Cumberland House Cree Nation has 4,000 new berry and medicinal bushes planted, thanks to local effort. (Submitted photo/Cumberland House Cree Nation)

By Susan McNeil

Nature

Berries and roses planted in the thousands in Cumberland House

Jul 4, 2022 | 2:31 PM

Over 4,000 new berry plants and some medically significant ones are now in the ground in Cumberland House Cree Nation.

The newly created community forest sits on two acres of land on Pemican Portage street in the community and is part of Chief Rene Chaboyer’s plan for sustainability.

“This Community Forest Project supports Cumberland House Cree Nation’s broader vision of restoration and conservation of the many services the Saskatchewan River Delta provides, while also providing our community members with traditional plants for food and medicine,” said Chaboyer in a news release.

The plants included berries such as raspberries, saskatoons, strawberries and blueberries along with honey suckle and wild rose.

Those plants were identified as lacking in the forest where they should have been so the community prepared some land in order to bring them back.

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Cumberland House Cree Nation has been working for a while to bring awareness and health back to the Saskatchewan River delta.

Next year, they plan to add another 26,000 plants that are food and have cultural and medical significance.

The band worked with Cumberland Wood Products, Project Forest and Dunkley Lumber, which gave 500 white spruce seedlings that were also planted.

Project Forest is a western Canadian initiative that helps conservation groups and landowners re-forest large areas of land.

Project Forest helped make the plan to bring back the plants and helped find the right seedlings for the Cumberland House area.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com