Thursday 2 October 2014

Redberry Lake Discovery Trail


In 2013 the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve received a $5,000 EcoFriendly Action Grant to establish the Redberry Lake Discovery Trail.

Thanks to this grant, many volunteers, our summer students, land owners who see the value in outdoor education and recreation, and other contributors, we were able to cut the ribbon and officially open this new attraction to Saskatchewan and the Redberry Lake area on September 2.

“We have a similar trail near our administration building where we invite guests to explore and watch nature and show them how little it sometimes takes to protect it,” says Karl-Friedrich Abe, Head of Administration of the Rhoen Biosphere Reserve/Thuringia.

“To bring this educational trail to our area is a project which supports the idea of a global network and of Biosphere Reserves as model regions that promote answers on how people and nature can co-exist,” explains Peter Kingsmill, Chair of the Board of Governors at the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve.

Bird and Bat House Display

What makes the Discovery Trail unique? 
The currently 2.2 km long trail starts at Pelletier Point Developments, about 3 km south of Highway 40. It takes hikers along the shore of Redberry Lake through aspen trees and groves, shrubs full with buffaloberries, chokecherries and saskatoon berries. The trail provides beautiful views onto the saline lake and it invites explorers to discover and playfully learn about nature and her secrets.

Different stations along the trail make this self-guided hike unique. Visitors can see and learn about which birds and bats choose to make their home in certain nest boxes, which bugs will move into an Insect Hotel, and which creatures call a Rock Garden home.

A QR Code to scan with a smart phone and leaflets are waiting for hikers who feel ambitious enough to build one of the nest boxes for their own backyard or to construct a miniature insect hotel to create a home for bees, ladybugs and other insects that will eat garden pests.

Insect Hotel

All the leaflets and more information about the trail can also be found on Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve’s website.

The Biosphere Reserve  in the process of forming a group that will look after the trail. Interested volunteers and contributors can contact the Reserve by email.

Report prepared by Susanne Abe 
Communications Coordinator 
Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve