Message from the GTHS Past-President, Peter Maarsman
What a beautiful time to be in Green Timbers Forest. It is a time of rebirth and there is excitement all over the forest as trees add their new green foliage, plants and shrubs begin to bloom adding a rainbow of colour to paint the forest. Strange fragrant scents assail our noses, as we walk the trails breathing in the crystal clean air. A symphony of rapture assaults our ears as birds return to the forest from many distant places. There is a hive of activity as birds build their nests, lay eggs for the young chicks to hatch and eventually fly away for another winter.
Frogs and salamanders are oozing out of their muddy sanctuaries shaking off the winter sleep and laying much smaller eggs but in larger numbers. Soon we will see hundreds of tadpoles swimming in our wetlands. You will hear new sounds in the meadows as wildlife begin their mating season and if you are very silent and watchful you might even see the new baby animals venturing out on their new life of discovery. While you can’t hear it unless you listen very carefully there is also a rustle of new life under the ground as insects, moles and voles forage for food.
Find a secluded spot, (there are many in the forest), and take some time to meditate, for a short while forget your troubles and think of the wonders surrounding you. Hear the bees buzzing around the flowers or maybe your thoughts are interrupted by a woodpecker drilling for bugs in an old tree or a duck splash landing in the nearby lake. Think of the magic of it all. Then you can return to your other noisy, worrisome world feeling a little refreshed and relaxed ready to tackle your cares once again.
When you think about it you have to wonder why we want to destroy all this. Why cut down our forests that do so much for us. When we build a new house, let’s leave that line of trees along the fence.
There are fewer songbirds this year. Many more are becoming extinct across North America. Yes even those buzzing honeybees are dying off around the world. What a shame! You don’t hear the frogs everywhere, anymore. But we still hear them in the Green Timbers!
Makes you wonder what a world we will have in the future. We still seem to be cutting down so many trees in Surrey. I don’t know about you but I will trade the noise of bulldozers for the sound of birds and bees. I like to see the wild animals and amphibians living near by. I love to smell the flowers blooming in the spring and eating the fruit later on in the summer. We don’t want to live in a place without trees, birds and wildlife. Let’s all work toward forest preservation.
Each summer, Green Timbers Heritage Society along with the City Parks organizes funding for SNAP workers in the Forest to plant trees, maintain trails, and educate the public.
Come to the Forest and have a walk one day soon!
Please share your opinions with us! Call Ellen Edwards at 604-526-1265.