walking and cycling reduce congestion on vehicle traffic routes, help to maintain a healthy workforce and form part of the areas work/life balance offer to potential investors. Green Infrastructure which includes the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas in the West Swale Green Corridor Network provides habitats and habitat connections for wildlife with connectivity to the river. As the city grows in size, this well- planned strategy helps to displace losses of habitat elsewhere. Showing environmental leadership, the green space not only increases its value to residents but also benefits the area’s image as a forward-thinking green space offering a high quality of life. As the Blairmore Suburban Development Area (SDA) comes to fruition, there will be an influx of 50,000 to 70,000 persons within eight future close by neighbourhoods. The Blairmore Suburban Development Area (SDA) currently has land sufficient for eight future neighbourhoods and approximately 50,000 to 70,000 people within its boundaries. At full capacity, the Blairmore Sector Plan will increase the City of Saskatoon population by 70,679 persons. The South West Industrial Sector Plan has the potential to bring in an employment sector to the south of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. The Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth (P4G) made up of the City of Saskatoon, Rural Municipality of Corman Park, City of Martinsville, Town of Osler, City of Warman, and Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) are collaborating to bring the City of Saskatoon urban metropolitan area to 450,000 people by 2032, 500,000 by 2050 and one million by 2063. This long-range concept, includes a rural industrial sector, with rural commercial and industrial areas west of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. The proposed regional plan also includes a green network study area for West Swale Connectivity between Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the West Swale Confluence at the South Saskatchewan River. The new developments have a mitigated flood risk through Green Infrastructure. Using the sites such as Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, green spaces and corridors in and around development can greatly reduce flood risk to properties, reducing insurance premiums and increasing the attractiveness of the development. This method of planning is cheaper and more resilient than hard flood defences alone. There are natural springs through the West Swale, which increase the flood risk of the area. This influx of neighbours to the west and to the south will see an increase in the Richard St. Barbe Baker footprint. No longer will the close neighbours be only agricultural producers like farmers, Cedar Villa Estates and Montgomery Park Community residents. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area will be radically changed as the City of Saskatoon Long Term Planners collaborate with the P4G planners to change the complexion of the area south and west of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
The rise in human activity increases pressure on the environment. Tranquillity and wildlife are major draws for the local neighbourhoods, and these features could be damaged if increasing population is not carefully managed. Any negative impacts of the rise in population on other sectors need to be managed, particularly traffic congestion and water use in Chappell Marsh wetlands. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area will become a nearby greenspace for the casual visitor who comes out for lunch, or a work break experience to recharge their batteries before going back to work. Urban youth may use the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area as a nearby greenspace for play and recreation. The housing and industrial development definitely becomes more attractive and sustainable with the inclusion of green spaces and corridors. Senior Citizens are another potential user, as they may enjoy the flat lands in the flood plain of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to get out and enjoy nature. “Nature is not so much her own ever-sweet interpreter, as the mere supplier of that cunning alphabet, whereby selecting and combining as he pleases, each man reads his own peculiar lesson according to his own peculiar mind and mood.” Herman Melville
Organizational structure (high level)
Existing capacity—financial and human resources
2.1.3 Business or General Public Need
“Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder.” Eberhard Arnold While your RSBBAA offers opportunities for passive recreation, education, and the protection and enhancement of the natural resources, there has been evidence of prior deleterious land usage and other human impacts affording a negative public image of the greenspace at RSBBAA. Management issues facing your RSBBAA include • Off Highway Recreation Vehicles [ORV], All Terrain Vehicles [ATV], and Four by Fours [4x4] illegally trespassing on City of Saskatoon land and greenspace; • the proper level of public access and use level for recreation; • Illegal fire pits; • bush parties; homeless encampments; potential sex trade sites; • addressing of the illegal trash and refuse dumping; • the protection and enhancement of native and sensitive species and habitats situated along the wetlands; • There is a general lack of wilderness knowledge of the visitor to your RSBBAA for the majority of users are urban city dwellers, and the urban footprint in the eco-system is exponentially increasing. • Visitors lack knowledge of City of Saskatoon bylaws, Provincial Environmental rules and regulations Issues are identified, and their impact, and solutions through education with key messages
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 12 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
“An individual can march for peace or vote for peace and can have, perhaps, some small influence on global concerns. But the same individual is a giant in the eyes of a child at home. If peace is to be built, it must start with the individual. It is built brick by brick.” Dorothy Day
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Issue: Figure 13Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Issue: Off Highway Recreation Vehicles [ORV], All Terrain Vehicles [ATV], and Four by Fours [4x4] illegally trespassing on City of Saskatoon land and greenspace; Impact: Such use by motorized vehicles damages the environment; increased soil erosion, damage to vegetation and habitat destruction are just some of the visible negative impacts. Illegal use of Off-Road Vehicles such as pollution, trail damage, erosion, land degradation, possible species extinction, and habitat destruction which can leave the greenspace and trails impassable. According to the U.S. Forest Service the use of old-style two-stroke engines, previously common in vehicles designed for off-road use, also causes concerns about pollution. This is because "two- stroke engines emit about 20 to 33 percent of the consumed fuel through the exhaust" (as the engine lubricant is a "total loss system" and is emitted by design) and "discharge from two-stroke snowmobile engines can lead to indirect
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area pollutant deposition into the top layer of snow and subsequently into the associated surface and ground water". There are negative behavioral changes in wildlife as the result of some ORV use. There have been court cases citing” It is well-established that the proliferation of off-road vehicle and snowmobile use places soil, vegetation, air and water quality, and wildlife at risk through pollution, erosion, sedimentation of streams, habitat fragmentation and disturbance, and other adverse impacts to resources. These impacts cause severe and lasting damage to the natural environment on which human-powered...recreation depends and alter the remote and wild character of the backcountry. Motorized recreation monopolizes forest areas by denying other users the quiet, pristine, backcountry experience they seek. It also presents safety and health threats to other recreationists.” “Scalia noted that off-road vehicle use on federal land has "negative environmental consequences including soil disruption and compaction, harassment of animals, and annoyance of wilderness lovers.” Besides the wildlife habitat, the healthy wetlands and riparian areas are negatively impacted by activities of motorized vehicles. Grassland communities which provide viewing opportunities or quiet recreation are deterred by motorized vehicles, providing an unsafe environment. The MVA in the Meewasin Valley-wide Resource Management Plan 2017-2027 stated that there is an increase in soil compaction…the scope of this threat is ranked high for post glacial channel scars and hydro-riparian areas.” It can cause long term – between 5 and 1000 years – damage, mostly irreversible. Due to this negative environmental impact, vehicles should not be allowed to do off-road driving in protected areas such as the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas. Vandalism, wildfire risk, increased invasive plant species, dispersed camping, large events, parties and gatherings, environmental damage, wildlife habitat/wildlife damage and public health and safety concerns are among the issues Goals: Enclosure of the land in conjunction with no motorized vehicles signs, educational efforts, and associated penalties are among the recommendations and approaches to mitigate the Off-Road Vehicle conflicts. Key Messages: To increase knowledge of recreational users to report natural resource violations. To increase awareness and information of motorized vehicle use and legislation requirements, either through interpretive sign, pamphlet, poster and/or online QR code link. To increase the awareness of appropriate use of greenspace area. To inform the ATV and ORV user of the appropriate areas to use their equipment, which isn’t your RSBBAA greenspace. Audiences: Visitors and users of your RSBBAA. ATV, and ORV users. Channels: Ease of access is a contributing factor to the environmental damage, and conflict which is occurring and was mitigated on the east side of the forest with motorized vehicle barricades, fencing and parking lot.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 14 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Issue: Illegal fire pits; lack of knowledge regarding fire in a semi-wilderness ecosystem, homeless camping, or visitor camping with unauthorized campfires. Impacts: Fire is not allowed under City Bylaw. Unauthorized campfires, which may not be compliant with wildfire bans, and regulation bylaws pose an increased wildfire risk. Recreational lack of knowledge or respect also increases wildfire risk. Public safety concerns associated with evacuating visitors and users in the event of a wildfire. Public safety concerns associated with evacuating nearby neighbourhoods, Cedar Villa Estates and RM of Corman Park residences, along with evacuation protocol for the Canadian National Railway Chappell yards station, passengers at Via Rail, and cargo and trains in the switching station. Off-road vehicles are a danger as they may cause a fire from sparks off the exhaust system. Goals: To have visitors, and non-users understand the dangers of fire within your RSBBAA. To understand that the dangers of fire impact not only your RSBBAA land value, but fire also has an impact on the animals who live there as their home.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Fire impacts the city of Saskatoon, for the Canadian National Railways train station is a major switching yard with trains carrying oil, gas, flammable materials, and passengers. The neighbouring communities of Cedar Villa Estates, and Montgomery Place neighborhood feature residences which would be negatively impacted by fire. The animals of the Chappell Marsh Conservation Area, and the conservation efforts of Ducks Unlimited would be negatively influenced by fire. The livelihood of the agricultural farmers in the peri-urban rural area of the Rural Municipality of Corman Park would be negatively affected by fire should their crops be overtaken by flame. The cultural activities and events at the Saskatoon Italian Centre would suffer should the building and property featuring the corn maize be overtaken by fire originating in your RSBBAA. To have visitors, users, and non-users understand the devastation which fire plays in semi-wilderness ecosystems. Prescribed fire and fire control strategies are needed to minimize the risk of a catastrophic wildfire. Key Messages: Fire is an integral role in forest ecology under the guidance and supervision of the MVA and SNS. Environmental management activities of fire on vegetation can have direct and indirect effect on vegetation, and must be carefully supervised and monitored.
Figure 15 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Issue:
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Bush parties; homeless encampments; potential sex trade sites;
Impact: Tree and shrub cutting by unauthorized and untrained people for shelters, clearings, and firewood. Litter and garbage, and human sewage. Impacts to cultural resources and eco-systems, increased fire hazard from unattended fires and illegal vehicle trespass, creation of unauthorized trails to site. Public safety issues associated with parties, encampments and potential sex trade sites. Goals: Breaking the pattern of behavior. Key Messages: Increasing communication, outreach to young people, monitoring social media, educational material in recreational shops, magazines, and online, educating recreation users and visitors about appropriate actions and respect for this protected area. Development of educational and outreach plans regarding behavior through education, and best management practice. Posting a recommendation paper on the web and social media for public comment. Creation of a site for public notices in the afforestation area. Place advertisements in the local newspaper. Develop an enforcement plan while funds are raised for vehicle mitigation. Continuing public input meetings about what is working well, and what is not working well from recreation perspective. Permission is granted for non motorized access on established service roads and trails when the surface of the land is dry or frozen. Gates and fencing must be left in the same condition as when visitor arrived. No motorized vehicles, camping, campfires nor burning is allowed.
Audiences: Reach out to all users and visitors of the protected spaces. Communicate online, and in shops and magazines about proper protocols Channels: Take a lead on environmental stewardship.
Issue: Illegal trash and refuse dumping, when the greenspace appears neglected, damaged or unpleasant, those too cheap or lazy to go to the city landfill, have used the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas as dumping grounds. Also, as the population to the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas increase, there is a need for waste management of the increase of user and visitor waste generation. Impact: Litter is a human created dilemma yet; the environment and wildlife are paying the price. Animals can mistake litter for their habitats or food or become injured on nails extending from boards and shingles. Motorized vehicles carrying trash and the garbage left behind can transport invasive species, or introduce dangerous toxins into an ecosystem. A chesterfield or mattress left in the environment becomes a fire hazard, suffocates the plant life underneath and can potentially house rodents and ticks. Unstable piles of material and exposed nails threaten harm to humans, specifically children who may be attracted to illegal dumps as play areas. Tires become breeding grounds for rodents and mosquitoes. Materials disposed of in illegal dumps, specifically tires and electronic waste, are combustible. Outbreaks of fire at illegal dump sites can lead to forest fires, causing erosion and destroying habitat. Trash is just unsanitary, and creates visual pollution. In addition to decreasing property values and, therefore, tax revenue for governments, illegal dumping costs governments millions of dollars in clean up costs. Goals: Mitigate illegal trash dumping. Create user pride in the legacy and resources of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Key Messages:
“What people do about their ecology depends on what they think about themselves in relation to things around them.”- Lynn White
Education about alternatives Litter begets more litter, so please “leave no trace,” and if you happen to see litter, pick it up. Trash dumpers feel legitimately entitled to dump their garbage, and with less shame and guilt if they dump in an environment already laden with trash. People leave garbage behind, if they do not have a personal sense of ownership, so interpretive signs can place education on the Saskatoon ratepayer that the urban regional park is part of their legacy. Support the local community clean ups in the spring which are held around Earth Day, every April, stay tuned! Publicizing success through the interpretive signs especially in terms of arrests conducted illustrate to potential dumpsters that illegal dumping is wrong Publicizing the story of community trash clean up volunteers and the pride they have in the environment after they have made a difference. Encouraging reducing, recycling, reusing (The Three R’s) Cooperation and collective responsibility on reporting illegal dumping Illegal dumping can be reported by calling the City of Saskatoon 24hr. Customer Service Centre 306-975-2486 or by completing the online reporting form. Provide information about recycling for bottles, tires, electronics, televisions, freezers, appliances, household reusable clothing and items, construction supplies and where these items can be re-sold or re-purposed. Is it really trash? Donate the item to charity. Sell the items or give the items using free online services. Recycle the items yourself in creative ways by searching online. Dispose of the items in the landfill for proper disposal. Post security cameras, Phone to see if family, friends, or a charity will reuse the item some charities will pick up unwanted items. Increase public relation efforts. Foster the love of tranquility in nature, and the desire to protect the natural environment Evoke a wilderness experience greater than a landscape photograph which invigorates the human spirit with the awe-inspiring reality of nature. Audiences: The child in nature, the user, tourist and visitor along with the future generations who wish to visit the afforestation areas preserved in perpetuity, preserved for those people who wish to enjoy nature in the next generations. Channels: Creating a proud community of environmental leaders who take real action. Interpretive signs inform about fines, penalties for those who leave trash behind, and also inform about the wonders and rewards of the environment, and the various treasures which create a legacy at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 16 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Issue: There is a general lack of wilderness knowledge of the visitor to your RSBBAA for the majority of users are urban city dwellers, and the urban footprint in the eco-system is exponentially increasing. Impact: Urban city dwellers misunderstand the semi-wilderness area, which leads to degradation of the environment and improper practices due to ignorance. Goals: Develop and implement interpretive signs regarding the natural environment in terms of both exotic and native species. To update, a RSBBAA wilderness website so that potential visitors can get information about the environment on their own time. To update and utilize Smartphone apps and web pages to introduce dynamic information and stay up to date. To teach semi-wilderness ethics during Nature City Festival and Jane’s walk orientation tours. To engage in citizen science practices through the interpretive panels, webpages, social media, and in person tours. To ensure the protection and enhancement of native and sensitive species and habitats situated along the wetlands, and in the riparian woodlands and grasslands of your RSBBAA Key Messages: The afforestation area protects the watershed of the South Saskatchewan River which the residents of Saskatoon depend upon for pure water. Your RSBBAA serves as critical habitat for wildlife threatened by extinction. Your RSBBAA improves the quality of the air, and address Climate Change with a local climate biosphere. Your RSBBAA provides a rich foundation providing for great diversity in plant and animal life.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
There is a scenic wonder and land heritage unique to your RSBBAA which cannot be found south of the tree line in the Moist Grasslands prairies in the province of Saskatchewan. Wallace Stenger said, “Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining Wilderness be destroyed.” The protection of your RSBBAA begins with each visitor to the greenspace, and everyone has a role in protecting and managing the afforestation area through their lifestyle and actions while in the semi-wilderness area. Designated by City Council your RSBBAA is to be “preserved in perpetuity” for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. Recreation at your RSBBAA provides opportunities for reflection, observation, and explorations of ideas, challenges and joys through responsibility and special skills for actions towards protecting the resource. Becoming a living classroom, your RSBBAA is a semi-wilderness habitat to learn about ourselves, and the world around us, in a grand curriculum of study. Audiences: Visitors are anyone who actually enters your RSBBAA whether they are public users, service vehicles, emergency personnel, etc. Non-users are those residents who are not within your RSBBAA directly, and include residents of Cedar Villa Estates; the staff and passengers at the Canadian National Railway Chappell Train Station, residents of Montgomery Place neighbourhood, staff and visitors of Chappell Marsh Conservation Area, users of the Saskatoon Italian Centre, agricultural land owners, school children and those who visit your RSBBAA virtually through educational materials. Channels: Semi-wilderness trailheads Local media newspapers and radio Partnership with neighbourhood schools, RSBBAA website. MVA website and visitor centre City of Saskatoon tourism and the YXE Green Strategy programme Support from Saskatoon Environmental Society, SOS Elms Coalition, Saskatoon Nature Society [SNS], Nature Saskatchewan, Fatlanders Fat Tire Brigade, SaskOutdoors, Nature City Festival, Jane’s Walks and EcoFriendly Sask. Issue: Visitors lack knowledge of City of Saskatoon bylaws, Provincial Environmental rules and regulations Impacts: Ignorance can lead to unacceptable impacts upon the afforestation area wetlands and environment Ignorance of bylaws, and environmental protections creates an increased need for stewards, and emergency service personnel which can increase management costs. Endangered and sensitive species can be extirpated from the area. Invasive species can be brought it by illegal motorized vehicle trespass. Goals To keep your RSBBAA social media such as Facebook and the website updated so potential visitors can read the latest information on the state of the semi-wilderness habitat To have appropriate signs posted in regards to compliance with City bylaws, and environmental protections.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
To have brochures or pamphlets pertaining to wilderness rules and etiquette available at trailheads. These booklets could also be guides allowing visitors to discover things for themselves. To have stewards do more educating, communicating and informing, and to support efforts via the interpretive signs. Key Messages: No mechanized, or motorized vehicles allowed in your RSBBAA No hunting in your RSBBAA environment No overnight camping or stays in your RSBBAA “Pack it in, Pack it out” “Leave no trace” Audiences Visitors or anyone who is actually within your RSBBAA area Channels Interpretive signs, brochures. Local radio program. Issue: A need to bring to the forefront the heritage value and story of the West Swale which helps to ensure that the cultural significance of the West Swale, the scenic beauty of the afforestation areas, the quality of the wetlands in the South Saskatchewan River basin, the sensitive hydro-riparian lands which cross the south west sector of the city will be conserved for generations to come. Impact: Interpretation enhances public concern for our civic, national and cultural treasures. Information both attracts and enlightens visitors whose lives are made richer and nobler from having learned about precious historical, cultural, geological and archaeological notable moments of history. As school budgets shrink, interpretive self-guided tours offer meaningful learning experiences for students. When the interpretive panels are enhanced with curriculum resources, students become directly involved with the experience offered at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Goals. Visitor education, increases an ethics of stewardship from the public tourist and user of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Key Messages: As an interpretive hub, the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area with its location south of the Canadian National Railways Chappell heritage VIA Station, and with the Chappell Marsh named after B.T. Chappell there could also be interpretive information regarding Benjamin Thomas Chappell (May 31, 1877 – after 1949), “Chief Iron Horse” Superintendent for the CNR. Chappell has as a namesake the Federal Heritage Railway Station for Via Rail (Union) Station located in the CNR Chappell Rail Yards, as well as the wetlands named Chappell Marsh. Yorath Island was named in honour of City of Saskatoon Commissioner Christopher James Yorath (November 4, 1879 April 2 1932). George Genereux Urban Regional Park honours the legacy of Dr. George Patrick Genereux (March 1, 1935 – April 10, 1959), the youngest Person to receive the Lou Marsh Trophy, and who also won the Olympic Games Gold Medal for trap shooting in 1952. Besides being a world class athlete, Genereux, became a radiologist at the Royal University Hospital after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan earning his degree in Arts and Sciences, and followed by a degree in Medicine through McGill University. Genereux, was promoted to professor, and wrote exceptional scientific contributions, was a meticulous illustrator, and worked on several outstanding medical presentations and books.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
The namesake of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area was Dr. Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE, Hon. LL.D. F.I.A.L., For.Dip.Cantab., ACF (9 October 1889 – 9 June 1982) was an English biologist and botanist, environmental activist and author, contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. was commemorated in a best - selling book written by Paul Hanley, writer on environmental issues. The book Richard Man of the Trees: Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Conservationist foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales and an introduction by Jane Goodall has been celebrated across Canada by two Lieutenant Governors, and portrays Baker as an inspirational visionary who is credited with saving and planting billions of trees around the world, and inspiring many other international leaders to follow in his footsteps. identify and control the proliferation of invasive vegetation; and public outreach, education, and participation of activities promoting the protection of your RSBBAA, and West Swale wetlands and associated environment. Audiences Visitors or anyone who is actually within your RSBBAA area reading the interpretive signs. Channels Interpretive signs, brochures. Local radio program. Website.
