Kelowna BC, walk in the park.

One Week in Kelowna

They got Nature there too.

Swimming in Lake Okanagan

This is the GPS track file of where we walked and how we got there. The trail takes you through tunnels and over former train trestles.  The camera marker is where the yoga picture of me was taken. 1 meter behind me was a 5o meter drop, Mom was a little freaked out. "What's the worst that could happen??"  http://goo.gl/maps/i9pF0

Many of the trestles were destroyed in the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire, which happened 10 years ago. 238 homes were lost and the fire was almost 24,000 hectares. read more

We also went to a new start-up that has constructed suspension bridges and a giant sundial.

The pool has a wave ride. I was able to stand for a minute after the 10th try, I wipe out good, got a few laughs from the young ones watching.

Loved to see all the different trees!  Northern Ontario has so few species compared to the hills of Kelowna.

Hike Day 2013 Pictures, Links, Geocaching.

A little hot chocolate
A walk with friends in the fall!

The Garmin GPSmap76cs tells me :

Total Distance = 4.09 km
Time moving = 1.00 hours
Time stopped = 41 minutes
Average moving speed = 2.4 km

We found geocache :
GC24E4V read more
GC1K4XZ read more
GC3J2VX (water damage) read more
GC3E7V4 read more
GCNYZ9 read more

Geocache 101 read more

Timmins Times. Pictures and story read more

CTV News report can be seen when you click here

Mattagami Region Conservation Authority is on Facebook, follow for information

All the pictures I took can be seen when you click here

Note Ron's comment below that Hersey Lake is now an ebird hotspot.

Porcupine Gold Reclamation add one more tree!

Tailings Pond Returning to Nature

Dave and I plant an eastern white cedar.

Google map where we planted. see the map 

The area looks a lot different then what the older photos that Google shows from the air. More like park land now. GoldCorp is working on connecting the trail systems that al ready exist to the trails that they have created on the site.

You can tour the area every summer read more

Timmins Hiking Day Spring 2013 Details

A Spring in your Hike.

See the Falls.

Listen, Learn, Love!

I hope the day is wonderful, but Timmins people are not affected by weather. Dress for the day!
We have great guides that will provide us with information.

If you do not have a ride from the Confederation Arena, please let Wintergreen know and arrangements can be made to get you from Confed. to the Falls.

Interactive map from Confed. arena to the falls. With distances. look at it now

More information on the Hike Facebook page read more

Mattagami Region Conservation information about the hike read more

Our last spring trip was to Archies`Rock you can read all about it and see the video too go now

College Boreal / Renaissance Environmental Class

High School Credit and College Credit

Learning about the Forest, 

Trees and Work!

This class was eager learn about the forests and what we do at Millson Forestry Service. Too bad the mud had all dried up for the walk in the back, they did not get the full "Muddy Mark" tour.

No time to play in the mud anyway.

I put them to work. Their first task was to remove cones from branches. Their second task  was to replace jiffy pellets into an insert. Finally they got to work alongside Millson employees.

You can see the album of pictures on the Millson Facebook page.  see album

THVS high school turns to Millson to learn about Forestry.

THVS Delta Class

Learning about the forest

at Millson Forestry Service.

We put them all to work removing cones from branches. Most of them even participated. \

One young lad holds a piece of tree stem that came from a plantation that the Twains planted. Written on the bottom is Shania Twain planted this tree. I don't know if she actually planted the tree, but she was there. This tree is part of a display that was available for the Shania Twain fan club, they would tour the facility as part of the week of celebrating the Timmins star.

Follow Millson on Twitter click here

Millson Forestry Service FB album read more

Citizen Scientists plan to meet in Timmins, Ontario.

We are all

Citizen Scientists 

and 

Wildlife Photographers

The Timmins Naturalists are asking for the help of the public in their data collection efforts.

To that end we are having a workshop on 

Sunday May 05, 2013 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

at the Timmins Public Library 

in the Tembec Room.

The entire agenda can be found here

The short agenda is:
Welcome
Sturgeon restoration
Trail systems and Canoe Routes
Duck Boxes
5 minute break
Turtles, Snapping, Painted, Blanding's, Turtle Tally
Bats, and their Future
Citizen Science
Wrap up. Thanks you.

