QR Code Tree Tour

Although the QR code tree tour is over for this year, we checked it out and highly recommend it as part of your Arbour Week celebrations in 2024. Arbour Week in Saskatoon begins on the third Saturday of May, and continues through the next weekend, ending 8 days later. This year, the QR code tour was in two sites: Wildwood Park and Ashworth Holmes Park. Next year, it is likely that two different “wild” sites will be chosen, and different trees featured. Continue to learn about Saskatoon’s natural splendour!

Members of Wild about Saskatoon ventured over to Wildwood Park on a cloudy Wednesday during Arbor Week (May 20-28) to take the self-guided tree tour. This tour, developed by the SOS Trees Coalition to teach people about the urban forest in Saskatoon, featured posters attached to specific tree species around the park, displaying QR codes for visitors to scan. The QR codes took us to short audio clips, which shared informative, humorous, and refreshing information about each tree in question, such as the drought tolerance and hardiness of green ash, the homey environment of spruce for birds, and the introduction of Scots pine into North America as a Christmas tree. 

Wildwood Park is a beautifully open park behind Wildwood School with clusters of tall, sturdy trees. As we made our stops along the tour and listened to these playful audio clips, we interacted with each tree, observing its height and colours, feeling the texture of its bark and branches, and using our other senses to enhance our appreciation for it. We found acorns strewn about a bur oak tree, noted the signature holes of sap suckers on a Scots pine (which pine tree is also, apparently, a preferred cuisine for porcupines), and ladybugs feasting on pests on an American elm

The self guided option allowed us to linger as long as we wanted, to admire the bark, listen to the birds and appreciate the unique character of each tree. Our tour was hastened along with the initiation of rain, but we were incredibly grateful to SOS Trees Coalition for producing such an interactive, accessible, and fun educational program.

For over 30 years, SOS Trees Coalition has committed to promoting the preservation and protection of Saskatoon’s urban canopy. The QR code tree tour is their flagship event during Arbor Week, alongside dozens of other educational events and activities. The signs are also available to the public to use for anything such as school education, or for a community event, in town as well as out in other communities beyond Saskatoon. Just send SOS Trees an email and they will lend them out: trees@sostrees.ca.

– Chad Hammond