Numerous stopping points are highlighted on this walk, each with interesting information to ponder and viewpoints to enjoy.

If you are starting here, the green waypoints are closest. If you want to venture further, the orange waypoints are great, too! Take your time. Enjoy the many birds, animals and different plants you will see here. Visit all the stops or as many as you like in any order. It is possible to discover the name of the secret tree without visiting all the stops.

This lake is actually an engineered stormwater pond built in a low-lying area that was historically part of a network of wetlands. Many of the surrounding streets and roads have storm drains that connect underground and flow directly into this lake. The lake here in Elliston Park is still part of a network of engineered and natural wetlands designed to handle runoff from the surrounding neighbourhoods.

It's a sundial! Have some fun using it to find out what time it is. The interpretive sign beside you has instructions.

Windmills such as the one you see before you, as simple as it may seem today, have been instrumental in helping many civilizations to develop and flourish throughout history. They harness wind energy for many purposes. You can read the interpretive signs at this stopping point to learn more. Through innovation and an evolving social conscience towards renewable energy, today we see massive electricity-producing windmill farms across North America. Even 100 years ago windmills (such as this one) dotted the countryside, albeit slightly more modestly.

Enjoy a break at this bench under some Schubert Chokecherry trees. It is a great place to do a little birdwatching as many different waterfowl often inhabit this lake. A simple animal and bird field guide and a pair of binoculars are all one needs to appreciate the diverse and wonderful world of birds. It could be the start of a new passion for you! But alas, even here in Elliston Park, while you enjoy a little rest and relaxation, there are signs and sounds of a busy, hard-working city all around.  Garbage trucks rumbling back and forth, airplanes coming in for landings and the hum of commerce in the distance. In fact, at your feet is a picture of some hard-working people integral to the history and success of eastern Calgary.

Walk to this waypoint and consider it the welcoming mat for you by the generosity of many who planted a tree in 2001 for every child born in Calgary. Feel free to walk on the main paths through these diverse patches of forest. Once inside, look at the many different species of trees which have been planted. Different types of pines, spruce, poplars, elm, oak, ash, and so on. Like all of us living together in Calgary, the trees are all competing for space and resources, and some are enjoying more success than others. Such is the way of the natural world. Whether it needs to be that way for humans is a question posed to the philosophers. A birthplace forest is meant to be celebrated, for it is a symbol of growth and life and is a reminder that we are all interconnected. So please enjoy the shade and pathways through these forests and the sunny pathways along the lake's edge.

Walk along the edge of the forest patches here at Elliston Park, and you can appreciate just how diverse the list of trees we can grow here in Calgary is. True, the list is smaller than what grows in places such as Vancouver or Toronto. Still, when you start to realize that we have trees growing right here in Elliston that originate from all over the world, you begin to make the parallel comparison of how diverse Calgarians are, too! Siberian larch, American elm, Russian olive, and scots pine, to name a few, are all around living happily together as part of this wholly mixed birthplace forest. It is only fitting that such a great park, which continues to mature and take root, can be found at the end of International Avenue SE here in Calgary, where diversity in the community is celebrated and showcased.

It is amazing how resilient and robust a Manitoba maple can be. They are one of those species introduced to the Calgary region and have proven to be very capable of thriving in some of the most inhospitable places. Sometimes called the 'Box Elder' by eastern Canadians, the Manitoba maple is a true maple. It is now growing and reproducing in our natural areas to some extent, and it is that little tree you see growing through a hardened gravel alley road or that tree that seems not to want to give up amongst rocky river berms or challenging and inhospitable industrial yards. And that is why you should love it. For its 'never stop trying' attitude. You can relax under this healthy multi-stemmed example, beside the first of three great playgrounds for the kids to enjoy and challenge themselves.

As a deciduous tree, this maple tree produces flowers in the spring. The flowers' seeds mature inside samaras (better known by children as helicopter seed pods).

True or false: Are there male and female Manitoba maples?... True. Manitoba maples are dioecious, meaning the reproductive parts that grow within this tree's flowers occur on separate trees. Other trees which flower may be monoecious, meaning that one individual of that species will have both male as well as female flowers. Birch trees are a great example. Still, others have flowers considered ‘perfect,’ meaning that these trees contain both the male and female reproductive parts within each flower. Apple trees are a great example.

Numerous stopping points are highlighted on this walk, each with interesting information to ponder and viewpoints to enjoy.

Take your time. Enjoy the many birds, animals and different plants you will see here. Visit all the stops or as many as you like in any order.

Before heading out into the park, look around and notice the different tree species.  Some are native to Alberta, and many are not. A few tree species, like the mountain ash, did not grow in this region before human introduction but have successfully grown and even reproduced on their own with limited success. They can and have spread into our natural areas and parks. Although they may not be genuinely invasive compared to some invasive plants, they multiply to a small extent.

There are other types of trees here in Elliston Park that are also introduced non-native species growing successfully, except that they are not reproducing and spreading on their own. An example of one of these types of trees is the ponderosa pine.

One of the most contentious trees in Calgary, Poplar trees are loathed by some and yet loved by others.  Perhaps one of the most suited and best-growing trees for the harsh and often variable climactic conditions of southern Alberta, poplar trees are an excellent choice for an area where they have space to grow.  Because grow they will! One of the fastest growing trees in Elliston Park, the native Balsam Poplars, and the many hybridized poplar trees planted in Calgary, are known to have shallow, aggressive roots, which can create problems.  Some consider them a messy tree as they perpetually shed twigs and small branches or in spring when the poplar fuzz/fluff can make it 'snow' in July.

But give them a nice open area to grow, far from any infrastructure, and poplar trees are plentiful.  Enjoy the view of the lake at this waypoint and take a look at this hybrid poplar.  There are a few telltale signs that it is not a native Balsam Poplar and even more identifying features that distinguish it from Aspen Poplars.

Feel free to explore the 'Birthplace Forests' surrounding the lake in Elliston Park. Take particular note of the new poplar shoots that have sprouted from the lateral roots of previously planted poplar trees in these forests. The result is a forest that has begun expanding and successfully regenerating independently. Not all trees do this.  Take, for example, the lone elm tree growing next to the lake. If conditions are perfect, a few seeds may germinate in spring but will never clone themselves, suckering from one or many of their roots. The many different poplar species in the poplar genus have evolved to do this, and it has proven to be an advantage.

The tall columnar shape of Swedish columnar aspen and towering poplars will remind you of a movie set in Florence with vineyards and rolling countryside sunsets. But why not plant one of these beauties in your yard? These columnar varieties are becoming increasingly seen in Calgary because they are increasingly popular as urban trees because of their ability to fill a small space with incredible vertical growth.