New Wetland in Taylor Creek Park

New wetland under construction

The Taylor Creek Park ravine is blessed with several areas of natural water discharge which has created marshy areas at the bottom of both sides of the ravines. These manifest themselves as cattail covered wet areas that are not too interesting from either an aesthetic or ecological perspective. One step up from a cattail fen is an open water pond. Ponds have a much greater diversity potential allowing habitat for mammals, birds, and amphibians. Since this ravine has been highly modified by human activities over the past 100 years, all of the natural ponds were filled in. From a natural environment perspective it makes sense to improve habitat by recreating them.

This has recently occurred just west of the O'Connor Bridge. A new wetland has been excavated in one of the cattail fens. The area is covered in natural water that flows into the nearby Taylor-Massey Creek. It doesn't look like much now but by next year this time it should look more like the new wetland further up the valley.


Mallard duck checking out the new pond

Wetland Survived Winter (a little worse for wear)

Wetland, spring 2011

I visited the Taylor Creek wetland this weekend. I was doing stewardship there last year and wanted to check out how things are looking. From a natural perspective things are looking good. However, the manmade constructs - not so good. When they built the wetland they installed a round viewing area that juts out into the pond. This provides a panoramic view of the pond and is a popular place for visitors to take in the sites. The viewing area consists of an interpretive sign, a gravel covered walkway and the viewing area is lined with large stone blocks. Unfortunately, it was poorly constructed. The large blocks were placed on a layer of smaller stones. These stones were affected by ice or frost during the winter. During the spring thaw the stone underlayer gave way and now all the large blocks are sagging forward toward the water. Two of the blocks have rolled into the water leaving gaps in the wall. It would have been better to mount the stones with another set of large blocks underneath. This would have been more expensive but would have lasted longer.



Stone blocks surrounding viewing stand are sagging or have collapsed into pond

On the plus side, I spotted a muskrat swimming in the pond. Of course I had put my camera away just before it swam by. I waited for awhile for it to reappear but a dog walker and dog (unleashed) came by and it disappeared. I suppose it will try and make a home here. The conditions are right except for the periodic inundation of stormwater/sewage from a nearby outlet and the ongoing menace from unleashed dogs. Still, muskrats are adaptable to urban environments and it may survive.


Garbage dump

On a down note I discovered a small cache of garbage dumped at the parking lot near Dawes Road. It is mostly broken furniture and shelving. I notified 311 and hopefully it will be removed soon.

Candy Floss Flower

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

I've seen this flower in a couple of places in the Don. This one I found growing at the Elevated Wetlands. A member of the milkweed family, it is usually found growing beside ponds, marshes or other wet areas.

I call it the candy floss flower because the scent reminds me of that sweet fragrance of candy floss which is one of the aromas from my childhood, a fond remembrance of our family's annual trek to the CNE in August. I was wondering about this particular scent and did some investigation. The active ingredient is linalool which is a naturally occurring chemical that is used in perfumes. One study found that inhaling linalool can reduce stress. That makes sense since it is a very pleasant aroma.

Not many studies have specifically studied this species but there are several references in studies of the milkweed family since this plant shares characteristics with similar plants in the genera such as Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). Unless you are an asclepiadologist(!), such things as self-pollination success, pollen grain coherence, and sympatrically flowering systems won't interest you.

The one thing that most people will relate to is that the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) needs plants like this to survive. It feeds on the nectar, lays its eggs on the leaves, and the caterpillar feeds on the leaves. Since this species appears to be in decline it is important to leave this plant where you find it and take away only the memories of the fragrance.


Monarch Butterfly on a Swamp Milkweed at the Don Valley Brick Works (I wonder if it can smell the flower?)

Wetland Watching

It was such a nice day on Sunday I decided to go on a bicycle trip in the ravines. An unintended consequence of the civic worker's strike is that the fields of grass are no longer mowed. As soon as I entered the ravine, I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrant fields of clover that now cover the grass. Maybe once the strike is over we can get Parks to mow less often. It will be cheaper and produce more flowers. The parks will smell better and the bees will be very happy!

One of the places I stopped at was the Goulding wetland. At the pond, the water level was lower but that was to be expected. The water source for this pond is solely from ground water so as it fluctuates, so does the pond. This is normal for a wetland of this type and many of the plant species that are found along the shoreline are adapted to these conditions.

Along with the plants I spotted a couple of mallard ducks as well as the usual coterie of butterflies, dragonflies, water striders and other assorted insects.



Goulding Wetland


Another view of the wetland

A pair of Mallard Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) forage for food along the pond edge.