Figure 17 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
2.1.3.1 Drivers for Change
“Probably the most common error in creating interpretive matter of all kinds derives from the fact that the writer has in mind the question: What is it I wish to say? It is of no importance whatever, as yet, what I wish to say. I have not reached that point. The important thing is: What would the prospective reader wish to read? And what can I say in brief,
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area inspiring, and luring terms about this area in language that he will readily comprehend?” ~ Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage
There are both internal and external drivers of change for your RSBBAA and the case for interpretive panels.
A clear vision and strategy are needed for the organisational culture of your RSBBAA as a driver of change. Organisational behavior which focus on the negative culture and identity of your RSBBAA does not allow the improvement, and advancement of the greenspace to have a forward looking, powerful and successful spirit. Toxic narratives allow for misaligned systems, whereas accelerating brains with new tools and insights are contributing to new human geography. The community of your RSBBAA is shifting and remaking itself in the face of deep transitions which honour the legacy of Richard St. Barbe Baker, City Beautiful campaign, and the Green Survival Campaign commitment. The main activities of the interpretive sign management plan will identify which areas are appropriate for public access with compatible recreation use, and to identify opportunities for outreach and education to promote participation which supports wildlife and biodiversity and prevent further deleterious uses. There is a critical imperative to demonstrate that different actions, words, beliefs and behaviors can lead to astonishing different results. Scientific knowledge of our cultural, historical, and geological heritage is the best means of sponsoring and promoting public appreciation and stewardship of what may become fragile resources as the human footprint exponentially increases at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. It is time to stop the crisis at your RSBBAA, and to motivate radical and transformational change. There is a great dissatisfaction of the historic way that things have occurred at RSBBAA, there is a need to bring in new capabilities, resources, desires, visitors and users. Dissatisfaction of the crisis at hand is a great driver of change and motivating factor.
Figure 18 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation ORV ruts near wetlands
“The purpose of conservation is the greatest good to the greatest number of people for the longest time,” spake Gifford Pinchot.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
As your RSBBAA was “preserved in perpetuity” by City Council in 1972, wilderness education provides the footing that your RSBBAA will be unimpaired for future use, and enjoyed as afforested area. To provide protection of this area, and the preservation of the semi-wilderness character, interpretive signs providing a wilderness education programme exemplifies best practices as wise stewards of these semi-wilderness environmental green spaces. Investors into your RSBBAA have innate desires for the greenspace to be “preserved in perpetuity” and these green groups have made investments for change.
Figure 19 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area tar, and shingles before clean up
Education is without a doubt, one of the most valuable management techniques available to stewards of a greenspace. Education has the potential to reduce or prevent forest and wetlands damage, and to influence behavior changes which strengthen a wilderness ethic and informed decision making. The need to communicate, and communicate again is a prime motivator to transformational change. Education on the interpretive panels reaches out 24/7 to visitors and users, stakeholders and stewards. Digitizing the afforestation area combines interpretive panels with QR codes to webpages and social media, where people can adopt trees, ducks and squirrels. In an online immersion virtual visitor to your RSBBAA can explore the greenspace, visit certain areas, connect with other users, and contribute to patreon and Go Fund Me to sponsor further educational, interpretive sign, and afforestation area public amenities and environmental safeguards.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 20 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Construction materials and hazardous waste before the community clean up
Financial management is a main factor driving the identity of your RSBBAA. Without money, there is no chance for improvement. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. take a powerful new stand and make decisions to raise capital in defense of the environment, eco-system greenspace and wetlands of your RSBBAA. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. engage in an active and dynamic driver to embrace change, and improve the behaviour, ethics, and attitudes of users and visitors to your RSBBAA, starting with interpretive signs, and with a goal to secure funding to mitigate motorized vehicle trespass with barriers and make improvements via programming, education and public amenities.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 21 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Community pride in clean up efforts
Morale, and civic pride is very important to the identity of your RSBBAA greenspace. With confidence that every journey begins one step at a time, the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, create positive energy to create a dynamic interpretive hub which highlights grand and notable achievements in Saskatoon which are honoured and respected on the national and international stage which have taken place in the West Swale and are highlighted in the interpretive panels to appear the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 22 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Community Clean up
Poor delivery of the message impacts the potential of your RSBBAA, and its role in society as a viable greenspace. Visitors and users don’t expect a greenspace to look like a dump zone, with needles and prostitution. Cultural and heritage resources expound upon ancient stories, and living legacies. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is a landscape with dynamic and diverse scenic beauty quite unlike other areas in a moist mixed grassland eco-system. The afforestation area includes wetlands, ribbons of native grasslands, and a mixed wood which gives this land area its unique and special character, with exotic and native trees amid native forbes of the Aspen Parkland. Enhancing the tone of how vegetation and the ecosystem is managed, with community cleanups where volunteers have great civic pride in turning around a derelict greenspace and providing a safe haven where visitors can spend long periods of time immersed in observing the waterfowl, the phenology of the seasons, the vistas across the wetlands, the grand interplay of flora and fauna throughout the woodlands. The overall impression, identity and ‘sense of place’ are enhanced with the physical appearance whose special characteristics are enhanced by the attributes and character delved into on the interpretive panels. Learning new ways of perceiving and doing new things, allows old ways of doing things to fall away. The new greenspace environment of your RSBBAA blooms forth and is allowed to fulfill its potential. With new knowledge arise new perceptions. External driving force occur outside of your RSBBAA. Political forces have a direct bearing on your RSBBAA. The environment of your RSBBAA is directly positively or negatively affected by the neighbourhood around it. Government decisions made by the provincial government with the Provincial Perimeter Highway placement averted the roadway being congruent with your RSBBAA. The P4G planning and City Southwest Employment Sector, and Blairmore Sector Neighbourhood Sector Planning will create situations, events, roadways, and fluctuations upon your RSBBAA. As the city grows there is increasing pressure and a growing demand for recreational opportunities which exist that provide solitude outside of roadways. Roadless areas generally occur in rural areas, and Saskatoon is blessed to have 660 acres of afforestation area preserved in perpetuity within the city of Saskatoon, an amazing green network study
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area area providing connectivity for the West Swale within the city metropolitan area. Urban citizens crave to be in naturalized areas, and engage in recreational exploration. RSBBAA provides opportunities and activities to experience and access a semi-primitive naturalized eco-system in the city of Saskatoon. How does the visitor and user achieve that experience, it is by a clear objective of “don’t overdevelop? Market research, conducting surveys, reaching out, and asking stewards, stakeholders, visitors, and users what they think, feel, and want is a prime driver of change. This is the way of satisfying visitor and user demand, and a means to forecast future demand to preserve the afforestation in perpetuity for future generations. The rules and regulations from the provincial and national environmental laws and regulations, city council procedure, civic government bylaws, and policies coupled with the MVA management play an integral role in creating direction and are themselves a driver of change. 2.1.3.2 Interpretive Programme Outcomes
“Do not try to satisfy your vanity by teaching a great many things. Awaken people’s curiosity. It is enough to open minds; do not overload them. Put there just a spark. If there is some good flammable stuff, it will catch fire.” Anatole France
Figure 23 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
As the natural, cultural and historic resources of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation are expounded, visitors and users will report learning something new which they can appreciate about the City of Saskatoon, and this region’s unique background. Users and visitors will know where the wetlands are, and what types of waterfowl, and emergent vegetation exist at that site, which will increase support for their care. The interpretive panels would enhance the visitor’s understanding that there are and were unique wonders of the area, and is a very healthy approach for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Regional visitors will have an enhanced quality of life as being out in nature enhances health benefits. Greenspaces such as the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area are a benefit and a means to greater health. Visitors will express interest in visiting another area of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, which will proffer community support for the entire greenspace of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Regional users will feel welcome, and invited to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation as safe recreational areas that enhance social well-being. Visitors and users will see that the City of Saskatoon grows in harmony with nature. Continuous improvement for the urban environment is enhanced by an urban forest that is healthy, safe and vital. The increase in public knowledge will instill a sense of civic pride in the City of Saskatoon and in particular the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Users will be able to take away at least memorable, compelling story that is special and unique about the region. Rather than despondency, fear, anxiety, and panic, the greenspace user at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area will have an urge to continue onwards to “protect in perpetuity” the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area for future generations. A thriving greenspace such as the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area defined with a vibrant dynamic public identity and image are an investment in our economy. Property values increase, and jobs in the nearby employment sector attract and retain companies and employees who value the community with the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area greenway next to their place of employment. Users and visitors will feel and express that the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is being supported by a community-driven vision. The Interpretive Prospectus includes: • Description of, and purpose for project • Target market or audience • Objectives/desired outcomes • Interpretive themes and strategies • Functional use of space (bubble diagram) • Design narrative • Universal Design considerations • Budget and funding plan (including partners) • Operations and maintenance costs • Project schedule • Project Team (Graphic designers, authors, outfitters, administrators, researchers, environmentalists, biologists, botanists, archaeologists, bird watchers, interpreters, education specialists, teachers, foresters, silviculturists, engineers, public affairs officer, geologists, biographers, historians, meteorologists, and other resource experts)
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
2.1.4 Strategic Fit
Figure 24 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 25 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
The City of Saskatoon Heritage Policy and Program Review, August 2012, states that “Heritage initiatives provide many tangible and intangible benefits, and have strong positive impact on the development of a complete community and innovation. The benefits of a well-managed heritage conservation program include: • Encouraging retention of the community’s unique physical heritage; • Celebrating and/or commemorating historical events • Continuing to practice traditional activities; • Identifying ways that partnership opportunities can be fostered with senior levels of government; • Engagement of the broader community including the private and volunteer sectors; • Conservation of a broad range of historic sites that supports other public objectives such as tourism development and education; • Investment in heritage sites through community partnerships;
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
• Support for sustainability initiatives; and • Generation of employment opportunities and other economic benefits” (CoS, 2012) The city has invested in the goal of city heritage stewardship and municipal leadership using as a base the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. This tool addresses, “what is it about the historic place that is important to conserve?” (Standards and Guidelines for the conservation of historic places in Canada,2010)
❖ Statement of Significance
The Statement of Significance [SOS] and the Standards and Guidelines provide the aesthetic, historic, scientific, cultural, social and or spiritual importance of a place, thereby establishing the heritage value. The three-part SOS explains the key aspects of the place and why it is important. (Butterill, 2006) The SOS contains the description of historic place, heritage value and character-defining elements. The Historic Places Initiative (HPI) of the Canadian Heritage Register adopts the Burra Charter as a guideline. “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” Marcus Garvey
❖ Description of Historic Place
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” Nhat Hanh The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is a heritage greenspace because of its natural historical, geological, cultural and community values.
• The heritage value of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area lies in its unique natural semi-wilderness habitat of great biodiversity. The West Swale wetland oasis nestled within the riparian woodlands provide a beautiful and spiritual landscape within the city of Saskatoon; • Planted as part of the Green Survival Campaign in the war against ecology abuse the afforestation area exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time on developments in town-planning, and architectural landscape design program aimed at improving the future environment of the city; • George Genereux Urban Regional Park and Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area are the only places of their kind which have survived to this day from the original Green Survival afforestation project. They are afforestation areas ‘preserved in perpetuity’ based on the Green Survival Strategy which are excellent examples of the horticulture phase in the history of Saskatoon, and North America.
❖ Heritage Value
• The Green Survival Program ’Green Survival” was an award-winning program for improving the environment, more beauty to see, and conservation of land from erosion with plantings of trees and shrubs in the fight against environmental deterioration and focusses attention on the important role that plant life plays in a healthful environment; • Operating as the City Parks Department tree nursery, the afforestation area was purposefully designed to become an urban regional park once the built city expanded around this site; • The afforestation area is also significant for its association with Richard St. Barbe Baker, founder of the Men of the Trees (now the International Tree Foundation) and his legacy as the first global conservationist. Baker’s efforts and collaborations saw the planting at least 26 billion trees worldwide and he still inspires new international efforts; • The afforestation area namesake, Richard St. Barbe Baker is a person of notable historic significance bestowed with an honorary Doctor of Laws and the Order of the British Empire; • St Barbe, also known as Baba Wya Miti, ‘the affectionate Father of the Trees’, or the ‘loving father of trees, also as Bwana Wya Miti, ‘the Master of the Trees’ was venerated by the Kikuyu tribesman of Kenya;
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
• The wetlands namesake, Chappell Marsh commemorates Canadian National Railway General Superintendent Saskatchewan district Benjamin Thomas Chappell; • B.T. Chappell was honoured as Chief Iron Horse, during a sacred ceremonial function by eight Cree chiefs; • Bert Wellman Saskatoon Director of Planning and Development and Bill Graham Director of Planning worked together in 1960. Wellman walked the circumference of the city determining those pieces of land to be purchased for the city “Green Belt” A green belt is a policy and land use zone designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. In essence, a green belt is an invisible line designating a border around a certain area, preventing development of the area and allowing wildlife to return and be established. • The P4G planners embrace the green belt and envision the Green Network Study Area, a greenspace corridor to allow wildlife to access the South Saskatchewan River along the West Swale. • The West Swale which nestles the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area has its confluence at Yorath Island. Christopher J. Yorath, notable Saskatoon Commissioner who was ahead of his time, embraced the Garden City and City Beautiful city movement setting into place a concept for Saskatoon as a ‘garland city’ taking into account the winding river, and thickly wooded spots, and other local characteristics; • The site offers diverse background historical, biographical and cultural resources for hands-on learning about the environment. • As a cultural landscape, the site is an invaluable resource for place-based education and awareness of the symbiosis between humans and their environment providing unparalleled opportunities in an urban setting to study the value of trees, natural history, earth sciences, ecology and the effects of climate change; • The natural heritage in a city aiming to become a metropolis, the afforestation area is an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes for terrestrial, wetlands, and riparian woodlands ecosystems, and communities of plants and animals." • The afforestation area contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity; • It is distinct notability arises from the heavily forested areas with mature deciduous and coniferous trees; • The greenspace offers many kilometers of trails, guided walks commemorating the legacy of Richard St. Barbe Baker, the rich geology of the area, flora and fauna tours; • A group of local residents came together to become the stewards of this greenspace, and have formed as the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. to conserve and protect this unique eco-system; • Visiting and understanding the rich diversity of heritage, geological cultural and natural resources inspire a strong connection to the site; • The Old Bone Trail is a designated heritage trail bears a unique testimony to the extirpation of Bison Bison, a cultural tradition and a civilization which has disappeared. The heritage designation demonstrates the commitment of the City of Saskatoon in recognizing and preserving its natural heritage; • Huge piles of bones lay across the grassland prairies, giving rise to the Metis, Indigenous people and bone collectors hauling cartloads of bones to the Saskatoon rail yards. Each freighter could expect $6-$8 per ton from Saskatoon store keepers. Each of the hundreds of rail cars held a capacity of twenty tons of bones, the remnants of two hundred and fifty animals, to be made into fertilizer and bone black. After 1890, the Old Bone Trail would carry an unbroken line of wagons out of Saskatoon following the Old Bone Trail to the promise of “the last best west” and their new homestead. The Old Bone Trail skirted east of Chappell Marsh, a wetland providing a much-needed drink as more than ten thousand settlers pulled out of Saskatoon; • The Old Bone Trail connected Goose Lake Country through the site enroute to the Saskatoon CNR station at the base of the early Qu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan railway bridge (the current site of Senator Sidney L. Buckwold Bridge.) • The trail became an early and important transportation route for myriads of settlers seeking their fortunes in the “Last Best West” as they set out west of Saskatoon; • Witness to a long history of settlement, the evolving landscape of the prairies includes evidence of ancient camps and of the extirpation of the buffalo (Bison Bison) and with the rapidly growing influx of Euro-Canadian settlement surrounding them; • Situated in the West Swale, which is an outstanding example representing major stages of Earth's history, of the Pleistocene era. The Yorath Island Spillway is a prime example of a geological process called a jökulhlaup
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
which shaped the landforms in the South West area of Saskatoon with a history of significant geomorphic and physiographic features;" • The West Swale complex is representative of the heritage landscape of the Paleo-Indian culture, demonstrating role of land and water as a place of memory, illustrating their people's relationship with place, and time; • The west swale is an outstanding example of a traditional Paleo-Indian human settlement along the Yorath Island Spillway, a great glacial river at the forks of the South Saskatchewan River and their interactions with the remaining ice age mammals, the larger Bison occidentalis or B. Antiquus before their extinction; • The site is valued for the numerous, diverse historic elements which help facilitate the understanding of the evolution of human geography over the passage of time.
Character-Defining Elements
• The highly accessible location in the south-western region of the city of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan; • Great scientific and educational value with a regional access location near Saskatchewan provincial highway 7; • Participation by the City of Saskatoon in the award winning “Green Survival Program” in the war against ecology abuse; • In this era of climate change, and the value and importance of trees as espoused by St. Barbe Baker are a tangible link between the present and the history of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas and Saskatoon’s pioneering efforts in its afforestation project; • The visual character, the unique mixed woodlands amid the moist mixed grasslands of the prairies, including the alluvial, glacial lake or lacustrine soil characteristics of the glacial spillway; • Naturalized setting of an urban regional park amongst a burgeoning, urban development • the site’s dramatic and diverse landscape topography dominated by natural features, particularly swales and wetlands, and diverse varieties of mature trees, shrubs, plants and ponds that achieve a pastoral appearance; - the landscape of approximately 660 acres , laid out in a park-like manner with planning in the “picturesque” style, design, with the placement and juxtaposition of afforested and natural features that combine to create panoramic perspectives that include mature trees, shrubs. • The preservation of the original indigenous aspen groves and tracts of undisturbed and uncultivated moist mixed grass prairie vegetation throughout the framework of the park. • The natural green corridor which provides habitats to a variety of indigenous plants, trees and fauna intermixed with exotic species of trees; • Compliant with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change featuring closed forest formations of various storeys and undergrowth; • Conforming to the forest concept under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity featuring a complex, continuous, mature forest system of trees, animals and humans; • Mixed-age forest maintains biodiversity, provides flood control, creates breathable air, carbon storage, healthy maintenance of soils, water purifications, micro- and macro-climate control, and nutrient cycling. • The natural and original setting in the South Saskatchewan River watershed, part of the Moist Mixed Grasslands near Saskatoon that contain Cottonwood, Aspen Grove and Mixed woodland forests, numerous springs, wetlands, and marshes, etc; • The P4G long range planners in designing for the greater metropolitan area of Saskatoon are seen to continue honouring the “City Beautiful” and “Garden City” concepts by featuring a Green Network Corridor along the West Swale for connectivity of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area to the South Saskatchewan River providing habitat, and safe corridors to species in need of conservation. • Evidence of strategic site selection in the West Swale affording excellent hunting strategies of the Paleo-Indian peoples. • Its location in the West Swale a sensitive and distinctive hydro-riparian area home of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Yorath Island is the “end moraine” for the Pleistocene geological feature of the West Swale, as the Glacial South Saskatchewan Lake, the precursor of the South Saskatchewan River received the catastrophic flood waters of the Yorath Island Spillway from Glacial Rice Lake carving.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
• The integrity of any surviving or as yet unidentified archaeological remains associated with Oxbow Complex or the Hanna phase, which may be found within the West Swale as part of their original placement and extent; • Its setting in the South Saskatchewan watershed in the hydro-riparian area of the West Swale; • The retention of knowledge associated with the paleo Indians who found a way to survive hunting B. occidentalis or B. antiquus and small which appeared following the warm drought years of the Altithermal, or Hypsithermal; • The location on an ancient glacial river formed from a jökulhlaup or spillway from Glacial Rice Lake; • Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area trees thrived in the alluvial, glacial lake or lacustrine deposits in this low-lying depression of the West Swale with a higher than anticipated success rate for plantings. The West Swale, a major meltwater drainage channel, a glacial spillway and a prairie valley is a classical example of glacial spillway topography. Yorath Island features the most northerly cottonwood forest in North America; • Evidence of ancient proglacial processes and ideal conditions for geology, phenology, and biology create an important site for the study of the Pleistocene epoch;
“Do we recognized that thousands of these things are lost because of failure on our part to develop an asset that can readily be made the equal of the best in this country?” ~Dr. E.E. Shepley (Shepley, 1930)
2.1.5 Place Based Learning and community collaboration
“Irrespective of curricular mandates, teachers can identify urban environments as sites for learning involving hands-on or embodied interactions within a particular place. These experiences are often framed by inquiry-based learning that positions students as investigators, designers, scientists, and gardeners” S. Stine
There have been previous ventures promoting student learning about greenspace heritage. When students, themselves, delve into the heritage resources which identify the value and character of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, their involvement, and excitement increases, they become engaged, and empowered citizens, proud that they can make unparalleled changes to how we live. These following passages show how other communities have successfully engaged classrooms and place-based environmental learning. Let’s learn from one another, adapt and replicate admirable good ideas.
The Business Park Wetlands Coalition partnered with Anchorage Park students, who learned about the wetlands eco- system via field trips, experiments, games and projects and the students then visually interpreted their lessons into drawings which were incorporated into interpretive signs. Creating the opportunity for students to teach others. (EPA, 1995) By collaborating with City of Transcona, Manitoba, Grade four students from River East Transcona School Division gathered information for George Oliver Nature Park interpretive signs and spruced up Transcona Park. (RETSD, 2012)
“The students created a digital interpretative guide—the first of its kind in the region! —that can be accessed online or on the trail by QR (Quick Response) technology, activated by smart-mobile phones. Throughout the project the students worked together in groups, connecting and interacting with each other and their environment…. Small groups of students were assigned to a location along the trail, where they collected their observations in a special binder.” In this case technology, created additional interest to the trail, and the ecology. By learning about the natural environment in a local area, students are encouraged to appreciate the significance of this local treasure. Older students are mentors, for younger students on combined field trips. Using PLT resources enriched the learning experience. Collaboration and communication are a powerful learning tool. (PLT, 2019)
Sierra Expeditionary Learning School fourth grade students worked together with the Donner Summit Historical Society to create interpretive signs, and the first-grade students delved into the ‘art of the story’ by creating a mural. “Making learning engaging and relevant is an important component to our success, and expeditions have been an excellent curricular structure in facilitating this process.” (Manahan, 2018)
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Creating learning environments where students can develop as citizens with pronounced understandings of sustainability is a major educational challenge. Through …partnerships, urban environmental education presents concrete social-ecological issues that develop student problem-solving skills, and recognizes urban communities as powerful landscapes to guide learners’ understandings, confidence, and competence in relation to sustainability… hands-on or embodied interactions within a particular place… are often framed by inquiry-based learning that position students as investigators, designers, scientists, and gardeners… students are also communicating their learning in the commons back to the public via websites and interpretive signage.” (Kudryavtsev, 2017)
Fernwood Elementary School students were involved in inquiry-based learning during field trips out to Fernwood Beach. (Scotvold, 2017) Quincy High School seniors mentored public school students in outdoor education to create six interpretive nature signs along the Leonhardt Ranch Learning Landscape trail. The grade 7 Life Science students created field journals full of artwork, which were added to the signs. (FRLT, 2015) Place based learning in a community-based process enhances observational acuity, and creates a fun, place-based educational program. Frank J. Elementary School assisted with four interpretive signs for the Sparwood Beaver Wetland, supplying artwork and quotations. “Students will also become more active stewards of their environment through collaborations like the one with the Elk River Alliance at the Beaver wetland. Community members will see FJMES student ecosystem enhancement efforts on interpretive signs to be installed in April.” (FJMES students wild school winter. 2017) (Education and Outreach)
Figure 26 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
““It is important to teach the next generation about the importance of the land and its natural resources,” says Krystal Hewitt, education specialist for DUC. “These centres are great examples of the kinds of engaging and practical hands- on learning that brings education to life. They create a real commitment from young people to be involved in their communities and in conservation activities in general.” A student from Peninsula Shores District School spoke of her experience thusly, “‘We worked hard to make sure that we had enough information, and to make sure our research was accurate. I hope that lots of students and adults will be inspired by my sign to learn more about wetlands.’ ” (Barbazza, 2019)
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Students from Redfish Elementary school were taught graphic design and watercolour painting, in combination with science and social studies lessons in creating four signs four feet by four feet for the Harrop Wetlands. (Hynd, 2015) Various inspirations come forward when schools apply themselves to creating interpretive signs. Vedder Elementary brought attention to traditional plants alongside interpretive signs celebrating the First Nations language, and plant names, and Adams Robertson Elementary School constructed tree swallow boxes for the Creston Wildlife Management Area. (WWF, 2019) “Students work through the creation of a Big Idea into tactics and learning strategies to inspire curiosity, provocative questions, and conceptual understandings that enhance ecological literacy and educate about environmental change and responsible action….This demands capturing an environmental concept like the essence of a landscape or the state of a particular habitat in a one-minute lesson.”(AUNE MSEE, 2017) Core subject areas such as mathematics, arts, and language arts are strengthened through the habitat project curriculums when student’s area engaged in interpretive sign design which lets everyone know why this place is special. (NWF, n.d.) Students are involved with designing the interpretive signs for a heritage trail. “Skowhegan’s community-centered approach to learning may hold the key to keeping one of Maine’s most precious resources-its young people-as vital contributors to the local and state economy” It is a way for students to become involved in community development processes and projects, write newsletters, and research environmental issues.(Gruenewald, 2014)
Figure 27 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
“The results illustrated that the landscape provides a ‘Hidden Curriculum,’ one that ‘affected children’s attitudes and behavior’…trees were recognized and valued as living things to play on and protect, ponds were a source of living creatures to discover, bushes that afforded hiding places became treasured retreats, and flowers that were planted by the children elicited pride and caring….Gardens, habitat creation or restoration, and cultural or interpretive elements replace formerly neglected space.” The Dearborn Park Elementary School fifth graders themselves give tours providing evidentiary testimony that the wetland became a “powerful place of learning and community building.” They designed interpretive signs, and constructed bat houses, and helped in “stewarding this sensitive environment…. There is little evidence of vandalism on the site and student-made signs call attention to the special qualities of this place…. [teachers] noticed students showing more pride in themselves.” (Johnson, 2004)
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Twenty student interpretive signs were installed by the City of Ashland Parks and Recreation at the North Mountain Park Nature Center. Included in the extensive educational programming was the student compilation of a sustainability booklet. “By engaging in service-learning, participants make a connection with the community and gain a better understanding of their environment while helping to make positive changes.” NMP Center has a motto of “promoting greater community awareness, understanding and enjoyment of the local natural environment, and fostering stewardship through educational programs and activities. (Chesney,
2008)
Figure 28 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Students identify elements of watersheds through field learning, making personal connections creating poetry and journalism. (Past Webinars) Fallingbrook School students in community based environmental education became involved in citizen science, helped to host local environment festivals and created interpretive signs to educate park visitors. (Range, 2014) Stratford Public School created the interpretive signs and pictures for the woodlands walking trail. “The place itself becomes a powerful tool that co-designs and co-teaches curriculum that requires students to ‘read’ the landscape in order to learn how places function…. The learning enabled by the various partnerships has a role to play in strengthening children’s environmental learning that, according to one principal, incorporates values -individuality, respect, safety, growth and community‟.” (Green, 2013)
They designed a map, decided what to include on the interpretive signs and what features to place in the forest, such as benches and picnic tables, and then they went to work. They even built several birdhouses.
McLeod Elementary School came up with a project with fourteen different ideas. We all had to work together to narrow it down. We went from fourteen different ideas including a “gathering area with picnic tables and a whiteboard so that classes could be held outdoors and an interactive educational experience to become closer to nature with interpretive signs along the trails, celebrating the forest’s wildlife and vegetation. The project was a celebration of the community place-based learning project, “one which will serve as a learning legacy for many years to come.” (Carter, 2015)
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Whereas, Tamany Creek suffered ecological damages, it has become a living classroom project. The ongoing efforts in this educational hub for teachers and students, have encompass “what it means to be a recreation and resource steward: leaving things better than when you found them…. Park visitors could walk the trail, observe on-going restoration efforts, and observe students from all levels doing field science! There is a value to working with schools— from K-12 to graduate level—and it shows that our Idaho state parks provide more than just recreation opportunities,” Jeff Smith, Hells Gate State Park Assistant Manager advocates. “Our desire is to create a venue that works as a place- based learning location…crating an Outdoor Classroom within Tammany Creek.” (IDPR, 2018)
Figure 29 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
“The sacred knowledge of place and the power of storytelling hold powerful influence for both learners and educators.” Interpretive signs further enhance learning, so the “trail becomes much more than a trail… Interpretive signs feature information and traditional uses of certain plant species….These deep and extended learning experiences offered ongoing opportunity for learners to develop key knowledge and holistic understandings about the interconnectedness of place….students developed identities as trail builders, knowledge keepers, and stewards of the land..positive emotions related to ownership of environmental improvements and respect for the sacred knowledge of place have significantly contributed to motivation and deeper learning as these positive emotions are linked to increased neural activity…students had the opportunity for active inquiry about the environment and perspective-taking.”(Deacon, 2017) To promote sustainability, schools can adopt unconventional approaches to teaching, and learning that invite community actors to cross boundaries, and establish vital relationships with other actors and with their place….Whispering Signs is a curriculum-connected project consisting of a site-specific set of interpretive signs within the Nature ground…Students, teachers, parents worked …to produce the original art, poetry and text for 34 beautiful and provocative signs for school-based and public education.” Each sign provides spatial geography and orienteering resources with latitude, longitude and elevation. “Participants developed meaningful interrelationships, and became increasingly connected to place.” (Cockett, 2016) Naturground and Whispering Pines in Calgary was, indeed a place- based literacy project “where students researched, represented, and communicated information about plants, animals, and physical features of the landscape. Throughout these and other green school projects, participants developed meaningful interrelationships and became increasingly connected to place.” (Russ, 2017) The Negwegon State Park received interpretive signs promoting coastal tourism as the Alcona high school students documented the greenspace history and natural resources enlightening visitors to the eco-tourism opportunities. Students explored the park with tours from resource experts and technical advisors, creating interpretive signs which captured the attention of their local community to a previously forgotten corner of their home. Students learned
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area valuable skills in research, design, and communication with this place-based community education programming partnership. (Schroeder, 2012) “Students give gifts of scholarship to their communities, ranging from research essays to oral history interviews to public programs to interpretive signs to databases.” (Demee-Benoit, 2006)
Friends of Cedar Bay worked together with Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth District High School, Sioux Mountain Public School, and Sacred Heart Catholic School to complete the Cedar Bay Interpretive Trail Sign Project. A kiosk, interpretive trail signs and interpretive trail brochures were compiled. The experience highlighted “the importance of community partnerships in providing engaging environmental education experiences to students in K-12.” (ON Ministry of Education, n.d.) Inland Lakes School, Indian River MI, engaged students in place-based learning and among the features they installed interpretive signs about wildlife in the area. (NE MI GLSI, 2006 n.d.) The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, desired student-created artwork and poetry on interpretive signs. These interpretive projects are not just design projects, they are learning experiences with spectacular results from high school and middle school students. (Dahn, 2013) In 2010-2011 the Meewasin Valley Authority worked with over 125 high school art students to create twelve unique River Landing tree grates centred on the theme of the flora and fauna of the Saskatchewan River valley. (MVA, 2011) “Public lands have tremendous potential to contribute to education and quality of life in our communities. If we can get young people thinking about not only the future of their parks and forests but also the future of their local communities, that’s the beginning of lifelong learning—and it’s also cultivating stewardship.”– Nora Mitchell, Conservation Study Institute
Place based learning “PBL has emerged from the best of environmental education, interpreting environment broadly to include the cultural, social and economic aspects of a place and contending that the learner’s own environment—their place—is the most effective context for learning stewardship. “(Clark, 2008)
Interpretive signs captured the test and photographs created by sixth-grade students on the official National Park interpretive signs which created opportunities to delve into the history and recreational opportunities of their home landscape. Place based learning provides for structured civic engagement opportunities where students can participate in the stewardship of public land which fosters a widespread investment in the stewardship of local resources. Participation in community affairs, builds on community vitality, strengthens and protects the natural environment and the cultural qualities of life and students help to identify information through research and investment an authentic community relationship.
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Figure 30 Richard St. Barbe Baker
Afforestation Area
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Figure 31 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
“PLACE project (Place-based Landscape Analysis and Community Education…. When the entire community develops a vision together, with a list of high priority projects or desired action steps, public lands emerge as resources for the whole community to use and care for. When students, teachers, and school administrators are engaged in community visioning, then students and schools become viewed as participants, potential workforce, and leaders. The shared goal becomes realizing the community vision: the health and well being of the community, its resources, and every member of it. “(NTU, n.d.) Three schools participated in the Barber Pool Conservation Area Interpretive Trail creating a success story which enhanced the National Parks Service’s capacity. Community service opportunities such as interpretive design projects, not only increase the public awareness, they also educate and mentor future students. A sense of pride, and accomplishment was the result from the fun interactions, with community schools. The objectives of the Conservation Area were integrated with the classroom objectives, enabling a celebration of the collaborative efforts and success. (NPS, 2015)
Figure 32 Richard St. Barbe Baker Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan, University Archives & Special Collections, Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71 Vancouver Island University Master of Community Planning students The City of Parksville’s Community Park has become the crown jewel in a collaborative community effort which supported the 1963 land deed which set out that the park was “to be maintained in perpetuity as a park for the residents of the Village of Parksville and the Nanoose Land District. ” Vancouver Island Students hosted a workshop with Ballenas Secondary School grade 10 students to receive creative brainstorming engagement from youth. (VIU, 2017)
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Students gain invaluable insight into natural science, management or design professions. Students became involved with tree plantings, clearing invasive species, collecting seeds… Students became involved with site visits, interviews, collecting information. Student interaction with the greenspace, provided abundant opportunities and information for interpretive signage which reported on the student interaction in the Union Bay Natural Area and the North Creek Floodplain Wetlands. (Egan, 2012) Colquitz Middle School students, in grades 7 and 8 took part in an environmental learning program in 2013, and their inspirational works adorn the boardwalk interpretive signs. (Saanich Parks, 2019) Grade 10 English Arts students educated visitors at Beauvais Lake Provincial Park in Alberta. A collaboration enabled a community program which enabled students to explore the history, culture and wildlife of the greenspace. The students also went one step further, and helped with the physical installation of the signs which they created. Not only did they learn about the natural and cultural history resources, they also were inspired by this real hands-on work experience Students were enriched by the outdoor classroom in the park, and they learned how to conduct historical research at libraries, to delve into the flora and fauna, the historical settlers, trees, landforms, the wonders of the park and the park in the winter time. The interpretive sign program is a gateway to other parks programming and initiatives. (Clow, 2017) (ACEE, 2017)
Figure 33 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Learning about the Kids Creek watershed, Grade 8 Science Class students of Traverse City West Middle School became involved in a community service project, delving into citizen science and research. The students were highly motivated that their work has become a legacy, as they learn about how population actions affect the waterways and the interaction between invasive species and the native environment, climate change, the pioneering farmers. The students, teachers, and community found it to be a practical, place-based opportunity. (Handke, 2017) “Place-based education is the process of using the local community and environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum. Emphasizing hands-on, real-world learning experiences, this approach to education increases academic achievement, helps students develop stronger ties to their community, enhances students’’ appreciation for the natural world, and creates a
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens. Community vitality and environmental quality are improved through the active engagement of local citizens, community organizations, and environmental resources in the life of the school.” (Sobel, n.d.) The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas has a purpose which illuminates what we do and why we do it. The main object or purpose is ecosystem preservation. The afforestation area of the west swale eco-system is preserved in perpetuity by city council. As user and visitors have increased at the afforestation area over the last few years, and as the traffic through the environment will increase exponentially with the City of Saskatoon long range planners designing eight future neighbourhoods bringing in approximately 50,000 to 70,000 people to the area adjacent to the afforestation areas. At full capacity, the Blairmore Sector Plan will increase the City of Saskatoon population by 70,679 persons.
❖ Saskatoon
“Student Action for a Sustainable Future (SASF) is an action and inquiry project for grade 5 – 8 students in Saskatoon students from several schools develop, implement, and showcase inquiry and actions, which focus on six areas: waste, water, energy, food, transportation, and biodiversity, that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Saskatoon and around Saskatchewan.”(SES, 2019) Other school based community programs Involve grade 8 programs like eco-quest, eco- justice, or Montgomery’s science trek. The following are excerpts from the Saskatchewan curriculum which pertain to delving into the heritage of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, and its unique situation in a unique hydro-riparian post-glacial eco-system with an additional rich legacy of historical, social and cultural heritage. According to the Grade 5 science curriculum, students investigate local, national, and global weather conditions, including “the role of air movement and solar energy transfer”, and, amongst other things may pose questions about the “characteristics of local, national, and global weather conditions”. In the social studies sector, students evaluate the importance of “sustainable management of the environment to Canada's future”, and may delve into the “importance of sustainable management of the environment to Canada's future”. Analyzing the implications of the Old Bone Trail heritage, students, may determine how “the British Empire affected the lives of British settlers, French-Canadians, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in pre-confederation Canadian society” enabling them to identify the “European influence on pre-confederation Canadian society” Students may wish to undertake an inquiry investigating the relationship between “Canada's physical geographic features and the population distribution” when they look at the ancient Yorath Island Spillway glacial river and settlement patterns of the early prehistoric peoples ~the Paleo-Indian ~ of the Hanna phase 3,50 0–3,0 0 0b p (1500-1000 BC); Gowen Complex c a.5,900 to 5 , 200 b p (3900-3200 BC) and the Oxbow complex dates 6,000 to 1,000 BP or (4,000 to 3,000 BC). The outcome would be an understanding of “the historic and contemporary relationship of people to land in Canada”.(Saskatchewan Curriculum, 2019) Grade 6 students have different questions to analyze, such as to “recognize, describe, and appreciate the diversity of living things in local and other ecosystems, and explore related careers”, and their curriculum may have them understand how to “show respect for other people, living things, and the environment when observing ecosystems”, or to “propose questions for inquiry that arise from personal investigations of characteristics and behaviours of animals” in order to “analyze the characteristics and behaviours of vertebrates (i.e., mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) and invertebrates,” students learn to “show respect for all forms of life when examining ecosystem”, or “provide examples of organizations in Canada that support scientific research related to ecosystems (e.g., environmental conservation groups, federal and provincial [and local] government departments)” Students have several indicators to achieve the following outcomes; to “examine how humans organize understanding of the diversity of living things” or they may “analyze the characteristics and behaviours of vertebrates (i.e., mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) and invertebrates.” (Saskatchewan Curriculum, 2019) In Grade 7 classrooms, amongst other questions, students may “gather information about traditional Indigenous practices with respect to the relationships and connections between people and their ecological environment” and “examine key aspects of Indigenous knowledge and First Nations and Métis people’s practices that contribute to understanding of ecosystems and the interactions of their components” in order to “relate key aspects of Indigenous knowledge to their understanding of ecosystems.” There are two invaluable resources as part of the Richard St. Barbe Afforestation Area and the West Swale, as the prehistory of the area shows the settlement of the prehistoric peoples along the ancient ancient Yorath Island Spillway glacial river and its connection at the forks with the South Saskatchewan River. There was also the interactions of peoples in the history of the Old Bone Trail which ran through
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area the afforestation area. There are so many questions to offer up to “observe, illustrate, and analyze living organisms within local ecosystems as part of interconnected food webs, populations, and communities” and among these queries may be to “Illustrate the ecological organization of life within the biosphere, using specific examples of species, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biome” In social studies, students may “Examine the effects of humans and their technology on the natural environment in Canada.” Students may also “examine the effects of natural or human catastrophes on affected populations, and, by extension, on the history of human habitation of the region.” Additionally classes may “question whether economies based on barter, trade, and sharing are sustainable.” In the curriculum, grade 7 students may also query, “research and illustrate the origins and current meanings of the words “steward” and “stewardship”” or to “define the word “sustainable”, and discriminate between the concepts of sustainable and unsustainable as they apply to resources and industry.” (Saskatchewan Curriculum, 2019) In Grade 8, students may indeed “construct visual representations of the world distribution of water, and the distribution of water in Saskatchewan, including watersheds, lakes, rivers, streams, river systems, wetlands, ground water, saline lakes, and riparian areas” or they may wish to pose questions about the “the concept of systems as a tool for interpreting the structure and interactions of water systems by constructing representations of systems such as the water cycle, watersheds, and continental drainage basins and showing interrelationships between parts of the system” in order to “analyze the impact of natural and human-induced changes to the characteristics and distribution of water in local, regional, and national ecosystems.” Classrooms may also “evaluate individual and group processes used in planning, problem solving, decision making, and completing a task related to studying threats to water systems, such as accepting various roles in a group, sharing responsibility for carrying out decisions, and seeking consensus before making decisions” or perhaps students may wish to “identify possible personal, societal, economic, and environmental consequences of natural changes and human practices and technologies that pose threats to surface and/or ground water systems in Saskatchewan (e.g., vegetation removal, water and sewage treatment plants, timber harvesting, over- application of fertilizers, agricultural and urban irrigation, impervious ground cover, land alterations, mining, introduction of invasive species, shoreline erosion, fluctuating lake levels, flooding, draining and/or channelling of surface water features, and damming of rivers).” Grade 8 students delve into the creation of “a written, visual, physical, or dramatic representation of the processes that lead to the development of rivers, lakes, continental drainage systems, and ocean basins, including glaciation, continental drift, erosion, and volcanic action.” and classrooms may also “relate factors that affect glacier formation and reduction and their effects on the environment to the formation of glacial landforms in Saskatchewan (e.g., drumlins, moraines, eskers, [swales] and kettle lakes)” in order to “examine how wind, water, and ice have shaped and continue to shape the Canadian landscape.” Students may “examine the ways in which First Nations and Métis people traditionally valued, depended upon, and cared for aquatic wildlife and plants in Saskatchewan and Canada.” Classrooms may also “provide examples of how individuals and public and private Canadian institutions contribute to the sustainable stewardship of water through traditional knowledge and scientific and technological research and endeavours related to aquatic environments (e.g., marine research institutes, universities, federal and provincial [and local] government departments, and ecological groups) and identify possible careers related to the study and stewardship of water.” (Saskatchewan Curriculum, 2019) Classrooms may also delve into career education, and “use the results of their investigations into science to support the initial construction of a personal life and work plan in career education” or perhaps “Investigate science and technology- related careers and workplaces that require an understanding of diversity of life.” Investigating Bert Wellman, Richard St. Barbe Baker, Christopher Yorath, or Benjamin Chappell would serve as a connection to a career pathway. Paul Hanley stated that “for example there is a fellow named Tony Rinaldo and he was an Australian. One time he was with his father, and they were visiting a big farm and he noticed in the shed a great big pile of books, and on the top of this pile was a book called “Sahara Challenge” by Richard St. Barbe Baker and he picked up the book and it inspired him to become a forester. He went to Niger later and developed a whole new way of reforesting the desert, and working with the farmers there, they were able to reforest 12 million acres of the desert in Nigeria. And Scott Poynton is another person with the same story, when he was fifteen heard a radio broadcast with Richard St. Barbe Baker – was inspired to become a forester, and started something called the forest trust, and what they did was they got the furniture industry to change all of their wood purchases towards sustainable forestry and now they’ve gone on to industry after industry working with them to change their practices towards sustainable wood management. And there’s a number of stories like that. One of the most interesting is a guy named Felix Finkbeiner and he started when he was nine years old he had a school project and he was supposed to write about the environment. he heard Richard St Barbe Baker and Nobel
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Laureate Wangari Maathai who were both doing the same kind of work promoting tree planting and he wrote this paper and then he started an organization for children called Plant for the Planet. Over the years they have developed a whole program where they have child tree ambassadors and he is a really good publicist so he started working with people like Harrison Ford, Prince Ranier of Monaco, and they have this great campaign where they are standing there and have their hands over their mouth, and stop talking and start planting.” Students may indeed, analyze “the impact of natural and human changes to the distribution and characteristics of water in local and regional ecosystems will include the examination of human practices and activities that pose a threat to the environment and to the health of people.” Grade 7 students may delve into health education study, and question and analyze “how ecosystems change in response to natural and human influences, and proposing actions to reduce the impact of human behaviour on a specific ecosystem makes students understand the importance of nurturing harmonious relationships between humans and their environment.” “The content of social studies and science can often be used to connect the two areas of study, particularly with respect to connections between the environment and all living things, including humans. This connection is emphasized through the STSE (Science-Technology-Society- Environment) foundation of scientific literacy and the STSE Decision Making learning context. Some specific examples of these connections in grade six include: explore parallels between inquiries into social and cultural diversity and the diversity of living things” (Saskatchewan Curriculum, 2019)
❖ Interpretive Master Plan
The interpretive master plan is: ✓ A technique for education about the resources at the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas. ✓ A public service provided to visitors which entertains and provides context to the cultural, geological, historical, conservation, environmental background to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. ✓ A management tool which increases user and visitor appreciation of the afforestation area, and enhances sensitivity to the natural and cultural resources in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. An instrument to communicate the values of natural and cultural heritage, prevent negative consequences, and contribute to the process of preservation by action and reflection. ✓ May generate funding for the management, signs, motorized vehicle barriers and public amenities in this protected area to preserve the environment. ✓ Ideal for families and school groups to enable interaction about the sign, and introduce discussion about the content between child and adult. ✓ Signs are a great resource and educational opportunity for those who prefer not to become involved with organized groups. ✓ A “win-win” situation is crated. Visitors and users “win” because they have a fantastic recreational learning experience (a tourist vacation or a resident staycation). The Afforestation Area “wins” because the visitors and users appreciate it more deeply, and therefore treat this invaluable city resource with greater care. The City “wins” as the they can achieve their strategic goals. ✓ The interpretive trails are engaging and enhance curiosity which stimulates the visitor into thinking about the natural and cultural resources of the area in a way that they seek to find the relationships, processes and associations about this unique setting. ✓ A method to improve public involvement and community commitment to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area which increases individual stewardship. A motivation by members of the public to take personal action of protection in a sensitive and well-thought out manner. ✓ Combination of preservation and public use. Combining maintenance and preservation of the natural and cultural interest areas with educational content for the social benefit of the afforestation area community. ✓ Increases value of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area as a winter destination in Saskatoon supporting the YXE Winter City Strategy
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✓ Increasing the function and reputation of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas as cultural centres. Instilling a sense of pride in the city, its culture and its heritage. ✓ A means to inspire learning about geological processes, animals, plants, ecological communities, history and pre-history. Stories link the visitors to the resources of place. Greenspaces become safe places of refuge and an area to enjoy rest and relaxation amid the rich cultural heritage. Steve Van Matre said that “the task of the interpreter is to help…to inhale freshness and vitality in our appreciation and our knowledge of the world around us.” ✓ Establish communication between cultural and natural element under protection to maintain biological diversity and cultural resource relationships. Providing benefits by expanding the positive experience of the visitor who has a direct experience with the environment. ✓ To address the pressure on the environment in the form of visitor waste generation, wildlife disturbance, and negative affects on the flora and vegetation. Trampling, breakage, bruising of stems, reduced vigour of the plants, reduced regeneration, loss of ground cover, reduction of soil macro-porosity, increase in run-off and accelerated erosion are just a few of the overuses of natural resources and impacts on the environment by increased visitation. Benefits may reduce unnecessary destruction or degradation of an area, and lower costs of maintenance or restoration. ✓ Targeted measures to increase environmentally sustainable visitor behavior. The concentration of visitors and users has a major effect on sustainability. There can develop a strain on communities, distress to the wildlife and natural resources. The urban visitor needs guidance to appreciate a peri-urban semi-wilderness habitat. “They recognize that while knowledge about nature is vital; passion is the long-distance fuel for the struggle to save what is left of our natural heritage and ~ through an emerging green urbanism ~ to reconstitute lost land and water. Passion does not arrive on videotape or on a CD; passion is personal,” says Richard Louv, “Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature. “This includes those who are young at heart, the urban city dweller. Margaret Farrell Erickson says it this way, “Given the power of nature to calm and soothe us in our hurried lives, it also would be interesting to study how a family's connection to nature influences the general quality of family relationships.”
❖ Ecosystem Preservation
• To protect the environment for the benefit of the public by conserving and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity on a long-term basis at the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas located in the West Swale eco-system, which were preserved in perpetuity by City of Saskatoon Council in 1972.
• To provide signage in order to identify the afforestation area and to mitigate illegal motorized vehicle trespass to protect the afforestation area eco-system, as well signage as identification of an urban regional park would mitigate the dumping of garbage which harms the environment.
• To provide education, public amenities and infrastructure as environmental safeguards for the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas.
• To assist the community in protecting these parcels of land that they love by encouraging healthy recreational usage in an environmentally conscious and safe manner.
• To act as an advocate with the appropriate authorities to maintain the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas as greenspaces.
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❖ Advancement of Education
• To increase people’s knowledge and appreciation of the human, geological, and natural history of the area (that is the semi-wilderness of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas located in the West Swale eco-system) through public engagement, interpretive signs, printed material, meetings, tours, public information, online website curriculum lessons and signage. • To protect and preserve significant heritage sites by restoring, developing, and maintaining the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas with a view to commemorating the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas and educating the public about it.
2.1.6 Detailed Description of Public - Business Need
2.1.6.1 Problem/Opportunity Statement
There is a need to improve the public’s understanding and appreciation of the resources in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, its cultural, historical, geographical history and natural eco-system. There is an identified desire to improve the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area’s public image, and create consistency of key public land management issues in order to develop a heightened sense of individual stewardship for the visitors and users of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. There is a need to define the site and its characteristics. Signs will engage the visitor attention to heritage resource understanding and respect. An explanation will communicate the significance of your RSBBAA. Interpretive signs answer questions, the visitor didn’t know they had. A great interpretive experience will draw attention to notable resources to learn about, value, think about, understand, and remember. Interpretive signs raise visitor enjoyment, enhance appreciation and understanding. Information on the signs needs to achieve the objectives. Effective signs need to apply right principles and engage the right people as appropriate. Successful signs are those which visitors will enjoy, and remember with pride and joy.
❖ Suggested Content for the Interpretive Programms:
These larger interpretive signs, in the style of the MVA river basin interpretive signs, will be located close to main public access and gain the most exposure for the visitors and users of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Therefore, they should contain the most general knowledge information. For example: 1. Panels outlining the following information:
a) Geological history of the area the West Swale, Yorath Island Spillway of the Pleistocene era Geology, Paleontology, and Histography; b) The history of the first people who occupied this area, the Paleoindian lifestyle, the Ice Age Clovis hunters, Hanna Phase, Oxbow complex peoples of the area; c) Early European settlement and farming activities, and the heritage Old Bone Trail which ran through the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area; d) Afforestation definition, history and beginnings, long range planning, City Beautiful, Green Survival City, Saskatoon Green Belt; e) Biography of Richard St. Barbe Baker Man of the Trees, first Global Conservationist; f) Biographies of B.T. Chappell namesake of Chappell Marsh; g) Biography of Christopher Yorath in regards to the West Swale end moraine; h) Biography of Bert Wellman and Bill Graham, both Director of Planning. i) Comments on wetlands and riparian forest flora and fauna, the ecosystem and biodiversity within the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon wetlands policy; j) Climate Change, City of Saskatoon Tree Policy, and the Value of Trees;
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k) Addresses for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area; l) The value and history to the people of Saskatoon and the province of Saskatchewan of electricity and heat services from Sask Power Transmission lines, and the TransGas Natural Gas pipeline a part of Sask Energy; m) Safety, phone numbers, ‘Leave no trace’, ‘Pack it in, pack it out’, options provided for legitimate provincial ORV recreation and options provided for proper recycling. n) Stewardship values including protecting and improving the greenspace observing compliance with rules, bylaws and environmental and heritage regulations, volunteering, advocacy, and funding; o) Social benefits of a forest nurturing the tranquility of spirit, and health benefits, coupled with a reinforcement of a sense of place related to community needs, a prescription for Shinrin Yoku or hygge lifestyle. Connecting people to the site encouraging pride and ownership; p) Fostering an understanding why your RSBBAA is unique; q) Protection of our Saskatoon Afforestation Area woodlands. Promoting silviculture. Watch for signs of Dutch Elm Disease [DOD] . Do not bring wood into the afforestation areas; r) An analysis of occupations, silviculturist, lineman, homesteader, conservationist, rail line superintendent, city commissioner, city long range planner, Greenspace manager, Metis freighter, botanist, biologist, entymologist, etc. s) Delve into rich taxonomic diversity of flora and fauna over the winter months increasing the role of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area as a winter destination in Saskatoon supporting the YXE Winter City Strategy
2.1.6.2 Assumptions
Defining a public image and identity for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area provides an opportunity to communicate a holistic understanding of the biodiversity, natural, historical and cultural assets which exist. Its about telling new stories that can be given to users and visitors to enhance the user and visitor experience, and increase individual stewardship for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. The assumptions underpinning this proposal are as follows: 1. Signage will be provided that is easily accessible to all visitors and users of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area 2. The interpretive signs will include photographs, text and QR (quick response) codes. Videos and heritage stories, websites accessed by the QR codes will provide and improve interpretive delivery of the natural, cultural and historical significance of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. 3. Inaugural funding will be considered from the money held in place by the MVA RSBBAA trust fund 4. CoS integrated facilities supervisor, -Recreation Services and Manager, Open Space Development and the MVA will be involved throughout the development and implementation of the proposal; and 5. Copyright for all text and photographs will be acknowledged. In support of the endeavour, Ducks Unlimited has offered use of their photographic library for the interpretive signs. 6. Recreational, and interpretive demand will increase according to the growth predictions of the Southwest employment sector, the P4G long range planning, and the Blairmore Sector Neighbourhood plan. The physical capacity of your RSBBAA to accommodate the future growth requires interpretive signs, environmental protection, and conservation education to continue onwards to protect your RSBBAA in perpetuity. 2.1.6.3 Constraints
Location and placement of the interpretive signs are critical to how effective they area into the future. There should be enough visitor traffic to justify the creation of the sign, and its attendant expense. The feature or view should not be ruined with the sign. Shadows, orientation, traffic, and safety are some of the determining factors when installing the sign at its location.
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Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is owned by the City of Saskatoon, and is currently located in “Land Bank” so there is no maintenance funding allocation from the City of Saskatoon parks department. The funding allotment for the interpretive signs and their maintenance shall come from the fund-raising efforts put forth by the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area has a negative connotation for City of Saskatoon residents due to its historical use as a dumping ground and illegal trespass activities. The Sask Power Transmission lines, and the TransGas pipeline right-of-way may be seen as constraints, but also may be compatible with interpretive and educational uses of the surroundings. The main purpose of the interpretive sign and programming will be to encourage protection of the semi-wilderness habitat and the environment for the general public, therefore, recreation and interpretive use will be discouraged in the wetlands zone, to protect nesting waterfowl for instance. Such areas will be identified as such to increase the urban resident’s awareness of how persons can respect the greenspace environment. The nesting areas of colonial nesting birds are for example protected under Saskatchewan Environment’s activity restriction guidelines. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area has a negative connotation for City of Saskatoon residents, law enforcement personnel, and public health officials due to its alleged historical use as a site for John’s to travel with prostitutes when the city Red Light district was addressed with change and civic improvements. Another constraint is weather and the elements which will affect the signs. The life of the signs will be longer, if consideration is given to UV rays from the sun, and moisture which may fade the sign.
Use in or near riparian areas could impact riparian vegetation and habitats, and create increased pressures on the wetlands, and waterfowl adversely affecting the habitat for plant and animal species. Interpretation can mitigate this constraint because, generally, the more knowledge and understanding which people and visitors have of the natural features and processes, the more they respect them in a stewardship role. Interpretation, encourages visitor and user learning experience with satisfaction, enjoyment and making the experience relevant to their lives with self discovery of the flora and fauna. The impact of 4x4, ATV, snowmobiles, and other motorized vehicles illegally trespassing in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area may be a safety issue for the interpretive signs until the vehicle restriction barriers are implemented. More than one rendition of the artistic design would test their appeal on a preliminary audience, which would mitigate limitations brought about by a lack of well thought out artistic design or text.
Development of a set of criteria to determine both the impact of the signs upon the environment of your RSBBAA, and to measure the readership of the viewers.
Signs need consistent maintenance and cleaning. Graffiti, is indeed, a concern in a city setting. A programme needs to be developed to check if signs are damaged and maintained.
A method to develop new information along with permanent signage. New methods of interpretation, messages, and new pieces of history can be added by integrating new technologies such as a website, or smartphone app, will allow information to be up to date, as well as accessible to those who are blind or hard of seeing.
Signs can add clutter to the scenic, bucolic views in your RSBBAA riparian forest, and along the wetlands. An assessment needs to be made of traffic, and how the sign is contributing to the interest and ability to photograph the environment.
Funding will be based on support given to date through the FSAA.
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The size of each sign will be determined based on its location, functionality and the pool of funds currently available. It is expected that large signs will be limited to about three at suitable places, and QR codes used across the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area only in pertinent places and the proposal is to use the existing 4x4 posts for these small signs. The cell coverage is not a constraint, as there is a cell tower within the Chappell Train yards to the north of Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area providing excellent coverage. Agreements will need to be given to enable QR codes to link to pertinent websites, YouTube, AudioTour etc. Resistance to change by urban dwellers who are not naturalists, botanists, biologists, etc. are very used to urban grey- space, as opposed to the needs, pre-requisites and requirements of the flora and fauna and it is the adherence of naturalized conservation factors which creates a resistance to change. People and groups who are not stewards of the greenspace try to slow down or derail the conservation opportunities which arise. Changes can produce challenges, and it is these very challenges which create opportunities for change, improvement and
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Figure 34 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area autumn
2.1.6.4 Dependencies
The interpretive panels will be dependent upon the MVA to provide guidelines as to a good fit with existing South Saskatchewan River Valley interpretive signs. The interpretive panel design will be dependent upon approval and guidance from the City of Saskatoon Recreation Services Manager and Open Space Consultants. Community collaboration will receive assistance from the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, the Saskatoon Public School Division and the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division. The Saskatoon Nature Society, SOS Elms Coalition, Ducks Unlimited, University of Saskatchewan, Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan, SaskOutdoors, International Tree Foundation, Tree Canada, MVA, WWF, Saskatoon Heritage Society, Saskatoon Horticultural Society, etc are all local groups who have stewardship, mentoring and education capacities as a part of their purposes.
2.1.7 Scope
2.1.7.1 Boundaries
The hardware and wooden construction posts and framing materials to support the ACP panels. The ACP panels, design, text and graphic artwork. The funding of field trips for the classrooms invested in the project for a pre-survey trip to assist in the sign research and a follow up trip to view the signs completed under the collaborative effort after the project completion. Seeking volunteer manpower from a diverse network of community service groups for assistance with installation and auguring.
2.1.7.2 Stakeholder Analysis
Business Needs and Desired Outcomes Summary:
The case for change is established and the need for investment is clearly defined.
Checklist:
The pertinent facts of the business case are provided in a clear and concise fashion.
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Phase 1 Checklist: The following questions are answered:
Where are we now? – by describing the current business environment
Where do we want to be? – by describing the business objectives
What is the business need? – by describing the problem or opportunity facing the organization and the associated proposed investment
What has triggered the need for change? – by describing the drivers for change
What are we trying to achieve? – by describing the business’ desired outcomes
What is the strategic fit? – by describing how the proposed investment maps to the departmental framework and its goals, priorities, outcomes, and policies, as well as to those of the government
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3 Phase 2: Analysis and Recommendation
3.1 Preliminary Options Analysis
3.1.1 Evaluation Criteria
“Effective interpretation is successful in creating opportunities for people to form their own intellectual and emotional connections to the meanings and significance associated with a place.” David L. Larsen In a curriculum-based setting there are evaluation criteria, in the following quotation, the assessment for the evaluation of the impact of the interpretive program is also a summative process on the visitor experience and to provide a feed back loop for opportunities and improvements. “Assessment is basically a formative process in which information on students’ knowledge, skills, and understandings is fed back into the instructional process and used to improve instruction and student learning. Evaluation is basically a summative process in which teachers use information on students’ knowledge, skills, and understandings to make value judgements about student performance.” Banks & Banks, 1999, p. 464 Assessment involves the systematic collection of information about visitor learning with respect to: • achievement of RSBBAA societal needs and desired outcomes • effectiveness of interpretive strategies employed • tourist, visitor and user self-reflection on learning. Evaluation compares assessment information against criteria based on interpretive program outcomes for the purpose of communicating to visitors, stakeholders, stewards, users, tourists, and others about the greenspace progress and to make informed decisions about the natural and heritage resource teaching and learning process. Reporting of visitor satisfaction must be based on the achievement of interpretive programme outcomes. [adapted from Saskatchewan Curriculum]
• Do the interpretive signs include an explanation of afforestation, the natural, historical, geological and human history of this greenspace? Is the information accurate? • Do the signs contextualize the afforestation area in larger climate change and greenspace environmental issues? • Do the signs accurately convey key information about the afforestation area? • Are the chosen plants fully and accurately identified? • Are the chosen animals also fully and accurately identified? • Are the signs visually clear, stimulating, engaging and well-designed? • What kind of student self-evaluation, city, MVA, FSAA, community and teacher evaluation will take place for the learning, planning and installation process? • Does the interpretive experience foster pleasure for the visitor experience? • Can a key indicator to the interpretive program’s success improve the visitor confidence to walk and explore in your RSBBAA? • Do the messages raise awareness of your RSBBAA heritage resources, and notable aspects? • Is the perception of safety improved and increased? • Do the elements of your RSBBAA interpretive program contribute or improve the greenspace environment? • Are some heritage resource themes well represented, and others do not receive attention? • Evaluation monitors the public engagement and interaction with the maintenance of your RSBBAA greenspace. • Surveys are conducted to evaluate the visitor experience, satisfaction, and repeat visit dynamic. • Assessment and appraisal determine if the interpretive program emphasized the right messages – as a theme- and at individual sites. • Is the finished product eye catching, and do the graphics and text match the theme of the message or story?
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• What is feedback from the various sites? • Overall has the stakeholder use, knowledge and attitudes changed regarding your RSBBAA? • How did the interpretive experience connect with the visitor activity? • Which part of the interpretive experience was enjoyed the most (Least)? Why? • From which segment of the interpretation programming did you learn the most? (Least?) • Was there an important fact, or item that you learned about? • Did the interpretive programme include sensory awareness, physical involvement, guided interaction, creativity, fun, novelty? • Do warning signs allocate a changeable component to identify the varying levels of risk (changing fire / drought conditions of the area) • Do the interpretive signs include approved MVA and City of Saskatoon symbols? • Is the design team familiar with the site? • Did the GPS planning map collect all the relevant GPS coordinates for existing and proposed signs? How did the site plan correspond to visitor satisfaction? • Follow through annually to determine if there are missing signs. • Are all the interpretive sites in good condition? Record a note of the site in changed circumstances. • Are the sites no longer needed or inappropriate, or is another site needed?
3.1.2 List the Possible Options
“If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.” Wallace Stegner.
Option 1 methodology The trailhead interpretive signs which are the larger “permanent” ACP signs would be formally written by the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas under the advice and guidance of the City of Saskatoon Community Services Department and in the style of the MVA South Saskatchewan River trail signs. Engage students in inquiry based a learning educational experience to create the content for the annual online version of the interpretive education experience which can be accessed by a QR code posted on a 4x4 sign post at various trail junctions. In conjunction with the Education Coordinator at the Saskatoon Environmental Society and the engage a local school involved with the Student Action for a Sustainable Future (SASF) which is an action and inquiry project for grade 5 – 8 students in Saskatoon. With the new neighbourhoods coming in, this program could be expanded to include the new neighbourhood schools, as well as the existing local schools. The grades 7-8 students could mentor grade 5-6 classes on field trips, with a division of work. Perhaps the older grades create the text, and the younger grades, the graphics? Find a school that wants a longer-term commitment to the space so that after the SASF class is done, the school continues to come to the site and use it in a variety of ways. Having a local school, or program like this “adopt” the site would mean that each year new students would build on what the students accomplished the previous years. Educators could be enlightened about resources, indicators and social factors of the resources which correlate to the existing grade 5-8 curriculum and the school programming for eco-quest, eco-justice or science trek. A public participation strategy is necessary. A map and inventory can be made which will guide the project in regards to the physical and management component. A prescription is laid out assigning potential zones to specific resources of the project. Each zone would have a specific resource indicator. This prescription brings forward the awareness of each environment, and the level of visitor experience which can be expected along the trail, responding to where, when, why, what, or who declarations.
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Teachers and students could identify seasonal recreational opportunities and their environmental indicators, and forestry management activities. Classes can examine the indicators of the experience in the forest, the what they think are opportunities for public use, how best to protect the various natural and cultural resources, and how the forest can be Put into practice the measures selected, teachers can supervise the students as they incorporate place-based learning into various curriculum modules, art, writing, science etc. Students become aware of the natural state in the afforestation area, and seek to explore and connect the natural and cultural resources which they have been studying to the interpretive area they are developing. With conversation, students can select the key indicators, and controls which they would like to see for the afforestation area. Follow up classes can use a similar methodology, and evaluate existing signs for the next year’s consideration. Classes can monitor the feedback of visitor experiences. The process combines the balance between scientific research, and subjective learning. Teachers provide the basic groundwork to stimulate the enquiry-based learning, and the method of evaluation. The advantages are that teachers can assist the student in enquiry-based learning model to decide on the conditions related to resources and research to help to build upon the base material. Resources such as the Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds at the University of Saskatchewan Special Collections or community experts could be accessed for further research-oriented lesson plans
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Figure 35Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
By involving grade 5-8 students’ environmental leadership, history and cultural, geological messages can best be developed by beginning at a young age, and reinforced through daily activities, inquiry-based learning and teaching. This process incorporates opportunities based on analysis and synthesis of working ideas and concepts. The final product is strategic, and can adopt indicators which can change with every school year. The students become engaged in the city of Saskatoon, its heritage and environmental resources and they can take pride in their environment. Visitors and users become aware of the ecological and social cultural heritage, but can also be refreshed and stimulated by the fresh viewpoint of youth Students, visitors and users all become involved in the evaluation of the site and the indicators within the interpretive sign. Up front, there are formal declarations of the purpose of the interpretive signs, and the main themes of interpretation. Restrictions are laid out, and a prescription is put forward which defines the quality of resources and visitor experience.
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Figure 36 Richard St. Barbe Baker Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan, Special Collections, Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71 Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Teachers and students become aware that the process may involve further analysis or approval by the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Area, the MVA and the City of Saskatoon community services department. Teachers and students may welcome also an opportunity to speak before the Saskatoon Environment Advisory committee in their learning experience. Engage the offer from Ducks Unlimited to utilize their photo database for resources for the interpretive online panels created by the students. A weakness would be to carry out the supervision necessary for guiding the management actions. A strength is the teachers are trained educators, and those wishing to become involved would have a passion for the interpretive sign purpose, therefore providing strong direction to inquiry base learning to enrich the lives of students. A strength of this option is that is flexible, and permits adaptations, and modifications of the indicators. Create an inventory of interpretive messages to be placed online to correspond to the OCR sign using such free online hosting services as You Tube, Word Press, Rootsweb, AudioTour, etc. Worked on by the students, and catalogue it online with an all-encompassing eco-tour website which provides a virtual tour experience of the Afforestation Area. FSAA in conjunction with city and MVA would work on the content for the interpretive panels to introduce school project, introduce the various resources outlined in the statement of significance for your RSBBAA, with a main impetus on messages introduced in the desired outcome. “Seeing the world through the eyes of a child is the purest joy that anyone can experience.” Constance Zimmer Option 2 methodology In conjunction with the Education Coordinator at the Saskatoon Environmental Society Involve grade 8 programs like eco-quest, eco-justice, or Montgomery’s science trek.
Engage in the above points for Option 1 methodology using the grade 8 curriculum rather than the grade 5-8 curriculum. “If I had my child to raise all over again, I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less. I’d do less correcting, and more connecting. I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes. I would care to know less, and know to care more. I'd take more hikes and fly more kites. I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play. I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars. I'd do more hugging, and less tugging. I would be firm less often, and affirm much more. I'd build self esteem first, and the house later. I'd teach less about the love of power, and more about the power of love.” Diana Loomans Option 3 methodology Use the team of the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas to work on the entire project without outside community input, including the webpages, YouTube videos, or AudioTours which synch to QR codes as well as the ACP interpretive panels which includes to date, environmentalists, outfitter, graphic artist, education assistant, meteorologist, marketer, historian, writer, and researcher. “Somehow, you need to cling to your optimism. Always look for the silver lining. Always look for the best in people. Try to see things through the eyes of a child. See the wonder in the simplest things. Never stop dreaming. Believe anything is possible.” Richie Sambora Option 4 methodology With a larger investment, hire a professional marketer to work on the entire project, online correlation to QR codes with GPS tracking, and the design of the interpretive panels.
“There are many ways to seek wisdom. There is travel, there are masters, there is service. There is staring into the eyes of children and elders and lovers and strangers. There is sitting silently in one spot and there is being swept along in life's turbulent current. Life itself will grant you wisdom in ways you may neither understand nor choose. It is up to you to be open to all these sources of wisdom and to embrace them with your whole heart.” Kent Nerburn
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Option 5 methodology Acquire images, quotations and/or poems from students as the input for the graphics for the OCR web pages which compliment the ACP panels, and overall vision, theme and heritage purposes. FSAA places aligns those web page inputs online to correspond to the OCR sign using such free online hosting services as You Tube, Word Press, Rootsweb, AudioTour, etc. FSAA in conjunction with city and MVA would work on the content for the interpretive panels to introduce school project, introduce the various resources outlined in the statement of significance for your RSBBAA, with a main impetus on messages introduced in the desired outcome Option 6 methodology
A combination of the above options. “Children are always looking at the world as if it was for the first time in their lives. So, we should always look to the world with the eyes of a child. I am not saying be naive, I am saying be innocent in the sense of discovering things.” Paulo Coelho
3.1.2.1 The Status Quo
The status quo for signs would be the Meewasin Valley interpretive signs used along the South Saskatchewan River multi-purpose trail and the TransCanada Trail, the Winter Trail Network signs installed in your RSBBAA, and City of Saskatoon signs installed in the SW OLRA.
3.1.2.2 Describing the Option
3.1.3 Alignment
Strategic alignment enables higher satisfaction by optimizing the contributions of people, processes, and inputs to the realization of measurable objectives and, thus, minimizing waste and misdirection of effort and resources to unintended or unspecified purposes. Interpretive sign panels lead to greenspace visitor fulfillment and user satisfaction as the educational messages are aligned with the resources of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas. The interpretive panels honour and recognize the strategic goals of quality of life and environmental leadership of the City of Saskatoon. The signs are in alignment and offer continuity with the MVA South Saskatchewan River Valley signage.
The proposal for interpretive signs is in alignment with current investments and current operations such as the Winter City Trail Network signs placed by the Fatlanders Fat Tire Brigade. The current signs are directional wayfinding map signs which do not overlap nor contrast with the proposed interpretive plan. The interpretive signs would serve to enhance the experience for users of the trail network by enhancing the educational experience for all visitors to the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas.
3.1.4 Strategic Alignment
The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc has five charitable purposes as follows; 1/ To protect the environment for the benefit of the public by conserving or restoring ecosystems and biodiversity on a long-term basis at the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, which were preserved in perpetuity by City of Saskatoon Council in 1972.
Therefore, interpretive signs educate visitors about the ecosystem and biodiversity.
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2/ To protect the environment for the benefit of the public by reducing pollution and by cleaning up illegal trash dumping in the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas through addressing land dump sites and monitoring wetlands and greenspaces for instances of illegal dumping
Promoting and commemorating your greenspace, your RSBBAA, increases community appreciation or pride. Interpretive signs bring attention to the environment, engage understanding of consequences, and desired responses, modify beliefs and attitudes regarding interaction within the afforestation area as to why it is special and why it should be protected, and to enhance motivation. Signs provide provocative stories, information and education on interpretive signs icons, “leave no trace,” and” pack it in, pack it out” messages.
3/ To provide public amenities by maintaining the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas.
Interpretive signs bring attention to public amenities in your RSBBAA. Interpretive signs are themselves a useful public amenity as they are a desireable, useful, and advantageous resource, and opportunity increasing enjoyment
4/ To protect and preserve significant heritage sites by ensuring safety, restoring, developing, and maintaining the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas with a view to commemorating the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas and educating the public about it. Commemorate; honor and respect the past, celebrate the present and provide a legacy for the future.
Interpretive signs are a pre-eminent way to commemorate the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas and educate the public.
5/ To receive and maintain a fund or funds and to apply all or part of the principal and income therefrom, from time to time, to qualified donees as defined in subsection 149.1(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada).
To work in conjunction with the registered qualified charitie..
.
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3.1.4.1 Alignment with Desired Community Outcomes
3.1.5 Costs
Figure 37 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
“Love is where attentiveness to nature starts, and responsibility towards one’s home landscape is where it leads.” – John Elder (1998)
Interpretive Signs to expound upon the wonders of the semi-wilderness flora and fauna, would help to grow interest in the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, and increase the knowledge of the natural environment at the same time - a win win! The following is a breakdown of pricing lists for this plan, and some material has been received as "donation in kind" which is wonderful to bring the costs down, for sure!
3.1.6 Project Budget and Financial Information
Please indicate the estimated expenses and revenue sources for the entire project. Do not complete the shaded ‘Actual’ column. Indicate confirmed revenue with an * (asterisk); and if known, indicate expenses with an * (asterisk).
REVENUE (indicate * if confirmed) Amount Actual EcoFriendly 2016 $500.00* $
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SaskEnergy 2016 $500.00* $ SaskOutdoors 2019 $500.00* $ EcoFriendly Sask 2019 $500.00* $ Other: $ Total Revenue $ $ EXPENSES $2,000.00 $ 4x4 pressurized posts x 10 foot ? 25x$15.54=$388.50 2x4 x8 pressurized wood 5x$6.37=$31.85 ½” 4’x9’ Plywood backing sheet=$27.55 Package 100 each 1.5” screws 2x$6.78=$13.56 Pkg 2 Zinc pin hinges 12x$2.54 (boxes only)=$30.48 Contact Cement $14.97 Wood Glue (boxes only) $11.52 Eerie Post Hole Auger $79.99 SubTotal $598.42 GST PST taxes on above Sub total $598.42 x 10%=59.84 Total Construction Costs $658.26 $658.26 3-3/8 inch x 4-1/2 inch ACP sign $1.25x50=$62.50 5” x 36” ACP sign 2x$13.00=$26.00 12” x 12” ACP sign 4x$15.00=$60.00 30”x 40 “ ACP sign ?x$83.00 36”x24” ACP sign 4x$60.00=$240.00 Total Materials Charge $388.50 taxes on 388.50 Graphic Arts layout fee to ACP $22.50 Router Charge for ACP panels $125.00 Total ACP Sign Contractor $574.85 $574.85 Expenses 2016 $380.00* Classroom Bus Trips 3 x$130.00 each. $390.00 Total Expenses SURPLUS OR (DEFICIT) =>Surplus
$2003.11 $ $3.11 $
An in-kind contribution is a gift of goods or services – typically goods or services that your organization would have to otherwise buy if they hadn’t been donated. Volunteer hours are not considered in-kind contributions..
IN-KIND ITEMS Amount Actual Plywood pieces brochure holders or touch / feel $55.10 $ interpretive boxes or peek-a-boo boxes with viewing holes or bird houses Paint 2 gallons x $40.00 $80.00 $
TOTAL IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS $135.10 $
Projected costs would be replacement of panels in case of damage which would require both the set-up fee, the router charge, the ACP material as well as the graphics charge.
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Additional costs would be that the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas would be in a position to enable the funding of school bus transport of the school students involved in either options which include interpretive sign web page creations by the classrooms. Each class should be able to have a preliminary view of the afforestation area and educational experience to have experienced the area before furthering their own research. The classrooms should be able to have another trip funded by the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas to the afforestation area after their interpretive panel work is published so they can come out to the afforestation area to view their results.
3.1.7 Volunteer hours
Creation of layout and the vector graphics EPS files composed from text and art imagery for the ACP panels. Installation of the posts, boxes, and sings. Field Trip arrangement Organisation Strategy management partnerships Meetings
3.1.8 Cost-Benefit Analysis
3.1.9 Impact
At the current moment in time, the City of Saskatoon is approving installations of a “temporary” nature which can be removed depending on the formulation of the Blairmore Sector Plan. However, the long-range planners, feel that it is not a waste of money to go ahead with fund-raising to preserve and protect the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Approval has been received during the initial meeting stages with the city of Saskatoon as owners of the land. Should the interpretive signs be a successful endeavour for the City of Saskatoon, and the community collaborations, as a non-profit group, there is capacity to further the purposes of the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas into the future.
3.1.9.1 Contracting and Procurement
3.1.9.2 Schedule and Approach
3.1.9.3 Impact
There are signs, programs, and events which occur already in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Interpretive partners are those who have provided the funding towards the interpretive signs. The Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area currently exists as a utility corridor for Sask Energy and Trans Gas pipeline. In addition to its use as a utility corridor, the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is also an important corridor for wildlife such as the White tail deer, Great Blue Heron, American Pelican, Ruddy Duck, and American golden plover for example.
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3.1.9.4 Capacity
Within the originating members of the Friends of the Afforestation Area, there is a diverse group of talented individuals who have found it worthwhile to further the purposes of the Friends of the Afforestation Area.