A note on Wildlife Photography. Everyone, well almost everyone, now carries a gizo that will take a digital picture. I carry a flip phone that will take a picture, but I have never used the camera. I also carry a small digital camera with me always and a digital video camera with me most of the time. My first reaction when I see something is to get a camera out.

One exception last fall. The dog and I are walking in the thick bush. I am being careful and watching my step. Suddenly I hear a low grunting sound and look up to almost face to face with a moose. It grunted while it's head swayed back and forth. It took a step towards me, I took a step back. Nose to nose ~5 meters. I was not thinking about my camera. When the dog finally joined me the moose moved off, only then did I think of the camera. Got a shot of the backside in the thick brush.

What we need is all of you photographers to take a picture and send me a note of where you took the picture. When I get a picture or a phone call I put the sighting on the Observations Naturally page and forward the observation to the information keepers. (Turtles to the Turtle  Tally etc.) I have kept this page up since 1994.


Previous Oxygen Grows on Trees entries for Citizen Science

111th Christmas Bird Count Results. read post
You are a Scientist - Citizen Science. read post
Timmins Checklist of the Birds. read post
You are a Scientist. read post
Butterflies in Timmins. read post
What We Do Citizen Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. read post

TD Tree Days

Gillies Lake Tree Plant with TD

Friends and family of TD Bank tree planted at Gillies Lake. The environment fund provided the monies to make it all happen.

The group planted and mulched over 100 tree seedlings.  These areas will provide great habitat in another 5 years.

September 10, 2011

Trees were purchased from Millson Forestry Service here in Timmins.

Water Level Look for yourself. Realtime

Like to watch weather
You can watch the water rise and fall.

No this is not about taking your girl to the lake side
to watch submarine races. But still always a good idea!

Environment Canada has a site that shows you the realtime water levels of water systems all across Canada. You can use the google map search to see what stations are near any location in Canada.

It is a very cool site for water watchers. Real-time Hydrometric Data

Ontario Power Generation has a site that will allow you to view the real-time data at the hydro electric dams. You need to check here when water is low to know if the water is high or not. You need to know the elevation that may effect you or your pleasure of the water system.

Pick a dam, see the water elevation. See the data

Oxygen Grows On Trees

Muddy Mark
Educating the little saplings!

A school tour last week at the complex.  It was too cold to take the kids for a walk in the mud, it was all too frozen. Too bad, I had my rubber boots on.

All dressed up with no place to mess.

The kids had some great questions and many of them were about trees.  Sometimes the cats and dogs get some of the kids attention.

Trees  are important and I am sure that message was well received. 

My First Millson Forest

2011 International Year of Forests

My first forest with Millson Forestry Service.

I started at Millson Forestry Service (MFS) July of 1999, in September I was in charge of a tree plant on the west side of town. 

Here is a map of the plantation area.  Here is a look at the plantation from the highway in street view of google maps

I went to the Jack pine plantation yesterday to get some pictures and thin a tree to get a cookie. It was a wonderful warm rainy day. A little unusual for the last day of 2010. Plus 5C and raining while Roll'n and I walked in the young forest. 

2011 is International Year of Forests more info 

When I count the rings on the cookie of the tree I thinned from the plantation I confirm the tree is indeed 11 years old. 

I hope you will follow me this year while I work and write about the forest. If you have never planted a tree, this is the year you need to do it! You will have opportunity during Earth Day and Arbour Day to get a tree. You can also get a larger tree, just visit the MFS webstore.

It is all about the trees and the FOREST at Oxygen Grows On Trees

Scoutrees a Forest for Tomorrow

Forest Planted in 2002 visited

In the spring of 2001 and 2002 the Timmins and Porcupine District Scouts planted as part of Scoutrees. A National program that is a fund raiser for the Scouting program.  The first tree plant in the Timmins District, Called Trees for Canada, at the time, was in 1980. My first tree plant with the Scouts was 1997 when we planted in Deloro Township, just south the Timmins Landfill.

