When I started transplanting plants from the path of this future highway I brought along a young friend who found the deer trails, hills, plants and fallen tree archways to be magical. He called it the entrance to the magic kingdom. We talked about the future of this place and he volunteered to come with me to make a presentation to the department of highways, to suggest that the highway be built in the existing throughway, with no space between the double lanes. If it were built this way, most of the forest would remain intact.

We have taken many pictures and spoken to many people. But money speaks louder than a child in this society. Money speaks louder than the forest and millions of monies have been spent on the current plan. So, we carry on and dig out plants to give them a new home. Hoping that in doing this, people will be reminded of the riches that line our hearts and imaginations rather than our pockets.

The loggers have now come through the magic kingdom, and I really don't want my young friend to have to see it. It is good that the wood is being harvested if there are no alternatives, but what a mess. The moist, mossy wood is now littered with branches and has become dry. At first glance I was really upset, thinking that all the old growth forest species that I had wanted to salvage were gone. Thankfully, nature is not that weak, and as I explored I found the coltsfoot, wintergreen, dewberries, sarsasparilla, and bunchberries that I thought were gone, growing up between fallen trees and branches, reaching for the light, holding the earth together with their root systems.

If you live in Saskatchewan are interested in Adopting an Ecosystem contact Adopt_an_Ecosystem@yahoo.ca or call Elizabeth at (306)-380-5584.