I also visited my old stomping grounds at the Beechwood Wetland. I saw some frogs and turtles there which is a good sign of a healthy pond.


Beechwood wetland

A Green Frog (Rana clamitans) at the water's edge resting in a pile of what looks like raccoon crap. Scatologists: eat your heart out!

I noticed a turtle lurking just below this lily pad. This is the first turtle I've ever seen at Beechwood. I couldn't tell the species but I think it's a Painted Turtle (Chrymemus picta picta).

A single Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) was growing at the water's edge.


Not far from the pond a cluster of Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata) was growing. This plant shares the name with the purple flowering plant but is in fact in a different family. Also this one is native while Purple Loosestrife is a non-native exotic.

Goulding Wetland Official Opening

Richard Ubbens, head of Toronto Forestry speaks to the gathering

Last Friday June 12 was the official opening of Goulding Wetland. Although construction finished last fall and plantings have been going on ever since, politicians and staff needed to have an official get together to pat each other on the back and congratulate themselves on a job well done. Local city councillor, Janet Davis was there. Janet is one of the Don's biggest supporters. She has been a long time supporter of Friends of the Don East and an outspoken advocate for Taylor-Massey Creek issues. There were also several staff members and a bevy of school kids who were there to do a planting after the ceremonies.

I wasn't there because I am now gainfully employed but James McArthur of FODE was and he took a couple of pictures which he has gracefully donated for this blog posting.


School kids work at a planting after the hoopla

I have already started a stewardship team at this site so I have a personal connection to the wetland. The team has been busy removing non-native invasives and I expect to be busy for the rest of the summer with maintenance and monitoring activities. If you are interested in joining the team you can contact the city coordinator at greentoronto@toronto.ca and let her know that you are interested in volunteering at the wetland.


A turtle appeared on a log for the opening - a good omen for the wetland


New interpretive sign at the wetland

Turtle Encounter

Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrymemus picta picta)

I am working outdoors this summer doing much the same work I have been doing for the past ten years at volunteer outings. This time I am getting paid for it. It's hard, physical work but I enjoy it because it is satisfying work. This week I was working in Taylor Creek Park finishing off a volunteer planting that was poorly attended due to a heavy rainstorm. The location is a popular place for dog walkers and cyclists so we had lots of company while we worked. One of the passersby surprised us because she was carrying a turtle. It was an Eastern Painted Turtle which she had affectionately named Franklin.

Her story was that she had owned it for about a month and had been in someone else's possession for about a year. It had been picked up from a road location unknown but presumably in the local region. She had decided that it was time to release it back into the wild and had come down to the park to find a place for it. She had tried to place it in the creek but she said that it didn't seem to like it much. It's good that she decided against leaving the turtle in the creek since it is such a polluted mess.

I advised her that the best place to let it go was one of the ponds on the Goulding Estate. There is now considerable habitat for creatures such as turtles. The new ponds may eventually become a place to dump Red-eared Sliders so the addition of a native breed can only be a good thing. The woman walked off with the turtle so I have no way of knowing whether she released it since she seemed quite attached to it. I will certainly keep an eye out for it since I am leading a Community Stewardship team at the Goulding ponds this summer.

Chester Springs Marsh - Then and Now

Chester Springs Marsh as viewed looking south from the Bloor Viaduct, about 1996


Chester Springs Marsh, 2008

Picture comparison: the mowed grass is completely replaced by trees and shrubs with some bits of meadow in between. A path circling the wetland is now totally obscured. The only indication of it now is a garbage can placed at the northern entrance point (top end of the graffiti). The red tinged sumac grove in the lower right of the picture is still there although there is a patch missing from the middle. This was created by a homeless encampment which was recently abandoned.

It's been 12 years since the Task Force to Bring Back the Don created a new wetland in the Lower Don. Chester Springs Marsh was the first major project of the Task Force and it has influenced restoration efforts in the Don Valley ever since. As you can see from the original photo, it was built in a former grassy meadow with just a few large trees and some shrubs along the river bank. The photo also shows a few saplings new planted.

Today those saplings have grown to heights of 10m and have turned the grassy meadow into a forest. The marsh is now totally obscured by these trees as the new photo shows. The reality is that the marsh now contains very little water and the area is now more of a wet meadow. Shrubs are starting to encroach on this space and the wetland that it started out to be is fast disappearing.

How did this happen? There are a number of reasons for this some of which were not foreseen in the original design. The marsh was meant to have continual water which would be topped up periodically by high water from river floods. However the channel that connected the marsh to the river quickly silted up so that the refresh now only occurs during extreme high water events. This means that any water that gets in likely dries up before the next refresh.