That summer crows and ravens came to the plantation and pulled out almost all the seedlings. Any seedling that had  the smallest paper showing was pulled up. Those curious birds! The seedling container of the time was called a 408 PaperPot. There were used for only a few years before it was determined that in some soil conditions the paper would not rot for many many years.

Previous blog entry has chart with years and numbers planted. read the entry now

The last Scoutrees planted in 2003.

Mine Site in the background.

Click Here to see a map of where the trees are planted.

Pictures from the tree plant and the pictures of what it looks like today.  Look Now

Roads Remove Forests

The Forest is Tenacious

Time will recover all

productive forest ground

When I was giving a tour to a group of students from southern Ontario we had a discussion around what removes forests from the natural life cycle.

Urbanization we decided was the one element that removed productive forest the most.

A side note of the conversation was they described a loss of agricultural land to urbanization. It had not occurred to them that agriculture had removed forests first. They had no idea or concept that all the farms were at one time a vast forest. Fields left long enough will easily revert back to forested land.

There is more non-productive forest in the walmart parking lot then all the crown land around Timmins.

Roads remove the forest from being productive for a very long time. I find it interesting to see the old highway 101 while traveling from Chapleau to Timmins. The hydro lines follow the old road so you see the lines disappearing into the bush and returning at another location.

It will be many years before the forest reclaims the ground a highway has been constructed.

How much area?

Lets say a lane with 4 meters wide. The MoT tells us there are 39000 lane kilometers in the province. 39000000 meters x 4meters = 156000000 meters square.

That is 15600 hectares.

MoT no longer leaves the black top when they move a highway. Only the gravel is left, the forest will be able to regenerate it much faster.

Picture 1 and 2 location

Picture 3 location

Picture 4 location

Provincial Highways Management

• There are over 16,500 kilometres (39,000 lane km) of provincial highway. Placed end to end, Ontario's highways would span Canada twice.
• The Ministry of Transportation manages 2,720 bridges and structures, 29 remote airports and either owns and operates or provides funding for nine ferry services.
• Replacement value of Ontario's highways and bridges is approximately $57 billion.
• Annually, $1.2 trillion worth of goods are transported in Ontario, $222 billion of which pass over international bridge crossings linked to provincial highways.
• More than 90 per cent of all Ontarians reside within 10 km of the provincial highways. During the peak periods, about one third of the auto trips in Ontario use provincial highways.
• Asphalt pavement lasts an average of about 15 years before it needs resurfacing, if it's properly maintained.
• Bridges need to be thoroughly inspected every two years. Older bridges are generally rehabilitated every 20 to 30 years and completely replaced after 75 years. New bridges are designed to last at least 75 years without major rehabilitation.
• There are more than 180 COMPASS cameras in the province.

From the Ministry of Transportation webpage

The Earth Moves

The Earth Moves

Rock Falls for Gravity

In September 2008 I stopped on our way to Sault Ste Marie to show the kids this interesting rock formation along the side of highway 101.

I have alway wondered about the formation of the rock and how such thin rock could stand.

The kids and I crawled all over these rocks to explore the formation.

2 years after the first picture part of the wall would fall. I suspect the vibration of the highway was too much for this part of the shield pushed up to the surface.

I want to go back and try to push over the other pillar still standing. If the big slab could fall maybe the little one will fall too.

It is a little boy thing. I like to smash beaver dams and make a trench across a road that is holding back water. Control water and gravity.

When you go by stop and take a look. Please do not give it a push. Let me try it first!

This map is where to find it.

Maybe one of my geocache friends will make this a cache. Sign in after you give it a push.

This is incredible, here is the google street view of the location.

Here is the map view of the location.

Painted Turtle east of the watershed.

A painted turtle came looking for me.

I just love seeing a turtle during my travels

This little creature was crossing the road while I was going by.

Added this sighting to the turtle tally. If you see a turtle you should enter the sighting in the turtle tally.

They want the location, lat long, and a picture is always nice.

If you see the turtle anywhere near Timmins the Timmins Naturalists likes to keep track of those sightings. We add the all sightings to the Observations Naturally webpage. Check it out!

