A tiger in your grass

by Art Jones

I share my home with five cats. Yes, count 'em, five cats. How they came to live in my house is a story for a different time.

The cats that live in my home spend most of their time indoors. When they do go outside they are kept on a leash. The leashes were originally used to keep the cats safely away from traffic and other animals. Now it turns out the leashes may have been doing the local birds and small
animals a favour.

Cats and humans have co-existed for a long time. First domesticated in Egypt around 4,000 years ago they were introduced to Europe around 2,000 years ago. Cats first arrived in North America with the European immigrants. Large numbers were imported during the late nineteenth century in an attempt to control a growing rodent population associated with
agriculture.

It's estimated there are now around five million domestic cats in Canada and those animals kill about 140 million birds and small mammals every year. A similar situation exists in Britain, New Zealand and Australia. In the United States 66 million pet cats and an estimated 40 million feral or wild cats kill a billion small mammals and hundreds of millions birds every year. Although some of those kills are mice, rats and other species seen as pests, many times a cat takes a bird or animal whose population is already under pressure from other things such as habitat loss.

A study done in Wisconsin showed cats kill more birds and small mammals than all of the foxes, skunks, raccoons and other mid-sized predators.

Rick Espie of Saskatchewan Environment says that's partly due to the fact that there are so many cats and that most cats are efficient predators.

"The populations of natural predators rises and falls with the availability of prey so when the prey population crashes, the predators go hungry and their numbers fall. That, in turn, reduces the pressure on the prey which then allows those populations to rebound," says Espie.

"That isn't the case with cats. Cats are an introduced species so their prey does not have a natural defense. On top of that, most cats are usually well fed or subsidized by food from a bowl. That means their population stays the same while the birds and small mammals they hunt are always under pressure. For domestic cats, hunting is not a matter of life and death; they kill
because they are programmed to hunt."

Many cat owners put bells on their pets thinking that will alert the birds and animals being hunted. But bells don't work because birds and animals often don't connect the sound of a bell to danger and because cats can learn to stalk without ringing the bell.

Farmers that use cats for rodent control should keep only as many animals as needed and spay and neuter all cats. Studies show spayed females stay closer to home. Some people even mount owl boxes near out buildings to attract natural predators. City people can do several things including spaying and neutering all cats, making sure bird feeders are away from places cats can hide, training cats to a leash and keeping pet cats indoors.

"Really what is at stake is the health of many of our migratory small-bird populations,' says Espie. "Cats are not responsible for the toll they take on our wildlife-people are. The only way to stop domestic cats from killing birds and animals is to keep them inside."

Keeping your cat indoors has other benefits as well. A cat that spends a lot of time outside has an average life span of two to six years, while a cat kept indoors can live fifteen or more years.
There are several websites where you can get more information. They include www.abcbirds.org ,
www.wildflorida.org/critters/domestic_cat.asp,
whyfiles.org/086urban_critter/index.html,
www.cdri.org/Discovery/Feral%20Cats.html.
www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/7148.htm,
and
www3.simpatico.ca/samgreen/webcats.html.

For more information contact:

Rick Espie
Biodiversity Specialist
Saskatchewan Environment
(306) 787-2461
respie@serm.gov.sk.ca

Or

Art Jones
Communications Consultant
Saskatchewan Environment
(306) 787-5796
(306) 536-8452 (cell)
ajones@serm.gov.sk.ca

Trees are our breathing partners

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the sweet earth's flowing breast

by Art Jones

Those are the first four lines of the poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer, 1886-1918. It is among the most loved and most recognized poems in North America.

It was also a tribute to the beauty and strength of trees.

Trees are something most people take for granted. They're just there, in the yard, along the streets, in clumps on the plains and in the forests in the north.

But have you ever wondered what a tree really does?

Urban trees provide shade and shelter and act as windbreaks. The water evaporating from their leaves helps to reduce the temperature near the tree reducing the need for air conditioning in nearby homes. A tree acts like a huge pump that cycles water up from the soil and into the air. In a single growing season a healthy 33-metre tree with 200,000 leaves can take approximately 40,000 litres of water from the soil and breathe it back into
the air.

