Don Mouth Terms of Reference

The next step in the long process to restore the mouth of the Don has been completed. The Terms of Reference for the environmental assessment have been completed. These are available for viewing and comment until June 5, 2006. You can read the summary on the Ministry of Natural Resources website (which administers the EA process) or the full version which is available on the TRCA website (who will actually perform the EA).

Creating the ToR was an exhausting process. I hope the actual EA when it gets going will be a smoother. We'll see... I'll keep you posted on future announcements.

What needs to be fixed in this city?

"The Fixer" column in Friday's Toronto Star featured large tree branches under the old railway trestle across the Don between the Riverdale parks. This debris is a result of the August 19 storm last summer. "A large tree branch is suspended on a thick cable in one of three channels running under an old railway trestle that crosses the Don between Riverdale Farm and the Don Valley Parkway. The channel closest to the west bank is also blocked by sand and silt causing the river levels to be much higher than normal. If the river levels suddenly rose and more debris got caught, it could potentially flood the DVP, as happened during the August thunderstorm when people had to be rescued from vehicles."

Horrors! A flooded DVP, people trapped in cars! A priority item to clean up in the Don? Not in my view. The DVP is located in a floodplain, no wonder it's getting flooded. The creation of the DVP led to even more river diversion; wetlands were drained or paved over so natural overflow basins disappeared, leading to potential flooding problems.

How about flooding the parts of the DVP permanently? We could recreate the wetlands, have nice meanders down the sides, people could commute by train and relax and enjoy the bucolic river on their journey up and down the Valley.

Not likely but you can't help wishing.

Okay "Fixer", how about finding the people who are dumping old tires in the river next?

Mayor Miller Makes it to the Don

Miller, Davis, Ootes, Pitfield, Pantalone, Bussin... almost a council quorum.

On April 29, a bright sunny day, the city hosted it's 3rd annual Trees Across Toronto event. The Don Valley site called Sun Valley (after a soap manufacturer who used to occupy the land) is where we have planted almost 4,000 trees and shrubs. The first two years it was just Miller and Pantalone who showed up for speeches. This year being an election year has brought a whole host of councillors out for what was mostly a photo-op. They made speeches, planted one tree then left for the next event.

It was a bit of a circus with tents set up that gave away free Starbucks coffee, hotdogs from Loblaws, Mark Cullen from CFRB was there for some reason. The fire department even showed up with a water truck. While it was a bit of a circus, it did bring out about 200 volunteers who planted 1,300 trees in less than 2 hours, so not all was lost. Besides I got a free Starbucks coffee mug.



On your marks, get ready...


30 minutes later...


Get 'em started young - tree planter for life!

Brick Works Billboard

New sign at the Brick Works

Here is the first indication that something is brewing at the Brick Works. No, I don't mean literally (although that idea was discussed). Evergreen, a national NGO whose mandate is to improve the environment of Canada's urban spaces has a plan to restore the Don Valley Brick Works and make it their national headquarters. Their plan calls for a $50 million dollar restoration of the now derelict Brick Works site. They have already raised about $15 million and plan to start construction within the next year.

While some people have expressed concerns about the project, especially in the increased use and traffic that will enter the site, most people agree that plan is generally a good one. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I support it too. The city doesn't have the money nor the will to restore the site. Once Evergreen moves in, they will perforce, stop a number of inappropriate uses that are potentially damaging. These include use of the buildings as a homeless squat and impromptu raves by youth. They should also have an indirect benefit on the quarry ponds park area which will remain under the city's control. The indirect affect will be (I hope) to control dog owners who let their dogs run free, limit the dumping of turtles and goldfish into the ponds and halt the proliferation of paths on the slopes and through the forest.

Spring Workshop

Bring Back the Don Flyer (click to expand)

In our continuing quest to educate the public about wet weather flow, we are holding a couple of workshops this spring. The first workshop is something of a gamble in that we are holding it outside of our normal operations area of the Lower Don. This one will be in Earl Bales Park at Bathurst and Sheppard. This park was a former golf course but has been returned to the public as a large urban park. It is situated on the west branch of the Don River so it is still within our watershed of responsibility.

Basically the message we are trying to get across is that home owners can make simple changes to their properties to retain rainwater where it falls. Most of the city now diverts it directly into the storm sewers where it quickly ends up in the river as a flood of polluted water. If enough houses make changes, then this could have a significant effect on the river.

This is a bit of a quixotic quest but we will have fun trying anyway. So if you happen to live in the neighbourhood, come out to our planting on Sunday, May 7 at 10:30 AM followed by our workshop at 1 PM. A light lunch will be provided. You can pre-register at donworkshops@hotmail.com. See flyer for details.

This time it really is closed

Lower Don Trail closed until May 2007

There have several warning signs about the trail closing since January but this new fence took many trail users by surprise, especially the fast cyclists who train on the path. I watched several zip under the Queen St. bridge, go by the stairs and then see the fence. They had to hit their brakes hard to avoid crashing. They then stood puzzled by the fence and the signs and then got off their bikes and climbed the stairs up to Queen St.

Of course, those of us who actually heeded the warning signs know enough to stop just north of Queen St. and duck through a hole in the fence. This allows you to avoid the stairs and continue along Bayview to Queen and River.