3.1.10 Risk
Vandalism is a risk, i.e. graffiti, tampering, etc. however existing signs are not hampered. Damage by illegal trespass by ORV, which is addressed by; Damage by weather and UV rays, which can be considered thusly; Safety or liability associated with the risk of accident due to poor maintenance; Seasonal changes and / or disproportionate attraction and visitor frequency to sign sites. Costs of the risks. Responsibility of the maintenance issues. Current budget and expected budget trajectory. Revision costs. On all larger ACP signs create a border or engage the CNIB for visual acuity accessibility and to reduce the rise of collision by non-motorized visitors and users. Too much text, or poor visual acuity with small text. Poor balance and juxtaposition of information to graphics for the design and layout. Grammatical, typographical errors. Conflicting or redundant signs which diminish credibility. Inaccurate information fostering suspicion, mistrust, misplaced attributions and misunderstandings. Decorative graphics rather than graphics which enhance the heritage resource interpretive experience. Not creating a powerful, relevant, “wow factor” and dynamic title and sub-title. Unpopular, inappropriate, or politically incorrect imagery or text. Appealing to the diversity of users, stakeholders, stewards, and visitors to the park to mitigate confrontation and opposition. Increased users to appreciate the rich introductory heritage model may have an increased visitor entrance to the fragile hydro-riparian greenspace and wetlands.
3.1.11 Advantages and Disadvantages
Disadvantages Disadvantages would be that specific questions cannot be answered. One perceived disadvantage may be that specific questions cannot be immediately answered, however curiosity may be aroused and stimulated for independent research and discovery by your RSBBAA visitor. A disadvantage to the interpretive signs is that they cannot be all inclusive, and present the visitor with interpretation of the unexpected. Interpretive signs create a lasting memory and impression of the area, of Richard St. Barbe Baker, B.T. Chappell, Christopher Yorath, and the City of Saskatoon.
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Another disadvantage is that maintenance is required to keep the interpretive signs attractive, readable and efficient. Including community support, and student input would affect any time constraints. An interpretive sign design lens only allows the user experience through the eyes of a single design principle. The visitor or user may perceive signs as an inappropriate intrusion to a natural landscape. Advantage The main advantage is that installation of interpretive signs which instill pride, joy and awareness of the heritage resources in your RSBBAA provide the greenspace with perhaps the most vital and imperative job in any setting— ensuring the safety of the visitor, the general public. Intriguing interpretive programming creates easy-to-use, valuable, and lasting experiences of your RSBBAA visit. Interpretive signs protect the visitor, the tourist, the user of your RSBBAA. Affective and cognitive components encourage visitors to feel a profound personal connection to significant and notable objects, heritage, places, historical personages, and cultures. Places which are difficult to access such as wetlands, or regions which are fragile are identified through an interpretive story. Interpretation works to protect the actual resource, as well as affording human experience, interaction and enjoyment of the resource. Topics which are historical in nature such as the heritage Old Bone Trail, biographical accounts of famous and notable persons, geological processes cannot be experienced directly, and their memory and legacy comes to the forefront from an unique interpretive experience. Interpretive programming promotes the strategic goals of the city, the purposes of the MVA the FSAA, the donors, the SES, green groups, the schools, and the students experience. The ravages regarding current status quo fuel the negative process and experience of disillusion in regards to your RSBBAA. This mindset, prejudice, and prevailing stereotype is replaced and subsumed with motivational, stimulating, rousing and exhilarating interpretive signs. Celebration, immersion and commemoration of the enriching significance of your RSBBAA heritage awakens new meaningful qualities and understandings for the visitor experience at RSBBAA
Interpretive signs have as a primary function interpretation to divulge, inspire, and introduce the visitor about to a brief natural, geological, the human geography or historical interpretation of the trail site in your RSBBAA heritage site. This creates a holistic impact and resonates, and reinforces the value, and reason to commemorate the legacy and treasure which the City of Saskatoon has at your RSBBAA heritage site.
The advantage of having changing online interpretive stories and messages is the cultural enrichment. These temporary works create continued interest and intrigue as users and visitors become aware that the interpretive message is dynamic, changing, and upgraded from year to year. Visitors and users become a part of the caring, closely interconnected, emotionally rewarding exploration as they participate in the interpretive adventure portrayed by the student research, craftsmanship and artistic collaborations. Visitors and users become engaged in a positive climate becoming involved with the student perceptions, and the educational philosophy and pedagogy of inquiry-based learning.
“If we experienced life through the eyes of a child, everything would be magical and extraordinary. Let our curiosity, adventure and wonder of life never end.” Akiane Kramarik
Advantages arise when travellers stop to partake in the interpretive experience, and illegal trash dumping, garbage volumes and illegal trespass decline.
The user and visitor footprint has increased exponentially, and is forecast to continue to do so with the proposed designs of the P4G and City of Saskatoon long term planners. As the user and visitor arrives at your RSBBAA
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area interpretive signs have an invaluable mandate to make everyone who arrives aware of the footprint that they leave on the environment.
The visitor or users is given a rewarding opportunity for their personal interaction and participation with your RSBBAA greenspace.
An opportunity exists to expand partnerships, which expands safe, proper and respectful use in the greenspace and fosters stewardship of your RSBBAA
To protect your RSBBAA in perpetuity it is therefore logical to advise the visitor of their responsibility – their ability to respond- to the fragility of the hydro-riparian area and its diverse taxonomy. Interpretive signs have the ability to communicate conduct, etiquette, outdoor ethics and environmental stewardship to visitors and users in order to keep or improve this limited eco-system of natural resources.
Interpretive signs, delay the visitor while they are experiencing the full vitality of your RSBBAA. If they are out of town tourists, this can delay their stay in Saskatoon, increasing the vitality of the tourist economy supporting Saskatoon’s strategic goal of continuous improvement.
The visitor or tourist can proceed at their own pace, not wait for a scheduled guided tour, not keep up with a group if they wish to fulfill their own interests, photography, bird-watching, etc.
The atmosphere and appearance of the interpretive programming influences user and visitor impressions of your RSBBAA and its image.
The interpretive stories and messages are carried forward by pamphlet or word – of – mouth producing a ripple effect of natural curiosity.
The benefits of interpretive signs create a strong foundation of beliefs within park visitors about protecting the delicate balance between humanity and the environment. Would not this nature viewing site be better off from informed decision making, so that visitors who come to appreciate the site support initiatives for conservation.
Less manpower is required.
Interpretive signs assist the visitor in their transition from one culture to another. The extent and nature of culture shock and the general expression of visitor - wild animal encounters have special qualities. The competency of the visitor from the urban environment would be so much more enriched with interpretive signs which mitigate the city dweller’s difficulties and anxieties while they experience and appreciate the semi-wilderness habitat. At the same time the interpretive signs offer creative comforting and reassuring solutions to what they are seeing while guiding their patterns of behaviour from the greyscape environment which they are familiar with to a healthy appreciation of the vulnerable natural greenspace environment. Environmental leadership, Citizen Science inspirations, or quality of life improvements messages and stories all enhance the knowledge, enjoyment, satisfaction and experience of the diversity, and resources which abound at your RSBBAA.
Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. Henry David Thoreau
“On – the – spot,” on-site interpretive activities provide self-guiding facilities. Interpretive signs satisfy the desire of immediate gratification for the visitor in your RSBBAA, while mitigating environmental and personal exploitation of the greenspace resources. Insightful interpretive stories and messages reduce negative consequences and strengthen the visitor – greenspace social encounter.
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A positive correlation is strengthened as behavioral beliefs, attitudes and behaviors create new interactions with regards to the greenspace and its environment.
Interpretation at its best, builds public concern for our local heritage, and cultural treasures, the fascinating, tantalizing and beckoning resources of your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.
Viable Options Summary:
Building on the preliminary analysis of options, each viable option is subjected to increasing analytical rigor.
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Phase 3 Checklist: The following questions are answered:
Where and how will the investment fit within the organization’s broader governance and oversight structure? – by describing the governance and oversight strategy for the investment
How will the project be managed and reviewed throughout its lifecycle? – by describing the project management strategy for the investment
How will the business outcomes be realized? – by describing the outcome management strategy for the investment
How will the business risks be mitigated and managed? – by describing the risk management strategy for the investment
How will change be managed and implemented? – by describing the change management strategy for the investment
How will performance be measured? – by defining the project implementation and benefits realization performance measurement strategy
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4. Conclusion
A case can be made that interpretive signs at your greenspace, the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area will enhance the 7 Strategic goals which guide the City of Saskatoon into the future. A Culture of Continuous Improvement is promoted by the interpretive messages providing high quality heritage services, encouraging high standards of performance, and building a better city is reinforced and promoted by the interpretive sign investment. Social well-being, greenspace safety, heritage and culture is enriched via interpretation supporting the strategic goal of Quality of Life. Interpretive signs bring attention to the rich taxonomic diversity and help protect the eco-system sustaining and promoting the City of Saskatoon’s strategic goal of Environmental Leadership. Heritage and natural values commemorated and valued reinforce and endows the noble efforts of the City of Saskatoon which has indeed made an investment into “what matters.” Interpretive signs improve the return on the investment made by the City of Saskatoon in 1960 and the second investment made by the City of Saskatoon in the 1972 tree planting Green Survival Project, thus supporting asset and financial sustainability. As the city of Saskatoon grows, and the Blairmore Sector neighbourhoods and P4G south west employment sectors are added, interpretive signs redoubles the enjoyment of the visitor and tourist to your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and ensures that the delight and increased utilisation of your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area sustains and improves the health of the resource thereby honouring the Strategic Goal of Sustainable Growth. Interpretive signs revitalize, and bring forward the enjoyment of this natural resource encouraging repeat visits to the afforestation area reinforcing active transportation and therefore, boosting the strategic goal of Moving Around. Interpretive signs communicate the language of the scientist, the voices of the past, and the significance of your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area greenspace. Your Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area thus commemorated and valued with meanings and connections for the people of the present and the future builds and strengthens our civic image. Tourism is a wealth, job creator and one of the largest industries which supports and builds the Strategic Goal of Economic Diversity & Prosperity for the city of Saskatoon.
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Appendix 1-References Bibliography
ACEE (2017), High School English and Environmental Education. Emerald Award Winner, Alberta Council for Environmental Education. Advancing Environmental Education in Alberta., retrieved August 12, 2019 AUNE MSEE MS in Environmental Studies, Environmental Education. Concentration Components (PDF), Antioch University, New England, June 2, 2017, retrieved August 12, 2019 Barbazza, Joanne (2019), Peninsula shores students bring wetlands education to Wiarton, Ducks Unlimited, retrieved August 12, 2019 Carter, Mike (June 23, 2015), McLeod Elementary School unveils Interpretive Forest project, Alaska Highway News. The Mirror, retrieved August 12, 2019 Chesney, Lisa; Gies, Kari; Cottle, Dorinda (January 2008), 2007 Annual Report North Mountain Park Nature Center (PDF), Ashland Parks and Recreation Staff. City of Ashland, Oregon, retrieved August 12, 2019 Clark, Delia (December 2008), Learning to Make Choices for the Future. Connecting Public Lands, Schools, and Communities through Place-based Learning and Civic Engagement (PDF), The Center for Place-based Learning and Community Engagement. A Forest for every classroom (FFEC) Learning to Make Choices for the Future, retrieved August 12, 2019 Clow, Caitlin (January 24, 2017), Halton students create new interpretive signs for Beauvais Lake, Pincher Creek Echo, retrieved August 12, 2019 Cockett, Polly Knowlton; Huang, Yu (May 5, 2016), School Partnerships are Key to Vibrant and Sustainable Cities, The Nature of Cities. Many voices. Greener cities. Better cities., retrieved August 12, 2019 CoS (August 2012), City of Saskatoon Heritage Policy and Program Review (PDF), City of Saskatoon. Community Services. Planning and Development., retrieved August 13, 2019 Dahn, Denise (December 19, 2013), Wild Home, Dahn Design. Denise Dahn, artist/writer an artistic, imaginative look at nature and the world, retrieved August 12, 2019 Demee-Benoit, Delia (April 7, 2006), Appreciating Local History: A Place-Based-Learning Project Brings the Past Alive. Social and Emotional Learning/, George Lucas Educational Foundation. Edutopia, retrieved August 12, 2019 Deacon, D'Arcy (May 2017), STEM and TEK: Blazing a trail between 21st century and traditional ways of knowing, Transformative Educational Leadership Journal. TELjournal.ca, retrieved August 12, 2019 Education and Outreach, Elk River Alliance, n.d., retrieved August 12, 2019 Egan, Dave; Hjerpe, Evan E.; Abrams, Jesse (2012). Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration: Integrating Science, Nature, and Culture the Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration Series (illustrated ed.). Island Press. ISBN 1610910397, 9781610910392 EPA (1995), Great Grants: Environmental Education Success Stories of EPA Region 10, National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP). United States Environmental Protection Agency, retrieved August 12, 2019 FJMES students and Wild School Winter, East Kootenay News Online Weekly, February 22, 2017, retrieved August 12, 2019 FRLT (January 23, 2015), A Student's Legacy: QHS Senior Creates Interpretive Signs for Learning Landscape, Feather River Land Trust, retrieved August 12, 2019 Green, Monica; Somerville, Margaret; Potts, Miriam (March 2013), Place-based education for sustainability in Gippsland Schools. (PDF), University of Western Sydney, Kingswood, NSW, Australia, ISBN 978-1-74108-274-6, 978- 1-74108-275-3 Gruenewald, David A; Smith, Gregory A (2014), Place-Based Education in the Global Age: Local Diversity (illustrated, reprint ed.), Routledge, ISBN 1317670620, 9781317670629 Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help), retrieved August 12, 2019
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Handke, Michelle (June 8, 2017), Creating Interpretive Signage for the Kids Creek Watershed, Nature Change Conversations about conservation and climate., retrieved August 12, 2019
Hynd, Tamara (paril 24, 2015), Redfish Elementary create signs for Harrop wetlands. The large interpretive signs have been placed in the restored Harrop wetlands and were unveiled to the students today., Nelson Star, retrieved August 12, 2019 IDPR (2018), Tammany Creek Restoration and Living Classroom Project (PDF), Idaho Parks and Recreation, retrieved August 12, 2019 ICOMOS (2013), The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, 2013 (Adopted 31.10.2013) (PDF) (International Council on Monuments and Sites ed.), ISBN 0 9578528 4 3, retrieved August 13, 2019 Johnson, Julie (2004), Building a multicultural learning community through the nature of place. (Re) constructing Communities. Design Participation in the Face of Change (PDF), Jeff Hou Landscape Architecture. University of Washington, retrieved August 12, 2019 Kudryavtsev, Alex (June 14, 2017), School Partnerships. Urban EE Essays , NAAEE. North American Association for Environmental Education retrieved August 12, 2019 Manahan, David (May 11, 2018), Principal's Corner: The importance of expeditions at Sierra Expeditionary Learning School, Sierra Sun, retrieved August 12, 2019 MVA (2011), Annual Report 2010-2011 Celebrating the Meewasin Valley (PDF), Meewasin, retrieved August 12, 2019
MVA Heritage file No. 29.16.0
NE MI GLSI (2006 n.d.), Inland Lakes Provides Place-based Education (PDF), Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (NE MI GLSI), retrieved August 12, 2019 NPS (2015), Natural Partners. The National Park Service and the American Society of Landscape Architects: community assistance partnership. (PDF), National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Rivers Trails and Conservation Assistance Program, retrieved August 12, 2019 NTU (n.d.), The Foundations of Place-based Learning (PDF), Nha Trang University, retrieved August 12, 2019 NWF (n.d.), Section V Assembling the Elements. Schoolyard habitats How to Guide (PDF), The National Wildlife Federation, retrieved August 12, 2019 ON Ministry of Education (n.d.), Proven Environmental Projects from the Great Northwest. Cedar Bay Interpretive Project. (PDF), Ontario Ministry of Education, retrieved August 12, 2019 Past Webinars, Green Teacher, 2019, retrieved August 12, 2019 PLT (2019), Using technology as an entry tool to nature, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, retrieved August 12, 2019 Range, Ridley (January 15, 2014), Classroom birding - Citizen Science for year long environmental education, Epiphanies in Environmental Education. Curriculum Beyond the Classroom, retrieved August 12, 2019 RETSD (Summer 2012), Students spruce up Transcona Park (PDF), River East Transcona School Division. The Torch, retrieved August 12, 2019 Russ, Alex; Krasny, Marianne E. (2017), Urban Environmental Education Review, Cornell University Press, retrieved August 12, 2019
Saanich Parks (2019), Interpretive Signs. Interpretive Sign Program., Saanich Parks, Victoria BC, 2019, retrieved August 12, 2019 Saskatchewan curriculum, Government of Saskatchewan, 2019, retrieved August 9, 2019
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Saskatoon History No. 1, 1980
Saskatoon “The Growth of the City” William P. Delainey and William A.S. Sargeant. 1974
Saskatoon Star Phoenix February 21, 1973
Schroeder, Brandon (February 3, 2012), Local students promote coastal tourism and put Negwegon State Park on the map, Michigan State University, retrieved August 12, 2019
Scotvold, Rod (June 14, 2017), Fernwood Elementary School Trustees' School Reports (PDF), Gulf Islands School District minutes of regular board meeting, public session, retrieved August 12, 2019
Sobel, David (n.d.), Place based Education: Connecting Classroom and Community (PDF), retrieved August 12, 2019
SES (2019), Student Action for a Sustainable Future [SASF], Saskatchewan Environmental Society, retrieved August 9, 2019
Standards and Guidelines for the conservation of historic places in Canada. (PDF) (Second Edition ed.), Canada's Historic Places, ISBN 978-1-100-15953-9, retrieved August 13, 2019
Stine, S. (1997). Landscapes for learning: Creating outdoor environments for children and youth. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons.
