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One league under the Annex
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Plans afoot to celebrate our buried city
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| By Tom G. Kernaghan |
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The last time you took a stroll, you may not have been aware you
were walking over history. Maybe you saw some evidence of Toronto’s lost rivers,
but didn’t know it: dead end streets, flooded basements, tilting houses, oddly
shaped parks, dips in the road.
Buried under our streets and buildings, and contained in the city’s sewer system,
are dozens of rivers, creeks, and tributaries. Created by massive glacial retreat
12,000 years ago, rivers used to run through wide ravines back when our city was
called “Muddy York.”
But, rapid growth during the 19th century changed the landscape. As the population
density grew, the creeks became so polluted they had to be buried under landfill,
and were often converted into storm sewers. Sprawling development put them further
out of sight and mind, almost for good.
“I developed an obsession to do something,” said Helen Mills, an early member of
Lost River Walks, a joint citizens’ initiative between the North Toronto Green
Community, Toronto Field Naturalists, and Hike Ontario that since 1995 has been
leading walks along lost river routes to educate people about our city’s natural
history and our relationship with water.
“We want people to discover and appreciate water,” said Mills. “And we want people
to realize there is no door at the edge of ravines where ecosystems end and the
city begins…. Knowing about the lost rivers gives people a whole different sense
of place.”
Lost River Walks will step up its efforts this fall when it celebrates the group’s
10th anniversary with the cooperation of the Toronto Public Space Committee (TPSC),
a group dedicated to the shared use of public space.
TPSC will conduct “Down by the River” walk on Sept. 18, tracing the path of the
former Garrison Creek, which ran from St. Clair Avenue through Christie Pits and
to Fort York, after which the river was named. Meanwhile, on Sept. 25 and 26,
Lost River Walks will follow the former Mud Creek, which ran from Downsview through
to the Don Valley.
The groups’ members said they hope their united effort will cultivate awareness and
appreciation for the city’s lost watersheds, and generate an understanding that our
treatment of them in the past has an impact that still reverberates today.
“The lost rivers represent the conflict between progress and development and trying
to maintain our natural environment,” said Dave Meslin, coordinator with TPSC.
“They represent what was lost.” He added the TPSC team will wear blue shirts in
honour of water, to form a “human river” along Garrison Creek’s former route, and
will hand out flyers asking residents to join the parade.
“We want people to look beyond their houses and think about public space,” said
Meslin. “We want to celebrate the things we commonly own.”
While celebration is possible, restoration is another matter. Despite years of debate
over rivers like Taddle Creek, which ran through the Annex and is now just a trickle
through Philosopher’s Walk at the University of Toronto (U of T), most people accept
that lost rivers will stay buried.
“These rivers were buried to be built upon,” said Nick Eyles, professor of geology at
U of T. “There is limited opportunity to take it back to what it was.”
As Peter Hare, a member of Lost River Walks, said, “we have talked of restoring, but
it is for all practical purposes impossible.”
The restoration is also an ecological non-starter, due to the human waste and garbage
that were often buried in the rivers. Current efforts are focusing on developing new
methods, such as tree planting and water conservation, of interacting with the green
spaces that remain.
“It’s about how we can reinvent systems that are friendly to nature and to us,” said
Mills, who is leading the Mud Creek walks, which she hopes will involve environmentally
inspired artwork and picnics on route.
“The lost rivers seem to have a magnetic power for people,” she continued, adding the
regular walks attract upwards of 1000 people per year. She believes public concern is
rising, but noted people aren’t always sure how to get involved. “Find a small community
group and get information and support,” she advises. “Small [behavioural] changes are
important.”
For more information, visit http://lostrivers.ca/
or contact Dave Meslin at 416-654-TPSC, or via
http://publicspace.ca/
(Front Page – The Annex Gleaner – May 2005)
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