Thank you once again for another super successful stewarding effort at Ashbridge’s Bay Park.
As you remember how glum we all felt (tee hee hee), when confronted with the Phragmite patch (please see the first picture below). Then our jubilation and thank you to all for it’s removal.
Unfortunately I did not have a “before” picture but here is the “after” picture from our event, I believe in 2019.
You can see how much bigger the Ash tree (more to the right of the picture and yellowing in our up to date picture) has grown. If you look closely you can see Bob, Paula Davies the Lead Steward from the Todmorden Wildflower Preserve http://www.hopscotch.ca/tmwp/ and myself.
When you walk by here from now on, on your leisurely tour of the park you can remember and say to yourself I removed that Phrag. It will come back, not as strong, but over time we will prevail!!
We completed our last work session of the season on Oct 27. The weather was really beautiful for a fall day. The leaves in the trees were a mix of golden colour, dark orange and bright red. The sun came out shining brightly as the temperature went up. Lovely!
We have attached some photos from our last work session. You can see our volunteers working with the pullerbear which is a specialized tool to pull out small trees. The pullerbear was lent out to us from the stewardship at Cherry Beach. We are grateful for this help, since using that tool really made a difference. We were able to pull out a large number of invasive saplings, so many that we lost count of them.
In total during the season,
We had 37 field work sessions.
We collected about 2.5 garbage bags full of litter.
We disposed of 60 garbage bags of invasive plant matter.
Our team of stewards collectively worked 230 hours of field work.
The number of registered stewards is 28.
The average number of stewards who came to our work sessions is 3.6 per work session.
We have removed all mature garlic mustard, DSV, mature burdock, Norway maple saplings and buckthorn saplings from both Glen Stewart Park and the Balsam Entrance.
We have removed some non-native wood avens from Glen Stewart Park and a few lily-of-the valley from Balsam Entrance.
On Monday Oct. 3, 2022 the Waterfront Park Manager declared the removal of the Disc Golf Course to be permanent! He also stated that any other courses to be installed in Toronto will now go through the process of due diligence and public consultation.
The rare shoreline habitat that is a migratory stepping stone, stopover and nesting area of birds and insects can once again be enjoyed by nature lovers. Unfortunately the disc golf course will have to be relocated, but we always said you cannot move a natural habitat, but you can move a recreational activity.
The pressing question asked of TRCA, PFR and the Councillor’s Office in July 2022 which we have not received an answer for yet, is whether the Phragmites will be treated or addressed as in Oct. 2019.
West Woodbine Beach, Dune and Meadow Habitat, Biodiversity and Damage Report, Summer 2022
Report prepared by: Noam Markus and Clyde Robinson
We are pleased to present to the City of Toronto and TRCA a biodiversity report from the West Woodbine Beach Habitat in Toronto.
To date, 596 species of flora and fauna have been documented in INaturalist on the beach habitat.
In the report you will see:
* 25 plant species rated L2 – L3 – L4, species of regional and urban conservation concern by TRCA.
* A list of nesting birds, pollinators and mammals.
Also in the report is evidence of damage to the habitat and examples of long term damage from the use of disc-golf both at Ashbridge’s Bay Park and other parks in Toronto.
This report documents the rich biodiversity found within the habitat at West Woodbine Beach in Toronto, Ontario. The observations have been by citizen scientists, confirmed by local experts and through iNaturalist. It is hoped that this report will help the public and Toronto City Hall officials, be more aware of the rich biodiversity within the habitat as there is no current Environmental Assessment and no official plant inventory by Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).
The Toronto Nature Stewards are working hard but still having fun while removing invasive species in our ravine and park sites. Each Lead Steward organizes their volunteers and have many different experiences to share with each other. The following posts are specific to a site, how to improve the experience and personal reflections. Follow the links to these stories.
Discover Toronto’s Ravines with Ellen Schwartzel Recording of presentation on Oct 14, 2022 At approx. 44 minutes, the talk describes the good work of TNS and also the City’s CSP.
Background: I am a first-year lead steward that is working with Gary James, the other lead steward at the Betty Sutherland Site. Last year, I volunteered for several weeks at the Glen Stewart Site, where I learned much of my hands-on knowledge for stewardship from Cherie & Sylvie. Previously, I had very little knowledge of ecology or plants, and got started with the Toronto Nature Stewards when I was teaching students about invasive plants and discovered this program.
Stewarding has been a really rewarding experience. It’s been a great way to make an impact, learn more about plants and ecology in a hands-on way, and regain hope that we can all make a difference. It’s been so great to find so many people people that are also committed to getting involved.
The following are tips that I believe are helpful for successful stewarding (many of these are based off of slides from training that applied to my experience): Tips for Lead Stewards
