Greetings from the Board President

As the Henteleff Park Foundation Board begins to plan and budget for next year, we reflect on what we – with the aid of many of you – accomplished in 2021. We believe the past year marked a major step forward. Fifty volunteers generously gave their time to the Park and made it a better place for the entire community. Far less could have been accomplished without their gifts of time and energy. Members of the Board have happily received many compliments about the Park and have been sure to credit volunteers. I, as President, along with the rest of the HPF Board, am so grateful that so many chose to spend their valuable time working with us.

In this issue, please be sure to see the infographic that sums up the results of a survey conducted by our Volunteer Coordinator, asking this past summer’s volunteers for feedback on their experiences. Please also see the photos of the much-needed work carried out on the fence that protects the tall grass prairie and the article about the work that the beavers have done on our riverbanks. Finally, enjoy our annual recap of summer activities as we prepare to welcome 2022 and hopefully a return to a more normal new year.

Along with volunteering, there is also another way to contribute to the success of Henteleff Park. The Foundation receives grants and assistance from all three levels of government, but these funding sources do not cover many of the Park and community’s needs, such as the provision of portable toilets during the spring, summer, and fall months. For us to provide such amenities and to plan and carry out new projects, we rely heavily on donations from individuals like yourselves. These donations will ensure that Henteleff Park continues to be a place for all to enjoy and a focus that serves the broader Winnipeg community. Please consider making a donation. At the end of this newsletter, under the title “Donations Needed,” please see how you can donate through CanadaHelps or by cheque. With your help there is no end to what we can accomplish together.

Owen Clune
President, Henteleff Park Foundation
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Summer 2021 was busy and productive at Henteleff Park as community use continued high. The recruitment of approximately 50 volunteers by our Volunteer coordinator, Terri Ashcroft proved a significant factor in allowing summer staff to focus on critical tasks.

While it was again necessary to cancel our yearly tree planting public event due to Covid, staff were able to plant a total of 378 trees and shrubs, including Manitoba maple, Basswood, Bur oak, Hackberry, Red-osier dogwood, Pagoda dogwood, High bush cranberry, Silver buffaloberry, and Wood rose.

Special Thanks!

The total cost of these and the supplies to plant them was covered by a grant from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (FEF) and by a Land Dedication Reserve Fund grant (LDRF) from the City of Winnipeg. We again thank these funders from the bottom of our hearts (and pockets!) We also express our deepest thanks to Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ), whose funding, together with the TD FEF grant, allowed us to hire four staff for eight weeks and two staff for twelve weeks. These grants meant that we could pay more than minimum wage to staff, mainly students, in a job market also sorely tested by Covid.

For those who have so graciously supported, encouraged, and advocated for the Park in the past year, we express our thanks to: Terry Duguid, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South; Rochelle Squires, Member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly for Riel; and Markus Chambers, City Councillor for the St. Norbert-Seine River Ward.

The presence of volunteers also allowed staff, in response to severe drought conditions, to spend significant time watering the new plantings to ensure these survived. The TD FEF grant also allowed us to rehire two staff in September to continue watering to ensure that new plantings would survive the drought as it continued.

In addition to freeing up staff to plant and water, the presence of volunteers also let staff focus on removing invasive species such as burdock, maintain Park trails, and lay down woodchips on roughly 750 meters of the new trails in the 10 acre western addition to the Park. These invaluable volunteers included individuals, families, and ten high school students fulfilling their required volunteer work in the community. In addition to making the Park more tidy and welcoming, volunteers removed invasive species from previous years’ plantings and from the Tall Grass Prairie. The work carried out by volunteers meant that the Park and members of the community interacted in a whole new way – to the profound benefit of all.

Special Welcome!

This year we also welcomed our newest Board and Site Management Committee member, Doug Drobot, who brings his education and experience as an arborist to the Henteleff Park Foundation. We also welcomed our newest Foundation and Communications Committee member, Bridget White, who is completing her Masters (MSc) in Entomology at the University of Manitoba and is managing much of the Foundation’s social media presence. As a member of the Communications Committee, Karen Ilchena has also been a welcomed addition to our Board.  While welcoming them, we also note that the Foundation postponed its Annual General Meeting (AGM) until this past October. We were gratified that approximately ten members of the community attended this event, which was conducted virtually as another response to Covid.

If you visited the Park this summer, you’ll have noticed that the City completed removal of the fence posts that had separated the Park from the added ten acres to the west. We have seen many more community members make use of this added land and this added way to enter the Park. We thank the City for this removal work, for garbage removal, for supplying mulch for trails, and for completing rough cuts in selected Park areas.

You will have also noticed the increased signage in the Tall Grass Prairie that cautions Park users that this is a fragile and sensitive ecosystem. This photo below shows what this ecosystem can look like when not stressed by both drought and inappropriate use.  (Photo by M. Latta)

We continue to witness the Park as a vitally important part of the community as we all deal with Covid. Two examples are its use by many seniors in nearby condominiums and apartments whose lives have been restricted by the pandemic, and its use by groups of school students as an outdoor classroom to enrich awareness of the environment. We hope to announce further developments regarding education in the coming year.

As our President has said in this issue, we are deeply appreciative of the community involvement and support we have received. Thank you!

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Over 50 volunteers spent their valuable time lending a hand at Henteleff Park this past year.  Thank you for your time and for responding to our survey.  We look forward to seeing you again next year!

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Fence Repair Project

In addition to those who donated time, we were also privileged to receive the donation of materials. Our fence, the one you might see families gathered around for summer wedding or fall photos, has been spruced up!

Simon Laplante and Laura Mikuska graciously donated 30 peeled spruce rails which allowed us to repair the fence so the Henteleff Park community could continue to enjoy its presence.  Photos by J. Borody

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As you walked along the river bank on the northern edge of the Park this past fall, you’ll likely have noticed recent activity by beavers.

So if we have beavers in Henteleff Park, where is the beaver lodge and dam you might expect? Interestingly, not all beavers build dams or make a visible lodge. Some beavers (often referred to as bank beavers) make a den in the bank of a river or stream, so their home is out of our sight. However, they will create a large food cache of felled small trees and branches that they can access through the winter.

Beavers are the largest rodents found in Canada, usually weighing between 12 to 30 kilograms. They are mainly aquatic and since they are herbivorous their diet consists only of plant material. They will eat the leaves, buds, twigs and bark of deciduous and occasionally coniferous trees and seem to have a special fondness for aspen. Although they can easily cut down large trees, sometimes they just chew off the bark.

A beaver’s front teeth grow continuously so they must also gnaw trees continuously to keep their teeth from growing too long. Beavers are mainly nocturnal (active at night) but are occasionally seen during the day. They mate for life. A family unit usually consists of two adults, the kits that are newborn in late spring or early summer, and the yearlings born the previous year.

Beavers have large webbed feet that help propel them through the water. They are distinguished by a large multipurpose flat tail. The tail serves as a rudder in the water, props them up on land when cutting or chewing trees, and when slapped on the water serves as a danger alarm.

Muskrats, since they may occur in similar habitats, are probably the only animal you might confuse with a beaver, but muskrats are smaller than beavers and do not have the distinctive flat tail.

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Donations Needed

Greetings from the Board President

I am delighted to present our first newsletter of the year and I hope that you will find the information in it both compelling and practical. Henteleff Park has seen a tremendous increase in use over the past year; while that has presented some unique challenges it also has presented tremendous opportunities.

The outpouring of public support for the protection of public greenspace noted later in this newsletter (see: Greenspace Advocates Spoke and the City Listened), was for example, a real win not only for the Park Foundation but also the community it serves. The additional protections approved by Winnipeg City Council will ensure that Henteleff Park will continue to provide a natural green space for all to enjoy for years to come.

We are grateful for the kind support of visitors willing to share their views about Henteleff Park. Your feedback, summed up in two informational graphics in this issue, will significantly strengthen our chances of obtaining funding from the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative (go to https://communityfoundations.ca/initiatives/chci/ for more information) to create a virtual arboretum.

The Foundation hopes that this project will enhance the experiences of those who want to learn more about the Park’s native plant species while limiting human impact on the natural surroundings. My favourite outcome of the survey were the responses to the question “What has Henteleff Park meant to you during the COVID-19 pandemic?” It is truly validating to see the many people who share our vision.

Finally, I am really proud of the contributions that our community, volunteers, and staff have made over the past year. My hope is that the Park will stand as a testament to the collective power of dedicated individuals who together strive to make their community spaces even better. If this effort sounds like something you would like to be part of, I invite you to get in touch with our volunteer coordinator, Terri Ashcroft, or to make a donation. Every action helps and we are so thankful for your support. See you at the Park!

Owen Clune
President, Henteleff Park Foundation

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Community Opinion Survey Results

The Henteleff Park Foundation recently applied for a grant with the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative which recognizes the importance of public spaces (both real and virtual) to support healthy physical and social activities, especially during COVID-19.  To help determine which project we wanted to pursue, we conducted a community survey in April 2021 and here is synopsis of the results.

This tree graphic is a beautiful representation of the survey question:
“What has Henteleff Park meant to me during the pandemic”

Beautiful visitors!
Photo credit: Marilyn Latta

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