Parks and Natural Areas
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Central Parks
Birds Hill Provincial Park
Nimowin Self-guiding - Spring / Summer / Fall
Nimowin (pronounced Nim-oh-Win) is a Cree word meaning peaceful or quiet. The purpose of the Nimowin Trail is to help you reflect upon this natural environment, consider the impact of people upon it and witness firsthand how nature repairs itself. Take a few moments to consider the activities that had once taken place along what is now the Nimowin trail.
"There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it." Minnie Aumonier
Click for larger map
We are all aware of how interconnected life on earth can
be. All around you are examples of one living thing
depending on another. We, for example, depend on the
oxygen produced by the green plants around us. While they,
in turn, are dependant on the carbon dioxide we exhale for
their survival. This is just one example, but there are
hundreds. Take a moment to look around and see the
connections between all these living things.
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous." Aristotle
Much of this area was once a sea of 1-3 metre tall grasses, a section of which is to your right, the big bluestem. Big bluestem is so named because of its blue to purple colour during the growing season.
With the settlement of the area, much of the Tall Grass Prairie was converted into agricultural land. The extremely fertile soils, owing in large part to the bluestem and other prairie plants, are now a major producer of food.
Only small pockets of our original Tall Grass Prairie remain; most are protected by conservation efforts.
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." John Muir
Farmer ploughing field
3. People Use a Natural Resource
Take a look around you—this clearing was once a gravel
pit. The forest was bulldozed so the gravel beneath could
be used for road building. Note how the forest is beginning
to reclaim the gravel pit. Given enough time, much of the
damage done to this clearing can be erased. Much, but not
all. We must fully consider the impact of our actions when
using a natural resource, making sure the use is sustainable
and inflicts minimal impact.
Gravel pit
 Goatsbeard |
The sparse growth of grasses and herbs all around you are pioneer plants. In the recovery of the land they are often the first on the scene. They stabilize the soil, retain moisture and shade the seedlings of the plants that will eventually take their place. This process is known as ecological succession.
"The sky is held up by the trees. If the forest disappears, the sky-roof of the world collapses. Nature and man then perish together." Anonymous
You may have noticed the buzzing of one on Manitoba's
most misunderstood heroes on your journey. As
unpleasant as the mosquito's bite may be, the insect is a vital
part of our ecosystem. Did you know that only the female
mosquito bites? And that she only bites at a certain part of
her life cycle, during a crucial part of the development of her
eggs? The rest of the time both she and her male
counterparts feed on flower nectar. They, just like bees, are
major pollinators. Not to mention that they are a primary
source of food for animals we typically appreciate a lot
more, including dragonflies, birds, fish and bats.
"Even a mosquito doesn't get a slap on the back until it starts to work." Unknown
What you are seeing now is not a natural clearing. This
land was divided into one mile squares to help define
property lines. This clearing is an bandoned road, built on
a road allowance before Birds Hill became a park. Given
enough time, this clearing will be erased, leaving little
evidence that people were ever here.
"I have a lot of concerns that you're taking away from
nature what nature gave to us."
Barbara James
Look carefully at the right and you will see spruce trees growing among the aspen. In 50 years, what will we find here, perhaps a thriving grove of spruce trees or a stand of ancient aspens? Environmental factors such as sun, soil and water will give a competitive edge to one of them. At this point, we cannot be sure which will emerge dominant.
Competition is commonplace in nature. Other plants lived
here before the aspen. First there were the pioneer plants,
like those we saw in the gravel pit at the beginning of the
trail. Then the prairie grasses moved in only to be replaced
by spruce and aspen. Now spruce may be overtaking the
aspen. The introduction of a natural or human-made event,
such as fire, could wipe the slate clean again and the cycle
would repeat.
 Bittersweet vine |
This vine, tightly wrapped around this Balsam poplar is
known as the American Bittersweet. The vine is actually
embedded in the bark and may eventually kill the
supporting tree. The bittersweet is using the tree to gain
access to sunlight it can't get on the forest floor. Their orange
berries—illustrated on the cover of this brochure and the
trailhead sign—are poisonous.
Another common parasitic plant in the forest is black knot fungus or dead man's finger. Characterized by the thick black clumps on the stems of trees and bushes, it may also cause the death of the plant that supports it.
Both bittersweet and black knot show little interest in protecting the plants that support them.
"Nature can satisfy all of our needs but none of our greed." Mahatma Gandhi9. Not All Soils are Created Equally
Afamily once tried their hand at farming here, only to discover the hard way that the soil is too sandy and infertile for farming what they had planted.
Looking around, you can clearly see that plants do indeed grow here. Had the family chosen different plants for growing in this particular environment, the outcome may well have been very different. Developing a strong understanding of an ecosystem before making major changes can save time and money.
"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." Frank Lloyd Wright
Bouquet of lilacs
Here we have a few signs of previous human habitation.
Can you see them? There is a group of Iris flowers that
probably once graced the front garden. On your right is a
lone lilac bush. Slowly but surely, these plants, that are not
native to this area, are being forced out by the better adapted
native grasses and aspen.
Soon only an archaeologist would ever know this homestead was ever here.
"How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!" Emily Dickinson
 Baneberry. Both white and red varieties are poisonous |
The plants here live in a cooperative relationship. The tops
of the aspen trees form a canopy regulating the amount
of light reaching the plants below, and the aspen leaves
which drop each fall condition the soil for them to grow in.
Beneath the aspen grow the tall woody shrubs—hazel, red
osier dogwood, arrowwood, chokecherry, pincherry,
nannyberry and high bush-cranberry; and beneath them,
grows a thin cover of grasses, herbs, and small shrubs such
as baneberry, bedstraw, bunchberry and poison ivy. These
plants, unlike the mixed aspen and spruce that you saw
earlier, are coexisting as a stable community. Barring some
catastrophe, this community will remain as it is for a long
period of time.
"All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child." Marie Curie
 Poison Ivy |
While exploring the Nimowin trail, you have been
experiencing how the land repairs and rejuvenates
itself. Scars, from damage inflicted long ago, are being
replaced with the return of native species, and educate us
about the impact of our actions. This trail is an example of
recovery aided by a better understanding of our natural
spaces and our willingness to let them be wild.
As we have seen on this trail, nature can heal wounds
resulting from human use if people are careful and assist in
the healing process. Careless use of resources and unchecked
pollution may leave wounds that cannot be healed. The
links between organisms on earth are far reaching and
complex. They are rarely as clear as the link between
mosquitoes and flower pollination or beavers and overland
flooding. We can, and are, taking steps to better understand
our wild spaces before we make any changes to them.
Thank you for your help in keeping our provincial parks beautiful and for hiking the Nimowin Self-guiding Trail.
"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action."Peter F Drucker