Found in Ontario - Arrowheads

Ontario Arrowheads

I have had these arrowheads for awhile. I finally got around to finding out the story on them.

There is a guy you can email pictures of what you have and he will let you know what you have.

This was his answer to me.

If lettered left to right, a to f, these are:

b - Adena type, Early Woodland period circa 1000 - 300 B.C.
c - Snyders type, Middle Woodland period circa 300 B.C. - 500 A.D.

a, d, e, f - all variants of Late Archaic period types circa 3000 - 1000 B.C.

So it seems that 4 of these arrowheads are 3000 to 5000 years old. That is so neat to know.

My mommy tells me that the arrowheads were found by her father. Somewhere in southern Ontario. Grandfather lived in AYR so it would seem the arrowheads where found around there.

Ask an Archaeologist at the University of Western Ontario

Southwestern Ontario : The first 12000 years

Timmins Business Environmental Award

2010 Nova Business Award

Environmental Award

presented to

Millson Forestry Service

Timmins Chamber of Commerce recognized the local business community, handing out 16 NOVA awards for business excellence.

Timmins Chamber of Commerce more info on the nova awards

Read about the awards by the Timmins Daily Press

Timmins Honda on Earth Day !!

Honda was a good Earth Day Partner

Muddy Mark and Forester Moe. gave out tree seedlings at Timmins Honda as part of Earth Day celebrations.

Ryan gave Muddy the once over on how the car was environmentally friendly.

What I really like about the car is as you take your foot off the gas, no say throttle, the car slows and actually charges the car batteries.

The car is called an insight.

The other great thing that Honda does is they do not have brochures. You have to go on line. Instead of giving a brochure they give you a wildflower seed packet with the web address on it.

I am all for the web, paperless.

Earth Day 2010 Timmins Honda

Timmins Honda, CTV and Millson Forestry Service partnered to bring Earth Day 2010 to Timmins.

It was wonderful to be home for Earth Day. Forester Monique and I spent the day with Gary from CTV at Timmins Honda.

We gave away white spruce tree seedlings to everyone that came in to ask for one. It is always wonderful to hear the stories people have of trees. Trees that were planted when they were little, trees that they watched grow over time, trees that fell on the house, trees that the husband cut with the lawn mower. They are all good.

It is not all fun and games at the Earth Day events. The boss came by to make sure Muddy and Forester Moe. were working hard. Muddy is the orange wild daylily between two pretty flowers.

Muddy Mark has many of his own stories about trees. Once you get him talking about trees it is hard to get him to stop.

A special guess dropped by.

Jeff and Foster.Foster is the brother of Roll'n. I do not think they know that or care. Jeff and I met by chance while on a walk.

Same age, same kind and rescued by Lisa. Jeff tells me the name of the dog was originally Negerski.

Earth Day Electric Ride - Tesla

Rainbow Concrete Green Everyday, a real commitment from the top down!

Muddy Mark was educated at Rainbow Concrete. Rainbow is doing so many different things for the environment, and much of it is driven by the owner Boris. Still keeping an on on Boris is his mother. She dropped by to get a picture with the son and Muddy Mark.

My understanding is Rainbow Concrete got it's name from being able to produce many different colours of bricks.

"Rainbow Concrete Industries Limited, a family ownedbusiness, was founded in 1953 and originally supplied concrete blocks to the Sudbury area. For over four decades we have been developing a complete line of environmentally friendly concrete products which we supply and distribute throughout Northern Ontario and beyond."

Most impressive is the fact that they have been using BioDiesel in all of their trucks since 2008.

They also inflate all tires with nitrogen, reducing fuel consumption and tire wear.

Rainbow Concrete promotes healthy food concepts to lessen the footprint on the earth. Organic foods grown naturally is just another aspect to help Mother Earth.

Source-Energy Pipe system provides heating and cooling for buildings, with an energy efficiency ranging from 400% to 500%.

Really cool is the totally electric car Boris drives. It is called a Tesla. It can really move and when you take your foot off the throttle it actually slows down and charges the battery. What a fantastic car. The smallest foot print for an automobile I would guess.