President’s Message

It was so nice to see so many out to the Fall Picnic at the Stookey’s home! What a great turnout, and the offer of oven-fired pizza was too good to turn down! A very nice way to start the fall with Saskatoon Nature Society. Thank you so much Joe & Gayle for your hospitality!

It looks like a great fall for outings too! I understand there is a lot of interest in the Whooping Crane trips so be sure to register and reserve your spot! Thanks to all those who came out to help with the fall bird count, we await the final tallies but again what a beautiful day to be out and about! I hear there were 2000 Sandhill Cranes counted along the river – an awesome sight!

I want to give a special shout out to the volunteers who helped out at the Broadway Street Fair. They gathered over 250 signatures calling on City Hall to treat their windows, especially the north facing ones that are particularly hazardous for bird collisions. This spring, students and volunteers were counting bird strikes downtown; their work shows there is work to do! City Councillors can lead the way – as the petition says we live on a major migratory flyway and some 30 to 40 million birds die each year in Canada by window collisions! That’s a question for all of us – are our own windows treated? More birds die from residential window strikes than from the tall office buildings – we all can do better!

Despite the city dragging its feet on treating its own windows, I was delighted to learn by response to my enquiry that the new central library windows have been designed to reduce bird strikes. There is a ceramic frit applied to the library windows. That’s great news too!

Terrific news on the Bird-Friendly City front as well: the Saskatoon Bird Team consisting of Saskatoon Nature Society, Living Sky Wildlife Rehab, Wild About Saskatoon and SOS Trees Coalition recently received a small start-up grant of $3000 from Nature Canada to help get Saskatoon certified as a Bird-Friendly city! The grant will provide a small monthly honorarium for an interim co-ordinator to help us plan our strategy to move this forward. If you are a person who organizes well, please contact Mercy Harris or myself. We aim to develop a strong cadre of volunteers to help in this initiative! Here is the link to more information: Bird Friendly Nature Canada

Last spring, I wrote in this column about my grave concerns about the provincial government’s intentions to overhaul its Environmental Management Protection Act 2010 (EMPA) this fall. Recently I received a letter summarizing what they heard and how they are planning to respond. It is shocking! They have changed their plan to producing the Saskatchewan State of the Environment Report every five years instead of two. Doing the math, it is possible that the report will actually skip over an entire four-year government mandate without being reviewed! I await word from Nature Saskatchewan and other provincial conservation groups’ plans on how to respond!

On September 4th, National Wildlife Day, I was invited to the premiere showing of Homes on The Range a video developed by Raising Canadian Beef group. It was an enlightening panel discussion with q’s and a’s followed. Its message was clear: there is an important link between healthy grasslands and cattle grazing. The video championed a greener view of the beef industry as ranchers practice stewardship of the land including wetlands – a very good reminder!

Something to think about if you are looking to help out improving our city’s green initiatives: the City is looking for several volunteers (at least six!) to serve on the Saskatoon Environmental Advisory committee. Yes – 6 positions are open; check here for more details https://www.saskatoon.ca/city-hall/city-council-boards-committees/boards-committees. It would be fantastic to get some members on the advisory committee and have a stronger voice for conservation!

Finally, for my must read of the Month, my recommendation is another owl book! I’ve enjoyed reading The Hidden Lives of Owls by Leigh Calvez available at our library. I found this book a comfortable read as it chronicles naturalist Calvez’s dive into the world of owls which so many of us find compelling. She goes into details about several species of owls in a very informative personal manner. I particularly found her writing about the Great Gray Owl and the Great Horned Owl fascinating as they are both present here in Saskatchewan – It’s a book that I would go out and buy now!

Have fun this fall – get out there and check out the Whoopers!!

David Forbes