Natural Playground

     Recently the Kerry Wood Nature Center in Red Deer built a natural playground. What's that you say? It's a playground built using natural materials that have been refined very little. The playground has been set in trees. Slices of logs have been cut and placed in the ground to act act stepping stones. The logs have been given a clear finish so that the patterns of the tree rings show well.  So kids hop from log to log as stepping stones. I good old maple tree has been laid on it's side so that kids have a good time crawling over the limbs.

     

he playground has been heavily used since it was set up. I'm amazed at how hard the kids play in this area.

    Now the other day I was hanging around waiting for the Nature Center to open so I went through the playground. I had not intended to do a blog post or I would have taken different photos.

    I hope you get the idea what a natural playground is.

The camera picked up the light in the background.

Accidental Salesman

      Today I was an accidental salesman for a few hours!

       Our Nature Center has a bookstore as many nature centers do. They have tables in the various malls at Christmas. Of course these tables are manned by volunteers. I volunteer a couple of times each season for a few hours. It's interesting because people come to you with all kinds of natural history questions or comments. They will have a bird that comes to their yard that they can't identify. Somebody else wants to know about bats. Another person is totally absorbed by craters. I find these interactions very positive and many times I learn something new. 


      However, I'm supposed to be there selling books? Sales are slow but the main objective is to get the nature center book store name out there and hopefully people will visit the nature center. Any books I sell in the process will be completely accidental!

Red Deer City Budget:Kerry Wood Nature Center

       Red Deer city council is working overtime in preparing the city's next budget. They have done the infrastructure budget and now are working on the operating budget. It's a tough project for the council as there are many aspects to consider. It's very easy for one small action to affect something else which is totally unrelated. Hanging over their heads at all times is a group I call "the No Taxers." These people are brutal and freely criticize all and any decision showing a complete lack of knowledge and understanding. Unfortunately council has to keep these issues in the back of their mind and this influences budget decisions. These unjust critics want to make council feel as if they are wasteful and inefficient and they are quite successful in their endeavor.

      More than twenty years ago the Waskasoo Park system was established as a provincial project. The center of this is the Kerry Wood Nature Center. Once establishment of the park was complete it was turned over for the city to operate. The city in it's wisdom established a management board. The management board would submit a detailed budget to the city for council approval. Some things would be cut back and at other times the city could find money for special projects.

     The Nature Center over the years has developed many excellent interpretive programs . These programs have been much appreciated by the community. A nature nursery is one program that is a model to many other jurisdictions. The Nature Center has an active support group which raises extra funds. They have a casino every two years to raise funds. The nature center has no difficulty finding volunteers. You could say that this facility has strong community support.

     Now comes my complaint about this year's budget. A salary increase for the small nature center staff was rejected and the standard type keep up with inflation allotment was made. This has gone on for a number of years so this small staff has fallen behind to the point that it has become a very unfair situation. In one case someone at the same job description makes $11.00 per hour more with the city. These people basically work for the same employer.

     So I would strongly suggest to council that they take a second look at their decision and find it in their budget to compensate the Nature center staff so that they are on a more equal level with other city staff working at the same level. This would be a very small amount of dollars because there are less than ten employees. I'm sure that this small amount would easily be found in the city budget.