Another problem was what was underneath. The marsh was built on a former landfill and its excavation exposed some of the rubbish buried there. Some it was stuff like old pieces of pottery and other turn of the century knickknacks. When people discovered this, a flock of scavengers descended on the site digging pits looking for buried treasures. This activity inadvertently created wells which drained the marsh.

So rather than a marsh we have more a meadow that gets occasionally inundated. This is not necessarily a bad thing but there are other issues with the marsh. One of them is the problem of non-native species that have invaded the site. These include garlic mustard, dog-strangling vine, Japanese knotweed, creeping thistle, and teasel to name a few. These plants are starting to dominate the understorey and are crowding out native plants. There are some non-native trees including Siberian elm, black locust and Manitoba maple but they are not yet crowding out the native trees. The native trees are doing quite well and they include a couple of uncommon species such as hackberry and red mulberry.


CSM as viewed from the side. The wetland is no longer visible. Small trees such as willows and shrubs such as dogwood are no encroaching on the area formerly occupied by the pond.

What is the future for the marsh? That is still up in the air. The Task Force has requested a study be performed on the marsh but they are taking their time. The results of the study could recommend that nothing be done or that some level of management or remediation be performed. Whenever that study is completed, I'll let you know the results.

New Wetland Under Construction

View of the wetland. Compare this view to a picture I took last November. You can use the two spruce in the middle of the picture as a reference.

About a year ago I reported on a new wetland proposal in Taylor Creek Park between Victoria Park Avenue and Dawes Road. Not much happened until about a month ago when they brought in construction equipment to start excavating.

The difference between now and year ago is striking. Before, this used to be a soggy meadow choked with cattails. Now it is a pond up to 1m deep. I expect the cattails to regrow in places but the potential for better quality habitat is enormous. Most of the water comes from ground water which is very close to the surface in this area. The hillslope behind is wet in places and there might be some runoff contained here. It should be interesting to see how much the water level fluctuates now that it is exposed to evaporation.


A lookout on the marsh will give visitors a bird's eye view of the site.


Wetland Design Plan

The design is pretty close to the proposal (see above) . There is a winding path and viewing stand in the front with most of the wetland at the base of the slope. The ground is still very wet when not on the path so this should deter most people from nosing around. There is still some planting to be done but I expect that the marsh should be officially opened in the Spring of 2009.


Bundled maple trees waiting to be planted

Lower Don Wetlands

The spring is a good time to take stock of our wetlands. What with snow melt and spring rains, there is plenty of water to go around. Some of the wetlands only have water in the spring whereas others keep water all year round. Here's a quick overview of what the Lower Don has to offer in the way of wetlands.


Chester Springs Marsh

Chester Springs Marsh was the first major wetland restoration project of the Task Force to Bring Back the Don in 1996. Entirely dependent on the river for its water, it does dry up during the summer unless there is a big flood. The initial excavation inadvertently exposed an old landfill site beneath which revealed flotsam from a previous generation. The prospect of finding bits of old pottery has attracted people who dig holres here and there looking for items for sale in flea markets. These holes have altered the drainage of the marsh so that water no longer stays around as long as it did when the marsh was first created.


Riverdale Farm Ponds

The granddaddy of the lower Don wetlands, this has been around since the Riverdale Zoo was created in the 19th century. The pond shown here used to have a water fed fountain in the middle of the pond. Ducks and geese swam here fed on a steady diet of bread crumbs fed by zoo visitors. The fountain and the zoo are long since gone but the pond remains. With no steady water input the pond becomes very stagnant in the summer and poor oxygen conditions mean that not much can survive in it. Last year an aerator was installed to pump air into the water. Ongoing studies are monitoring the pond to see if this is improving the pond's living conditions.


Riverdale Park East

This marsh was created about five years ago to capture runoff from the hill and adjacent sports field. It functions fairly well but tends to dry up by mid-July. The city was forced to fence it off because off-leash dogs kept mucking up the marsh and making a mess of the planted bushes and flowers.


Helliwell's Hill

This site just north of the viaduct captures runoff from the DVP. Three small embayments were excavated and they are all full in the spring. However the one pictured usually dries up by mid-June. There may be a small spring that still trickles water into the site because one of the embayments always has a little bit of water in it. However it is totally surrounded by Cattails so it is hard to take a picture of it. The surrounding trees and bushes have done well - some of them are in excess of 10m high.


Binscarth Swamp

Located in a tiny ravine southwest of the Brick Works, this low-lying swamp used to flood a nearby bike path every spring. Fed by a small creek it swells to three times its summer size covering the ground in about 5 cm of water. Last year the city trucked in more gravel for the path and raised it above the flooding depth and added drainage to a ditch beside Bayview Ave. The path now stays dry. During the summer the marsh shrinks down but does retain water year-round.


