MOOSOMIN — Some people call Kendra Parrish a nature nut and she owns that moniker with pride.
“I’ve always loved being outdoors and looking at insects,” Parrish said. “Way back in Kindergarten, a boy teased me by calling me a ‘nature nut,’ and he certainly had me pegged!”
Something that bolstered Parrish’s interest in nature was a smartphone app that identifies species of what she sees, which can be later confirmed by human experts.
“Since 2021, I have logged 603 species on the app — 324 Insects I’ve spotted right here in Moosomin, and 108 are birds I observed here or close by,” she said. “Exploring the natural side of Moosomin was always a solo pursuit suit for me until three events in 2023 taught me that there are like-minded friends here for the making.”
The first pivotal event was the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Pipestone Bio-Woods gathering near Maryfield where Parrish spent a delightful day cataloguing “a vast array” of species. The second fundamental meeting was a lecture on bat conservation at the Moosomin Library, and the third stand-out evening was the recent bats, birds and butterflies supper at the Moosomin Armoury held by Nature Saskatchewan in November.
“These three events convinced me that there’s a critical mass of passion for wildlife in the Moosomin area; that we coordinate and collaborate to do great things,” Parrish said.
At that fateful supper, Parrish was at the table with Lorne Scott, Nature Saskatchewan president.
“He saw my enthusiasm and encouraged me to take that Moosomin Nature Society idea and make it a local chapter,” Parrish said. “I really have gotten so much pleasure out of just walking around our town and noticing what’s here that I’d like to share that with as many people — especially young people — as possible.”
General activities during the winter months could include lectures on various topics, but once temperatures warm up, bird and bat walks will be encouraged.
“There was a presentation at the library in the spring with researchers from the University of Saskatchewan who are using ultrasonic detection units to hear the migrating patterns of different species of bats and they are lending out kits,” Parrish recalled. “Moosomin got them a little bit too late to use them for the fall migration, but in the spring migration we’ll be able to borrow these little devices that attach to your phone and then we can go on walks as a nature society at nighttime and see what kind of species of bats we have living here.”
Small/big discoveries
Some of the most interesting discoveries don’t necessarily involve the largest animals. Parrish recently discovered a species of ant that has the experts baffled. Amazon or ‘slave-raiding’ ants are an interesting species that use members of other colonies as workers. But they aren’t supposed to live in southeast Saskatchewan.
“Some ant specialists are very excited about the ants that I found near the Moosomin Post Office,” Parrish explained. “They weren’t expecting to find them this far north.”
Insects are of particular interest to Parrish and the fantastic diversity one can discover just by looking a little deeper.
“I’m especially fascinated by bees, I’ve found 40 species of bees just here in town,” she said.
Providing helpful information to people on best practices for these tiny but crucial members of the ecosystem is a key part of the Moosomin Nature Society. One example of this is the previously common practice of raising and releasing Monarch butterflies, which was done to help boost overall numbers. What researchers have discovered is these introduced butterflies can carry genetic defects that hinder wild Monarch populations when they are integrated.
Another initiative Parrish advocates is No-Mow May, allowing ground-nesting bees the chance to utilize the first food source of the year — dandelions.
“They need some very early-flowering plants to survive that first part of spring,” Parrish said. “That’s when dandelions can really be your friend instead of your enemy.”
She was fortunate to give a school presentation last year and hopes to involve younger generations via the Moosomin Nature Society in the future.
“That’s one of the goals for the nature society is to do a lot of outreach with the school,” Parrish said. “I want to launch events that get local kids looking at nature.”
Importance of preserving wild spaces
The Moosomin area is a special place for naturalists, especially when so many wild places are in jeopardy of being lost.
“It’s very unique,” Scott said. “You got the Pipestone and Eastern Qu’Appelle — there are birds there that aren’t found anywhere else in the province, too!”
When asked why nature conservancy is important to the region, the former Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Minister was blunt about the situation.
“We are southern Saskatchewan, the agriculture portion of the province is in what is known as the Temperate Grassland Biome, it’s sort of a biome that circles the globe,” Scott explained. “There’s the steppes in Mongolia, Ukraine and Northern Plains here. It is the most endangered, the least protected and the most developed biome and on the planet. It’s more at risk than the Amazon rainforest or their coral reefs.”
A large component of this land loss is due to development with very little natural space remaining.
“We’ve lost close to 90 per cent of our natural landscape in southern Saskatchewan,” Scott expanded. “There’s areas like Regina to Moose Jaw to Weyburn in those very productive plains and dark soils, over 99 per cent of the landscape is gone. We don’t need to worry about protecting anything there. It’s gone. Much of what is left is very fragmented.”
Some areas can be regenerated, but it’s a long road for places where native grasslands one reigned supreme.
“Wetlands you can restart. Ducks (Unlimited Canada) are doing a very good job at that, but to recreate the native grass and aspen — in fact, native grass after 50 years, it’s nowhere near the way it was before it was broken 50 years ago,” Scott said. “It takes a long time to restore aspen as well. So the future of our landscape rests in the hands of landowners. Fortunately, many landowners appreciate the natural landscape and make a point of saving some of it.”
Scott has seen the changes firsthand. On his farm near Indian Head, he’s built some 2,500 birdhouses over the years, hoping to retain bluebird populations. He noted that through the 1970s and 80s, around 30 nesting pairs called his infamous Bluebird Trail home. Those numbers started to decline during the 1990s and today there are no bluebirds to be found.
“The habitat’s there, the boxes are there, but they just quit coming back,” Scott said. “The last pair nested in 2014.”
Scott plans to join Parrish at the first meeting of the Moosomin Nature Society, set for 7 p.m. on Jan. 18 at the Moosomin Library. Discussions will include creating a schedule of events for the coming year and joining Nature Saskatchewan as a local society.