A windbreak of trees can help maintain moisture levels during the summer and during the winter a windbreak can lower heating costs by nearly a third. Trees help stabilize the soil and reduce erosion and conserve water by slowing runoff after storms. Urban trees muffle noise almost as effectively as stonewalls and one study says trees around your home can increase
property values.

Trees provide homes, shelter and food for countless birds, animals and insects and have a direct impact on the health of aquatic ecosystems.

Trees play a role in more than 5,000 products, including nuts, fruit, berries, syrup, baseball bats, paper, wood, shoe polish and even toothpaste.

"I am constantly amazed by the number of things we use that come from trees," says Al Willcocks of Saskatchewan Environment. "In Saskatchewan the most economically important activities include logging and manufacturing forest products such as pulp and paper, lumber, oriented strand board, plywood and fence posts. The forest industry has an enormous economic benefit in Saskatchewan, employing nearly 8,000 people and pumping more than $884-million into the economy."

Trees also help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere. A young, rapidly growing forest takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, stores the carbon as biomass and releases oxygen. In an old forest the trees aren't growing any more. As the mature trees die and rot and are eaten by insects, the net effect is to release the stored carbon into the atmosphere. When there is a fire the carbon stored in the old trees is also released into the atmosphere. If some of these trees are harvested before that happens and made into something durable such as building materials or furniture, the carbon stays in the wood and out of the atmosphere.

"Because forests take carbon dioxide out of the air they are, in a sense, our breathing partners," says Environment's Willcocks. "People and animals depend on trees and plants for oxygen. As you breathe in, your body uses oxygen. As you breathe out, it gives off carbon dioxide. Trees and other plants do the opposite. They take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere. It's estimated that Saskatchewan's forests produce enough oxygen for 241 million people for a year."

Environment's Willcocks says that while most people readily see the value in mature forests for forest products and recreation, it's also important to understand the critical function of young forests. All parts of the forest- like each line in a poem - must work together and balance is the key.

For more information contact:

Al Willcocks
Executive Director, Forest Services
Saskatchewan Environment
(306) 953-2468
awillcocks@serm.gov.sk..ca

Or

Art Jones
Communications Consultant
Saskatchewan Environment
(306) 787-5796
(306) 536-8452 (cell)
ajones@serm.gov.sk.ca

The spruce budworm may be small but it has a big appetite

Aerial Spraying to Combat Spruce Budworm

by Art Jones

During this summer Saskatchewan Environment will use aerial spraying to treat approximately 30,000 hectares of forestland in the Deschambault Lake and Amisk Lake areas for spruce budworm. The biological pesticide, Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk), which is a naturally occurring soil bacterium and kills certain types of caterpillars, will be used.

Btk has been safely used around the world for nearly 40 years. It is not harmful to other insects such as bees, or fish, birds or wildlife and poses no human health hazard. Btk does not build up in the environment and if the target insect, the budworm, does not eat it, Btk will only survive for a few days after application.

Spruce budworm is a natural part of our forest ecosystem but high populations can pose a threat to valuable timber resources," says Saskatchewan Environment Entomologist, Rory McIntosh, "The objective of our budworm management program is to protect these resources by managing heavy infestations in selected areas while allowing the insect to play its natural
role in the ecosystem in most areas."

Spruce budworm larvae are small, only 18 to 24 millimetres long. They are greenish-brown with two rows of whitish spots along the back. However, the impact they have on the forests can be enormous.

In late June or July, the adult moth lays clusters of eggs on the needles of balsam fir, white spruce and black spruce. The eggs hatch in 10 days. The larvae find a protected spot on the tree and soon begin to spin a shelter of silk where they will spend the winter. In May, the larvae emerge and feed on old needles, unopened buds or male flowers eventually making their way into the growing shoots. They pupate in June and the cycle begins again.

"One of the reasons for concern is the budworm's messy eating habits," says Environment's McIntosh "They use their silk webbing to tie two or three shoots together to form a feeding tube. Then they bite needles off at the base. The needles dry out, leaving masses of silk and dried red-brown needles hanging from the trees. Repeated defoliation during a heavy infestation of budworms can eventually kill a tree or make it so weak it dies."

Dead trees along with the masses of dry needles and silk increases the risk of severe wildfires. If damage continues over the next few years, the risk of fires spreading to nearby commercial forests, communities and tourist operations increases.

"Fire is a natural process of regeneration in our boreal forest', says Environment's McIntosh. "However, the build-up of fuel caused by the budworm and the greater chance of wild fire means that we have to use other tools to reduce this hazard. For example, carefully planned logging allows us to reduce the fire hazard while still making use of the damaged trees."

The Provincial Spruce Budworm Management Program has been operating since 1992. Results of the program are monitored and reported. Ongoing surveys reveal that defoliation in areas treated with the biological pesticide, Btk has been reduced by as much as 60% when compared to areas that have not been sprayed.

For more information contact:

Rory McIntosh
Provincial Entomologist
Saskatchewan Environment
(306) 953-3617
rmcintosh@serm.gov.sk.ca

Or

Art Jones
Communications Consultant
Saskatchewan Environment
(306) 787-5796
(306) 536-8452 (cell)
ajones@serm.gov.sk.ca

Crime Prevention Through Tours of the Old Prison of Trois-Rivieres

Photo: Musée québécois de culture populaire

Tours of the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières have an unexpected preventive effect on some visitors. Disturbed by what they've seen, many declare they will never break the law, because now they know what to expect if they do.

"The Hole" at the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières

Photo: Musée québécois de culture populaire

Conditions in "the hole" were straight out of the Middle Ages: a dirt floor, no windows, no light, prisoners clad only in their underwear?

Inside Trois-Rivières' Old Prison

Photo: Musée québécois de culture populaire

The former prison in Trois-Rivières reopened in 2002. But unlike other jails, those who cross its threshold do so of their own volition.

Feeling Like a Felon in Trois-Rivières, Québec

Of all Quebec tourist attractions, the former prison in Trois-Rivières can truly boast of having a captive audience.

BY HUGO PARADIS

When our group got to "the hole," the prison's solitary-confinement cell, an elderly man asked the guide for a flashlight. After studying the wall closely, he extracted a crumpled piece of paper from one of the cracks. "Right," he declared, "this is where the tour ends for me." And he left the cell.

It turned out that long ago, the man had been an inmate in this very jail. Not only that, he had put in some time in the hole. Knowing that one of his pals was going to have a turn in the hole later on, he had left a note for the guy. But the friend was abruptly transferred to another prison, and never got the message. Forty years later, jammed into a crack in the wall, the note was still there.

A variety of visitors walk the gloomy corridors of the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières, from young and old to foreign tourists and the morbidly curious. And some, like the elderly man, are actually former prisoners, returning not to the scene of their crime, but to the scene of their incarceration.

The prison, which was the longest-operating jail in Canada when it was shut down in 1986, re-opened in August of 2002 as a rather unusual museum ? one that's dedicated to showing visitors what life behind bars was like in the 1960s and 1970s. This is a museum where the guides explain to those from "the outside" what life was like "on the inside." And they know what they're talking about. They're all ex-convicts themselves.

As they lead visitors from cell to cell on a tour of the facility, the guides cover every facet of prison life, from the convict code to the violence, despair, solitude and faith. It's a fascinating glimpse into prison life that also includes videotaped reminiscences of former prisoners, including well-known union leader Michel Chartrand.

Although the tours were designed purely to educate people, they also seem to have a preventative effect on some visitors, who are so disturbed by what they see that they decide then and there they're never going to break the law.

But then the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières wasn't exactly known for its comfort. Opened in 1822 and now classified as a historic monument, it was forced to shut down in 1986 for health reasons.

