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Sawkey
Bird and Nature Trail
SLOUGH
VIEW PARK - RM 213 OF SALTCOATS
For more
information please contact Marcel Pelletier at (306)
744-2436 |
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Wildlife
Plantation (above) and Yard Sites
Sawkey Bird and Nature
Trail is part of Slough View Park which is located 7
miles East of Saltcoats on Grid Road # 725 and 1/2 mile
north of the Castleton United Church which is also
located on the quarter section of land known as Slough
View Park.
One can go on the bird
trail by walking to Slough View Park sign at the church
or take a tour of the trail beginning at the farm site.
The trail is 1.8 km or 1.1 miles in length. It is
circular in nature.
While walking around
the trail, one will be able to view sloughs, grass
planted for ducks to nest, original growths of trees,
shrubs, natural plant growth along with numerous
plantations which have been planted to provide birds and
wild life with fruit during the summer and fall. If you
wish to tour the farm yard during the summer months, you
are welcome. We would also be happy to provide you
with information with regards to the plantation of
trees for shelter and wildlife. |
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Take a short tour of Slough View
Park in 2006 |
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SLOUGH VIEW PARK
Kathleen
Morrell
Slough
View Park is situated just seven miles from the town
of Saltcoats,
Saskatchewan. The quarter section of land is a
wildlife preserve surrounded on the one side by
fields of barley and wheat and on the other by sun,
wind and sky. At the southeast corner stands
Castleton Church built by the area’s original
settlers.
As fall
approaches, the ten-acre yard site abounds in colour
– the brilliant yellow of gaillardia, the snowy
white of the Shasta daisy, the brazen oranges of the
calendula, the battle red of the poppy. Petunias
fill in the beds with a myriad of hue – purple,
pink, white and red. Roses hold up heads of red and
pink fragrant petals. Against a backdrop of
evergreens and deciduous trees, beds of flowers
stream away to a seeming infinity.
Along the
nature trail and beyond stand the 20,000 trees John
Sawkey and his crew have
planted over the past ten years: evergreen seedlings
obtained from nearby ditches, poplar cuttings from
neighbours, Bill and Ann Tatham,
laurel willows from the George
Legge farm, and cranberry bushes from Karen
and daughter Stacey Onofriechuk.
In addition, Sawkey has
obtained numerous seedlings from the PFRA nursery at
Indian Head.
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John
Sawkey (right) showing Darcy Weshler (left)
tree plantations during a tour in 2004. |
Friends have said that
Sawkey could grow trees in concrete.
In
the past ten years, the Park has provided
habitat for wildlife: deer, fox, badgers,
porcupines, rabbits and squirrels. Butterflies
abound particularly when the
Villosa lilacs are
in sweet-scented bloom. Eagles, wrens, humming
birds, orioles, blue jays, hawks, owls,
chickadees, juncos, red-breasted grosbeaks, and
gold finches colour the leafy backdrop with
sound and song. Hidden on the property is the
original slough, a paradise for ducks and
geese.
“Trees and shrubs clean and filter the air we
breathe and help fight the greenhouse effect on
Earth,” Sawkey
stated. Trees provide shade, living space for
animals and birds and beauty for the human
eye.
Sawkey
is truly “the man who planted trees.”
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In 1954 Jean
Giono wrote a novel of the
same title. In the1980s, Canadian Frederic
Back used
Giono’s words to create a
stunning animated short film, a work that would win him
an Oscar. The story tells of
Elzeard Bouffier, a
taciturn shepherd, who reclaimed the life of an arid
region of Provence by
planting trees. The area was barren. Beastly winds
growled through the belfry of the deserted church.
Villages lay in ruin. Bouffier
took on the task of planting trees – oaks, beeches, and
birches. “He
had concluded that this country was dying for lack of
trees. He added that, having nothing more important to
do, he resolved to remedy the situation.” In the first
five years, he planted more than 10,000 trees, a task he
completed with no expectation of financial reward. In
the end, Bouffier covered
acres and acres of Provence
with his seedlings.
Transformation took place slowly. Meadows, rivulets and
flowers reappeared. Gentle breezes replaced the beastly
winds of the barren past. Hope, the buttress of the
soul, led the inhabitants to rebuild, to plant gardens
of vegetables and flowers, to sow fields of barley and
rye. Boys and girls learned to laugh.
In 1947, according to the Giono
story, Elzeard
Bouffier died in the little
town of Banon, France. He
had transformed “a desert into the land of Canaan.” The
legend was born.
John Sawkey follows in the
Bouffier footsteps. He
creates a habitat for birds, a preserve for wildlife,
a refuge of hope for future
generations. Unknowingly, he, too, is a part of the
Giono legend.
Photo and article by Kathy Morrell.
Kathy is a freelance writer who also pens
Kathy's Korner on this
site. |
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