EXTENSIVE NEW PLANTINGS COMING SOON TO SAM SMITH

Planting of trees and shrubs will take place in the next week or two in the park.  In consultation with City of Toronto environment staff, Humber College will fulfill its obligation to mitigate the loss of vegetation on their Welcome Centre site.

New plantings are never really a true replacement for a mature woodlot, but given the scope of the work, in time, they will certainly add to habitat in Sam Smith Park and bring new life to the heritage orchards.

The planting will include hundreds of native trees, bird friendly shrubs and apple trees.

Click on this link to see the planting plan which shows locations and species.

ETOBICOKE GUARDIAN ARTICLE ABOUT CSSP - "RESIDENTS ENCOURAGED TO FLOCK TO WATERFRONT JEWEL"

Nature advocates say Sam Smith Park great for walking and bird watching.    

Tamara Sheppard - Etobicoke Guardian

A new wetland lookout at Colonel Samuel Smith Park is the latest extension of a successful outdoor education program in the rare, naturalized waterfront park.  “The old one was leaning and had been burned,” said Barbara Keaveney with Citizens Concerned About the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront. “The railing was coming off. Kids’ programs go down there. It was in quite a state of disrepair.”

Keaveney also sits on the park’s stewardship organization, Friends of Sam Smith Park (FOSS).

“The jewel of the Lakeshore – a tranquil, waterfront sanctuary of wetlands, woods, shore and meadow,” is how FOSS describes the park.

The recently retired Etobicoke elementary teacher secured a Weston grant in recent years to develop an outdoor education program in the park. The grant also funded the new lookout.

Four years ago, Keaveney reached out to Humber Arboretum staff to encourage them to offer their nature programs in the park. Last year, 1,800 local elementary and high school students took part. Half-day and full-day classes are offered.

Humber College supplies two classrooms to the program at its Lakeshore campus adjacent to the park.

“There is a whole list of topics teachers can pick based on the curriculum and grade,” Keaveney explained. “They can study whatever fits into what is in the park. It’s a perfect match. Humber Arboretum at Humber College in the north, and the park is at Humber College in the south.”

The arboretum books the program, and provides nature interpreters.

“It’s amazing how many people and schools are so close to that park and don’t get in there,” she said. “Once they go, that changes. The same people are coming back, and teachers are telling other teachers.”

Keaveney also helps organize CCFEW’s annual bird festival.

CCFEW’s bird checklist has boasted 197 bird species for many years. The list is comprised entirely of birds seen in the lakefront park.

In September, two new birds were seen – a scarlett tanager and a Cape May warbler.

“It’s pretty strange,” Keaveney said of finding new birds to catalogue. “But it’s kind of neat. It’s exciting. The whole point of the list is to know what birds are in the park.”

Last weekend, two more new birds were seen and catalogued – a Wilson’s Snipe and an American woodcock.

Residents are welcome to pull on their boots and participate in a tree planting in the park Saturday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A ribbon-cutting ceremony at the lookout is also planned.

The focus, Keaveney said, is to get more people to appreciate Colonel Samuel Smith Park.

“Several people with CCFEW and a number of people on the walk really know birds,” Keaveney explained of CCFEW’s regular bird walks. “But about half the people now are from the neighbourhood who see the signs and just want to go for a walk.

“It’s about the park, not the birds. We’re really trying to get more people into the park.”

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DRAW BIRD PORTRAITS?

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CSSP BIRD WALK - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17TH

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24TH - WETLAND LOOKOUT RIBBON CUTTING AND PLANTING EVENT

Join Friends of Sam Smith Park, the City of Toronto, Humber Arboretum, Citizens Concerned about the Future of the Etobicoke Waterfront (CCFEW) and others to celebrate the opening of the new wetland lookout. We begin with a ribbon cutting ceremony, followed by a community planting. Follow the signs at the south end of the park.

The planting event will take place in both wet and dry areas near the lookout.  Anyone who has rubber boots should wear or bring them, but for those that don't have/bring them, they can plant in drier areas.

SAM SMITH PARK TO BECOME AN OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED "ENVIRONMENTALLY SIGNIFICANT AREA" UNDER CITY'S OFFICIAL PLAN

Yesterday, FOSS steering committee members attended a meeting of the Planning and Growth Management Committee at City Hall.  The PGM Committee met to discuss environmental amendments to the City’s Official Plan as part of the periodic review process. One of the key items was the designation of 68 additional Environmentally SignificantAreas to the current list of 14 with Sam Smith Park being one of them.

The staff report was unanimously adopted and will now go on to City Council in November for final approval.

So, after that date, the area south of the waterfront trail that roughly follows the old shoreline before lake filling started is officially “of environmental significance” with all the protections that such areas are given. 

See the full staff report at this link.

Friends of Sam Park has lobbied during the past year for additional areas to be added to the lakefill section.  Details can be seen in a previous post.  We are told that environmental planning staff will investigate those areas within the year to assess whether they meet the criteria for ESA designation.  If they do, then an amendment to yesterday’s report will be presented to the PGM Committee for discussion and, hopefully, adoption.  

FOSS members have offered to help with the investigation, particularly with advice on bird movement through the areas during spring and reverse migration when songbirds with sadly declining populations use the areas for vital foraging and rest.

There are four criteria the City uses to identify an Environmentally Significant Area ..... 

1. It provides habitat for rare and endangered species
2. The habitat is large and contains a high diversity of flora and fauna
3. It has rare nor unusual landforms
4. It provides important ecological functions such as serving as a stopover location for migratory wildlife

BEEKEEPING COMES TO THE LAKESHORE GROUNDS

As part of Humber College’s Sustainability Action Plan, a new and exciting initiative has been added to the Lakeshore Campus.

There has long been a beekeeping programme at the North Campus with hives located next to the staff lounge and now that programme also comes to the college’s location in Sam Smith Park.

At the official unveiling today, Wanda Boute, Principal Humber College Lakeshore, pulled back the curtains in the second floor cafeteria inside the L Building to reveal three hives installed on an exterior balcony that allows for separation between the bees and students, staff and faculty.

According to Lindsay Walker, Humber's Manager of Sustainability, approximately one-third of all the food we eat - including strawberries, carrots, broccoli, peanuts and apples – relies on bee pollination. “Bees work hard together to feed

Fran Freeman and John Coffman, Humber College beekeepers

themselves and the planet and are a great example of how to approach sustainability – what we strive to do here at Humber.”

The bees, with a foraging range of up to six kilometres, should be well situated to do their important pollinating job on the park’s native wildflowers, bird-friendly, berry producing shrubs and, according to the beekeepers, may even help to rejuvenate apple trees in the remaining sections of the heritage orchard.

You do not have to be a Humber College student to view the hives. Visitors are welcome - see map.