"Before they stopped using it, conditions in 'the hole' were straight out of the Middle Ages," says Claire Plourde of the Québec Museum of Folk Culture, which operates the prison museum. "It had a dirt floor, there were no windows and no light, and prisoners were thrown in there dressed only in their underwear."

To date, nearly 50,000 visitors have toured the facility. And as of this year, tourists can spend a full night in the prison - an experience Plourde promises is very different from, say, overnighting at the youth hostel in Ottawa, housed in a building that used to be a jail. "We give people a real prisoner-style experience," she says. "They spend the night in a cell on a real prison bed, and in the morning they get an honest-to-goodness jailhouse breakfast of porridge and cold toast."

Maybe not solitary confinement, but certainly voluntary confinement...

For more information on this or other Canadian destinations, visit the Canadian Tourism Commission's website at www.travelcanada.ca.

source: Canadian Tourism Commision

This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.

Old Prison of Trois-Rivières, Quebec

Photo: Musée québécois de culture populaire

Once Canada's longest-operating jail, the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières is now a museum where interpreters explain to "outsiders" what life was like "on the inside."

Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site in Dresden, Ontario

Photo: Cathy Stapells

Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site in Dresden, Ontario is the burial place of Josiah Henson. His autobiography inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to pen Uncle Tom's Cabin, credited by President Abraham Lincoln as a catalyst of the American Civil War.

Josiah Henson House, Dresden, Ontario

Photo: Cathy Stapells

This humble house in Dresden, Ontario became a crucial link in the Underground Railroad when it was settled by Josiah Henson, who escaped slavery in Kentucky. His autobiography inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to pen Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Salem Chapel in St. Catharines, Ontario

Photo: Eva Salter

A poignant site on the Niagara Freedom Trail, Salem Chapel, British Methodist Episcopal Church was once a headquarters for the Underground Railroad, the network that guided slaves from the United States to freedom in Canada.

Bertie Hall, Fort Erie, Ontario: interior shot

Photo: Eva Salter

Bertie Hall is a stately, 1830 Greek Revival-style home that reportedly served as a safe haven for freedom seekers who crossed the Niagara River. Today it houses the Mildred M. Mahoney Doll's House Gallery. Its basement quarters impact visitors with a recreation of the former slaves' habitat

Bertie Hall, Fort Erie, Ontario

Photo: Eva Salter

Lest we forget, follow the Freedom Trail

The brave network of people who hid slaves and guided them to freedom in Canada became known as the Underground Railroad. Ontario's route of historic sites honours those who fought for Black freedom and rights.

BY CATHY STAPELLS

If walls could talk, a tiny church in St. Catharines would tell a huge story. Salem Chapel, British Methodist Episcopal Church was once a headquarters for the Underground Railroad, the network that guided slaves from the United States to freedom in Canada.

Many escaped slaves, or freedom seekers, found sanctuary at the church and in St. Catharines because of ex-slave Harriet Tubman, who guided more than 300 slaves across the Canada/U.S. border during her eight years in St. Catharines.

"Tubman was the greatest 'conductor' on the Underground Railroad, risking her life again and again to bring others to freedom," says Rochelle Bush, historical director of Salem Chapel, built in 1855 and designated a national historic site.

Tubman was born in Maryland around 1820 and escaped from slavery in 1849. Known as "Black Moses" because she led her people to freedom, she returned to the American south 19 times to guide slaves to safety, including her own parents in 1857. "She lived in St. Catharines from 1851 to 1858 and made 11 trips from the city. And she carried a $40,000 bounty on her head," says Bush. Herself a descendent of freedom seekers, Bush's father's family arrived from Richmond, Va., in 1830 and settled in the Oro/Collingwood area. Her mother's family arrived from South Columbia, S.C., in 1844 and settled around St. Catharines.

After the U.S. Civil War, Tubman moved to Auburn, N.Y., where she continued to work for the advancement of rights for blacks and women. She died in her 90s in 1913.

Tubman's story, like that of all the freedom seekers escaping brutal conditions in the American South, is one of desperation and sacrifice. The Underground Railroad gave them hope.

