Tree Planting with Aeroplan, Canada in Giovanni Cabotto Park

June 2010

The Staff from Aeroplan Canada's Toronto Office came out to plant trees with the Black Creek in Giovanni Cabotto Park this spring. Aeroplan has previously worked with the BCCP on other sites. This year 222 trees and shrubs were planted along the banks of Heathrow creek. Heathrow is a small and short tributary of the Black where much of the original creek is buried in the City's storm sewer system. Over 5 cubic yards of wood chip mulch was spread around the trees as a form of weed and moisture control.

Tree planting at Driftwood Park

On Saturday, June 12th, 2010.

1275 trees: White pine, red oak, sugar maple, silver maple, dogwood and nannyberry were planted.

Although it was a somewhat cool and wet morning, about 30 residents of the Jane - Driftwood community once again joined forces with the Black Creek Project to plant 275 trees along the edges of Driftwood Creek.
The objective of this tree planting was to extend the riparian zone along Driftwood Creek in the area near Driftwood Public School. Altogether about 1300 trees have been planted along Driftwood creek since early 2009.
Councillor Anthony Perruzza's office and staff and ACORN supported the efforts with by organizing volunteers and providing pizza and refreshments. of Pelmo Park.
This is the third tree planting held with residents of Weston Community and ACORN since 2009.

Weston Community Tree Planting in Pelmo Park

On Saturday, May 29th, 2010

18 people, young and old, came out to plant 130 elderberries, nannyberries and maples in the back areas of Pelmo Park. This is the third tree planting held with residents of Weston Community and ACORN since 2009.

Altogether 305 plants have been added to the screen of trees at the north end of the Park.


Tree Planting event in Driftwood & Edgeley greenbelt

Saturday, May 15, 2010.

The Black Creek Conservation Project hosted a tree planting event in Edgeley Park in the Jane-Finch Community.
With the support of our co-hosts, ACORN and Councillor Anthony Peruzza's office, 60 volunteers and the BCCP planted approximately 275 trees and shrubs along the upper reaches of Driftwood creek. This is the 4th tree planting along this section of the creek since the project began in the spring of 2009.

To date we have planted almost 1000 trees along the creek in order to create a riparian buffer strip 10 meters wide and over 150 meters long.

Funding for this project was received from the City of Toronto's Live Green Program and from the Community Program for Stormwater Management.

    

Tree Planting In Mount Dennis - Westlake Park (formerly Jasper Park)

Wednesday,May 5, 2010.

On May 5 the Mount Dennis community came out to turn the hillsides of Westlake Park green once again.

Students from Dennis Ave. P.S. join local community volunteers and the several local after-school Boys & Girls Clubs to plant trees and shrubs on the upper slopes of Westlake Park. Although late afternoon thunderstorms brought a sudden end to the event, the community still managed to plant over 300 trees on the slopes. This was the second planting undertaken on this hillside and there is plenty of room for more trees over the next few years.

The Mount Dennis Community Kitchen helped out at the event with a hotdog BBQ. Staff at the Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF) also supported the event by assisting to bring out the community volunteers!

The event was supported by the City of Toronto's Live Green Program.




Earth Day

Thursday,April 22, 2010.

This year's event was held at Chalkfarm Park in the afternoon, jointly organized by Doorstep Neighborhood Services and The Black Creek Conservation Project.
Over 500 participants attended during the course of the day, 641 native trees and shrubs were planted, 1500 kgs (1.5 tonnes) of trash was collected, 2 tonnes of wood chips were used to mulch around the trees, and over 700 hotdogs were consumed.

The event was attended by representatives of our Earth Day sponsors: Sobeys and Earth Day Canada.

This event will be followed up with tree tending and possibly bird house installations between the trees.

       

Christmas Bird Count

Sunday, December 27, 2009.

Volunteers spent three hours walking along the Black Creek on a quiet winter morning looking for birds as part of the Audubon Society's Annual Christmas bird count (http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/). The most exciting sighting was the red tailed hawk we saw hunting along the far side of the creek! Unfortunately we did not see if it was successful or not.
We counted 140 birds of 17 species:
  • Canada Goose - 28
  • Mallard - 2
  • Ring Billed Gull - 10
  • Coopers Hawk - 1
  • Red Tailed Hawk - 1
  • Rock Pigeon - 27
  • Mourning Dove - 7
  • Downy Woodpecker - 6
  • Hairy Woodpecker - 2
  • Bluejay - 3
  • Black Capped Chickadee - 18
  • White Breasted Nuthatch - 2
  • American Robin - 8
  • European Starling - 18
  • House Sparrow - 2
  • Slate Coloured Junco - 2
  • Northern Cardinal - 3
The Black Creek Project will seek to undertake and document this event each year into the future.


Lavender Creek Walk

Tuesday, December 8, 2009.

A group of 10 people participated in the walk led by Ian Wheal. The walk followed the original course of Lavender creek from it's once headwaters near Fairbank park (south of Dufferin St. & Eglinton Ave.) towards the west along small side road such as Kitchener Ave. The walk passed through Prospect Cemetary and continued further west towards Keele St. at Rogers Rd. Near Keele St. between the numerous steel scrap yards the modern day Lavender creek can be found above ground once again. Along the walk the group stopped to observe remnants signs of the original early 1900 housing in the area as well as the few remnant large trees still surviving from that era.

Archbishop Romero C.S.S. and the BCCP have been working to preserve and clean-up the existing portions of Lavender Creek. Friends of Lavender Creek

Ian has been a Black Creek Conservation Project member for almost 15 years. He is an avid historian of Toronto, with extensive knowledge of the city's cultural development and the changes of the natural environment. Mr. Wheal has lead numerous walks with the BCCP and other Toronto area environmental organizations.


New Bird houses in the Black Creek


 An additional 35 bird houses were installed at two locations on the Black Creek in the fall of 2009. As well the 100 or more existing bird houses were checked for damages and cleaned. Grade 3 students from 2 Black Creek co-operator schools were involved in checking and installing the bird houses.

An older tree planting site near Shorham Ave. in Black Creek Parklands North. Visible are red maples (red) and sugar maples (yellow) with white pines and white cedars.