Birch Forest Interpretive Trail

8. CONK FUNGUS 12. BEAVERS Have you noticed all the In 1942 two beavers were in- hoof shaped growths on troduced into the park It did not MOOSE MOUNTAIN the trees? take long for them to multiply into PROVINCIAL PARK In standing trees, the our now estimated 6000 beavers. presence of conks makes Beavers favourite trees are the it more difficult to determine tree quality. A tree Trembling Aspen which we have with conks contains masses of rotten wood or is many of. They eat the bark and hollow where the rotten wood has disintegrated. use the rest of the tree for building their homes Birch Forest This fungus can be used as a tinder start fires. and dams. 9. THE FOREST SINGS Beavers can be destructive. Two beavers can take Interpretive Activity time! Now that you have immersed down a small forest in a year, but beavers can also yourself into the forest take a minute to stand be a positive thing for the forest. Trail very still and listen to all the birds and noise They create an ecosystem by damming the water 2.1km around you. While you listen try to count all the for many other insects, organisms, aquatic ani- different sounds you hear. mals, ducks and birds. MMPP has approximately 175 different bird Beavers also help in succession by removing trees species! for new ones to grow. 10. BE CAREFUL! 13. LAYERS OF THE FOREST Have you noticed the plant along the trail that is There are five important layers of the forest: 1. shown in the picture? It could be Cow Parsnip or Forest floor 2. Herb layer 3. Shrub layer 4. Under- Water Hemlock, they look very similar. The only story and 5. Canopy. difference is Water Hemlock, when consumed, is Activity time! Start by crouching down to the deathly poisonous. ground and observing what you see. Work your Other plants to watch for are poison ivy and way up by looking straight up and think about the stinging nettle that can leave an uncomfortable different animals you would find in all the layers rash on your skin. of the forest! Do not eat those 14. YOU ARE LUCKY! small whitish MMPP is a very unique and rare forest to be this green berries you far south. see. Those are The climate here is more moist and cool than the Snowberries or surrounding areas which supports the vegetation. also called Ghost- MMPP is like a forest island surrounded by berries. Although cropland. they are an im- Cow Parsnip Continental ice sheets covered most of Saskatche- portant food wan several times during the Ice Age. The last of source for quails, pheasants and grouse in the these put the finishing touches on the Moose winter, they can make people sick. Mountain Upland approximately twelve thousand 11. ALL THAT WATER years ago. Welcome to one of our beautiful trails! Look for MMPP has thousands of lakes which makes it the 14 stops along the way and read the difficult to get around in the back country. corresponding information at each stop. 80% of MMPP is back country. You never know if you will find a fish in one of the creeks. Fish will travel very far upstream to Do you have more questions? Call or spawn. Fish can also be dropped by birds into visit the Visitor Centre! other water. The green area is MMPP (306) 577-2615 1. SHRUB STORY 3. EDIBLE PLANTS, BERRIES, & NUTS The shrub layer in Moose Mountain Provincial You should only eat things you can be abso- Park (MMPP) is very dense as you will notice if lutely sure you can identify. you look out into the trees at about eye level. Depending on the time of year you are hiking Dewberry Beaked Hazelnut Low Bush Just imagine how difficult it would be to travel this trail, you may see a great amount of Rasp- Cranberry through there, especially for some of the large berries, Saskatoon berries, Strawberries, Choke- 6. BIRCH TREES animals. cherries and Dewberries! Many of the First Nations of North America Shrubs play an important part of the forest Those small bright red berries that are low to prized the birch for its bark, which, due to its community. Red squirrels harvest Hazelnuts, the ground are likely a Low Bush Cranberry, light weight, flexibility and the ease with which it Blue Jays feed on berries, Coyotes and Red Fox they do not taste good on their own but they could be stripped from fallen trees, was often supplement their diets with Saskatoons and have been used in First Nations medicine. used for the construction of strong, waterproof Snowberries. There is also an abundance of Beaked Hazel- but lightweight canoes, bowls & paper. Many Shrubs provide protective corridors for moose, nuts along this trail. They are delicious roasted! First Nations groups also created pieces of art by deer and elk. These animals travel through the Some of the edible plants include: Common biting designs into the soft bark (called birch bark forest to drink from the lake. The shrubs twigs Plantain, Wintergreen (five different types in bitings). and leaves they eat along the way are an im- Saskatchewan) and Dandelions! Birch syrup is made from the sap of Birch trees. portant part of their diet. Since sugar was scarce, many First Nations 4. FOREST FIRES & HARVESTING groups made both maple and birch syrup to satis- 2. WHAT IS THAT The last natural forest fire in MMPP happened fy their sweet tooth! SOUND? in 1897. A lot of the forest you see today is a Birch flour can be made by grinding up the inner Listen for a knocking result of that fire. bark, to be used for biscuits or bannock. sound on the trees Forest fires play an important role in the suc- Birch leaves can be steeped as tea, and help lower around. cession of forests. Many trees need to see the blood pressure. Woodpeckers are a com- sun to be able to grow. Birch bark can be soaked in water until moist and mon sight around MMPP. Our forest is a stage 5 forest, meaning it con- then formed into a cast for a broken arm. In fact you could see eight sists of mostly old trees. These trees create a different species of canopy for the rest of the forest blocking the 7. WHO WAS HERE? Yellow-bellied Sapsucker woodpeckers here. sun from the new trees trying to grow. With the great variety of wildlife in this forest The most common here you never know what tracks you will see on the is the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. Others include 5. OUR TREES forest floor! Keep your eyes peeled for tracks or (can be rare) the Three-toed Woodpecker, Black At this stop you are surrounded by many signs that an animal was in the area. -backed Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Green Ash and Trembling Aspen trees. The We have three wild ungulates here, moose, deer Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Green Ash has the dark, rough looking bark. It and elk. Ungulate means a hoofed animal. Woodpecker and the Red-headed Woodpecker. is a member of the Olive family, it reaches Not only do we look on the ground for tracks we Look on trees for rows of holes; this was left heights between 18 and 30 metres, with an ap- can look on trees for signs that an animal was here by the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers beak proximate 16-18 metre spread. near. The area between the forehead and antlers looking for sap and insects. The Trembling Aspen has the white bark with of a deer contains a large number of apocrine The sapwells made by Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers most of its leaves near the top of the tree, it is a sweat glands, and leave a scent that communi- attract hummingbirds, which also feed off the part of the willow family and its name comes cates a challenge to other male deer while also sap flowing from the tree. In some parts of Can- from the lightweight shiny leaves that tremble attracting potential mates. Elk and moose also rub ada, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds rely so much in even the gentlest wind. their antlers but mostly to remove their velvet. on sapwells that they time their spring migration Our other three native trees to the park are the with the arrival of sapsuckers. Other birds as White Birch, Balsam Poplar, and Manitoba well as bats and porcupines also visit sapsucker Maple. sapwells. Paper Birch trees are the official tree of Saskatchewan. Cougar - Deer - Wolf /Coyote - Bear - Elk - Moose .

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