The Railroad is the name for the network of people who hid and guided slaves and refugees to freedom in Canada by following the North Star. It originated in the southern United States and wound its way through the northern states to Canada, where blacks could live as free citizens.

First established as early as the 1500s by sympathetic abolitionists, both black and white, the Railroad reached its peak between 1780 and 1865. Clothed in secrecy, very few facts were recorded about the operation, but historians believe approximately 40,000 freedom seekers reached Canada via the Underground Railroad.

They came to Upper Canada, as Ontario was known in the late 18th century, because it was seen as a safe haven for blacks. In 1793, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe introduced a precedent-setting bill to prevent the importation of slaves into Upper Canada. At the time, more and more Empire Loyalists (British subjects loyal to Britain after the American Revolution) were coming north into Canada and bringing their slaves with them.

Finding a safe haven in Upper Canada became even more intense with the passage of the U.S. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed the capture of runaway slaves in the northern United States. In 1833, the British Parliament had passed the Slavery Abolition Act, giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.

Underground Railroad communities exist throughout southern Ontario, extending from Windsor to Toronto and north from Fort Erie to Owen Sound, Thornbury and Barrie. Visitors can explore this dramatic aspect of Canada's past at 29 sites around the province, seven of which lie along Niagara's Freedom Trail in the Niagara/St. Catharines area.

In Fort Erie, for example, a plaque known as "The Crossing" marks the spot on the riverfront where many freedom seekers crossed the swirling Niagara River from Buffalo to Fort Erie. Some were smuggled across by abolitionist boat captains, while others swam across ? some successfully, many not.

"Blacks only travelled across at night. It was an incredibly dangerous time," says Bush, a passionate spokesperson for promoting the history of the Underground Railroad.

Also in Fort Erie is Bertie Hall, which today houses the Mildred M. Mahoney Doll's House Gallery, a collection covering 200 years of dollhouses. However, this stately, Greek Revival-style home reportedly served as a "safe house" for freedom seekers who had crossed the Niagara River.

Bertie Hall was built circa 1830 by William Forsyth Sr., whose two sons, Brock and Nelson, were well-known abolitionists. Slaves would cross the Niagara River in darkness and hide in the safe house until they could be whisked away to more secure locations. Although never proven, rumours abound that an underground tunnel linked Bertie Hall to the river. In the basement, visitors can view recreated quarters of the dark, underground haven of the freedom seekers.

Niagara's Freedom Trail also includes a stop at the St. Catharines Museum at the Welland Canal Centre, where the "Follow the North Star" exhibit explores the Underground Railroad experience and recounts the rich legacy of Niagara's African Canadians.

"There are 27 historic black families in Niagara, with the majority in St. Catharines," says Bush. "At least 7,000 people in the city can trace their roots back to fugitive slaves."

Many other noteworthy sites along the Underground Railroad are located outside the Niagara region. The African Canadian Heritage Tour, the Central Ontario Network for Black History and the Ontario government have created a booklet that details all 29 sites across the province.

In Dresden, Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site and Josiah Henson House celebrate the achievements of Josiah Henson and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Henson escaped slavery in Kentucky with his wife and four children and settled in Upper Canada, where he quickly became an important part of the Underground Railroad. In 1841 near Dresden, he and several other abolitionists purchased 200 acres of land and founded a vocational school for black refugees called the British American Institute, and soon residents plied their trades at local farms, mills and industries.

At age 60, Henson wrote his autobiography. His memoirs inspired Harriet Beecher Stowein the writing of her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which sold more than 300,000 copies in its first year of publication. President Abraham Lincoln credited the outcry against slavery sparked by her book as the catalyst of the American Civil War. Henson died in 1883 at the age of 94 and is buried at the Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site.

Ontario's Underground Railroad sites honour the sacrifices of so many people who fought for black freedom and rights. It's a fascinating story, one that everyone should learn and no one should forget.

For more information on this destination visit the Canadian Tourism Commission website at www.travelcanada.ca.

source: Canadian Tourism Commision

This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.