Thompson, Gareth; Arlidge, Sue (November 25, 2002), Five Minute field Trips (PDF), Resources4rethinking. Global, Environmental and Outdoor Education Council, retrieved August 12, 2019
UWSP (2019), School Forests, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, retrieved August 12, 2019
VIU (October 2, 2017), Community Park Master Plan 2017-2037 (PDF), Vancouver Island University. City of Parksville, retrieved August 12, 2019
WWF (2019), Go Wild School Grants, World Wildlife For Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund, retrieved August 12, 2019
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Figure 38 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
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Appendix 2 - Glossary of Acronyms and Terms
Term Definition
Acronym Name in Full 4x4 Four by Four Vehicle
ACEE Alberta Council for Environmental Education
ACP Aluminum Composite Panels
All Terrain Vehicles ATV
AUNE MSEE Antioch University Manuscript in Environmental Studies CoS City of Saskatoon
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
FFTB Fatlanders Fat Tire Brigade
FJMES Frank J. Elementary School
Friends Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas
FRLT Feather River Land Trust
FSAA Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
HPI The Historic Places Initiative
ICOMOS International Council on Monuments and Sites
IDPR Idaho Parks and Recreation
Maple Grove Leisureland
MVA Meewasin Valley Authority
NAAEE North American Association for Environmental Education NE MI GLSI Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative NPS National Park Service
NTU Nha Trang University
NWF National Wildlife Foundation
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Term Definition ORV Off Road Vehicle
PLT Project Learning Tree
RETSD River East Transcona School Division
RSBBAA Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
SNS Saskatoon Nature Society
SOS Statement of Significance
SOS Elms Coalition Save our Saskatchewan Elms Coalition
UV Ultra Violet
UWSP University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
VIU Vancouver Island University
WWF World Wildlife For Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund
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Appendix 3 - Sign Survey Forms
Each location’s preliminary site survey and resource allocation. What type of message is needed, whether identification, information, interpretation, warning? Is there something visitors can see, smell or hear at the area for interpretation? Is there something interesting at the site? Is there behavior changes which are needed causing damage or negative impacts? Objectives for each sign what could the visitor Know (Educational), Do (Behavioural) or Feel (Emotional) at this site? Is there any opportunity for hands-on approaches, firsthand experiences, or use of physical objects (peek-a-boo boxes)?
Area Location Sign Sign Distance Arrow Symbol Elevation Grade Post GPS Number Type/Size
Message
Team ID Photo ID
Area Location Sign Sign Distance Arrow Symbol Elevation Grade Post GPS Number Type/Size
Message
Team ID Photo ID
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. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (East side) Pictures of Aug. 16 at 11:00 am to 2:14 p.m summer NESW landscape views which are referred to below are online at https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ar5wRTTViW90Z69a9GMNvhGZxFM?e=o9IYYl 1) 24x36 inch trail head sign close to SWOLRA parking lot Winter Trail Network about 6 feet up from ground level. Latitude 52.100757 Longitude -106.753367 Elevation 503.7 m NESW pictures taken. Picture of post is IMG_5370 and continues to IMG 5374 2) 3 foot high wayfinding intersection 4x4 post (Be Like Bruce Trail) Latitude 525.100948 Longitude -106.752594 Elevation 504.0 m NESW pictures taken. Post is IMG 5375 and continues to IMG_5379 3) Low Bench - Hitching Post 16 inches off the ground and about 6 feet long. Nestled in snowberry bushes. Latitude 52.100954 Longitude -106.752836 Elevation 507.2 m NESW pictures taken. Low Bench is at IMG_5380 and continues to 5385 4) 4’ high wayfinding sign (Parry’s trail) Lots of Asters. Latitude 52..101118 Longitude -106.751419 Elevation 506.2 m NESW pictures taken.4x4 Post is IMG_5386 and continues to 531 5) Round 4 foot high old post. Walking north on Parry’s Trail Lots of Asters. Latitude 52.101386 Longitude -106.749931 Elevation 507.1 m NESW pictures taken.IMG 5392 TO IMG 5413 After taking NESW pics, took additional pictures of understorey and flowers After post 5 found, retraced steps southward to walk west on Be Like Bruce Trail
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6) Old wooden picnic table. Walking north on Parry’s Trail Lots of Asters. Latitude 52.100980 Longitude -106.751250 Elevation 506.2 m NESW pictures taken.IMG_5413 is the table. Took the movie at IMG_5426 and then continued westerly on trail. Poplars, Buffaloberry buses, hear squirrels, in the spring can hear Meadowlarks here. Movie filmed here. Continued walking west. Passing American Elm, Colorado Blue Spruce, Manchurian Elm, Buffaloberry. Picture of the grass seed for species. Caragana going to seed, pods turning brown. 7) NO POST Walking west on Be Like Bruce Trail Latitude 52.100869 Longitude -106.748050 Elevation 508.2 m NESW pictures taken. Here are many types of berry bushes if you look north. A dozen Golden Elders, Raspberry, Snowberry and dark red, bright red and orange berry bushes to identify from pictures positively*** Dogwood, Thistles, Conk. IMG_5439 is stopping at this location then the NESW and then wandered off northerly to get berry bush pictures.
8) NO POST Walking west on Be Like Bruce Trail Latitude 52.101048 Longitude -106.747502 Elevation 508.2 m IMG-5478 is at this site, then NESW pictures taken. Green Ash, dead tree which looks like crocodile Adaptation of both Elm and Green Ash trees with unique growth features IMG_5488-5491 Walking west on Be Like Bruce Trail A 4-1/2 foot tree in arms of Colorado Blue Spruce. Lots of Caragana. Topped Colorado Blue Spruce with an unusual upper growth pattern. IMG_5496 Sunny Grasslands allowing tall yellow flowering forbs to grow. 9) NO POST Corner, now walking north on Be Like Bruce Trail
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Latitude 52.102120 Longitude -106.2729819 Elevation 508.1 m NESW pictures taken. Img_5500- Where Be Like Bruce crosses over the old ORV trail, and the Jersey Barrier can be seen in the east. 10) Wayfinding post offering directions to Blue Pipe Walking north on Be Like Bruce Trail Latitude 52.101764 Longitude -106.743049 Elevation 508.1 m IMG_5506 NESW pictures taken. 11) Large post near parking lot of Trans Gas blue pipes near crabapple tree IMG_5511-5514 ; pinecone birdfeeder and two suet feeders for the birds Latitude 52.102210 longitude 106.742762 Elevation 506.1 m IMG_5515 21 Jersey barriers from trans gas and gate with 6“ x 6“ posts 5 feet high off the ground Pictures taken north east south west and of the gate IMG_5320 -5524
Left the gate, retraced steps southward and returned to the blue pipes trail walking west from previous wayfinding post now
12) Wayfinding post about 3 feet high 4x4 north east south west pictures taken IMG-5525-5529 latitude 52.101918 longitude -106.739972 elevation 507.2 m This is a junction of three parts however you are encouraged to continue west on dance of the trees trail A fallen popular is located here a very few chicory along this path. Elms, Buffalo Berries previous seed picture taken of the grass and a new grass also here. Colorado blue Just to the west of wayfinding post 12 looks like the red berries of a honeysuckle pictures taken for a ride he knew grass seeds picture taken
13) Round post 4 1/2 feet high picture taken IMG_5535-5539 latitude 52.101863 longitude -106.748742
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elevation 508.3 Dance of the trees goes east and west half pipe connects out northwards to the caragana path adjacent to CNR Asters white clover and yellow clover Travelling west found a chicory plant almost south-west of the golden rod patch
14) Wayfinding signs for Perry’s Trail to the south picture taken of post which is standing 3 feet out of the ground IMG-5543-5547 Latitude 52.101796 longitude -106.749905 elevation 506.5 location north east south west pictures taken mostly Elms Buffalo Berry and a Colorado blue spruce up this location Green Elm just to the west of the last white marking sign Some kind of yellow snapdragon looking flowers out here*** I don’t know what it is 15) NO POST near the scotch pine Latitude 52.101965 longitude -106.750068 elevation 506.5 location of the yellow flowers and the scotch pine IMG_5548-5566 16) not labelled post by the bike group about 3 feet off the ground at the intersection of three paths at the end of the dance of the trees trail Latitude 52.102024 longitude -106.752590 elevation 507.1 m picture of the empty post north east south west pictures IMG_5567-5571, and then pictures are walking south on the trail to trail head sign by SW OLRA parking lot. Colorado blue spruce, popular picture of some Woodland Asters little rose with the Rosehip and a little *** staghorn moss Returned to post 1) as above the trail head sign by SW OLRA parking lot.
17) A group of five posts in the East side forest, but located near to the NE corner of the SW OLRA bike group about 3 feet off the ground at the intersection of three paths at the end of the dance of the trees trail
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Latitude 52.094126 longitude -106.753862 elevation 504.0 m picture of the 4 empty post and another of the See’N Things and Wooflands post north east south west pictures. Now walking west along the north of the SW OLRA but outside of fence. 18) Post Event Route Latitude 52.102838 longitude -106.756530 elevation 503.5 m picture of post north east south west pictures. 19) Post Event Route located near the NW corner of the SW OLRA Latitude 52.102838 longitude -106.756530 elevation 503.5 m picture of post north east south west pictures.
Now these is another loop. Start in SW OLRA parking lot and enter SW OLRA 20) SW OLRA blue metal trail head sign erected by the City of Saskatoon Latitude 52.101628 longitude -106.75274 elevation 502.3 m No NESW pictures oops just north and south pictures of the sign itself. 21) Orange Cutter Latitude 52.100815 longitude -106.753820 elevation 502.8 m
Now walk to the West Gate of the SW OLRA
22) The westerly SW OLRA blue metal trail head sign erected by the City of Saskatoon Latitude 52.101556 longitude -106.758123 elevation 502.1 m north and south pictures of the sign itself. NESW Now walk west outside of the SW OLRA
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23) Trailhead sign for Winter Trail Network Latitude 52.101669 longitude -106.788169 elevation 502.3 m NESW pictures Now walk north westerly 24) 4x4 post “No cars “ etc sign Latitude 52.102758 longitude -106.760345 elevation 502.8 m NESW pictures 25) 4x4 waymarking post Alvin’s Approach Underliner (easterly intersection) Latitude 56.101088 Longitude -106.762907 elevation m NESW pictures Now walking west 26) Short little 18” post 4x4 no sign upon it. Latitude 52.102745 Longitude -106.761502 elevation 503.9m NESW pictures Now walking west in a dense caragana row. 27) 4x4 post 5’ from ground surface.Alvin’s Approach/Caraganavana Latitude 52.103546 Longitude -106.764623 elevation 502.0 m NESW pictures Now finished walking west in a dense caragana row and turning south 28) Alvin/Underliner 4x4 waymarking sign this is the westerly sign Latitude 52.102662 Longitude -106.765860 elevation 501.1 m NESW pictures 29) NO POST Latitude 52.1000709 Longitude -106.765368 elevation m
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NESW pictures Two parts of wetlands around the old road allowance. Willow, Geese, emergent vegetation – cattails, rushes, and Licorice, Mustard, family of ducks Now walking north 30) “Ponder” 4x4 waymarking sign Latitude 52.096390 Longitude -106.764753 elevation 499.3 m NESW pictures Walking East on a Scots Pine trail There is another coniferous tree ***also not Colorado Blue Spruce nor Scots Pine here. Willow as well. 31) NO POST NESW pictures Walking East on a Scots Pine trail and stopped at a bit of an opening where one could see the Ducks Unlimited outdoor classroom, and licorice and golden rod. 32) Post 4x4 “No motorized, Fat Bike Event” sign post near the south west corner of the SW OLRA Latitude 52.075245 Longitude -106.757377 elevation 500.0 m NESW pictures Couple of MB Maple Saplings WALK STOPPED HERE FOR THE DAY. 33) Post 4x4 Last westerly post but still east of Chappell Marsh. This one is on the east shoreline near the CN Latitude 52.103933 Longitude -106.709453 elevation 498.0 m NESW pictures continuing walking west 34) Post 4x4 First easterly post and now west of Chappell Marsh. This one is on the west shoreline near the CN Latitude 52.103845 Longitude -106.770216 elevation 498.0 m NESW pictures continuing walking west towards SK Hwy 7 35) Post 4x4 Second post west of Chappell Marsh. This one is on “Sask E” Latitude 52.103435 Longitude -106.772673 elevation 500.5 m NESW pictures continuing walking west towards SK Hwy 7
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36) Post 4x4 “Groomed Winter Trail” Size 2 phone lengths 22-2/3 phone lengths. This one is on “Pining4More” Latitude 52.103817 Longitude -106.773521 elevation 501.6 m NESW pictures Continuing to walk west towards Sk Hwy 7 37) NO POST Latitude 52.103105 Longitude -106.777408 One picture to the south of path 38) Post 4x4 “Pining4More” Latitude 52.103637 Longitude -106.777050 elevation 508.6 m NESW pictures walked a bit north 39) Post 4x4 “SaskE” Latitude 52.103637 Longitude -106.777050 elevation 508.1 m NESW pictures walked a bit further north 40) Post 4x4 “Meadows” Latitude 52.103631 Longitude -106.777319 elevation 507.4 m NESW pictures 41) Post 4x4 “Trainspotting” Latitude 52.104859 Longitude -106.777518 elevation 507.6 m NESW pictures walking west wiggly on trainspotting 42) NO POST Latitude 52.105142 Longitude -106.777506 elevation 507.0 m pictures of ?fresh/young/new? Conks/mushrooms 43) Post 4x4 “Trainspotting” Latitude 52.103665
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Longitude -106.779170 elevation 506.5 m NESW pictures 44) Post 4x4 “Bush Pilot” Latitude 52.105351 Longitude -106.785777 elevation 508.3 m NESW pictures 45) Post 4x4 “Trainspotting and Map” Latitude 52.1050387 Longitude -106.785752 elevation 508.4 m NESW pictures 46) Post 4x4 “Meadows and Super Ron” Latitude 52.104812 Longitude -106.781694 elevation 509.9 m NESW pictures 47) Post 4x4 Not dug in Latitude 52.105261 Longitude -106.780222 elevation 505.9 m NESW pictures 48) Post 4x4 two posts at this location pic of one post, then pic of the other one Latitude 52.105049 Longitude -106.780219 elevation 506.4 m NESW pictures continue south 49) Post 4x4 two posts at this location also Latitude 52.105049 Longitude -106.780219 elevation 507.8 m NESW pictures continue south 50) Post 4x4 “Meadows” 2nd post here Latitude 52.105177 Longitude -106.781223
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Interpretive Signs for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
elevation 509.2 m NESW pictures sitting spot now heading north back towards Chappell Marsh wetlands 51) Post 4x4 “Density” Latitude 52.103257 Longitude -106.780401 elevation 510.0 m NESW pictures sitting spot 52) Post 4x4 “Meadows” Latitude 52.104386 Longitude -106.7744663 elevation 506.0 m NESW pictures 53) NO POST Latitude 52.104275 Longitude -106.774447 elevation 503.0 m NESW pictures 54) 3 foot 4x4 post. Not dug in. Grooming instructions yadda yadda This may be a repeat? Latitude 52.103759 Longitude -106.773697 elevation 501.9 m NESW pictures Continue walking north then at Chappell Marsh and so on. 55) 4 4x4 post trailhead sign Latitude 52.103041 Longitude -106.787716parry 56) 4 4x4 posts Latitude 52.100646 Longitude -106.770945
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