President’s Message

Spring has definitely arrived, and we have verified the winner in the Meewasin Pelican Watch contest. Congratulations to all involved -welcome back Pelicans and welcome back Spring!!

Our board met recently, and we discussed a very important concern that we want to share with our membership for feedback. Heather Brenneman has prepared a very helpful backgrounder for us as she writes:

Currently, the SNS does not employ a Treaty Land Acknowledgement at the beginning of our meetings. Our society’s objectives could be broadly construed as promoting the value and conservation of nature and the need to care for the natural environment. It seems fitting, therefore, that we should honour those who have historically and traditionally been stewards of the land we live on. The use of Treaty Land Acknowledgments was spurred by the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which completed its work in 2015 and which documented the unfortunate experiences and intergenerational traumatic effects of Indigenous peoples in residential schools. Recommendations from the TRC were aimed at healing the relationship between Indigenous peoples and those who came later to this land so that we can live together in greater harmony.

Some Thoughts on a Proposal

1. That SNS begin our membership meetings with a statement of Treaty Land Acknowledgement and by including the Acknowledgement on our website.

2. That we use the language adopted by the University of Saskatchewan in their Treaty Land Acknowledgment. Our meetings are held at the University and the University invites staff, faculty, and presenters to use their wording:

3. As we gather here today, we acknowledge we are on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis. We pay our respect to the First Nations and Métis ancestors of this place and reaffirm our relationship with one another. (2015)

That to respect the intent of the Treaty Land Acknowledgement, we form an ad hoc committee to identify further possible actions that we may take towards reconciliation.

This has become a standard contemplative practice with many organizations; we have yet to take this up; what are your thoughts, do you have concerns, please let us know. Please send me a note at my email: president@saskatoonnature.org

Some of you may follow the Warblers podcast by Birds Canada. One its recent episodes “Nature Counts – Helping Birds with your Data” is a fascinating look at how our work as citizen scientists help build effective databases that are becoming more and more very important tools for those studying birds. Interestingly, many of you who read Bird Watch Canada Spring edition will see a similar story on Nature Counts. Take a listen – you will enjoy it!

That brings me to our own very special Citizen Science event – _the annual Spring Bird Count being held May 25th. We continue to feel the impacts of droughts and disappearing wetlands in and around the city so this is always a good indicator of the health & numbers of the variety of bird species that are migrating through or nesting in our area – if you can help out, please do so!

On a sad note, I want to recognize the passing of Attila Chanady, a long-time member and volunteer of Saskatoon Nature Society. He actively served on our board for many years and was the president of Nature Saskatchewan as a dedicated conservationist. He wrote a very important history of our Society entitled For the Love of Nature A History of the Saskatoon Nature Society 1980-2005. I heartily recommend it, a very good read for sure!

This spring we will be hosting Nature Sask Spring meeting on June 21st, 22nd, and 23rd; this will be a very special event as Nature Sask is celebrating their 75th birthday. Watch for more details on the Nature Sask website – this is something to be at for sure!

Finally, I find it always interesting to hear what people are reading, Blair McCann as president, started me on this a few years ago when he wrote about bird oriented mystery book series – very enjoyable indeed! so I was thinking I might share what I’ve been reading – The (Big) year that Flew By twelve months Six Continents and the Ultimate Birding Record by Arjan Dwarshuis who managed to see 6852 bird species in year – a very big year indeed! It’s an incredibly fast-paced travel book about being consumed by bird watching but it’s much more than that, it’s a powerful shocking commentary on the state of the natural world we have created (or more aptly, destroyed) but yet Arjan remains optimistic!

Be sure to participate in World Migratory Bird Day on May 11 also known as Global Big Day; last year over 58,000 bird watchers filed 3.2 million bird observations on Ebird! It should be a lot of fun and it’s important work for participatory science!

David