Don Valley Brick Works

The Brick Works ponds (there are two more in addition to the one pictured) are an outstanding example of a quarry restoration. The former quarry pit was 40m deep in this location. It was all filled in and the ponds were added on top. Today, diverted water from nearby Mud Creek provides a constant flow of water for the ponds and provides and wide array of habitat for a host of wetland plants and creatures.


Beechwood Wetland

One of the newest wetlands, this place is just north of Pottery Road. An old swale was cleared of weeds, expanded and restored with native trees and shrubs. The swale retains water year-round but does shrink in size by late summer. The portion depicted in the picture was mostly dry by August last summer.

Wetland Site Inspected

Sign posted for proposed wetland. Work is supposed to start in fall 2007 but nothing has been done yet.

I decided to investigate the proposed site of the new wetland that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. It is located just west of Victoria Park Ave. in Taylor Park. The site is relatively flat except for some slightly raised mounds that are mostly planted with trees. The flat area is almost entirely covered with Cattails (Typha ssp.). Behind the mounds to the north is a shallow swale that is almost covered with grass. I dug a small test hole here and the earth is very muddy just below the surface.

I'm no expert on wet meadows but this doesn't look like a well functioning habitat. The Cattails form an almost complete monoculture. There is one native and one non-native variety which are hard to tell apart. Both of them are considered to be invasive in some habitats. My conclusion is that this is the case here. The proposed wetland will involve removing most of the Cattails and replacing them with a wetland habitat that will have considerably more diversity.

The unknown factor is whether the ground water source will be active enough to keep the pond feature wet. Once it is excavated water will flow in but evaporation will be increased. Whether the groundwater source can keep up with the loss is an unknown quantity. It may take a few years before a balance is reached. It will certainly be something to keep monitoring.


Nothing but Cattails are growing on this wet meadow

New Wetland Proposal

Wetland Design Scheme (click to expand)

The Don is getting a new wetland this fall. Just west of Victoria Park Ave. in Taylor Creek Park is an open field that gets very wet. There is no apparent water source so it is likely that the water table is very close to the ground in this area. This is an important project for the Don Watershed. Only about 0.2% of the original wetlands have survived. Most have been lost to agricultural and urban uses. Anytime that this trend can be reversed it is a positive development.

Construction is due to begin sometime this fall. Backhoes will be brought in to excavate the pond which will be about 1.5 m at its deepest point. In the spring, planting and other landscaping will be started. As with any new project it will take a few years before it starts to look like anything substantial.

Feedback from local environmental groups and residents has been mixed. Friends of the Don East are generally supportive of the project yet rival group Taylor Massey Project supports it in principle only. In a letter to the city staff, they outline their reservations which appear to be centred around the fact that they weren't consulted. They claim not to have have seen a detailed design (see above) nor are they aware of the budget (about $300,000). TMP wanted a site visit as well but didn't get one. They are also concerned about fluctuating water levels.

The East York-Riverdale Mirror has published an article on the wetland. In the article local councillor Janet Davis said that a public meeting will be scheduled next month with environmental stakeholders to review the project. A local resident, Alyssa Diamond is opposed to the project mostly because she doesn't want a wetland behind her house. She says that it would be a source for mosquitoes. What she doesn't realize is that a functioning wetland would be less of a source for mosquitoes than the current wet meadow. She also says that a wet meadow provides valuable habitat. This maybe true but most of the habitat that a wet meadow provides is also available in a wetland. A wetland also provides a more diverse range of habitats including a place for fish, amphibians and reptiles. If you were to rate habitat value on a scale of 1-10 a wet meadow would be about 4-5 but a wetland is a solid 10.



Location of wetland site

Studying Benthic Invertebrates

A collection of clips from the Benthic Invertebrate study at Riverdale Farm Ponds

This week I went by Riverdale Farm Ponds to participate in a study to monitor pond organisms. The point of the study was to collect benthic invertebrates from the bottom of the pond. Benthic invertebrates are a group of creatures that live in an aquatic environment and include fully developed insects; insects in a larval stage; some crustaceans; and worms and leeches. Benthic Invertebrates can be used to measure the health of a pond. Since some species are more tolerant of pollution, the presence or absence of them can be used as a general water quality gauge.

The collection process involved donning hip waders, wading into the pond and collecting samples from the bottom muck with a special scooping net. Once the samples were collected, we went up to one of the buildings and sifted through the debris looking for different creatures. During our investigation we encountered aquatic sow bugs, midges, aquatic worms, scuds, leeches, and snails. All of these are mostly pollution tolerant and the species found indicated that water quality was low, about 7 on a scale of 10 (1=pristine water, 10=absence of life).

