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| Pollinator Meadow location |
Yesterday
heralded the beginning of an exciting new project for Sam Smith Park.
FOSS members, along with Janette Harvey, Natural
Environment Specialist for the City of Toronto, laid down the first tarpaulin
in order to “smother” an area of the park to begin the preparation for a meadow
restoration that will provide a high quality pollinator habitat. It will be called the “North Creek Meadow”
and is located south of the large pond/wetland near the lake culvert.
FOSS
has long advocated for pollinator habitat improvements in the park and we have
expressed an interest in participating in all phases of any restoration plan.
The
project design is the result of collaboration between Janette Harvey and
students from the School of Environmental
& Natural Resource Sciences at Sir Sandford Fleming College.
Site
preparation includes tarping, or smothering, and light tilling. The implementation
phase involves mulching around the plot sites, followed by seeding, and
planting of carefully selected and desired vegetation. Stewardship and
monitoring activities will monitor the overall health of the site, native
plants, pollinator presence/absence, and the removal of invasive and/or
encroacher species. Friends of Sam Smith
will be involved in multiple steps of the North Creek Meadow Restoration
process and the plan offers volunteer opportunities for locals to become
engaged.
The
project will take four years to complete with different plots established at
different times during that period. The
current year will involve no more than signposting and the tarping and checking
of the first plot from April to November.
Three more plots will follow.
If anyone is interested in reading the complete design specifications, let us know at friendsofsamsmithpark@gmail.com
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