Toronto Trees are in Trouble

I've blogged about this before but Todd Irvine's article in the Toronto Star is very insightful. Reading it is an eye-opener into the plight of our urban forest.

City Documents - October 2007

I found a couple of documents on the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee agenda for October 31, 2007 that might be of interest to anyone who follows policy issues that concern the Don watershed, directly or indirectly.

PW 10.5 Mandatory Downspout Disconnection

The city has been trying to get homeowners to voluntarily disconnect their downspouts from the sewer system for the past 10 years with mixed results. Now staff are recommending that this program be made mandatory. Relatively speaking this has got to be one of the easiest ways for reducing wet weather flow to our sewers. Channelling rain water to the ground and allowing it to filter naturally through the soil is much better in the long run then pumping it quickly away through a sewer. No doubt people are worried about basement flooding but properly implemented this shouldn't be an issue. Is this literally a NIMBY issue?

PW 10.8 Wet Weather Flow Master Plan (WWFMP) Implementation Update Report

This report contains quite a list of ongoing improvements and updates. There are links to a wide range of issues from basement flooding to shoreline management to end-of-pipe implementation.

New Park Entrance for Crothers' Woods

New park entrance includes a kiosk and a garbage can

It took four years to get this done, but it's finally completed. Crothers' Woods now has a formal entry point. It is located at the south end of the Loblaws parking lot. For several years it has just been a hole in the fence which both the city and Loblaws have politely ignored knowing that the location was too well used for it to be shut down.

The new entrance includes an information kiosk and a garbage can which hopefully will be emptied by the city. The project was sponsored in part by Loblaws who donated funds and land. Kudos go to NECP staff who diligently kept this going.


View of entrance from just within the forest

Karen Valovich - In Memory

Karen at a spring planting in 2003

News about the Don is sometimes depressing but it is rarely sad. Unfortunately, this is case today. I just learned that Karen Valovich, a long time volunteer for Bring Back the Don has passed away this week. Karen was a dependable volunteer who I often saw at tree plantings in the Don. I remember her well because she often rode her bicycle to events. Later on she joined my stewardship team at the Brick Works and regularly came out to do weeding and watering activities. She also helped out at Sherwood Park doing stewardship tasks since she lived in that neighbourhood in North Toronto.

She was soft spoken and somewhat shy but always had a smile when I talked with her. Once I got to know her I found she had a dry sense of humour. A couple of years ago she got married and disappeared from the volunteer scene. I figured she was busy with her new life but then I found out that she wasn't well. I didn't hear anything until today when another of my volunteers from my old stewardship team called up and passed on the news.

There's an obituary in the Toronto Star. I don't have it in front of me but I was told that there is a viewing tomorrow at the Newbigging Funeral Home at 733 Mt. Pleasant Rd. just south of Eglinton.

Swan Boats on the Don

During one of my regular blog patrols, I came across a bit of whimsy about the Don. Steve Munro writes a very insightful blog on Toronto transit issues. One of the things he has done (and I need to do) is categorize his posts. As I browsed through the list of categories I could have chosen some meaty topics such as "Waterfront", "Subway Cars", and "GO Transit". Instead I immediately clicked on the one entitled "Fantasy".

In this list is an item entitled "A Bold Initiative for Don Valley Transport". In it he describes a novel and unique form of transportation - Swan Boats (aka a kiddy ride at Centre Island). I suggest you read the accompanying story, it is very funny, especially the description of using a catapult to get boats up the hill from the river to Castle Frank subway station.

Bird Banding Demonstration

Bird Banding Demonstration

Two weeks ago I attended a bird banding demonstration in Milne Hollow, a park in the Don Valley just south of Lawrence Ave. East. It was given by Seabrooke Leckie, a volunteer with the Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station. Bird banding is used to track birds on their migration paths. If the bird is recaptured then its band information can be used to identify the bird and find out where it was first banded. This information is logged in a North American database managed by the USGS and Canadian Wildlife Service.

It was a fascinating demonstration and was worth waking up at 6:30 AM. During the 90 minutes I was there, they captured 2 hermit thrushes (Catharus guttatus), 1 black capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), 1 song sparrow (Melospiza melodia), and 1 immature male cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) (see video). The birds had their wing length measured, were weighed, and were aged and sexed where possible. They also were examined for fat content which is an indicator of where they are in their migration. Apparently birds only store fat during migration periods. A tiny plastic band was placed around one leg and then they were released.

The birds were caught in mist nets which don't harm the birds. They were transported to the banding area in cloth bags. The entire banding process took less than 5 minutes per bird.The process is designed to cause a minimum of stress on the birds.

Anyone can get their own bird banding demonstration if they visit the TTBRS station on the Leslie Street Spit. Check the website for details.

Note about the video: there's a lot a background noise due to the proximity of the Don Valley Parkway. Also Seabrooke's voice is very soft so you have to listen carefully to hear her explanation. Enjoy!


Seabrooke handles a hermit thrush

Spreading the wing feathers. This checks for age, signs of moulting, and general health of the bird

Placing a band on the leg

Birds store fat for long migrations. The fat is stored in the chest area. By blowing gently on the chest feathers, the fatty tissue is exposed. The amount of fat is rated on a scale of 1-7.

A Black-capped Chickadee is held securely in the hand as it awaits its measurements

A very scruffy looking immature cardinal waits his turn