Fall 2020. Vol 17. Issue 2.

A Message from the Henteleff Park Foundation Board

Elsewhere in this issue, we’ve offered a report of activities in the Park this year and some plans for next. Here, we’d like to tell you about some changes to the Board of Henteleff Park Foundation and some organizational plans going forward.

At the 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the end of June, graciously hosted in the meeting room of the Waterfront Condominiums, Saul Henteleff chose to step down after seven years as HPF Board President, handing over the position to Owen Clune. At that time, Saul hoped to continue as Past-President and to support the Board’s effort in other capacities. Unfortunately, this was not to be, and Saul resigned from his position as a board member in August of this year. His years of service are much appreciated.

At the AGM, the Board also welcomed a new member, Terri Ashcroft. As well as serving on the Board, Terri has created and embraced the position of Volunteer Co-ordinator. In the coming year, Terri and the Board hope to seek out and call on the enthusiasm, expertise, and sweat of new Park volunteers, new members of the Foundation, and new members of the Board. Please check out our website or keep an eye on the message board in the Park in the spring if you would like to become involved.

During the fall of 2020, the Board also organized several new committees to effectively manage the work of the Park. The newly formed Site Management Committee will assist Marilyn Latta in her indispensable work in rehabilitating and maintaining the physical fabric of the Park. The new Communications Committee will promote the Park through various social media and through this newsletter. You may have already noticed that the Park now has an Instagram presence! We want to thank Bridget White for her continued skilled work in this regard. We also want to thank Karen Ilchena, who for many years has done the major portion of work on this newsletter. Karen has now joined us as a member of the Communications Committee. The Board has also created a Policy Committee that will work on refreshing the administrative framework of the HPF Board as new members and volunteers join us in caring for the Park.

Marilyn Latta continues in her all-important position as Treasurer, Corinne Caron in her linchpin position as Vice-President, Sheila Pursey in her vital position as Board Secretary, Ian Keenan as Board advisor and key member of the Communications Committee, and Yude Henteleff as the living memory and ultimate driving force of the Park as President Emeritus.

Please be sure to watch our social media and future issues of this newsletter for opportunities to join with us in protecting and enhancing the Park into the future.

Our Heartfelt Thanks to Marilyn!

While Henteleff Park would not exist without the unceasing efforts of Yude Henteleff and others, it must also be said that the Park would not exist in anything resembling its present form without the energy, knowledge, skill, guidance, and caring of Marilyn Latta, our Site Supervisor and Chair of our Site Management Committee. The Henteleff Park Foundation wishes to express our heartfelt thanks, deep affection, and profound appreciation to Marilyn.

In addition to her devotion to Henteleff Park, Marilyn has worked tirelessly and in many roles for Nature Manitoba (formerly Manitoba Naturalists’ Society). Rather than recapping her many awards, contributions, and accomplishments with them, please go to www.naturemanitoba.ca/ and search under Marilyn’s name.

As you walk into Henteleff Park, one of the first sites you’ll notice is the Tall Grass Prairie. This intense and sustained work of habitat restoration, begun in the spring of 2007, would not exist without Marilyn’s meticulous planning, direction, and stewardship.

Near the east end of the Tall Grass Prairie there stands an information board installed earlier this year. This is another Park amenity Marilyn conceived of and oversaw to completion. On it you can find a list of bird species seen in the Park that draws on sightings by a wide range of observers, from novice birders to some of the most experienced in the Province. This list is yet another of Marilyn’s creations. She (and the Board with her) hope to follow this list with similar ones of plants and of animals seen in the Park.

Further into the Park, you’ll notice areas of thriving young trees that give the appearance of undisturbed nature. But this appearance is deceiving. During the Park’s time as a market garden under the Henteleff family and as a tree farm operated by the City of Winnipeg, the local ecosystem was significantly changed. What you now see reflects Marilyn’s knowledge and sensitivity in selecting planting areas and nurturing the plantings in them. She has consistently guided the work of the Park’s summer staff over many years to carry this out. She has selected and pre-ordered native tree and other native plant species, supervised their placement, and directed ongoing battles by volunteers and staff to control invasive, non-native plant species.

Shaping the Future

As many of you will know, in spring, summer, and fall seasons Marilyn devotes many hours each day and each week to enhancing the Park. Many of us have seen her in her trademark gear, delving deep into a pants pocket to pull out her field notebook – a notebook packed with observations, jots about what soon needs to be done, and thoughts to shape future planning.

Marilyn is a self-taught botanist with a phenomenal knowledge of plants. She is not only able to identify many species, but can describe their preferred habitats, their seasons, and their habits. She is generous in sharing this knowledge. Ask her anything about the Tall Grass Prairie – her particular passion – and she knows the answer (although she is the first to humbly admit that there are certain plants that she finds “a little more challenging”). And if she doesn’t know the answer, she will find it through her network of specialists, in her reference books, or through her online research. Marilyn loves to learn. And as frequent users of the Park know, Marilyn loves to share her knowledge, her time leading many themed field walks through the Park, her extra guidebooks, the cuttings and seeds from her garden, and most of all her passion for the natural world. Marilyn is also an accomplished photographer who uses many of her images in the courses she teaches. As one of her colleagues at Nature Manitoba has so effectively put it, “these remarkable achievements could have been reached only through a combination of disciplined personal study, association with other botanists, dedicated field work, and careful record keeping.”

In all her efforts, Marilyn has applied her remarkable energy, her friendly powers of persuasion, and her winning personality to give generously of her time and spirit as a leader, an organizer, an administrator, an exceptional naturalist, and a true friend of Henteleff Park. As you can perhaps tell from this article, it is a challenge to find enough superlatives to convey our admiration for and reliance on her.

Thank you, Marilyn, thank you!

The Year Past
The Year to Come

Click here to read the full article.

Marilyn Latta found Leopard frogs were more abundant in 2020 than ever noted before.

A male Cardinal, photographed by Claude Garand, was not only a treat visually but also to the ears.

Many, Many Thanks!