cooling – Forests of Memory. Forests of Learning. Forests for Life.

Restoring Forests to Fight Climate Change

In the fight against climate change, trees are among our strongest allies. Not only do they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but they also cool our planet through a process called transpiration. This cooling effect has recently been studied in the Eastern United States, where researchers found that reforestation has significantly cooled the land surface and air temperature, providing a natural solution to the warming climate.

The study, led by Mallory L. Barnes from Indiana University, investigated the impact of reforestation on the climate of the Eastern United States (EUS) during the 20th century. The research team found that forests cool the land surface by 1–2°C annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest cooling effect during midday in the growing season, when cooling is 2–5°C. Young forests (20–40 years) have the strongest cooling effect on surface temperature. This cooling effect also extends to the near-surface air, with forests reducing midday air temperature by up to 1°C compared to nearby non-forests.

The study’s findings have important implications for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Reforestation in temperate regions, such as the EUS, could provide a complementary set of benefits: mitigating climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also helping with adaptation to rising temperatures by cooling surface and air temperatures over large areas.

This research has received widespread attention, including an article by The Guardian, which described the study’s findings as a “stunning feat” in curtailing the soaring temperatures caused by the climate crisis. The recovery of forests in the Eastern United States has helped stall the effects of global heating through transpiration, in which water is drawn up through the roots to the leaves and then released into the air as vapor, slightly cooling the surrounding area.

As we continue to face the impacts of climate change, the importance of trees in mitigating and adapting to these changes cannot be overstated. The Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas are dedicated to preserving and restoring our forests, recognizing the critical role they play in protecting our planet. Through our efforts, we aim to contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future for all.

“Plant Trees, Save the World: The Ultimate Cooling Solution!”

References:
Barnes, M. L., Zhang, Q., Robeson, S. M., Young, L., Burakowski, E. A., Oishi, A. C., Stoy, P. C., Katul, G., & Novick, K. A. (2022). A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(2), e2021GL097144. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097144

Milman, O. (2024, February 20). Very cool: trees stalling effects of global heating in eastern US, study finds. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/20/trees-stalling-effects-of-global-heating-in-eastern-us-study-finds

“Forests: The Secret to a Cooler Climate!”

Sept 24 clean up at both Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and at George Genereux Urban Regional Park, Saskatoon The Clean Green Community Scene — Image taken by Shweetha Gopinath, eco-photographer

Image taken by Shweetha Gopinath, eco-photographer

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South WFor more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Pinterest richardstbarbeb
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.com Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas
YouTube
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.
United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities
“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker!For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps This greenspace is located in the South West area of Saskatoon

Lungs of the Modern City

Autumn picture of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas supported by the non profit group Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. Please join now, like, support, share.

katoon Afforestation Areas supported by the non profit group Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. Please join now, like, support, share.

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (Urban Regional Park) and George Genereux Urban Regional Park both had their beginning in 1972 with their commitment to the Green Survival Program

“Trees are the lungs of the modern city. The more industrialize the city, the more trees it requires to purify the air.” (Liddell, 1971) “the resurgence of academic interest in resource management and environmental planning that has occurred over the past 10 years This resurgence has occurred in parallel with the growth of wide public concern over possible future resource shortages, pollution, the loss of valued wildlife species and landscapes and, more generally, over the possibility and desirability of sustaining current economic development patterns and associated life styles. …There is a widespread appreciation of the environment and the threats it faces… concerns range from global issues to do with the future of industrial society, the extinction of species and even human survival, down to local issues such as preserving neighbourhood amenities” (Goyder, 1983)

“The nursery industry continued to evolve across the country in the 1970s. With environmental concerns growing in this period, the Association for American Nurserymen launched their “Green Survival” program. This initiative stressed plants’ role in buffering noise pollution, trapping air pollutants, cooling the earth, etc. “(National Register of Historic Places Registration, 2014)

The Green Survival Campaign spread across North America. “A ‘Survival’ Message Green Survival has a message. It is simply that “each individual can have a positive, meaningful effect on the quality of life by planting trees and other living plants.” The appeal of this simple message has spread across the nation, and beyond, to Canada, England, Holland and Germany. (‘Green Survival ‘Time, 1977)

Afforestation such as the tree planting undertaken by the City of Saskatoon Park’s department to create the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no previous tree cover.

Green Survival” is the nursery industry’s own program for improving the environment, more beauty to see, and conservation of land from erosion with plantings of trees and shrub. ‘We have a great obligation here…We also have a great contribution to make’” said the AAN President Harold R. Nickel. (96^th Annual Convention Report AAN)

Bibliography

96th Annual Convention Report (PDF), September 28 1971, retrieved July 11 2019

Goyder, Lowe; Goyder, J (1983), Environmental Groups In Politics, Environmental Groups in Politics The Resource Management Series., London, UK: George Allen and Unwin (Publishers) Ltd, ISBN 0-01-329043-4, ISSN 0261-0701, retrieved July 8, 2019

‘Green Survival’ Time, Fitchburg, Massachusetts: Sentinel and Enterprise. Republished online by Newspaper Archive, May 3, 1977, retrieved July 11 2019

Liddell, Ken (November 11, 1978). “Ken Liddell’s Column”. The Calgary Herald.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Sherman Nursery Company Historic District Charles City Iowa (PDF), NPS Form 10-900 OMB 1024-0018, National Park Service, National Office, Washington, DC: United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service, 2014, retrieved July 11 2019

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SW 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Should you wish to help protect / enhance the afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail) Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

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“You can gauge a country’s wealth, its real wealth, by its tree cover…A country’s very poor that doesn’t have trees.” ~Richard St. Barbe Baker

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