The employees of the Shand Greenhouse had a little extra reason to celebrate Sunday.
While the greenhouse held its annual open house in conjunction with Earth Day celebrations across the country, they also used the occasion to mark the facility's 20th birthday.
Created to mitigate the environmental impact of coal-generated power, the greenhouse routinely produces 500,000 seedlings for use throughout the province.
"We're very pleased to have been here that long and to provide seedlings to people throughout Saskatchewan," said acting manager Shelley Heidinger, who has worked at the greenhouse for 19 of the 20 years it has been in operation. "We provide most native tree and shrub species, about 25 to 30 different kinds, throughout the province to people doing environmental projects 10 acres or more. It's on a first-come, first-served basis through an application process."
Heidinger added there have been a number of changes at the greenhouse since its opening.
"We have definitely enlarged to accommodate our needs in the sense of support staff and what we do. We have managed to increase to half a million seedlings, we used to average 90,000 to 100,000," said Heidinger.
"We have done a lot of research, we have done a lot of special projects - in 2005 we grew 80,000 western red lilies to distribute throughout the province for the province's centennial."
Heidinger said that along with the highlights such as growing lilies for the centennial, there is also a major sense of pride among the staff members that their work is an important counterweight to the effects of power production.
"There is definitely a sense of ownership and a buy-in, especially among our long-term employees."
Looking to the future, Heidinger said the sky is the limit for the greenhouse.
"I think there is a lot of potential here for us."
One aspect that could have an impact on the greenhouse is the recent closure of the Prairie Shelterbelt Program in Indian Head. Since 1901, the program had supplied farmers with trees to create shelterbelts for erosion and soil moisture control. However it was axed in the recent federal budget, a controversial decision that could send more people towards the Shand Greenhouse in search of trees. Heidinger said she anticipates an increase in demand for their trees but added the full impact of the closure won't be known for some time.
"We are going to see a lot of people looking our way just to get seedlings. What we find is there are a lot of people who wouldn't put in shelterbelts and do a lot of these things if it wasn't for groups like (the shelterbelt program) or ourselves that are helping out a lot."
The open house featured speakers on permaculture, which is a sustainable form of gardening, as well as employees from the Agroforestry Development Centre who spoke about the impact of last year's flooding.