However, there is some good news. Last year an aerator was installed to inject air into the water. Due to several longterm problems, the ponds suffer from anoxic conditions which means that not much can survive here. A similar study was done before the aerator was activated and a grand total of 8 creatures were found. This year between 50-100 organisms were found. So things are looking up for the ponds.


Nathalie and Heather from Citizens' Environment Watch help facilitate the collection process


Looking for bugs in mud


A closer inspection reveals...


...a blurry image of a bloodworm

Wetland Planting at the Brick Works

I attended a workshop at the Don Valley Brick Works on how to plant in a wetland or a pond. It was attended by about 25 people from the Community Stewardship Program. Paul Morris of Acorus Restoration gave a 30 minute presentation followed by a hands-on demonstration of planting techniques in the quarry ponds.


Paul Morris talks about the different kinds of wetland plants

The proper technique is to stick your trowel into the mud, push once away from you then pull towards you. Then you place the seedling into the hole behind the trowel. Remove the trowel and then give it a kick (unless it is underwater). The kick removes any air pockets under the surface which can cause growth problems.

For an emergent or underwater plant you can also take some clay and form it into a ball around the roots and drop the whole thing into the water. This will quickly take root where it is dropped.

I nominated myself as event photographer. I also shot some video of the action which I cobbled together in a short video which I have posted on YouTube.




Girls in hip waders - oh yeah!

Riverdale Ponds Get a Breather

Aerator installed at Riverdale Farm

The Lower Don has very few ponds so the presence of the two ponds at Riverdale Farm offers a welcome respite for passing waterfowl and other wildlife. The prevailing theory is that they are oxbow lakes, created when the Don River used to meander over the floodplain, before the so-called Don Improvement project which straightened the river in the late 19th century.

During the period when they were part of the old Riverdale Zoo, water was pumped in via a fountain in the upper pond. The ponds were home to captive geese and swans. In the mid 1970s the zoo was relocated to a large facility in eastern Scarborough in the Rouge River watershed. Since then the ponds have languished, mostly unused except as a dumping ground for koi and red-eared slider turtles.

The ponds were until recently fed by tap water but about five years ago this flow was shut off. While the result is more natural, the low flow situation has resulted in the ponds completely covered by duckweed by mid summer. In addition a large amount of decomposing leaf litter at the bottom of the ponds has resulted in anoxic conditions which means that very little aquatic life inhabits the ponds.

Enter the idea for the pond aerator. Basically it blows air bubbles into the water. The theory is that the air will partially dissolve into the water which will not only make it more livable for aquatic organisms but also accelerate the decomposition process of the accumulated leaf litter. Currently the aerator is only turned on at night.

Don't expect any overnight changes. The current conditions have been created by several years of neglect - it may take a year or two before any changes become noticeable. While not the greatest solution, it is still a solution, ie. something to be tried. And you can't fault them for that.



Aerator is turned on only at night, thus the poor quality of this photograph

Trumpeter Swan Spotted in the Don Valley

Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)

I noticed this picture on one of the mountain biking forums. Someone there asked me if I knew what it was. They thought it might be a Trumpeter Swan but I thought it unlikely since these birds while native to this area were extirpated due to overhunting in the early 1900s.

I looked into it further and found out that there is a program by the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre in Midland to reintroduce these birds into Southern Ontario. The website says that they band the birds plus attach a large yellow tag to the bird's wing. The picture shows one of these tags which I think says "915".

The bird was spotted in a pond near Crothers' Woods. I am not sure if it is a migrant or if it is looking for a nesting area but it is certainly significant that it has made its way to Toronto. It would be nice if they became reestablished here.

The wildlife centre is keeping track of where these birds show up. If you spot one you can report it using this form.

Wetlands are the Best Lands

While I'm not one to toot my own horn very often, I am quite proud of my latest publication. My newest creation is now on the city's website and can be viewed at: http://www.toronto.ca/don/wetlands.htm.

This section expands the old section about the Task Force's restoration sites to include new material on Riverdale Park East, Binscarth Ravine, Nordheimer Ravine, and the Beltline Pond in Moore Park Ravine. While wetlands are highlighted, nearby terrestrial sites are also documented.

I retained the old pages about Riverdale Farm Ponds and Chester Springs Marsh but there is certainly room for updated text and photos. In addition, I am now working on new sections for Helliwell's Hill and the riparian restoration on the Lower Don. Eventually I hope to include a section for the Brick Works even though it is not a site that was initiated by the Task Force.