Rooting out invasive plants

[attach]4536[/attach]To the auditory senses, the Charles Sauriol Conservation Area is a network of tranquil but active noises.

Pollinator insects are zipping around indigenous plants, herons are stopping to fish in a pond where beavers reside. While nature plays out, there’s the distant sound of clips and cuts.

The snip-snip noise is the handiwork of 10 volunteers from the Don Valley/Milne Hollow Stewardship Group as they carefully remove various invasive plants from the Don Valley Parkway and Lawrence Avenue East park.

Before getting to work, Tom Brown, the group’s team leader for the day, reminds everyone to put on their gloves and take precautions when removing tansies — tall, thin plants without petals, that when matured have yellow flowers.

“Tansies are an invasive plant, so it’ll crowd out the native plant species,” Brown says. “We want to prevent the seeds from dispersing, so we’re trying to get it before it flowers.”

If it’s already flowered, the stewards will cut the seed heads off and dispose of them. It’s a similar procedure when handling other invasive plants like burdock, a large perennial plant that produces purple flowers. The goal is to provide native species with a foothold to grow and receive more moisture.

While burdock and tansy are on their schedule for the day, the stewards have been trained by Parks, Forestry and Recreation in the removal processes of various plants.

“We also deal with the removal of Canada thistle, phragmati, garlic mustard and lots of others,” says Brown.

For the past three years, Brown and other members of the group have been meeting once a week in the summer to promote the health and wellbeing of the area.

“It’s important that we maintain as much greenspace as we can in Toronto because it cleans the air,” says Brown, reflecting on his own reasons for being environmentally conscious.

Parks program officer Cheryl Post says that this group represents one of nine teams across the city that perform different ecological restoration tasks.

“All the teams do various hands-on activities using materials provided by the city parks department,” says Post. “They cut weeds, care for native planted vegetation, restore native plant communities and they also do water-monitoring.”

When examining the Don River, the group utilizes a water monitoring kit, which tests for pH, water clarity, nitrates and dissolved oxygen. The kit contains parameters, which identify the test results on a scale of poor to excellent.

“The water’s looking pretty good these days,” Brown says. “We have to be very aware of what’s happening to the river’s water because we’re all going to drink it eventually.”

Brown says that along with seeing improvements in their section of the Don River, the group has been spotting more animals recently.

“We’ve created a connected, sustainable habitat that animals can move back and forward on,” Brown says, pointing out a new family of Tree Swallows in the forest. “We’re seeing a lot more birds now. We also see more deer and beavers.”

While the presence of more animals adds to the aesthetics of the area, Brown says that he also enjoys seeing more human faces in the park with the addition of joggers, bicyclists and dog-walkers.

“The city and part of the federal government stimulus has paid for new trails and bridges, which gives access to people getting here,” Brown says.

“So it’s great for recreation and to get people off the couch.”